Heath Ledger found dead in hotel room

Heath Ledger, the Australian actor who found fame in the movie Brokeback Mountain, has been found dead in a hotel room in New York City. Apparently he may have died from an overdose of prescription pills. Two things emerge from this piece of news for me. One, that a talented actor is on his own, maybe feeling depressed and in a moment has taken an action that has led to his life ending. Two, that there were an awful lot of people all over the world that thought his life was worth something quite different and much more than this. They have expressed shock at the tragedy. Mel Gibson said "I had such great hope for him. He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."

The entertainment business in all its forms has more than its share of tragedy in this way. It could be the nature of the trade, its itinerant behaviour, one stage tonight, a different theatre tomorrow. All too often hotel rooms and tragedy go together.

Do we ask too much of the performers who entertain us? Are they put on Oscar's pedastal only to be knocked off when an alternative artist is flavour of the month?

The great tragedy for me is that in reality he died alone. Somehow he became disconnected from all those people who now say such wonderful things. Maybe we need to feel our actors and performers are not commodities "up there" but just like us. We and they should get re-wired!

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