Who here was affected emotionally by news of Heath Ledger's death?

I've guess I've actually never had an emotional attachment to famous people who die unexpectedly.

I was just a little too young to be affected by Kurt Cobain. For me, Princess Di's death brought a mild shock but not grief. Chris Farley having a heart attack was sad, but the media had been predicting it for some time. And when Paul Wellstone died, I was just starting to get active in liberal politics and didn't know much about him.

I guess the closest I ever came was when Phil Hartman was murdered, and even then, it was a muted, delayed reaction because I wasn't aware of his surprisingly timeless body of work. (The voice of Troy McClure...the ubiquitous impressionist on SNl...the bombastic star of NewsRadio...AND he co-wrote "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure?" Wow...)

So my reaction to Ledger dying was the same as it always is--shock, but not a personal sense of sadness. You?

Will be sad to see him in Batman, never seen him anything but the jousting movie and The Patriot. Seems like a waste of a life and all that.

He left behind his children and hundreds of people who truly did care about him.

Grieving for a loved one affects one in sometimes surprising ways. Bornaginhooligan may laugh, but this brought me to my knees.

:hug:

I wish I could help.

:hug: :hug:

Some people can't help being assholes. It's neurological.

Cut the crap.

Don't forget to alert. I will never forget your delightful brand of assholery, nor shall my daughter. You brought her (at 17) a ton of emotional distress yesterday and you still play the who me card. I've already told you what you can do. Too bad you haven't yet,.

I find the whole alert thing pretty immature. I don't need to run to adults to tattletale, I can handle myself just fine.

Furthermore, I understand why a 17 year old child might have issues dealing with other people's opinions on movies, but I expect better from grown adults.

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But I'm not emotionally affected :shrug:

The last celebrity that hit me this hard was River Phoenix. But Health Ledger wasn't abusing drugs, so this is totally unexpected.
:(

One is the person. The other is the potential. When John and Kurt and Di and all of them died, their families and friends lost someone very dear to them. But there was also more that they could have given to the world had they not died. These are people who did great works... and now that is gone. They can give no more. Maybe it's selfish of us to grieve for that loss. But the fact remains that it is a loss. Whether it be the loss of a few laughs, like in the case of Phil Harman, or the loss of a great poet like John Lennon. Their families lost a loved one. But the world as a whole lost someone who could have improved people's lives, even if it was only in the tiniest fashion or for the briefest moment.

Damn, DarkTirade, you're smart!

:thumbsup:

But even though Lennon died almost a year before I was born, I still look back on that and feel the loss.

but I agree with you about Phil Hartman.

:P

For me, I grew up fairly sheltered. The first rock music... hell, the first current music I ever heard that I realized I really liked was Smells Like Teen Spirit. Up until then I'd been inundated with crap like Vanilla Ice and New Kids on the Block and been surrounded by people who seemed to think that was 'good'. So to finally hear something simple and pure and yet powerful and emotional... that really affected me a lot. Not to mention that he really helped give a voice to a generation who wanted to say something... but had nothing to say. There was no war to protest against. No great cause to stand up for. We still felt the same things that the generations before us did... but we had no outlet for it. The only thing we had to stand up against was the gimme gimme crap from the 80s, so we went as far from that as possible. And whether he wanted it or not, Kurt was pretty much the poster boy for the grunge movement at the time.

And probably the most intelligible grunge singer on the radio... :P

I really liked him.

I feel bad for his wife (not sure if they're together or not still) and his baby. :cry:
How awful for them to have to go through this.

I also thought of James Dean. I guess that's more of my generation, since many of you were not born when Dean was killed..

is who I thought of. Both were way to young to die. So sad.

and it broke my heart. I thought he looked exactly like my adored older brother, and his death really upset me. I thought Heath Ledger was a great talent, too, and would probably have won an Oscar in the very near future. His performance in "Brokeback Mountain" was awe-inspiring.

