Heath Ledger

Sometimes, I take care of a small child. An eight-year-old boy. And while The Dark Knight was on in cinemas, we went past one on the bus. And he asked why the film was so well-advertised.

Now, there's a curious kind of power you have when in the care of a small child. You can tell them whatever you like, and for a few years, your word is gospel. It's especially cute when my grandmother tells me he's been repeating what I've said.

Anyway, instead of talking about Batman, or it being a sequel to quite a famous film, as well as a sort of requel of a lot of earlier films...I told him about Heath Ledger. And he didn't understand.

I am twenty years old. I was nineteen then. Heath Ledger's big break came, in my opinion, with Ten Things I Hate About You, released the summer I turned eleven, if memory serves. He was young, and new then. I haven't seen all of his films, but I've seen several over the years - notably, The Brothers Grimm and A Knight's Tale. While I haven't watched his every film, it's fair to say that I've known of and loosely followed his career since the start.

And then, as we all know, he went and died.

For most people of our generation, while this wasn't the first time a celebrity we knew of had died, it was, probably, the first time a celebrity who's career we'd known of from the beginning had died. We'd watched him grow, in fame and ability, right from the start. And suddenly he was gone. And you realise how your parents, and older generations felt, or feel, when their stars die. The people they've seen grow from humble beginning to whatever they become.

And this child couldn't understand, because, for him, Heath Ledger was before his time. Ledger was famous before the child was born. The child wasn't even old enough to watch most of his films. So how could he understand?

I suppose this is how my grandmother felt when Elvis died. I wouldn't say that we mourn him like a family member - that right is reserved for his actual family - but he was one of ours. He was the first one, for most of us. And he was too young. And every time I see one of his films, I remember, again, that he's dead. Not with depression, but with surprise. Because it's so downright silly for Heath Ledger to be dead.