Culture

Twitter Honours Heath Ledger On What Would Have Been His 42nd Birthday

Happy birthday, Heath Ledger.

by Merryana Salem  4 April 2021
heath-ledger

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Many of us remember where we were on the 22nd of January 2008 when news broke that treasured Aussie actor, father and friend, Heath Ledger, passed away.

Today, Ledger would have been 42 and people are taking to Twitter to appreciate their favourite performances and public moments. Here are some of the highlights.

The Greatest Joker There Ever Was

No tribute to Heath Ledger is complete without mention of his final completed role and arguably his most iconic, the Joker. Ledger re-introduced an entire generation to the character in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight in 2008.

The role won him a best supporting actor Oscar. To this day, he is one of the few actors to both be nominated and win posthumously. Ledger’s Joker performance, I believe, is one of the biggest reasons The Dark Knight is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.

Twitter today is full of people posting their favourite clips and moments of Heath from The Dark Knight. I won’t speak for anyone other than myself, but my personal favourite is the monologue Ledger delivers as the Joker whilst gleefully hanging upside down during his final scene in the film. The line, “I think you and I are destined to do this…forever,” never fails to give me chills.

A Great Actor Taken Far Too Soon

Heath Ledger’s range as an actor was unparalleled and obvious even in the finite time we were blessed with his work. In just over a decade, Ledger lent his talents to an incredible variety of performances ranging from teen heartthrob, Patrick Verona in 10 Things I Hate About You, to repressed gay shepherd, Ennis in Brokeback Mountain, to the unhinged villain that is the Joker in The Dark Knight.

It’s a filmography whose range rivals actors who have been acting for decades. To have such a variety of accomplished and beloved performances after only a decade of working in film is nothing short of raw talent. As tragic as it is to imagine what Ledger may have continued to accomplish in his craft, we’re also so fortunate he leaves behind such a diversity of great performances to remember him by.

Oh, How We Miss That Smile…

I know I’m going to have few people disagree with me when I say Heath Ledger had a magic smile. Many actors have their Thing, the tick they have that they adapt to any performance. Some actors can say anything with their hands, or maybe a particular word or voice, but Heath Ledger had a smile for every role and all of them were glorious.

Happy birthday to one of the greatest actors ever lost. Ledger is missed and survived by film lovers, fans, friends, family, his daughter Matilda Ledger, and partner, Michelle Williams. At 27, he was taken far too soon, but we’re beyond lucky to have his incredible work to remember him by on what would have been his 42nd birthday.

Merryana Salem (she/they) is a proud Wonnarua and Lebanese–Australian writer, critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out their podcast, GayV Club where they gush about LGBT rep in media. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.