For Matilda Rose

It is only fitting that this week's Musical Monday be a tribute to the sudden death of actor Heath Ledger.  To tell the truth, I didn't believe the Husband when he told me the news.  He's too young, I thought, you must mean someone else!  And then, of course, my mind strayed to the inescapable conclusion that he was just another young star who fell by the wayside, into the path of drugs and destruction.

Admittedly, he's not an actor who fell under my radar.  I had a mini-crush on him in the 2001 movie, A Knight's Tale, but I just thought he was an especially pretty young actor, not necessarily Someone of Particular Talent.  The Husband and I both couldn't understand why his fans were touting him as the 'finest young actor of his generation'.  We have yet to see Brokeback Mountain, though, so maybe we have missed out.  It's on my must-see list, but the Husband has no interest, so it keeps getting pushed back.

What really struck home, though, was finding out that he left behind a young daughter, Matilda Rose.  Although he was no longer with her mother, he moved to New York to make sure that he was a big part of his daughter's life.  No child should have to grow up without the love and support of a father.  It's even more sad that, given her age, she probably won't even remember him.  She will have to rely on what other people tell her about him.  So, while I can't pretend I know him personally, nor can I really speak to his talent (although I plan to rent Brokeback and I'm anxiously awaiting his turn as the Joker in the new Batman movie), I will mourn his passing as a father. 

Because it's Musical Monday around here, I will share with you a scene from what is one of my favourite "cheesy movies" - one of the movies that, while it isn't great, I can't help but watch it every time it's on TV.  I love me some cheese.  A Knight's Tale should have been much better than it was.  I could see the movie it wanted to be:  a melding of a period film with modern-day music, a way to make history relevant to the young'uns.  This scene takes a boring 'period dance' (gawd, how I remember learning - and hating to learn - those in dance class) and set's it to David Bowie's Golden Years:

The lyrics are eerily fitting:

Come get up my baby
Look at that sky, life's begun
Nights are warm and the days are young
Come get up my baby

There's my baby, lost thats all
Once I'm begging you save her little soul

I wish you well, Matilda Rose.

Comments

[Mimi]

Oh. This is touching, and sad.

[Don Mills Divad]

A really touching post. My heart breaks for Matilda Rose.

[kittenpie]

My heart broke a little, too, for his daughter and for his wife - ex or not.

[Beck]

It WAS very sad. Poor little girl.

[Kelly]

I never saw A Knight's Tale. I saw him in Lords of Dogtown and Brokeback Mountain. Brokeback Mountain was great, though I had some quibbles with the way the characters were aged. How can one make Jake Gyllenhaal look 20 years older? Not easily on that baby face. Anyway, it was a beautiful love story, and I saw HL more as an actor filled with possibility. Though damn, he was awesome in that movie. And of course, he was a loving father, clearly. Definitely some things worth mourning.