Author Topic: Heath Ledger - News Accounts  (Read 1144149 times)

Offline nakymaton

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts
« Reply #40 on: January 23, 2008, 09:54:31 am »
NPR's Morning Edition:

"Ledger's Death Is Film World's Loss" and a remembrance from NPR's film critic: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18328154&ft=1&f=1001

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Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts - Autopsy Results
« Reply #41 on: January 23, 2008, 11:37:16 am »
NEW YORK —  An autopsy on actor Heath Ledger was inconclusive, and more tests are needed, the New York City Medical Examiner's Office said.

A spokeswoman for the office, Ellen Borakove, said Wednesday that it will take about 10 days to complete the investigation.

There was no obvious indication of suicide or foul play, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, who added that cops are "investigating the possibility of an overdose."

The 28-year-old Australia-born actor's ex-fiancée, actress Michelle Williams, was flying to New York from Sweden with their 2-year-old daughter, Matilda, her father said.

"It has just broken everybody's heart in my family," Larry Williams, Michelle's dad, told The Daily Telegraph in Australia. "My heart goes out to everyone, his family, my family, we are just very saddened. The saddest thing is his daughter, whom he just loved dearly."

Oscar-nominee Ledger was found dead Tuesday at his downtown Manhattan residence, face-down and naked at the foot of his bed with prescription sleeping pills in the apartment, police said.

Ledger's father, Kim Ledger, released a statement on Australian television while surrounded by his family:

"We, Heath's family, confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda. He was found peacefully asleep in his New York apartment by his housekeeper at 3:30 p.m. U.S. time.

"We would like to thank our friends and everyone around the world for their well wishes and kind thoughts at this time. Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life but few had the pleasure of truly knowing him.

"He was a down to earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving and selfless individual who was extremely inspirational to many. Please now respect our families need to grieve and come to terms with our loss privately."
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Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts - Heath's Bad Habits Worse Than Thought
« Reply #42 on: January 23, 2008, 11:40:14 am »
Here comes the slams and the suspicion, courtesy of Fox News & the NY Post:

Heath’s Bad Habits Worse Than Thought
By Roger Friedman

Heath Ledger’s untimely tragic death at 28 on Tuesday may have been accidental, but there was a path to it.

Ledger has many friends, I am told, who will turn up in the next few days with tales to make our collective hair stand on end.

As a reporter, I hesitate to start getting into this less than a day after his passing. But from what I was told Tuesday night by someone who really knew Ledger and ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams, the young actor’s problems were severe.

"When they do the autopsy it will all come out, I’m sure," says one producer who knew the couple well. "They’ll find everything."

Ledger, he says, was morose over losing his life with Williams and their baby daughter in Brooklyn. He may not have committed suicide, but he carried on, my source says, with little regard for his health or well-being.

It’s hard for the average movie fan, including yours truly, to totally grasp why a guy like Heath Ledger — drop-dead handsome, popular, incredibly talented — could be depressed about anything.

My source reminds me: "You’re being paid $10 million and wondering if you’re worth it. Then your girlfriend kicks you out, you’re separated from your child and you’re thinking: 'I’m a big movie star but not popular at home.' That’s when the trouble starts."

Ledger’s death is heartbreaking to those who knew and loved him, for his child and his parents as well as friends. I won’t belabor the point. But when all the facts are in, Ledger’s accidental death will certainly seem like one that could have been prevented.
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Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts - Funeral May Be Moved - Protests
« Reply #43 on: January 23, 2008, 12:27:04 pm »
The funeral for Heath Ledger may be held in his native Australia in lieu of a service in the United States with Tuesday's announcement by the Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church that he intends to disrupt and protest the funeral.

Phelps and his supporters, which run a website GodHatesFags.com, released a statement late last night that hundreds of protesters intend to picket and shout down any funeral service for the 28-year old actor found dead in Manhattan Tuesday afternoon.

From a statement:

"Heath Ledger thought it was great fun defying God Almighty and his plain word; to wit: God Hates Fags! & Fag Enablers! Ergo, God hates the sordid tacky, bucket of slime seasoned with vomit known as ‘Brokeback Mountain’ - and He hates all persons having anything whatsoever to do with it."

