Heath's Loved Ones Share

"Heath's the best actor I've ever worked with," he says. "Coming off The Brothers Grimm, which wasn't particularly well-received, I remember telling people about him. 'Heath Ledger, you mean the guy from A Knight's Tale?' they would say. I'd tell them, 'No, you wait!' And then he did Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight. People just got a glimpse of what he was going to do. He was so full of life.  He was a miracle of a man."

"One of the great things about Heath as a person, was that with all the stardom and with all the lights that were focused on him, it was with a degree of humility and loyalty that he remained very, very closely in touch with many of his peers from his particular year group."

"I know, for example, that when his friends from schooldays were in New York he would be a very, very generous and loyal host, often putting them up in his own home.

"He was a very skilled hockey player and ultimately was selected to represent the state in the under-17 hockey squad.

"In the latter part of his secondary schooling years he discovered, with a tremendous passion, a love of the creative and performing arts and specifically drama.

"It was there really that he left his mark in the school.

"When he got locked and loaded into something, like drama, it was 100 per cent."

I met Heath eight years ago while working on "The Patriot." He became a star while we were sequestered away in a small town in South Carolina based on the strength of the dailies going back to Los Angeles. Heath was a fantastically kind and sweet young man. He surrounded himself with his friends from Australia and never forgot any of us he ever worked with.

I last saw him in Australia when he called my name on a Melbourne street and introduced me to Michelle, his (then) pregnant [girlfriend].

I have great memories of going for runs with him or watching a bootleg copy of a Parker and Stone's musical called "Cannibal! The Musical of the Donner Party Tragedy." Heath was sensitive, a sweet person, and less importantly, an unbelievably talented actor. Maybe the best of his generation.

"Heath was the pied piper. If you were sad, he took care of you. If you were happy, he made you happier just by dancing or talking or laughing. Fear didn't enter his psyche. He would say whatever was on his mind. If he didn't like you, you would know it, and if he liked you, you would know it."

"He just kept getting better and better.  He was fearless.  On Parnassus, he was improvising all the time and it was better  than what we had written.  I don't normally encourage that kind of improvisation, but in a sense I felt Heath was writing the film.  He was an incredibly funny performer en he wanted to be -- his comic timing was just extraordinary -- and then he could break your heart the next minute." 

"Heath and I have a whole thing. We have a connection that's beyond words, really. Things kinda just happen with him and me around that kinda thing.''

(Ledger would surf Amazon.com, then call Ben up telling him to get a certain  CDs.)

‘‘And he really quizzes me on it. He calls me like three days later and says, ‘Did you get it? What do you think?' He keeps me honest in regard to that. When we talk about stuff he doesn't let me slack off.''

‘‘Heath's someone who always keeps in touch with his old friends. He could easily just p--- everybody off and hang out with high-rise cats -- it's just not his character.''

" With his physicality, he had style.  He didn't just surf or skate, he did it with his own weird, funky Heath style." 

[In Lords of Dogtown] " The younger actors, he was kind of like the godfather to all these boys, the Fagin.  He would encourage them, take them under his wing.

He had half a trailer; he was so modest but he set up a camp outside it.  He set up tiki torches and people would play guitars and call it Camp Heath."

". . . the very energy which made Ledger live each day as if it were his last is what made him dynamic on screen. Away from the screen, that energy instilled in those who knew him an extraordinarily deep love and affection.

"Something heroic, playful and generous in Ledger struck a chord with many people . . . "

***

"Women adored him, and he them. He was embarrassingly romantic, each time he fell in love. He bordered on impulsive. I witnessed, during the Candy shoot, the startling intensity of his love for Michelle Williams: the reverence with which he spoke of her, his quietly joyful announcement of her pregnancy, the way they laughed when together. I saw them dance in an empty Kings Cross nightclub, Ledger swirling Williams around, grinning so widely, like the cat that got the cream. He seemed both startled by, and at ease with, good fortune."  

***

"In life and art, he was a mixture of child and sage. He was boyish in many ways, and yet it was not a Peter Pan quality, of someone incapable of growth. And for all that youth, he did at times seem like an old soul."

"Heath was one of those blessed human beings who have the facility to do so many things at the same time.  When he wasn't acting, he was directing music videos and supporting young musicians.  He was working on the script for a film he was preparing to direct.  He had an incredibly artistic side, and he was practically a grand master at chess." 

"Usually, with actors, it's all about themselves.  But it was never like that with Heah.  He was completely supportive of everything else around him.  He got better performances out of other actors - he just drew it out of them.  He was utterly generous and always aware of everyone else, and he behaved as if there was nothing special about him.  He was just a guy." 

"His physicality was extraordinary, too.  . . .  Women adored him , and men loved him."

Henderson was on the verge of packing up and leaving Los Angeles when Ledger, his old Sydney flatmate, gave him his daily allowance from The Patriot.

‘‘It's hard to say what would have happened if I hadn't had his support, but because I did have it, it was a source of strength. When you really are on the bones of your a---, questioning if it is something you want to do, it seems much easier to pack it up and go home. Then to have someone like Heath call, who has gone through it too . . .''

With Ledger's cash, Henderson was able to stay on and won jobs, including Torque and The Ring.

"Heath Ledger is a Vibrant Man, a Brave Actor, a Passionate Father and a Friend Forever…

Heath was an essential piece of my Life. Heath was an essential piece of my Life. At one point we were as close as two people could get without being blood. That closeness came from sharing a similar, life-altering experience in life at a young age where very few could relate and those who could often were pre-occupied with competition. It would have been isolating, not to mention boring, without him.”

