When Heath Ledger died of a prescription drug overdose in January 2008, he had just completed principal photography on his Academy Award-winning role of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s grown-up Batman flick The Dark Knight.
He had an amazing sense of humor, and I guess maybe only his family and friends knew that, but he was having fun.
He may have been a tortured soul, but acting always seemed to bring him a pure sort of pleasure.
The apocryphal notion that the role ultimately drove Ledger to suicide is way off the mark, however, explains Ledger’s sister Kate.