Heath Ledger should win an oscar

One of the first reviews of The Dark Knight hails Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker as Oscar-worthy.

"I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker," Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers writes.

"It's typical of Ledger's total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I'm Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked," Travers continues.

"Ledger's Joker has no gray areas — he's all rampaging id," the critic says. "He creates a Joker for the ages"

"No plastic mask for Ledger," Travers describes. "His face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell."

Travers says the performance makes him an Oscar contender.

"If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up," he writes.

The actor – who died at age 28 of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January – will be honored in the end credits of the film.

(Click here for a photo retrospective of Ledger's life.)

Ledger will be acknowledged along with Conway Wickliffe, a special-effects technician on the film who died in a stunt in September.

"In memory of our friends Heath Ledger & Conway Wickliffe," the credit reads, according to Warner Bros. publicity Web site.

(See Us' photo tribute to stars who have gone too soon.)

Dark Knight star Christian Bale opens up about working with Ledger in the new issue of Parade.

"He was a unique character, a very infectious character," Bale says. "He was a good man, and I was glad to have spent time with him."

The film opens July 18.

Source: US Magazine

Michelle Williams Reflects on 'Cool' Cannes

In her first public interview since Heath Ledger's death, Michelle Williams said it was "cool" to be at Cannes.

The actress, 27, arrived in the south of France Thursday in time to dazzle at the red carpet premiere of her film Wendy and Lucy.

"She was very, very excited – it’s her first trip to Cannes," the film's director, Kelly Reichardt, told PEOPLE, adding that they celebrated Williams's festival debut with some "celebratory cocktails.”

On Friday, the actress began promoting Synecdoche, New York, a Charlie Kaufman film costarring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener.

"It actually does feel kind of special to have two films at the same time," Williams said. "The film [Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, which she's currently filming in Boston] was sweet enough to let me come here and enjoy it."

The actress (who is in town for just 48 hours, traveling without daughter Matilda, 2) added: "[It's] something you can look back on at the end of your life and think, 'That was a cool thing I did when I was 27.' "

Williams walked into the Palais du Festivals laughing and chatting with Keener, their arms linked around each other's waists.

Source: People

Heath still hanging around?

Heath Ledger's former lover claims she is being haunted by his ghost.

Actress Michelle Williams told friends that Ledger, who died aged 28 of an accidental drug overdose in January, had twice visited her as a 'shadowy apparition'.

The first time, she was woken at night after hearing furniture move.

In another 'visitation', she said he apologised to her for not being there to help raise their two-year-old daughter, Matilda.

Williams, 27, claimed the hauntings helped her grieve.

Today Heath Ledger Would Have Turned 29

Today is actor actor Heath Ledger's birthday. He would have turned 29-years-old.

Ledger died of a prescription drug overdose in January. He is survived by ex Michelle Williams and their two-year-old daughter Matilda.

Sent all your love and best wishes to Heath's family on this special day.

Source: US Weekly

Mother of Heaths secret love child speaks

The woman who is rumored to have a secret love child with Heath Ledger has spoken out.

She told The Daily Mail:

"I'm not answering anything. I think it's very, very rude that I'm being posed all of this. I really do. I can't talk about anything. You have no proof, there's no background, there's no grounds, there's no nothing. The whole thing with [Ledger being the father] is no. No way. No can be."

Her husband also denied the story: "We knew it would flare up and that is the point of my talking and the simple thing is we will do a DNA test. I'm the step-dad, but there's nothing to hide... and if I asked [the mother] I'm sure that she wouldn't mind [to have a DNA test]."

Heath had a secret love child ?

Heath Ledgers uncle Haydn has claimed he may have a secret love child. Heath had an affair with a 25 year old woman in Australia when he was 17.

After Heath ended the relationship the woman foun out she was pregnant who is now married and has children.

Hadyn told the Sydney Daily Telegraph: "There is a very real possibility that Heath was the father."

Heaths family feud over his estate

Heath Ledger's uncles are speaking out against his father Kim's handling of the actor's assets, saying Kim has a bad track record of estate management.

Ledger's father so mishandled the management of their grandfather's estate 15 years ago in Australia that Kim was removed as executor, the uncles claim.

"It plunged into enormous debt," Mike Ledger, one of Kim's brothers, tells PEOPLE.

Heath died in January at age 28 of an accidental mixture of prescription drugs – leaving behind a daughter, Matilda, by his ex, actress Michelle Williams. His will, written before his relationship with Williams, leaves everything to his parents and sisters.

Ledger's uncle Mike insists the family has nothing to gain by removing Kim: "Our only vested interest is to assure that Matilda is well looked after."

Mike added that Kim's recent statement that Matilda "will be taken care of" was not enough assurance. "When you are talking about large sums of money like this," he says, "it should be an independent executor, but Kim hasn't chosen that way."

Williams's Father Raises Questions

Another of Kim's brothers, Hayden, tells PEOPLE that Williams's father, Larry, asked him if Kim was capable of managing the actor's estate. "I just said, 'No, not if he handles it like ours,' " he says.

The bitter dispute among the brothers dates back more than 15 years, when Kim became an executor of their grandfather Sir Frank Ledger's estate, which they estimate was worth about $2 million in the mid 1980s. The family patriarch was a respected engineer in Perth.

According to the newspaper The Australian, Frank's daughters filed a motion in Supreme Court asking to have Kim removed as the executor. The submission to the court stated that Kim's handling of his grandfather's estate "placed the assets at risk." A report in Australia's The Sunday Times says that a Supreme Court judge eventually removed Kim from overseeing the estate.

Ledger Family Friend Defends Kim
Robert John Collins – an Australian executor of Heath's will who has known the Ledger family for 30 years – said last week that Mike and Hayden's allegations about Kim were "rubbish."

Kim and his brothers have remained estranged since the dispute. In fact, Mike says that 17 family members weren't even invited to attend Heath's memorial and funeral in Perth.
"I'm his godfather," Mike says. "We didn't even have the ability or the opportunity to pay our last respects to Heath. And I tell you, that is terrible – that is so sad."

Source: People

Dark Knight Poster