My thoughts on Heath Ledger

I am absolutely sure that there will be infinitely more eloquent tributes and obituaries written about Heath Ledger, who was reportedly found dead in his New York apartment Jan. 22.

Personally, I'm just writing because of how I reacted when my mom and my brother told me they'd seen the news on one of those omnipresent news crawls: shock, complete and utter shock. Then sadness. Deep, deep sadness.

When River Phoenix died in 1993, I was only and 11 and, to be honest, wasn't really that affected by it. I mean, I was 11 years old. I didn't understand what a drug overdose was nor had I seen most of Phoenix's best work.

I'm not going to sit here and claim that I was the biggest Heath Ledger fan in the world (by the way, it's awful that we have to use the past tense "was" to talk about Heath freakin' Ledger). I liked him in his breakout role in "10 Things I Hate About You." Didn't care for "A Knight's Tale", but I thought he definitely showed star power.

Then I saw him in "Brokeback Mountain" and I thought he was genuinely terrific (remove all the gay cowboy jokes and watch the man go to work in that movie). I thought he deserved the Best Actor Oscar over winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman for "Capote". Add to that, the fact that his career was undoubtedly about to blow up following his role as the Joker in this summer's "The Dark Knight." I looked forward to years of him continuing to display that massive talent.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. I'll spare you the moralizing about the reported cause of death (because we don't know anything), and the clichés about how fame and fortune don't get you everything.

I know that actor Brad Renfro was exactly as old as I am when he died last week. He was another exceptionally talented actor who died way too young. Still, his long history of drug abuse made that death less of a surprise and, for better or worse, he never achieved the stardom Ledger did.

At age 28, Ledger was only three years older than I am. I think his and Renfro's deaths are hitting a little harder because they're MY guys. Ledger was one of MY guys, from my generation, and (not to diminish Renfro's death AT ALL) the first genuine movie superstar/actor from that generation I can think of that has died entirely too young.

Though I think we've just been deprived of decades' worth of great work in the future, the greatest tragedy is that the life of such an incredibly talented young man has been cut short. It's completely shocking and sad.

R.I.P. Heath Ledger. Our thoughts and prayers are with your family and friends.