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American film actor. Dean's status as a cultural icon is best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause, in which he starred as troubled high school rebel Jim Stark. The other two roles that defined his star power were as the awkward loner Cal Trask in East of Eden, and as the surly, racist farmer Jett Rink in Giant. His enduring fame and popularity rests on only three films, his entire starring output. As with Buddy Holly, Bruce Lee, and Marilyn Monroe his death at a young age helped guarantee a legendary status. He was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and remains the only person to have two such nominations posthumously.

And normally I am not, by celebrity deaths. The only ones I can think of that hit me like Heath Ledger's were River Pheonix, Phil Hartman, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. I am always vaguely sad, but not truly, the way I felt today when I heard this. This was just awful. He was too young, he has a toddler, and he was extremely talented. His performance in Brokeback Mountain especially was exraordinary. I think if people haven't seen him in that role, they may not truly know what a talent was lost to the world.

Back when I was really into sports, the death of Hank Gathers really got me as well, as we were very close in age.

I've never really gotten upset over a politician's death, with the exception of when Barbara Jordan passed away, but LBJ, RFK and JFK were before my time.

People on several boards I frequent seem to feel the same. Even the guy from TMZ.com expresed shock when he was being interviewed by Keith earlier. RIP Heath.

to make movies and his live his life without living the hollywood life. His death saddens me, Brad Renfro's death saddened me as well but didn't not surprise me. One of the celebrity deaths that actually made me cry was John Candy, i just really loved him from the days of SCTV and then on. Molly Ivins was another one that made me cry.

I enjoyed his gift and I wonder what else he had in store.

Very sad and I'm not afraid to express that.

Young people do not just drop dead for no reason, at least not usually from natural causes. And I never heard anything about him that would lead me to believe he would die young. Not that I pay much attention to the tabloids but I, frankly, would have expected it if it were Britney.

But then again I wasn't really sad when my grandma died either. I never once cried for her. But she was old and sick and it was definitely something we expected sooner rather than later.

It's always sad when someone that young dies, whatever the reason.

anyone else that I can think of. Mostly it's, as others have said, the loss of such a great talent and potential. His performance in Brokeback Mountain took my breath away. Of course that's nothing considering the loss his family and friends are experiencing, but yes, his death has shocked and saddened me greatly, much more so than I would have thought.

:( I don't know if it's just because I liked him in the movies I'd seen and he seemed like a decent guy, or because he was close to my age, or because of all the other stuff I'm dealing with at the moment, but it kind of knocked me on my ass. :shrug: (Of course, I seem to be abnormally sensitive to deaths, even if I don't know the person - I remember crying for about an hour my freshman year of college when a student whom I had never met died of natural causes.) :shrug: I guess my friend's combat death last year has "toughened me up" a little bit, but it's also kind of left me emotionally vulnerable, I think (like I didn't have enough trouble with that already :eyes: ). I just don't know anymore. :shrug:

:(

especially when there was so much promise and talent, as in Heath's case.

so, it really had no effect at all

Both of those hit me super hard. Steve Irwin's death hit me hard because I didn't believe he was dead at first, then bam, it was true. Kurt Cobain's death bothered me because he was the first musician who ever stood up for the gay community in such a quotable public way like that and at the height of his fame, which he did not have to do. He was a unifying force for many of us who felt, well, left out of the human experience.

I'm sad that Heath Ledger and so many other young people die, but personally, I really had no attachment per se, didn't know him. I did feel bad that he died, though, because he played in such a pivotal movie for the GLBT community, which meant a lot to a lot of us. That to me took courage and compassion for a straight actor to take on that role. That means something to me.

who won't know her dad. I'm not a movie person, and didn't see anything he was in.

the movie still gets to me. and i keep thinking of Michelle and their daughter. he would have been one of the last i would expect to die like this.

i think he was one of the best actors around these days also. very sad.

know he was so troubled. I just knew he was an amazing actor, who did amazing work in a wide variety of roles. I understand why everyone thinks of "Brokeback Mountain" first; it was a breakthrough movie. But "10 Things I Hate About You" remains one of my favorites. He was just too damn young to go. Be at peace, Heath. Fare well.

