More information surrounding the tragic passing of Australian actor Heath Ledger has now been revealed, exposing even more about the unusual situation surrounding his passing. Allegedly, emergency services stumbled upon a shrine in the actor’s New York apartment which featured items dedicated to his then-muse, The Joker.
It’s no surprise that Ledger went deep down the rabbit hole in his attempt to embody the iconic villain, but a source has revealed to Page Six just how far the dedication went.
“He was studying up on the origins of clowns and all of the previous Jokers like Jack Nicholson’s character and Cesar Romero’s, who was the first Joker on TV,” a source says. “He was trying to make his role different from the roles of the other actors. He was even studying how to make his voice different from theirs.”
When emergency services entered the Manhattan apartment back in 2008 following a then-suspected overdose, they also reportedly found a serious collection of Batman comics, clown literature and even recordings of his own Joker voice in various octaves.
Further adding to the strangeness of it all, Ledger’s place was apparently “immaculately” tidy. The source chalked this down to Ledger having “a lot of respect for the character.”
Ledger donned the face paint for his role in Dark Knight, which earned him a posthumous Oscar. Such was his effort as The Joker that Jared Leto, who took the reins for Suicide Squad, deemed it “impeccable, perfect”, adding, “It’s one of the best performances ever in cinema.”
