Day-Lewis hails 'unique' Ledger
2008-01-28 09:31
Los Angeles - Daniel Day-Lewis dedicated his Screen Actors Guild Award to Heath Ledger here on Sunday, saying the Australian star's work had inspired him to keep acting.
In a moving acceptance speech as he collected the best actor award for his performance in There Will Be Blood, British-born Day-Lewis said Ledger's role in 2005 gay cowboy drama Brokeback Mountain had been "unique."
Day-Lewis said Ledger - who died in New York last week aged 28 - encouraged other actors to keep "regenerating" through his challenging performances.
"For as long as I can remember, the thing that gave me a sense of wonderment, of renewal, the thing that teased me with the question 'How is such a thing possible' and then dared you go back into the arena one more time, has always been the work of other actors," Day-Lewis said.
"There are many actors in this room tonight including my fellow nominees who've given me that sense of regeneration. Heath Ledger gave it to me," he said, to loud applause.
Oscar-nominated
Day-Lewis cited Ledger's performance as a suicidal son in the 2001 drama Monster's Ball as well as his celebrated Oscar-nominated turn as a taciturn, repressed cowpoke in Brokeback Mountain four years later.
"In Monster's Ball that character that he created seemed to be almost like an unformed being, retreating from themselves, retreating from his father, from his life, even retreating from us," Day-Lewis said.
"And yet we wanted to follow him, and we were scared to. It was unique.
"In Brokeback Mountain he was unique, he was perfect. That scene in the trailer at the end of the film is as moving as anything I've ever seen. I'd like to dedicate this to him."
Ledger was found dead last week in his New York apartment. Initial results of an autopsy were inconclusive.
A private memorial service for a small group of friends and relatives was held in Los Angeles on Saturday before a formal funeral takes place in Australia this week.