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'Heath was an old soul'
25/01/2008 13:21 - (SA)
Sydney - The family of Australian actor Heath Ledger, the Brokeback Mountain star found dead in a New York apartment, described him on Friday as a dreamer who had carved out his place in movie history.
"You were the most amazing 'old soul' in a young man's body," they said in a notice posted in The West Australian newspaper, published in his native city of Perth.
"As a close knit and very private family we have observed you so determined yet quietly travelling in your self-styled path in life, nothing would get in your way... no mountain too tall, no river too wide.
"You dreamed your dreams and lived them with passion and intelligent commitment.
"We have been privileged to accompany you on a ride through life that has simply been amazing, and through it all we have loved each other beyond imagination."
The 28-year-old, who shot to worldwide renown with his sensitive portrayal of a repressed homosexual cowboy in the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain, was found in his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday.
Chess games
Initial results of an autopsy were inconclusive. Ledger's family have said they do not believe he took his own life.
In a separate notice, his father Kim Ledger recalled chess games played against Ledger.
"Heatho, Beef... my beautiful boy, so loving, so talented, so independent... so no more chess games mate... this is it, couldn't beat you anyway.
"We were one, in soul and commitment, just... father and son."
Sister Kate said she could "hardly breathe" as she wrote her tribute.
"We were the ultimate soul mates," she said. "You were so many things to so many people, but to me you were just my little brother."
Mother Sally Ledger-Bell said the family would always be there for Heath Ledger's daughter Matilda by Brokeback Mountain co-star Michelle Williams.
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South Africa
