“[They reminded] the public and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that one of the great performances in 2008 was the last of Mr Ledger’s career, but doing so without seeming to commodify his death.” Arguably, in this instance, Academy members weren’t just voting for Ledger’s astonishing turn as the Joker.
Think of Heath Ledger today and the image most likely to spring to mind is of the brilliant young Australian actor with his pale, powdered face as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008).
This year, the Canadian musician Robbie Robertson is up for an Oscar for his work on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, his pared-down, mournful score giving the film its lurking menace.
At the 28th Academy Awards, held in March 1956, he was up for Best Actor for his role as the tormented delinquent in Elia Kazan’s East of Eden (1955).
Heath Ledger, Peter Finch and Walt Disney are among the most famous stars to win Oscars after their deaths, something that is more common than you might at first think, writes Geoffrey Macnab.
