There are occasional roles in cinema that define genres, generations, and the very idea of what greatness truly is. Brando comes to mind in The Godfather, Hoffman in Rainman, maybe Hanks in Forrest Gump, etc – roles that are so well acted you sometimes have to stop and ask yourself, “Is this really happening?”

What history will recall as the soon to be largest grossing domestic film of all-time, The Dark Knight was Heath Ledger’s final farewell. But what all of us will remember from this film was Ledger’s Joker character, and its already nominated Golden Globe and almost surely to follow Oscar accredidation. Not too be diminished were the works of Oldman as  Gordon or Eckert as Harvey Dent, both of which are of my favorite actors and on the top of their game in this one.

Heath Ledger always intrigued me. He was thrust into the teenie-bopper heartthrob role after 10 Things I Hate About You and The Patriot- and he hated it. Truth be told, Heath was a person not built for the limelight. Mr. Ledger was one of the finest actors of this generation and only truly coming into his own in his beloved career path.

Already nominated for an Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain, I fully expect another nomination this Oscar season but with a posthumous victory for the fallen actor. Hopefully the acceptance speech is from his Father or maybe close family friend Daniel Day Lewis.

We must not remember Heath Ledger as a method actor who allowed himself to dive away- dive into his roles, the underground, from the spotlight of the paparazzi, into his upbringing of his new daughter, or the drugs, etc.

Instead we must remember and celebrate Heath as a devoted human being who took the complexities of the world around him with a passion that most would call “sick” or “crazy”.

Let us all hope that Heath Ledger has found the peace he could never attain here on Earth. And let us not forget his mesmerizing Joker portrayal, that could not have been played by anyone else, or his would-have future achievements to American cinema.

RIP Mr. Ledger.

Father. Thinker. Icon. Brilliance in Motion.