Heath Ledger’s dad plans Oscar speech
By Alexandra Heilbron on February 20, 2009 | 30 Comments
Heath Ledger‘s father Kim was all smiles Wednesday at LAX. He and his entire family flew in from Perth, Australia to attend the Academy Awards on Sunday — and if Heath wins, his dad told reporters he may say a few words on behalf of his son. He said he didn’t want to take anything for granted, but that if his son gets the award, the Oscar will eventually go to his daughter Matilda. Ledger is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. He died just over a year ago at the age of 28 from an accidental overdose of prescription pills. The mother of his daughter, actress Michelle Williams, is also scheduled to attend the ceremony.
I am rooting for Heath all the way…hopefully his father will be taking that memento home in his honour
With all of the lobbying from the studio and the unending sympathetic dribble about Ledger, there is no way that he can lose. It’s too bad for anybody that put a great performance and didn’t off himself. That’s the way it unfortunately works.
cruel, Bill
“off himself” how insensitively phrased
okay, I get it, you don’t think his performance was good enough for a win, contrary to my opinion, but to put it in such a fashion?
it’s all about choices, isn’t it??
Ledgers dad’s speech should be one simple line
“don’t do drugs unless you want to win an oscar”
If he should thank anyone for this honor it should be the drug companies that made the pills, not god.
I await your comment Nancy…….
I think Ledger’s performance is brilliant and he truly deserves the Oscar. I feel bad for the other nominees because you know that if Ledger’s name is read on Sunday night, the other nominees will be wondering if it was based on his performance, or pity.
I don’t recall people saying all this crap when Peter Finch won Best Actor posthumously for his role in “Network” in 1976 – which was also richly deserved.
We’ve become a much more synical and cruel society in the last 32 years. How sad.
People probably said it, but back then these types of forum’s didn’t exist. To my knowledge anyway, but I’m sure I will be corrected.
I agree with you on both counts, Gary, Finch totally deserved that award, great performance in a great movie, and yes, sadly society seems to have taken that more cynical turn…
i totally understand why people think its principally out of pity that Heath is gonna win. But i really do still think he deserves it. even if he were still alive, i’d want him to win. i think his only real competition is Michael Shannon from Rev. Road. didn’t see MILK but i also think Brolin might have done well. i honestly believe his performance was above theirs.
can’t wait.
finch didn’t die of drugs and he actually gave the best performance of the year this year heath is the least talented he should of won for brokeback mountain he was on drugs
Max don’t you get it or do you just like to stir it up?You are clearly in the minority on this as most of us believe that irregardless of his tragic end that this was a stand out performance that is more than award worthy.
Hey Max, I don’t have time right now…gotta take care of my cats and that “rainbow shirt wearing kid” won’t help me. 😛
yes everyone knows your worthy of every award you couldn’t get when you where alive when your dead
He was an oscar nominated actor before he died trib,so really when you think about it it’s not such a stretch is it?
I was merely commenting on the state our world is unfortunately in. Heath Ledger was an amazing actor whose life and career were tragically cut short because of a simple accidental overdose of perscription drugs. Sure, he was perceived as the type of celebrity that took a few liberties while at a party or two, but his overdose was a fluke if you will. He mistakenly mixed the wrong sedatives with a pain killer or two.
He deserves to win. End of story.
i wasn’t saying he was bad but there where a lot better supporting performances this year then his if he was alive i think in a couple of years he might of won an oscar but not for a freaking batman movie
Are you kidding me? Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of a Australian actor dying his skin black to portray an African American is funny, but it’s a freakin’ Ben Stiller comedy! Michael Shannon’s portrayal of a brilliant mathematician who’s had a nervous breakdown in Revolutionary Road was the standout male performance in that film; I have yet to see Doubt and Milk, but Brolin and Hoffman are two fine actors, but Heath Ledger’s portrayal of a truly psychotic mad man made the movie what it is. Sure it’s just a “batman movie” as you put it trib. I honestly thought that way too when I heard all the hype over it being “snubbed” by the Academy Awards, but after taking another look at The Dark Knight, I can appreciate it as a film, rather than a blockbuster movie. director Christopher Nolan is a terrific director that crafts cerebral movies that lure you in.
