he will be greatly missed :-(

Heath Ledger Found Dead

TUESDAY JANUARY 22, 2008 04:45 PM EST

 

 this afternoon while i was in art class, i got a text from my friend megan saying that heath ledger had died….i thought it was a joke. there was no way! i have been looking forward to the new batman movie just because i knew he was playing the joker. I fell in love with him in 10 things i hate about you, and i fell in love with him more and more with every amazing performance he delivered. ive seen all but two of his films. and now i know that the dark knight will by far be a hit this year. people will come from all around to go pay tribute to his last performance on screen. i am so saddened by this, more than i thought i would be. more info on his death below.

rest in peace Heath, rest in peace….

TUESDAY JANUARY 22, 2008 08:10 PM EST UPDATED

Heath Ledger on Nov. 13 Photo by: Evan Agostini / AP

Heath Ledger, the actor who quickly transformed from Aussie heartthrob to Oscar nominee and doting dad, was found dead at his Manhattan residence Tuesday, a New York police spokesman confirms. He was 28.

Police say the death may have been drug-related and that "prescription-type drugs" were found near his body.

Ledger was found in the bedroom of his Soho apartment around 3:30 p.m. by his housekeeper and a masseuse who had arrived for an appointment with the actor, according to the Associated Press and New York Times.

Ledger, who was in bed, did not respond when they shook him, and the housekeeper called 911. He was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m. ET.

Authorities said they did not suspect foul play but that pills were found near the body.

"There were some drugs found around the body – prescription-type drugs," a police spokesman tells PEOPLE. Another police source says there were two bottles of prescription sleep aids, and that the prescriptions were made out to Ledger.

A medical examiner removed Ledger’s body from the apartment just before 6:30 p.m. ET, and New York City Medical Examiner spokeswoman Ellen Borakove says the autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Despite initial reports that Ledger was subletting the apartment from Mary-Kate Olsen, reps for the actress denied that Olsen ever owned or lived in the apartment.

Ledger was last spotted publicly in London on Saturday on the set of Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Photos showed Ledger wearing a clown costume. Other pictures of Ledger out of costume show him with long brown hair and a dark goatee.

Ledger’s apartment building Photo by: Spencer Platt / Getty

Oscar Nomination & A Baby Girl
The Perth, Australia, native was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, on whose set he met – and began a romantic relationship with – Michelle Williams. Theirs was described by others on the film as love at first sight. (PHOTOS: See a complete timeline and photos from his life.)

Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger with Matilda in 2006 Photo by: ALECSEY BOLDESKUL

Their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born in New York on Oct. 28, 2005. Ledger and Williams, who shared a brownstone together in Brooklyn, split in September 2007.

Ledger began his acting career in 1996, when he was 17, in an Australian TV series called Sweat, but later found big-screen stardom in Hollywood with 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You, opposite Julia Stiles. He soon followed it with films including 2000’s The Patriot and 2001’s A Knight’s Tale and Monster’s Ball.

"I’m lucky in a sense because I have a job where I get to scream and cry," he told the Chicago Sun-Times in November. "I get to purge myself in ways that don’t really affect me personally. When the director yells cut, I just walk out the door and I’m back into my regular life."

In his regular life, he clearly embraced being a dad to Matilda. "Fatherhood has changed me as an artist because I feel things on a deeper level," he said. "I think my performances will grow simultaneously."

In August 2006, Warner Bros. announced that Ledger would play the Joker in The DarkKnight, a sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins. On the set, he wowed his costars, including Michael Caine.

"The biggest thing in Batman will be the thing everyone was most worried about: you’ve got the Joker, and when Jack Nicholson was the joker, well, how are you going to top that?" Caine said last year. "Well, Heath Ledger has. He is extraordinary."