Actor Heath Ledger died tragically young in 2008 at the age of 28. The loss of the actor at such a young age not only was a huge blow to his family, friends and fans, but also left a huge hole in film history since we will never know what the actor would have accomplished in his later years.
It makes his death even more tragic in a strange way in that Ledger just seemed to be hitting his stride as an actor. His performance as The Joker in “The Dark Knight,” released shortly after his death, brought him critical raves and a posthumous Oscar as Best Supporting Actor.
Ledger began acting as a teenager on television in his native Australia. A series of successful roles there and in a few Australian films led to him being cast in the American teenage comedy “10 Things I Hate About You.” With his teen idol good looks, Ledger gained a lot of attention for that film and would go on to be cast in a number of high-profile roles in American films. None of them quite lived up to expectations though, and Ledger’s box office clout seemed to be fading before it had really even begun. He was also constantly dogged by rumors of drug abuse that made him seem destined for troubled waters ahead.
His career and life seemed to turn around in 2005 with the release of “Brokeback Mountain,” which earned him huge acclaim as an actor and praise from critics and audiences that he had never seen before in his career, plus an Oscar nomination as Best Actor. He also seemed to have turned his personal life around as he began a relationship with Michelle Williams, who played his onscreen wife in the film. Together the two had daughter Matilda, and Ledger began a highly productive period of his career with numerous acclaimed performances. Sadly, his old demons would return to haunt him and he would die of a drug overdose on January 22, 2008.
In remembrance of Ledger’s film career and a life cut short too soon, tour our photo gallery above featuring his 15 greatest film performances, ranked worst to best. In addition to the movies mentioned above, our list also includes “Monster’s Ball,” “I’m Not There,” “The Brothers Grimm” and more.
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15. THE ORDER (2003)
Image Credit: Jurgen Vollmer/20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Brian Helgeland. Starring Mark Addy, Shannyn Sossamon, Peter Weller.
This would be Ledger’s second film with director Brian Helgeland, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for “L.A. Confidential.” “The Order” is a murder mystery set in the world of the catholic priesthood. Ledger plays a young priest investigating the mysterious death of the head of his order.
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14. THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS (2009)
Image Credit: Parnassus Production/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Terry Gilliam. Writers: Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown. Starring Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell.
This film cast Ledger as the head of a theater troupe who takes his audiences on magical trips through a mirror similar to Alice and her trips through the famed looking glass. When Ledger tragically died midway through shooting, director Terry Gilliam devised a way for other actors to take on his role on the various looking glass trips, so Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell all stepped in to play Ledger’s role at various points in the film.
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13. CASANOVA (2005)
Image Credit: Touchstone/Buena Vista Pictures/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Lasse Hallström. Writers: Jeffrey Hatcher, Kimberly Simi. Starring Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Oliver Platt.
Ledger played the famed lady’s man and notorious lover in this somewhat uneven biopic. The films release at the same time that Ledger took on a gay role in “Brokeback Mountain” provided lots of fodder for comedian’s jokes about how the timing of this one may have been to counteract the other.
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12. THE FOUR FEATHERS (2002)
Image Credit: Alex Bailey/Jaffilm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Shekhar Kapur. Writers: Michael Schiffer, Hossein Amini. Starring Wes Bentley, Kate Hudson, Michael Sheen.
This British war film was a flop at the box office, failing to make back its investment. Ledger plays a British army officer who decides he has ethical issues against war and resigns his post. He is then denounced as a coward. The title refers to the four feather he is given by each of his best friends and his fiancée, which symbolize cowardice.
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11. NED KELLY (2003)
Image Credit: Carolyn Johns/Australian Film Commission/Working Title/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Gregor Jordan. Writer: John Michael McDonagh. Starring Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts.
Ned Kelly was a prominent figure in Australian history, so it was with great fanfare that Ledger and other Australian actors and filmmakers took on the subject. The end result was less than satisfying and part of a period in Ledger’s career where he was having trouble living up to his early promise.
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10. THE PATRIOT (2000)
Image Credit: Andrew Cooper/Columbia Tristar/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Roland Emmerich. Writer: Robert Rodat. Starring Mel Gibson, Joely Richardson, Chris Cooper.
“The Patriot” was Ledger’s first step into big budget American movies. Set during the American Revolutionary War, the film casts Ledger as the son of Mel Gibson, who despite his father’s wishes enlists in the Continental Army and is killed by a British officer, thereby driving his grieving father into joining the military to avenge his death.
