R.I.P. Heath Ledger

[Hurlshort]

Anyway stay off drugs kids.

 

 

Too bad the drugs got him.

 

 

Yeah, stay away from those prescription drugs. They'll kill you.

 

Sleeping pills are dangerous. There tends to be bigger issues at hand when someone needs a prescription sleeping pill. These are powerful drugs, whether they are prescribed or not. I hope it raises the awareness that "hey, maybe I shouldn't take death pills and should work on getting my mind in a place where I don't need drugs to relax."

[Pope]

The Joker was supposed to make a return in the third installment of Nolan's Batman series, playing a Hannibal Lecter like "advising" kind of role in Batman's quest to stop Two-Face.

 

Too bad that won't happen anymore.

 

I hope Ledger's Joker is memorable, if not I'll always remember him as a gay cowboy.

 

RIP

Edited January 23, 2008 by Pope

[Cantousent]

Anyway stay off drugs kids.

 

 

Too bad the drugs got him.

 

 

Yeah, stay away from those prescription drugs. They'll kill you.

 

Sleeping pills are dangerous. There tends to be bigger issues at hand when someone needs a prescription sleeping pill. These are powerful drugs, whether they are prescribed or not. I hope it raises the awareness that "hey, maybe I shouldn't take death pills and should work on getting my mind in a place where I don't need drugs to relax."

 

Aside from Hiro's witty remark, Ledger did succumb to drugs, prescription or not. Yes, kids, and adults, should stay off of drugs in the sense that overdosing or improper use may be fatal. Drug abuse is drug abuse, and taking a quantity of drugs sufficient to end your own life should certainly count as drug abuse. Good one, Hiro. Snappy comeback.

 

On the other hand, the police weren't sure about the particulars of the actor's death. If someone gave him the drugs without his knowledge or consent, I don't think we can really classify it as drug use.

 

I'm sorry to hear that someone died under these circumstances. I'm not really a fan, but it's still a shame. I was mostly reading this thread to figure out why it seemed like such a significant event for the world at large. That's not to say that I think death is insignificant, but some folks are acting as if the actor were a head of state or some such. Don't get me wrong, I'm not admonishing folks for feeling grief. I'm just wondering why they feel it so acutely over an actor. I dunno. I guess I feel sad when folks die, but I don't actually personally grieve for folks I don't know.

[Shryke]

only saw him in 10 things i hate about you and the brothers grimm

 

he looked really good in the batman trailer though

 

definitely looking forward to seeing that

[Gfted1]

Rolled Up $20 Found Near Heath Ledger Edited January 23, 2008 by Gfted1

[GreasyDogMeat]

The only movie I remember seeing him in was the Terry Gilliam movie The Brothers Grimm, which I really enjoyed. He looks like he'll make an awesome Joker in the new Batman movie. Seemed tallented and it was quite a surprise to hear he had passed away.

[Hurlshort]

Rolled Up $20 Found Near Heath Ledger

 

It came up negative for any drugs. Most of the initial crazy drug stuff is being refuted. It looks like prescription drugs got him, but they'll do an full autopsy.

[Blarghagh]

So far it seems like sleeping pills killed him.

 

The funny thing is I read in an interview that playing the Joker was hard on him and required him to take sleeping pills to sleep.

 

So, I guess, in a way, Batman killed him.

[Omelette]

Autopsy was inconclusive. It'll take now 8 days I think to make a full toxicology report. And run more tests.

[astr0creep]

Apparently the pill bottles they found that made the investigators(or was it the press?) think that he may have died of an overdose were almost full, barely touched.

 

 

More and more I think it was a bad prescription, pills that were too "powerfull" for him.

 

 

If the autopsy was inconclusive doesn't it mean that no drugs or barely enough to cause this were found in his system?

 

And how come like... 90% of the time celebrity deaths are always mysterious. How come they can almost never find out the cause of death?

 

Weird.

[Gfted1]

If the autopsy was inconclusive doesn't it mean that no drugs or barely enough to cause this were found in his system?

 

No. An autopsy looks at the physicality of the corpse. Were there and physical traumas? Enlarged heart? Rotting liver? Brain anyurism? That kind of stuff. Toxicology, which takes 8-10 days, checks the blood for drugs, poisons, wierdness, etc... and will determine the levels present in his system.

[Gfted1]

Accidental Pill Overdose Killed Ledger

 

Feb 6, 11:26 AM (ET)

 

By AMY WESTFELDT

 

NEW YORK (AP) - Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of painkillers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medication and other prescription drugs, the New York City medical examiner said Wednesday.

 

The cause of death was "acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a statement.

 

The drugs are the generic names for the painkiller OxyContin, the anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax, and the sleep aids Restoril and Unisom. Hydrocodone is a widely used prescription painkiller.

 

Borakove wouldn't say what concentrations of each drug were found in Ledger's blood, or whether one drug played a greater part than another in causing his death.

 

 

"What you're looking at here is the cumulative effects of these medications together," she said.

 

The ruling comes two weeks after the 28-year-old Australian-born actor was found dead in the bed of his rented SoHo apartment. Police found bottles of six types of prescription drugs in his bedroom and bathroom.

 

Ledger's family returned to the actor's hometown of Perth, Australia, on Tuesday to prepare for his funeral. Arrangements were private.

 

In a statement released through Ledger's publicist, the actor's father, Kim, said Wednesday: "While no medications were taken in excess, we learned today the combination of doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy. Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage."

 

Heath Ledger was discovered by his masseuse Jan. 22 after she arrived for an appointment that afternoon. She entered his bedroom to set up for the massage and found him unresponsive, and proceeded to call Mary-Kate Olsen three times over the next 9 minutes before dialing 911. Ledger had been dead for some time, and police say no foul play occurred.

 

Ledger, nominated for an Oscar for his role in "Brokeback Mountain," had returned to New York from London, where he had been filming a $30 million Terry Gilliam film, days before his death. He said in a November interview that his most recent completed roles in the Batman movie "The Dark Knight" and Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There" had taken a toll, saying he couldn't sleep.

 

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he had taken two Ambien pills, which only gave him an hour of sleep.