The first public statement from someone in BBM:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23100481-5001021,00.html--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ang Lee mourns Heath Ledger, fans leave flowers, candlesJanuary 24, 2008 07:30am
Ang Lee ... director of Brokeback Mountain, has described working with Heath as one of the purest joys of his life. ACCLAIMED director Ang Lee has mourned the death of Heath Ledger, saying working with the Australian-born actor was ''one of the purest joys of my life.''Ledger costarred with Jake Gyllenhaal in Lee's Oscar-winning movie "Brokeback Mountain." He played Ennis Del Mar in the gay romance about two ranch hands who carried on a secret love affair.
"Working with Heath was one of the purest joys of my life. He brought to the role of Ennis more than any of us could have imagined - a thirst for life, for love, and for truth, and a vulnerability that made everyone who knew him love him. His death is heartbreaking," Lee said in an email to The Associated Press.
Ledger's performance in "Brokeback Mountain" earned him a best actor Oscar nomination. Lee garnered the best director award for the film.
The 28-year-old actor was found dead yesterday by his housekeeper and masseuse in New York City - lying naked and face-down at the foot of his bed, with prescription sleeping pills nearby, police said.
An initial autopsy on the actor was inconclusive.
Meanwhile fans of Ledger have left flowers and candles outside the New York apartment building where the body of the Oscar-nominated Australian star was found with sleeping pills nearby.
Authorities said the death yesterday of the 28-year-old actor was a possible overdose, but it could be a further 10 days before the results of toxicology tests are known.
Shocked fans set up the makeshift memorial hours after Ledger's body was found.
One note said, "I couldn't find anything bad about you."
Khaled Ali, 41, a stage manager for a Broadway show, dropped off a candle outside the downtown SoHo building on his way to work. He said he and his fellow cast members were devastated by the news of Ledger's death.
"I felt a connection with him as an actor, as a fellow in the theatre community," he said.
"With Brokeback Mountain he touched me personally in telling the story of my community. It was very touching."
Ledger split last year with Michelle Williams, who played his wife on the set of Brokeback Mountain. The two had a daughter, the now two-year-old Matilda, and had lived together in Brooklyn's Boerum Hill neighbourhood.
Ledger was a widely recognised figure in his Manhattan neighbourhood, where Michelle Vella said she frequently saw him carrying Matilda on his shoulders, or having ice cream with her.
"It's a shock; he's so young," said Taren Dolbashian, who also had seen Ledger with his daughter.
"He always seems so happy."
