Early in the spring of 2001 an up-and-coming young actor named Heath Ledger sat in the bar of a NYC hotel, talking to an entertainment reporter for EW.com. He had a new new movie coming out, The Knight's Tale and while talking about it he told the reporter that, "'I'm on a journey,'' he said. ''I'm on a walkabout. A lot of people think ambition or success, and they think dollars.... My success is getting underneath that. At the end of the day, that's the only thing you're going to carry with you when you die.''

Sadly, yesterday at the far-too-tender age of 28, Heath Ledger passed away in his New York City apartment, carrying with him a great deal of success in reaching people and touching lives through the honesty and charm of the characters he'd portrayed.

Whether you remember him from his very early days, starring in Roar, or his first big movie, 10 Things I Hate About You,, or perhaps his turn as the iconic Australian Hero Ned Kelly, by the time he delivered his incredible performance as Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, you most likely knew that when you went to a Heath Ledger movie you were in for a performance that would be true, vibrant, and full of life. Nominated for an Oscar at the tender age of 26 for his portrayal of a cowboy struggling with his sexuality in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain Hollywood insiders had predicted a long career, full of many triumphs for Heath.

Sadly, that promise will be unfulfilled. We won't get to see him go on to discover new roles, won't get to see what new triumphs would be just around the corner for him. His final role, playing The Joker in the The Dark Knight will be a bittersweet experience for his fans: joy that we can see him do what he did best one more time, deep sadness that this will be the last time his grace and spirit light up the silver screen.

Again we will miss what might have been, and mourn for what was lost.

But what we do have is much more depth and variety than many actors achieve in a full lifetime of Hollywood fame. I think Heath would be proud of what he achieved at the end of the day; I hope so, anyway.

RIP, Heath Ledger 1979-2008