As much as I mourn anyone passing, especially young, I have to say that I have no idea who this guy was.
It should be noted that despite refusing to Google him and despite watching broadcast TV in any form except glancing blows at sports bars (work happy hours, usually without audio) and at the gym (while on the occasional treadmill, usually without audio) , I now know that he was some sort of celebrity to do with Brokeback Mountain, so I’m assuming an actor, and that almost all of the folks I read in Google Reader and LiveJounral via my friends list really deeply mourn his passing.
Which is weird to me because I have no idea who the hell this guy was.
In any case, I hope he rests in peace.
Yeah, I recognized him from a really sweet movie version of Taming of the Shrew called 10 Things I Hate About You, set in a SoCal high school. There was a wave of these with Julia Stiles (her teen.Desdemona was actually better than her teen.Kate, even) and I like her a lot, so I was paying attention. He was this shaggy Australian boy with a nice grin, sort of NOT stereotypical Hollywood, much like Stiles isn’t. Apparently he had also been married to (and had a kid with) one of the actresses I remember from early Dawson’s Creek before I quit watching– again, someone a little offbeat and interesting.
I wouldn’t say I’m in “deep mourning,” but the news did make me sincerely disappointed. I guess I have some feeling for the generation of actors my age and a little younger– I’m encouraged that Drew Barrymore is sober and working, and I was kind of hoping that the young folks would be able to skip over the self-destructive bullshit about having to choose between talent and health, sanity, and family. I don’t own a TV, or watch a lot of movies, and I sure don’t read People or whatever. But to some extent I’m aware of the actors I’ve ‘grown up with’ and think of them as generationally my people– highly visible examples of whether or not it’s possible to get it together and have a life.
That said, Heath Ledger was probably fifteen years younger than me (I’m not going to IMDB him to find out). My perception of who’s “my age” is a little distorted.
That’s cool.
I just meant to comment on how it’s hard to keep track of all this information (especially when not exposed to it, not using it).
He was also a dad, so that’s sad for me.
I did enjoy the article I saw recently that said big newspapers are doing pre-written obits for younger and younger celebs.
Yeah, that is sad.
As an aside, it’s always delightful to me how you know/remember the twisted and morbid things.