"Heath Ledger is now in Hell, and has begun serving his eternal sentence there - beside which, nothing else about Heath Ledger is relevant or consequential."
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Offline MaineWriter

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts
« Reply #44 on: January 23, 2008, 12:28:19 pm »
from the New York Times:

 January 23, 2008,  10:24 am

Ledger Autopsy Is Inconclusive, Official Says


By Sewell Chan

An autopsy of the actor Heath Ledger was performed on Wednesday morning, but the results are inconclusive, according to Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for New York City’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch.

Additional blood and tissue testing needs to be performed before the manner and cause of death can be determined, Ms. Borakove said in a phone interview, estimating that the process could take 10 days to two weeks. “If you have no apparent cause, you have to do further testing,” she said.

No cause of death has been ruled out, she added. The autopsy, at the medical examiner’s headquarters at 520 First Avenue, near 30th Street on the East Side of Manhattan, began around 8:30 a.m. and lasted about two hours, she said.

The two types of tests that still have to be performed include toxicology, which examines the adverse effects of chemicals in the blood stream, and histology, in which thin slices of tissue are analyzed by pathologists.

Ms. Borakove said the body was ready to be released to Mr. Ledger’s family for burial. “We don’t need to keep the body once the family is ready,” she said.

Mr. Ledger, 28, the Australian-born actor whose breakthrough role as a gay cowboy in the 2005 movie “Brokeback Mountain” earned him a nomination for an Academy Award and comparisons to the likes of Marlon Brando, was found dead on Tuesday afternoon in an apartment at 421 Broome Street, between Crosby and Lafayette Streets, in SoHo. Prescription sleeping pills were found near his body, but it is not know if the medication played a role in his death.

John Sullivan contributed reporting.
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts - Autopsy Results
« Reply #45 on: January 23, 2008, 12:29:22 pm »
NEW YORK —  An autopsy on actor Heath Ledger was inconclusive, and more tests are needed, the New York City Medical Examiner's Office said.

A spokeswoman for the office, Ellen Borakove, said Wednesday that it will take about 10 days to complete the investigation.

No more than I expected. They never get toxicology reports right away.
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts - Heath's Bad Habits Worse Than Thought
« Reply #46 on: January 23, 2008, 12:33:47 pm »
Here comes the slams and the suspicion, courtesy of Fox News & the NY Post:

Some talking heads on the Today show this morning were saying essentially the same things to Matt Lauer, though perhaps putting it a little more respectfully: That since the breakup with Michelle he'd been out in clubs a lot, and told someone while he was working on the Batman movie that he was only able to sleep two hours a night.
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Offline Kd5000

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts
« Reply #47 on: January 23, 2008, 12:36:48 pm »
And Australia has every right to deny entry to Reverend Phelps and his ilk. I'm glad he's being buried abroad.  Australia is a smaller country with less celebrities, so I'm sure it will be a big deal down there.
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Offline dot-matrix

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts - Funeral May Be Moved - Protests
« Reply #48 on: January 23, 2008, 12:41:09 pm »
The funeral for Heath Ledger may be held in his native Australia in lieu of a service in the United States with Tuesday's announcement by the Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church that he intends to disrupt and protest the funeral.

Phelps and his supporters, which run a website GodHatesFags.com, released a statement late last night that hundreds of protesters intend to picket and shout down any funeral service for the 28-year old actor found dead in Manhattan Tuesday afternoon.

From a statement:

"Heath Ledger thought it was great fun defying God Almighty and his plain word; to wit: God Hates Fags! & Fag Enablers! Ergo, God hates the sordid tacky, bucket of slime seasoned with vomit known as ‘Brokeback Mountain’ - and He hates all persons having anything whatsoever to do with it."

"Heath Ledger is now in Hell, and has begun serving his eternal sentence there - beside which, nothing else about Heath Ledger is relevant or consequential."

I am big believer in free speech,freedom of the press, the public's right to know and all that but do we really need to give this MONSTER and his evil family yet another forum for their hateful and vile rhetoric by posting it in all it's repugnant and disgusting detail here at Bettermost.  Especially now aren't we already in enough pain without reading that filth.  That last line alone reduce me to tears all over again and I KNOW it's not true.

 :'(
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Offline nakymaton

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Re: Heath Ledger Dead - News Accounts
« Reply #49 on: January 23, 2008, 12:51:55 pm »
Re: Roger Friedman and Fred Phelps...

I feel like I need to puke. Maybe I can puke on their shoes.
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