from The Age, Australia:
Heath, worlds apartJanuary 27, 2008
Despite his soaring fame, Ledger's Perth home had a special place in his heart. Melissa Kent and Jacqueline Maley report.
AS HEATH LEDGER's body was stretchered out of a New York chapel yesterday, half a world away his home town grieved for a man torn between two lives. As the adulation, scrutiny, intense film roles and complicated relationships of his Hollywood life took their toll, Ledger never stopped yearning for the deep bonds of his Perth childhood.
"The beauty about being an Australian in Hollywood is we've got this sense of fearlessness that comes from knowing we can always go home," Ledger said in an early interview. "It's not a bad f---ing back-up plan."
For Ledger, home became a refuge so dearly cherished that during his last return over Christmas he took the unusual step of thanking the media for leaving him alone to relive his childhood.
"I would say they were probably the best years of his life. They were certainly some of the best years of my life," one of his long-time friends told The Sunday Age.
Perth in the 1980s, when Ledger was growing up, was as far removed as possible in attitude, spirit and distance from the fast-paced film world that was to become his life.
Far-flung, sleepy and safe, it was the backdrop for a carefree childhood and Ledger's was typical of most — a happy time spent ducking in and out of mates' houses around his Perth Hills home, playing sport and swimming at the beach.
As he grew older, Ledger and his friends would spend hours surfing at Scarborough Beach on weekends, playing hockey and cricket, and hanging out in the pits at Wanneroo Raceway watching his dad Kim race.
Ledger showed particular promise on the hockey field as a half-back for the Curtin Trinity Pirates, reaching state-level competition at 15.
Club president Ian Pestana recalls a talented player who had the potential to pursue the sport to the top level.
"He had a lot of potential to do very well as a sportsman," he said.
"He was very quick and had handy stick skills. His dad used to bring him down to training and would stay to watch. He really encouraged him."
A former teammate remembers Ledger as a kid who made friends quickly when he joined the team.
"We were pretty arrogant, we thought we were pretty good, but Heath just fit right in," he said. "After he joined the team, we won all the prizes. He certainly could have pursued hockey further, but I think he made the right (career) decision.
"We had a pretty awesome three years on the team. It was a great time I'll never forget."
Ledger didn't forget either — he recently made a donation to the club and came along to watch a grand final with his dad.
At Guildford Grammar School, drama replaced hockey as his first passion and it wasn't long before his emerging talent was noticed by casting agents.
One of his first acting roles was a TV ad for Chicken Treat — still fondly recalled by Perth TV audiences — which starred a young Heath basting a chicken, those famous blond curls sticking out from under his red and yellow cap.
From those humble beginnings his career began to take off, with roles on TV show Sweat and the Australian film Black Rock among the first serious revelations of his ability.
As his success continued, Ledger never forgot those friendships forged at school, on the hockey field and at the beach. He invited his group of close-knit buddies to share his success, often flying them to LA or New York to attend his film premieres or to stay at his apartment.
Guildford Grammar School principal Robert Zordan said the bond between Ledger and his mates was important to him.
"He established very close friends at this school and throughout his very successful film career he sent text messages to his mates and invited them to stay with him at his apartment in New York," he said.
"He was an earthy sort of character and the beaut thing is, stardom never went to his head."
Despite his normal, knockabout childhood, there was always something a bit different about young Heath.
A little more intense than his peers, Ledger showed early signs of the character trait that was to later influence his eclectic choice of film roles and penchant for delving into dark characters such as the Joker.
"He was super cool, you know. Even though he was one of us, he was very mature; a deep thinker," a friend said.
"Just the way he talked, sometimes it was like he grew up in the 1600s or something. His dad was a big influence in that way, I think."
While Ledger's tragic death came at a pivotal time in his career, the final few months of his short life suggested his life in New York was a far cry from the happy childhood he enjoyed growing up in Perth.
Despite enjoying the attentions of a string of beautiful women, including Helena Christensen, Mary-Kate Olsen and Gemma Ward, Ledger struggled to deal with the separation from his daughter, Matilda, following his split with fiancee Michelle Williams.
A week before his death, he looked "pretty banged up" while filming in a wintry London street, according to a witness on the set.
Ledger spent the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before his death in the Dickensian back lanes of Clerkenwell, East London, where he was filming scenes from The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
"He was sitting in the corner, sneezing and coughing," said Cheryl Dougal, a barmaid at the Horseshoe, the 17th-century pub that was the location for the shoot.
"He looked pretty banged up."
The outdoor shoot continued despite the drizzle that clouded London in a slate-grey mist last week. As the temperature dropped into single figures at night, the actors were ferried back between takes to their trailers a few streets away.
Ledger arrived on set in full costume and make-up, wearing a white cloak, a helmet and a beak-mask, for his role as a shadowy outsider who joins the theatre troupe of Dr Parnassus, played by Christopher Plummer.
This week, Plummer said the London set had been cold. "You know how damp it gets in London. And at night the temperature drops horribly, and that little breeze gets up. You have to wear tonnes of stuff," he told Entertainment Weekly.
"Heath did have a terrible, lingering bug and he couldn't sleep at all. We all thought he'd probably got walking pneumonia."
Bur Plummer said speculation that Ledger committed suicide didn't make any sense.
"He was looking forward … he was in such a good, happy mood about the picture. Looking forward to going to Vancouver. He was enjoying the film thoroughly.
"I just left a very laughing, happy fellow, practically a few minutes ago. It's quite shocking because it's so incredible."
With THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
This story was found at:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/01/26/1201157738746.html