Heath Ledger played the
villainous Joker in The Dark Knight
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The late Australian actor
Heath Ledger has been posthumously honoured with one of his
country's top film awards.
Ledger was granted the Australian Film
Institute's (AFI) international award for best actor for playing The
Joker in the Batman movie, The Dark Knight.
Guests at the awards ceremony in
Melbourne's Princess Theatre gave Ledger a standing ovation.
The 28-year-old actor died in January of an
accidental overdose of painkillers and other medicines.
His sister Kate accepted the award,
accompanied by her parents.
"It has been without a doubt the most
difficult year, losing such a loved family member," she said.
"We are so proud of him and humbly accept
this award on behalf of his beautiful daughter [Matilda], who we
will cherish forever."
The AFI, celebrating its 50th annual award
ceremony, paid tribute to Ledger, who was nominated for an Oscar for
his role as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain in 2005.
"He was the untamed spirit many of us wish
we could be. May the legend live on," said an AFI tribute.
Cate Blanchett won the equivalent award for
women for her role in Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
Black Balloon, a drama about a teenage boy
learning to live with an autistic brother, won the award for best
film.
The film, which opens in the United States
this month, also saw Luke Ford and Toni Collette win the awards for
best supporting actor and actress.
Its director and co-writer Elissa Down won
the awards for best direction and original screenplay.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Heath
Ledger wins Critic's Choice Award Heath Ledger has won
the Critic's Choice Award for best supporting actor for his
portrayal of the Joker in The Dark
Knight.
The film's director Christopher Nolan accepted the award on
Ledger's behalf.
The win is another indication the Australian actor's role in the
Batman blockbuster may also be recognised with a Golden Globe on
Monday.
The Dark Knight also won in the best action movie category
but the big winner at the Los Angeles ceremony was Slumdog
Millionaire which received best picture, director, young
actor, writer and composer honours. Ledger is the hot favourite to
win the Golden Globe ahead of other nominees Tom Cruise and Robert
Downey Jr in Tropic Thunder, Ralph Fiennes in The
Duchess and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt.
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Heath Ledger Wins Posthumously at Golden Globes
12-Jan-2009
Written by: Susie Kopecky
The late Heath Ledger was a
big winner at Sunday’s Golden Globes.
Heath Ledger was
the posthumous winner of a Golden Globe on Sunday evening, for his
mesmerizing role in The Dark Knight. Ledger had been a
longtime favorite in the running, as his psychopathic, unsympathetic
Joker both intrigued and enflamed viewers enough to make his
appearance a truly unforgettable and jilting one.
Actress Demi
Moore (whose daughter, Rumer Willis, was a ceremonial figurehead at
the Golden Globes ceremony) presented the award for Best Supporting
Actor to Christopher Nolan, who accepted on behalf of the late
Ledger, 28. When accepting the honor bestowed upon his star by the
Hollywood Foreign Press, Nolan stated, "All of us who worked with
Heath on 'Dark Knight' accept this with an awful mixture of sadness
but incredible pride. After Heath passed on you saw a hole rift in
the future of cinema, but with the extraordinary response to his
work that we’ve seen all over the world, I for one will start to be
able to look less at the gap in the future and the incredible place
Heath made for himself with his talent and with his dedication." He
ended by stating, "Heath will be eternally missed but he will never
be forgotten."
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