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9. A KNIGHT’S TALE (2001)
Image Credit: Egon Endrenyi/Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Brian Helgeland. Starring Paul Bettany, Alan Tudyk, Rufus Sewell.
Ledger plays a squire who pretends to be a knight in this medieval story done in a comic vein with modern day references and inside jokes.
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8. CANDY (2006)
Image Credit: Renaissance/Paradigm Hyde/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Neil Armfield. Writers: Neil Armfield, Luke Davies. Starring Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Budge.
“Candy” proved to be a sadly prophetic film in regards to Ledger’s real life. It revolves around a young couple’s intense relationship and their mutual addiction to heroin. Ledger would fight a real-life battle with substance abuse for a good part of his life.
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7. 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (1999)
Image Credit: Touchstone/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Gil Junger. Writers: Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith. Starring Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Krumholtz.
Ledger’s first American film was this modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” set in a Pacific Northwest high school. Ledger plays the school bad boy who is hired to tame the shrew (a sullen teenager played by Julia Stiles.)
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6. LORDS OF DOGTOWN (2005)
Image Credit: Jaimie Trueblood/Columbia/Indelible/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Catherine Hardwicke. Writer: Stacy Peralta. Starring Emile Hirsch, Rebecca De Mornay, William Mapother.
Ledger had a prolific year in 2005 that turned his struggling career around. One of the first releases he had that year was this true-life story of skateboarders set in Santa Monica, California. He plays the owner of skate shop around whom a bunch of younger skaters congregate.
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5. THE BROTHERS GRIMM (2005)
Image Credit: Dimension/Miramax/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Terry Gilliam. Writer: Ehren Kruger. Starring Matt Damon, Mackenzie Crook, Monica Bellucci.
Among Ledger’s four films released in 2005 was this story of the famed fairy tale writers, the Brothers Grimm. The film was from director Terry Gilliam, so it had all the lavish spectacle usually seen in his films. Ledger was cast against his usual type as the more quiet and bookish of the two brothers, with Matt Damon playing the more outspoken and charismatic one.
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4. MONSTER’S BALL (2001)
Image Credit: Jeanne Louise Bulliard/Lions Gate/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Marc Forster. Writer: Milo Addica, Will Rokos. Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
Best remembered as the film that won Halle Berry an Oscar as Best Actress (making her the first and to date still only African-American woman to win that prize), “Monster’s Ball” also features Ledger as the son of the prison warden (Billy Bob Thornton) whom Berry will eventually fall in love with. He plays a sensitive man not cut out for the duties of being a prison warden who is also deeply hurt by his unloving father’s rejection.
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3. I’M NOT THERE (2007)
Image Credit: Weinstein Co/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Todd Haynes. Writers: Todd Haynes, Oren Moverman. Starring Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere.
Visionary filmmaker Todd Haynes devised this unique biopic of singer Bob Dylan. Far from being your standard biographical drama, the film cast six actors in the role of the famed folk singer. Cate Blanchett’s gender bending work as one of the Dylans won the Golden Globe and earned her an Oscar nomination, but Ledger also provides a wonderful performance in a very subdued and subtle take on the character.
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2. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)
Image Credit: Focus/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Ang Lee. Writers: Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway.
The story of two young cowboys who fall in love was the most talked about film of 2005. The film won Best Picture from the Golden Globes, BAFTA, and the New York Film Critics Association and seemed destined for Oscar glory, but it was surprisingly and controversially beaten by “Crash” amidst charges of homophobia against the Academy. The film offered a huge breakthrough performance from Ledger that had people hailing him as the next James Dean or Montgomery Clift. His career had been suffering in the years prior to this so the depth of his work as the cowboy who can’t accept his homosexuality and refuses to make a life with the man who loves him (Jake Gyllehaal) astounded critics and earned him his first Oscar nomination.
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1. THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/DC Comics/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Christopher Nolan. Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan. Starring Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The role of the Joker has long been a scene stealing character in the various incarnations of Batman. Cesar Romero appeared frequently on the old “Batman” television series in the role and when Tim Burton made his Batman film in 1989, Jack Nicholson received raves in the role as well. When Ledger was cast in the role in the second of Christopher Nolan’s take on the Batman series, no one quite expected the unique take and quirky spin he would give the character. From his deadpan mumbling to his out right comic moments Ledger stole the film. Sadly, he would die of a drug overdose in between completing the film and its release. He would go on to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, making him the second person in history to win an acting award posthumously. (Peter Finch winning Best Actor for “Network” would be the first.)
