Remembering Heath Ledger - One Year Later

It is just about to the exact minute in the day when, one year ago, I heard on the news that Heath Ledger had died. I did a double take as I heard while walking by the TV set, backed up, listened again - then it felt like a punch in the gut as I realized what I heard - what a terrible shock. Heath has been my biggest movie star crush ever, I loved that guy since I first saw ads for him in 2001 for "A Knight's Tale". I spent lots of time on message boards and fan sites since that time, reading what he was filming, reading about his life. I saw all his films. Yes, Heath was gorgeous - but I loved the things he said in interviews, he seemed like such a really special person - - I am so sad he's gone. I am happy about his Golden Globe win for best supporting actor for "The Dark Knight" and his Oscar nomination today - but it's certainly bittersweet - why can't he be here to enjoy this?!

I'm going to make mention, for a happier note to this, of my favorite Heath films. I think the one I love the most is "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999) - I have seen this film many times and never tire of it, it's just so much fun! I am also very partial to "The Patriot" (2000), and then, of course, Heath is just so absolutely gorgeous to look at in "A Knight's Tale" (2001) with his long blond locks, and in "Casanova" (2005) - um, swoon! But I really do think his best performance of all is his role of The Joker in "The Dark Knight" (2008) - wow is he great in that, he really deserves to win the Oscar. I have written reviews in the past for most of his films, which I will post over the next few days in my movie review blog as a tribute.