Dear god. There just aren't words. You see something like this and you just reel. You hardly believe it can happen. This guy was so incredibly talented, and just beginning to hit his stride; nothing could have stood in his way from becoming one of the greats. He was clearly one of the greatest of his generation and in the nine short years we had with him, he gave us a number of memorable characters – both comedic and dramatic.

10 Things I Hate About You
Originally scoffed at by the critical set, this high-school-set adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew went on to generate a large fan following and introduced us to two relative unknowns who starred as the romantic leads, Julia Stiles and Australian import Heath Ledger. The two lit up the screen with an enormous amount of chemistry and both would go on to stardom in their own particular styles.

The Patriot
While nagged by complaints of a general lack of authenticity, this Mel Gibson-led blockbuster exploded on to screens and was the first time people began to say the name Heath Ledger aloud. As the dashing son of the film's hero (Gibson) he cemented himself as an up-and-coming star.

Lords of Dogtown
Up until this point, many had seen Ledger as a talented, but primarily pretty, face. Much like Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio before him, he was forced to break out of the Teen Beat scene by taking on a role that required him to be downright ugly. Enter Skip: a surfer, drunk, drug user and all around sleaze ball who gives a bunch of skaters their shot in the 1970's. This was his first role that really had the critics sit up and take notice. This kid could act. Really act. He melted into the role and there were no seams, no seeing the pretty boy that had come before. It was all talent in there, lots of it, and there was no looking back.

Brokeback Mountain
Damnit. I remember writing about this film so many times – but most notably the words that haunt me were when I wrote of Ledger's inevitable nomination. He was young, I said. He had time, I insisted. He could take the nomination but not the gold because his time was down the road. How wrong I was. This role was Oscar worthy. It was incredible. Ledger was unbelievable. The movie begins as a story about two men discovering that they're gay and somewhere along the lines, between Ledger's and Gyllenhaal's performances, it ceases to be about two guys and simply becomes a beautiful love story. This film broke real barriers, not in terms of gay cinema, but in terms of convincing the American public that they could see past the gender to understand the emotion. Ledger's final scene in the movie is heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking.

I'm Not There
In theaters now, Ledger plays one of the six different Bob Dylan versions that appear in the film. The Dylan played by Ledger is the movie star – the beautiful man with a broken home life. He's not the performing Dylan; he's the silver screen Dylan. He's the Dylan with the beautiful wife he never seems to see anymore. What precious moments he has in this film he makes the most of and adds one of the many layers of depth to this complicated, unique biopic.

This is by no means a complete list. I could write about this kid for hours. He had that spark, you know. That "something" we all talk about when we say the words "special something." Seeing that snuffed out like this, well, it just darkens your whole world. Our world has one candle less today, and what's more, it was an incredibly bright candle. Heath Ledger was 28.

Email C. Robert Cargill

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