Stunning news from New York: actor Heath Ledger, the star of the movies Brokeback Mountain and A Knight’s Tale, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday afternoon.
News reports say Ledger was found unconscious about 3:30 pm by a housekeeper and a masseuse who had arrived for a scheduled appointment. No cause of death has been announced, but The New York Post is reporting that Ledger “apparently overdosed on anxiety pills.”
[Update: An autopsy on Wednesday was inconclusive as to the cause of death, according to the Associated Press. The AP says that toxicology and other reports will take another 10 days. Various news sources have quoted police as saying the death appears to be accidental.]
Ledger was already getting buzz for his role as The Joker in the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight, due out this summer.
The actor leaves behind a daughter, Matilda Rose, born in 2005; her mother is the actress Michelle Williams. Ledger and Williams met while filming Brokeback Mountain. They never married and separated late last year.