The last known photograph of Heath Ledger alive was taken Saturday night in London on the set of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the latest project from wildly talented yet notoriously cursed director Terry Gilliam. The auteur, who got his start as part of the esteemed Monty Python troupe, has suffered perhaps the worst streak of luck for any director not named Uwe Boll. His pockmarked career will, unfortunately, likely be remembered more for his role on big budget disasters like The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen and The Brothers Grimm (with Ledger in lead) than it will for creative triumphs like Brazil and The Fisher King. And then, there was the sad story of Gilliam's Don Quixote project, which was felled by floods and bad casting and subsequently turned into the total downer documentary Lost In La Mancha. As for the fate of The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus (not to be confused with Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium), we are awaiting word.

As unexpected as Heath Ledger's death of an apparent overdose has been to anyone currently scouring the web for every incremental update on the still-unfolding tragedy (does knowing whether or not Mary-Kate Olsen owns that apartment actually help anyone make sense of the situation?), a "close friend" tells UsMagazine.com that the actor had been struggling with his sobriety and that things were "very dark": "This is terrible and I'm in shock. But to tell you the truth... we saw it coming." Meanwhile, the HuffPo has already identified the tackiest reaction to Ledger's death, courtesy of the MSNBC reporter who remarked "In a lot of ways, this reminds me — we've almost had a dress rehearsal for this with Owen Wilson." In fairness, however, the clip of the remark does reveal she did couch that statement with two "almosts." [UsMagazine.com]

So by now we've all seen what the building where Heath Ledger overdosed looks like from the outside. But over at Corcoran.com, the NYC-based real estate site, they have photos of what the apartments at 421 Broome look like on the inside. There is a three-bedroom loft space currently renting out for $23k a month. [Corcoran, 421 Broome]

[JuliaAllison.tumblr.com]

Australian-American screen actor Heath Ledger is dead. Ledger was an Oscar-nominated leading man with an admirable career both artistically and at the box office—he may currently be seen in 2007's art-house sleeper I'm Not There and he'll soon be opening across the nation as the iconic Joker, the lead villain in next chapter in the Batman film franchise. He died in Manhattan. He was 28.

"This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet," NYPD spokesperson Paul Browne said today, addressing the suspected suicide of actor Heath Ledger at a downtown apartment. According to reports, the medication found around his naked body "appear to be over the counter" sleeping pills. WNBC's sources say two bottles of sleeping pills were found near the body, one containing prescription medication and that fire officials had said the 911 caller reported a man not breathing, with a "cold" body. TMZ reports that an autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. UPDATE: One of Ledger's close friends tells US magazine his death was shocking, but not surprising. "We saw it coming. Heath has gone though a rough road of trying to get sober."

Though the star of earlier not-so-great films like A Knight's Tale and The Order, Ledger redefined himself as an actor with the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain. Some other great work followed. After the jump, three clips from some of his higher-profile, crticially lauded movies (and a teaser for the film The Dark Knight, in which he plays the Joker.)

Police are now saying they suspect suicide in Heath Ledger's death today at a Manhattan apartment owned, says the Times, by actress Mary-Kate Olsen. Prescription pills were found around the actor's "naked and unconscious" body.

Police outside of the Manhattan residence where actor Heath Ledger was found dead two hours ago say Ledger was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m. His housekeeper, trying to awake the actor for a scheduled massage, found him in his bed at 3:26 p.m, according to reports.

Paparazzi and TV crews assemble outside 421 Broome Street, Soho, where Heath Ledger died, earlier today. About 200 crowded in a tight circle around the doorway of 421 Broome. Cameras in the front. Print reporters with their notepads in the back. More cameras across the street. They blocked the door of the Nanette Lapore boutique next door. A worker poked her head out: "I know it's very exciting, but people are trying to come in here."

The body of boho darling Heath Ledger won't be wheeled out of the 421 Broome Street residence where he was found dead today for several hours. The Academy Award-nominated actor was in full cardiac arrest by the time paramedics arrived, TMZ is reporting. CPR was performed, but Ledger was pronounced dead on the the scene of a suspected drug overdose.

At ten minutes to 5pm here in New York, only a few news crews had reached the scene of the loft building at 421 Broome Street, where Heath Ledger was just found dead. Just a handful of passersby were gawking at the small police presence guarding his door. But by 5, a pack of 15 paparazzi had arrived, acting far calmer than the usual frenzied pap scene, respectfully obeying the NYPD's orders to stay back. Almost everyone there, reporters both on-air and from various print outlets, collectively believed that the actor committed suicide using sleeping pills; a bottle of prescribed sedatives were allegedly found next to his bed.

OK—our hyperventilating has died down to the point where we were able to learn some more details surrounding (can't believe we are typing this) Heath Ledger's death. The NY Times's City Room blog reports:

Police have told the New York Times pills were found near the dead body of 28-year-old "Brokeback Mountain" actor Heath Ledger, discovered today in Soho. Foul play is not suspected. [NYT]

"A New York Police Department spokesman says the actor Heath Ledger has been found dead at a downtown Manhattan residence," according to the AP. The Times says a masseuse and a housekeeper found his body at 421 Broome Street.

Holy fucking shit—this just in: Heath Ledger is dead. From PageSix.com:

• Britney Spears has a secret sex "fantasy room," shit-smeared couches, and possibly another baby on the way ... well, according to Star. [R&M]
  

In the new Todd Haynes weirdo-biopic of Bob Dylan, I'm Not There, former Brooklyn mascots for attractive domesticity Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams are reunited—sort of. Williams plays Coco Rivington, "the love interest of [Cate] Blanchett's [1966] Dylan"; Ledger "plays Dylan the media superstar, a charismatic, swaggering figure who parties with celebrities, wears look-at-me-but-leave-me-alone sunglasses and watches his personal life collapse under the pressures of his public persona." So poignant! [NYT]

· A mere nine years after the first X-Files film surfaced in theaters, Fox announces that the second of Mulder and Scully's big-screen adventures (a reteaming, if you will) will arrive on July 25, 2008, a project that will begin shooting in December in Vancouver, far away from the picket lines of Los Angeles. [Variety]
· Joss Whedon reteams (we love it when people reteam) with former Buffy cast member Eliza Dushku for Fox's Dollhouse, getting a seven-episode commitment from the network for an idea that struck Whedon in between bites of a Caesar salad while lunching with the actress. [THR]