This month I lost two dear relatives within two weeks of each other. Though they did die as octogenarians, they led full lives, and I had visited them both within the last year of their lives. Due to my immediate family obligations at the same time, I can't go to the funerals of either relative.

Right now I am dealing with people a little closer to home. I think his death is a shock as he was in his prime...that's all I can say.

so no, I wasn't affected.

Being from the same country as he was, I had seen lots more of him in the local media than perhaps US audiences had seen of him and I had always greatly admired and respected him.. I'd seen him on local television shows and he just seemed like such a nice, average guy. It just felt like he had so much ahead of him and it was such a tragic and untimely loss

But I'm not really a fan, so I don't feel the same sense of sadness as when Zappa or Phil Hartman or Stockhausen or Vonnegut or some others have died.

I'm not even sure if I've ever seen a Heath Ledger movie, though I probably did. (and no, I have not yet seen Brokeback Mountain, though it's been on my list of "to see" movies).

I can't feign caring about it.

....next time he came to our town....which would never happen...I remember my friend a few houses down came running and telling me and my next door neighbor..that he was dead....I screamed at her and called her a LIAR...only to find out it was true moments later on TV...I collected newspaper and magazine clippings for weeks...I was only 10 but it hit me hard because I'd stood outside his house only hours before. x(

I was seriously depressed for weeks when Jim Henson died. I had family members calling me to make sure I was okay. I had a strong emotional attachment to all things Muppet and especially the genius behind them.

Another soldier dies and I feel personally affected. A kid at a zoo dies and I am saddened. When I heard about Heath, I can't help but be affected.

Maybe it's selfish of me to feel pain for these deaths, but I'm not sure I can help it.

I've been numbly waiting to hear about the passing of my Nana (which as far as I know hasn't happened yet - I'm too afraid to call atm). I cried for Heath yesterday. I'm feeling very emotional about it.

I've never had this reaction to a famous person's death before, but I am a member of the Brokeback Mountain fandom (I write stories and all that) and we are all taking this news VERY hard.

I'm at work now, and still have been crying on and off.

So when something tragic happens on 1/22 it'll be something I remember forever. Like the Bud Dwyer incident of 1987. Now, I'll always remember the day that Heath died because it happened on the 22nd.

This is just a bad day - I should have stayedin bed.

He died in 2004.

:hug:

As if the movie didn't destroy me already.

and I think it's really sad that his life was cut so tragically short, but I have no personal sadness. In factthe only time I can say a celebrity death affected me personally was Princess Di's..she was something of an idol for me growing up. That being said, I'm so very sorry for those who are personally affected by his death. It's just tragic.RIP Heath.

Wasn't a fan, and I never met him. So I'm not going to pretend to be broken up.

When Hartman died, there was a sense of loss in that I appreciated his work, and a bit angry that he was murdered.

They asked, and apparently share more or less the same opinion.

:shrug:

Wasn't a fan, and I never met him. So I'm not going to pretend to be broken up.

When Hartman died, there was a sense of loss in that I appreciated his work, and a bit angry that he was murdered.

I am a film whore -- I love the artform and have a great deal of respect and awe for those actors who have special skills in that artform. Health Ledger was one of those craftpersons whose work I have been watching for years, liking most of it, bored by some of it, and 100% blown away by a few performances. His creation of "Enis" in BBM is perhaps one of the finest performances ever put on film -- I was utterly speechless after seeing it - it was a masterpiece.

Heath Ledger was an actor whose future career I was looking forward to with great deal of excitement. I didn't know him, and never anticipated that I ever would, but I was touched deeply by his work.

To see someone like that, with so goddanmed much talent and promise, taken away so early, just breaks my heart. It is a true loss to the film community, and those of us who love it.

Not a movie-watcher. No opinion one way or the other.

:hi: