In an ideal world, Australian actor Heath Ledger would have been celebrating his thirty-third birthday today. Heartbreakingly, he isn’t here for it: the actor passed away from an accidental prescription drugs overdose just over four years ago, on January 22, 2008. At the time, the actor was shooting Terry Gilliam‘s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” and the director managed to finish the film with Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law paying tribute to the late actor by joining the production.
Ledger had a rare talent that seemingly wowed everyone he would work with — Matt Damon, who appeared with the actor in Gilliam’s “The Brothers Grimm,” recently called him “the best actor I ever worked with” — and it’s hard not to be distraught at the thought of the performances we’ll never get to see. But even so, Ledger left behind an enormously impressive body of work for one so young, and in celebration of what would have been his birthday, we’ve picked out five of our favorite of his turns. There’s a number of others that could easily have been included — his take on Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes‘ “I’m Not There” is one of the best in the film, for instance, and only just missed this list. But these are the five that we’ll always remember him for. Weigh in with your own favorites below.
“Monster’s Ball” (2001)
Ledger is not in “Monster’s Ball” very much. As Sonny, the belittled son of misanthropic prison guard Hank (Billy Bob Thornton), he mainly serves to set up exactly how unpleasant his father is, before, shockingly, committing suicide in front of him. But it’s notable as the point where everyone sat up and realized that perhaps Ledger wasn’t simply some prominently cheekboned teen heartthrob. The actor broke through in 1999’s strong teen comedy “10 Things I Hate About You” with rugged charm, before playing Mel Gibson‘s son in “The Patriot,” and, earlier in the same year as “Monster’s Ball,” headlining minor hit “A Knight’s Tale.” He clearly had chops, but his performance as the sensitive Sonny, desperate for love from his father, and taking the bloody way out rather than risk turning into him, made it clear that Ledger had much more to give.