what i mean by saying its a batman movie i don’t think his performance should be the first superhero movie acting nomination i think Aaron eckhart gave a better performance then heath and if heath was still alive still on drugs still disturbed like he was at the end of his life do you really think he would have even got nominated?
trib, you don’t know anything about what Ledger was going through or what medications he was on or for what reasons. In fact, you don’t know anything about it, so you don’t have enough information to be trouncing on this man’s grave. The coroner’s report was quite clear- he died of an ACCIDENTAL overdose. You can believe that if it was otherwise, the truth would have come out one way or another. You make it sound like he was found dead in a crackhouse with 10 syringes in his arm leaning against a toilet. Who are you to be judging this man anyway?
im not saying he died of crack but his family even said he was still on drugs i know he died if prescription medication but if he was abusing them then its just as bad as taking heroin(which he had a history with) look he was taking more then 6 types of drugs what doctor would tell to take that many at the sames time? and he was almost insane at the end of filming Michelle Williams even said that they divorce because of his drug problems and it doesn’t matter where you take drugs all that matters is that you take the drugs
i meant of prescription medication
Well, trib, you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. I just don’t think whether Ledger deserves the Oscar or not should depend on where/when/how or under what circumstances he died, but simply by his performance on screen. I have seen some actors win best supporting actor/actress that I could’nt believe got the Oscar. Some had only a few lines in the movie they were nominated from.
I’m not usually a fan of “superhero” movies, but Ledgers performance made me want to go out and purchase this movie and I would have done so even if he lived and the other 4 nominees had died.
Most likely he will win, and hopefully that will be the end of all this controversy.
trib, I am unsure of your last sentence about nominations for people who use drugs…do you mean to say actors, singers, etc. who are alive, who use drugs never receive nominations for their work?
if so, isn’t that a huge stretch?
i am not saying that i am saying that actors and singers that do drugs and go practically insane and act like jerks don’t usually get nominations they don’t deserve i am not saying that the crack and everything would affect his nominations to much but i think if he was alive or as gory said died in a crack house with a needle in his arm and also this is just my opinion i don’t think think it will have that big of an impact tomorrow night
OK Kim better start rehearsing cause your boy’s gonna win tonight. good on ya mate!
all you fools about him being a drug abuser . go stuff it! you stupid uninformed ignorant 2 bit weezles! nuff said !!!!!
um nat heath said himself that he had problems with drugs
He does deserve an Oscar. He was a great Actor who inspirted many people.You are Mean people to say such mean things about him.I am sure he was not on drugs that I am sure. He did not mean to kill himself I am sure he loved his job and his friends. Many people still miss him and its not nice not talk ill of the dead. Playing the Joker affected him alot he had to get in the head of the character which is not a nice place to go. I think it is great his father is going to talk on behalf of Health. I like to send my deepest sorry to him and his family and friends we will all miss him so much.
very nicely put, Jen and I was very touched with his family accepting on his behalf…their words were very heartfelt and expressed beautifully in honour of Heath…
Not a big fan of the Batman movies or any super-hero movie, I had no interest in seeing The Dark Knight at first. But after all the hype and people telling me how good it was I decided to go. I really do beleive that Ledger put in an outstanding performance and it actually made me want to purchase the movie. It was hard to beleive that it was called the ‘Dark Knight’ after Batman whose performance was lost in the film when clearly it became all about Heath Ledger’s. Isn’t that what an awrd for Supporting Actor is all about? So does that not make him more than worthly of the Oscar regardless of whether he is alive or not. How, when or why he died does not change that. Did any of the other nominees have the same effect on the movies they were supporting actors in? I don’t think so.
Let him rest in peace. I missed the awards and wish I had heard the speech. I am sure it was sweet.