Actor Heath Ledger Found Dead in Manhattan Apartment

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment today, January 22, according to New York police. Pills were found near his bed, clues that Ledger's death was due to a drug overdose. According to AOL.com, police do not suspect that foul play was involved. Ledger was only 28.

Born in Australia, Ledger's first big hit movie was 1999's 10 Things I Hate About You. He starred alongside Julia Stiles as Patrick Verona, a high school rebel. Perhaps Ledger's biggest box office success was in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain. He received an Oscar nomination for his role as a homosexual cowboy in this film. Ledger's other films include The Patriot, A Knight's Tale, and Lords of Dogtown. Production recently wrapped up for The Dark Knight, a Batman movie in which Ledger played the Joker.

Ledger was romantically linked to Heather Graham and Dawson's Creek actress Michelle Williams, with whom he had a 2 year old daughter, Matilda Rose.

Ledger's death follows on the coat-tails of another tragic drug related celebrity death. Child actor Brad Renfro, who was a teen heartthrob in the 90s, was found dead last week. December 4, another young celebrity, rapper Pimp C died of a heart attack at age 33.

As we come to the one year anniversary of the much publicized death of Playboy model and actress Anna Nicole Smith, we sit and wait to see who the next Hollywood star to extinguish his limelight will be.

References

AOL.com
IMDB.com
wikipedia.org