Australian television and film icon, Heath Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) moved to the United States during the 1990s to pursue what would become an outstanding career. Some of his 19 films include the Australian smash Two Hands, 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Monster’s Ball (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008).
As Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 Best Actor award from the Australian Film Institute. For the same role he was also nominated for Best Actor at the 2005 Academy Awards and the 2006 BAFTA Best Actor award.
Ledger will also no doubt be remembered for this mesmorising performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight which opened with the largest ever North American box office weekend figures, $US 155.3 million. Ledger was nominated and won awards for this role, including the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actor, Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a motion picture and the 2009 BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor.
At the age of 28 Ledger passed away from an accidental toxic combination of prescription drugs. The death came during the final stages of post-production of The Dark Knight and whilst Ledger was still filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus directed by Terry Gilliam from Monty Python fame. Fellow actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell have since stepped in to complete the film and donated thier earnings to Heath’s daughter Matilda in remembrance to a great actor, father and an thespian.
Ronald Belford “Bon Scott” was best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974-1980.
He was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland, and emigrated to Melbourne, Australia with his family in 1952 at the age of six. In 1956 the Scott family then moved to Fremantle Western Australia. Bon and his brother attended North Fremantle Primary School spending their spare time swimming in the Swan River a short stroll from the end of their street.
Forming his first band, The Spektors, in 1964 and becoming the band’s drummer and occasional lead vocalist. He performed in several other bands including The Valentines and Fraternity before replacing Dave Evans as the lead singer of AC/DC in 1974.
AC/DC’s popularity grew throughout the 1970s, initially in Australia, and then internationally. Their 1979 album Highway to Hell reached the top twenty in the United States, and the band seemed on the verge of a commercial breakthrough.
On 19 February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead after a night of partying in London.
AC/DC’s subsequent album, Back in Black, was released only five months later, and was a tribute to Scott. It went on to become the second best-selling album in history. Every year on the anniversary of his passing and on his birthday, fans from around the world gather to CELEBRATE his music and life at Fremantle Cemetery’s Memorial Garden
There’s a plaque in the small town of Kirriemuir in Angus, Scotland, Bon’s birth place.
Poet, ballad writer, journalist and horseman Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson, known as Barty to his family, was born at Narrambla, near Orange on 17 February 1864.
Paterson began publishing verse in the Bulletin and Sydney Mail under the pseudonyms ‘B’ and ‘The Banjo’. In 1895, at the age of 31 Andrew Barton Paterson achieved two milestones in Australian writing.
He composed his now famous ballad ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and his first book, The Man from Snowy River, and other verses, was published by Angus & Robertson, marking the beginning of an epoch in Australian publishing. This hallmark publication sold out its first edition within a week and went through four editions in six months, making Paterson second only to Kipling in popularity among living poets writing in English. His poetry continues to sell well today and is available in many editions, some of which are illustrated.
Learn more about Banjo by visiting his LIFEBOOK here.
Hannah, aged 34 months tragically lost her life in an illegally built pool and drowned. Hannah was the star of everyone’s life that she ever met. Hannah’s memory lives on in her own foundation. Hannah always wanted to be a baby doctor to save babies, she is doing that now and Hannah’s Foundation is her legacy.
Living Years is an easy to create, affordable and highly engaging website to commemorate loved ones. It will allow family, friends and colleagues, from around the world, to communicate and frequently relive precious memories forever.
If you wish to contact us, please email kate@livingyears.com
Australian television and film icon, Heath Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) moved to the United States during the 1990s to pursue what would become an outstanding career. Some of his 19 films include the Australian smash Two Hands, 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Monster’s Ball (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008).
We are saddened to learn about the death of Patrick Swayze.
Ronald Belford “Bon Scott” was best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974-1980.
