Friends and family have services on two continents, stars speak and fans from everywhere mourn

By Stacey Silberman

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 2/5/08 – Actor Heath Ledger’s remains are now in Perth following the 28-year-old’s premature death on Jan. 22, after friends and family grieved during a New York City viewing and then two private Los Angeles memorials. Heath will be laid to rest in a Perth family burial plot alongside his grandparents, said The Australian newspaper.

However, his native Perth townsmen are angry amid media allegations that their beloved young local died of an alleged drug overdose. According to sources at the New York City Medical Examiner’s office toxicology reports may be released as early as today, which will set the record straight, one way or another.

Although drugs may have contributed to Ledger’s death, those toxicology results will likely include a cocktail of primarily legal drugs that contributed to the tragedy, as with many high profile deaths recently. Rapper Pimp C’s death was yesterday revealed to be not entirely from his beloved codeine cough syrup — it was of course a very significant factor though not present in enough quantity to be a straight overdose, and sleep apnea was also cited as a cause.

“If a person dies, let him go in peace. All this rubbish they bring up about drugs and everything else, I think it’s a lot of rubbish,” said Margaret Byrne to the Associated Press. Byrne is a 58-year-old Perth native and is a catering supervisor at the Royal Perth Hospital.

The media and others have also been waiting on Heath’s final tests, which should determine how the actor died and also provide a sense of closure for family and loved ones.

A lot of that speculation was driven by the “Entertainment Tonight” debacle, which involved a two-year-old video that showed Ledger at a wild hotel party, where he allegedly discussed his own drug use. However, the network decided against showing the sordid video after pressure from Ledger’s publicity firm and other high-profile stars ensued. In the video, he never uses any substance and only makes reference mainly to pot smoking in the past tense.

Ironically, it was the Australian media that is said to have bothered Ledger the most during the height of his early career. And actress and ex-fiance’ Michelle Williams was quoted as saying, that the Australian press had really pushed him over the edge.

In the United States Ledger was known, but he wasn’t badgered by the paparazzi like he was in Australia. According to a report by an Australian newspaper, Ledger had even gone to the trouble of writing a thank you note to the local Australian press this past holiday after they left him alone to enjoy time with family and friends without much paparazzi interference.

Ledger’s success was certainly a huge source of pride for the Aussie’s of Perth.

“It’s probably the biggest news we’ve had in Perth in a long time … He’s probably the highest-profile star who’s ever come out of Perth and probably our greatest success story,” said Shannon Harvey, film critic at The Sunday Times.

Harvey said Ledger visited Perth to do promotional junkets for his earlier films, but he asked the press to stay away while he visited family. Mainly, it was because he had a difficulty in dealing with the media.

“He was not easy to interview,” Harvey said. “It appeared he was uncomfortable with doing interviews and feature stories and having media and complete strangers prying into his personal life.”

A Perth native had this to say about Ledger. “I think it’s disgusting how the media has played it out,” Justin Kestel said to the AP. Kestel is a 28-year-old travel agency manager who claimed to he’d played field hockey against Ledger, during their secondary school years.

Ledger must have been a pleasure to work with though. After looking at some of his credits, you can see that the actor worked regularly with some of the same directors and producers.

For example, producer Charles Roven made two films with Ledger. The first film was “The Brother’s Grimm,” which also happened to be directed by Terry Gilliam, the director on his final project, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.” Also, reports say it’s hopeful that the incomplete “Doctor Parnussus” film can be saved by computer generated magic, as well as the magic embodied in the film.

“Heath was a friend of mine, both personally and professionally. We made two films together, the second of which is the “The Dark Knight.” He was a terrific guy and a brilliant actor. I’ll miss him and where ever he is in the universe, I hope he’s happy,” Roven told Hollywood Today.

Roven also recently wrapped “The Dark Knight,” one of the Batman films, with Ledger, in which the talented actor played the infamously maniacal joker character that reportedly drained Ledger of some of his life force.

Actor Jack Nicholson, who also portrayed the menacing Joker in Tim Burton‘s 1989 movie “Batman,” spoke to the press outside a posh London restaurant following Ledger’s death, according to reports. Nicholson said he spoke to Ledger about the role. He implied that he had warned him about the pitfalls of taking on such a demanding and mentally destabilizing role. When asked for his reaction to Ledger’s untimely demise, the saddened Nicholson replied, “I told him so.”

The “Batman Begins” prequel “The Dark Knight” is due to be released in July 2008.

Roven was asked about Ledger while promoting his most recent United Kingdom project, “The Bank Job,” starring British actor Jason Statham, who was also asked to comment on the actor’s life and work. Statham answered begrudgingly.

“You’ve got very good reason to ask your questions, but I’d rather stay away from that. And I know whom you’re talking about…Heath. I know people that know him, he’s a terrific person, I never actually met him, but I’m sure there are a lot of people very sad about the news. It is a very sad thing whenever anyone passes away. A young talented actor at any age is sad,” said Statham.

Last, but not least, was Williams’ neighbor Alessandro Nivola, whose current release “The Eye,” put him in the line of fire too (“Face Off”). Nivola and his British actress girlfriend Emily Mortimer (“Trans Siberian”) live in Brooklyn.

“He and Michelle were our next-door neighbors in Brooklyn, and Michelle still is. She is a good friend of Emily’s and mine. He, I didn’t know as well as she, although we did cross paths a bunch of times in Brooklyn, before he moved into Manhattan, when they separated. He just seemed like a really loving father. I always saw him with Matilda their two-year-old daughter. He was always really sweet to me. I’m a huge fan of his as an actor and it’s horrible, it’s just awful.”

Although they had not had a chance to speak to Williams since arriving home from Sweden following the “heartbreaking news,” the actor said, “we’ve sent our condolences.”

Hopefully, once Ledger is buried in his native home, he will be allowed to rest in peace, while his work will remain forever in the hearts of his fans.

Pictured: Heath tribute at the Screen Actors Guild Awards