[My favorite memory of Heath] "also happens to be one of my favorite shots of my career:  his 'barfing' scene in Brokeback, when he was hitting the wall with his fists.  We were  on the third take, his fists were bleeding, he'd literally spilled all his guts, and something in the background struck me as being perfect.  I think it was the clouds. ” 

I wanted to do another take, but Heath was exhausted.  My producer said, 'That's bullshit. The actor has had enough.'  But the clouds were perfect. 

We did another take, and after it was over, Heath said, "Wow.  That felt good!" "

How she explains the paparazzi to Matilda:

"It's because people really loved your daddy that they want to take your picture, to know you're all right."

"[Matilda] can know her dad in so many ways, and so many of his friends who will be able to tell her so many stories. His friends, his family—they were a big part of his life, and they will be a big part of her life." 

***

"Heath was good at sports.  He was good at directing.  He was good at painting.  He was good at taking pictures.  He was good at building things.  It could be infuriating to a lot of his friends. -- I mean, he head a talent for everything, that he put his mind to, pretty much, so he didn't know limits.   Maybe he had never been told that he couldn't do something, so everything was possible for him." 

***

 "I think that the interesting thing about Heath is how vulnerable he was.  You can pick up on it in his performances, but it's easy to overlook because he was so physical and beautiful and strong and masculine.  But there was always that underlying sensitivity.  That's  who he was."

. . . I remember him most for his laugh. Deep and felt. Like he knew God was laughing with him.

Heath Ledger  was the most extraordinarily courageous man I have ever known. .......

And the most optimistic. Someone that has such capacity to spread love and laughter does not deliberately throw his own life away. And if I was the last person to speak to him, I can vouch clearly that Heath was looking forward to the next day. He was looking forwards to meeting me, he was looking forward to discuss our next film together, he was looking forward to life and laughter the next day.

Of course he would talk about his daughter. He always did. But so do I about my daughter. I too am separated from her mother.

When we were filming Four Feathers, he would laugh at me every time I threatened to walk out of the film. He would joke at my trivial complaints. He would slap me on the back every time he would see my shoulders stooped. He would pull off the most amazing stunts, and we would not warn anybody about them before. It was our little schoolboy prank. His physical endurance was amazing. Heath was far more than my actor. he was also my support system.

He called me his elder brother. I am not sure. Sometimes I felt that I could lean on the innate strength that was Heath Ledger.

He was one the most gentle, the most honest, most caring, and most compassionate persons I had met.

I’d never known someone so connected to their family. I became good friends with his parents and stayed in touch with them after we split. They did such an excellent job of raising this wonderful person. His parents divorced a long time ago, but each of them had new partners, and every premiere, every award ceremony, they would all come over. His sister, too. There was a real sense of wanting to share it.

"Heath didn’t have the cynicism that this business can eventually put upon people, or the pretention that certain artists can carry with them sometimes. He had a really honest quality about him. He obviously had never lost his wide-eyed optimism."

"Heath had come into the Masses and one of the first things he said was, "You know, there’s this girl, Grace Woodroofe, this Australian artist. She’s 17 years old and she’s got this incredible voice and I want to produce her album.”

And we all kind of looked at each other and said, "Well, none of us have any experience with that.” But he said, "No, we’ll figure it out. We’ll just fly her out to Los Angeles and we’ll get it done.”

And, of course, before you knew it, we had this girl literally on our doorstep with her guitar. So we did some recordings that turned out really beautifully, and Heath directed a music video for her."

"Heath always gave people the time of day and . . . regardless of who you were, he'd light up the room with his smile.

"His laugh was a laugh that I'll never forget - you'd be across the room and you'd hear him laugh and know it was him."

He loved  his country deeply and was always urging people to visit Australia, particularly Perth."

 Paul spent time Heath during the Christmas holidays in December 2007.  They sunbathed  on Cottlesloe Beach, along with Mullert's  girlfriend.   They talked about "what a paradise Heath thought Perth was and how important his friends and family were." 

"To me, he was the most kind-hearted and generous friend you could ever have."

“If he could cook at his house with an ocean of people laying on the living room floor watching movies, that was his heaven. That and his daughter, Matilda -– she was everything to him.”

***

""It was Heath's kindness and sincerity, above all else, that came through at close quarters."

(Campbell speaks of how, when Ledger talked about Matilda, he - Campbell - would get jealous about the amazing childhood she was going to have.)

"Heath would get all excited about it and that excitement was so contagious.  All the things he would do with her as she grew up. Like buying a garage in Brooklyn and setting up a big screen on the back wall, so he and Matilda could pull the car up into it and have their own private drive-in theatre."

“We would all hang out in the West Village, and he was just like the guy with a cigarette.  He loved when anyone would react to him as a normal person. He really appreciated that.”

 Heath would give out his cigarettes and strike up conversation with just about anyone.

"Matilda's such a daddy's girl.  The way he acted with her was motherly.  You don't see men acting so comfortably and patiently with their kids.  It was amazing."

[In the fall] "He came in and Matilda was finishing an ice cream, and it spilled on her shirt.  Matilda didn't like feeling "dirty".  So after Matilda chose a new shirt, Heath spent  time making sure it fit and that she liked it. 

"Matilda never walked on the street -- She was always up high."

"They were so cute."