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Hollywood stars farewell Ledger
By Peta Hellard in Los Angeles
February 03, 2008 06:30pm

HEATH Ledger's family and A-list friends gathered to pay tribute to the actor in a moving private service at a Hollywood studio yesterday.

Photos of Ledger - spanning his childhood in Perth, his most iconic big-screen roles and his time as a doting dad to his daughter Matilda - were beamed on a large screen at the Sony Pictures lot in a 90-minute service yesterday afternoon.

Ledger's father Kim, mother Sally and sister Kate were joined by a large contingent of family, who had travelled from Australia to attend the ceremony in Culver City, alongside the actor's Hollywood friends and colleagues.

One guest said that the ceremony, which he estimated was attended by about 1000 people, included touching - and often funny - speeches from Ledger's father, longtime agent, acting coach and director Todd Haynes, who helmed Ledger's most recent release I'm Not There.

"It was a very loving tribute - emotional and loving," the guest said.

"At times it was very sad and then there were some lighter moments.

"The service was a very simple, moving tribute from family and people who had worked with him."

Ledger's father thanked guests and made special mention of the actor's former partner Michelle Williams and their two-year-old daughter Matilda - who he explained had both not attended the service.

Ledger's ex-girlfriend Naomi Watts - who wore a simple black outfit, dark sunglasses and a silver cross around her neck - appeared dazed following the 90-minute ceremony and was comforted by friends.

In a moving tribute, American musician Ben Harper performed a song he had written specially for the service to commemorate his close friend accompanied by a string quartet.

Security was heavy during the event, with police manning the main gate to the studio and a fleet of high-end security guards - sporting designer suits and hi-tech ear-pieces - scouring the perimeter of the building where the ceremony was held.

Among the stars spotted at the event were Oscar-winner Sean Penn and a posse of hip young Hollywood actors who moved in the same circles as the Perth-raised actor - including heart-throb Josh Hartnett and Ledger's Lords of Dogtown co-star Emile Hirsch, who both left the service in a car together.

Supermodels Gemma Ward, 20, and Lily Cole, 19, were also in the A-list crowd.

Ward, who was romantically linked to the actor after the pair were spotted spending time together in their hometown of Perth over Christmas, looked distressed as she was driven out of the studio gates.

Cole, a flame-haired beauty who is one of Britain's top catwalkers, had co-starred opposite the actor on the gruelling UK shoot for fantasy film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - which was Ledger's final unfinished film before he died on January 22.

Australian film bombshells Abbie Cornish, who starred opposite Ledger in gritty 2006 drug drama Candy, and Phone Booth star Radha Mitchell were also at the service.

Cornish, who donned a long black Edwardian-style coat over an ankle-grazing gypsy-style black skirt, looked morose as she exited in the back-seat of Ledger's luxury 4WD Lexis, with a minder covering the actress' face as paparazzi surged up against the vehicle.

Australian actress Portia De Rossi looked distraught as she and her US talk show host girlfriend Ellen Degeneres sped out of the service in a Porsche.

The couple, who sold Ledger and Williams their Hollywood Hills home in 2005 and had remained close to the couple, visited Williams and Ledger's family at a luxury Los Angeles hotel the day before the service.

Australian film-maker Gregor Jordan, who directed Ledger in 1999 Australian crime drama Two Hands and 2003 bushranger flop Ned Kelly, also attended the memorial alongside his fiancee Simone Kessell, a former girlfriend of Channel 7 heir Ryan Stokes.

Australian actor Simon Baker, who is married to Watts' best friend Rebecca Rigg, was also spotted leaving the service in a convoy of 4WDs which included the King Kong starlet.

Watts, 39, sat alone in the back of the car and appeared visibly distressed as she left the studio block, with her actor partner Liev Schreiber not spotted leaving the event.

While Williams did not attend the cermony, some of her closest friends attended, including her Dawson's Creek co-star James Van Der Beek and film star Mark Ruffalo, who is married to the 27-year-old actress' best friend Sunrise Coigney.

Hollywood star Shannyn Sossamon - who had remained close friends with Ledger since launching her acting career opposite him in 2001's A Knight's Tale - appeared distressed after the ceremony.

Swedish actor Peter Stormare, who stars in Prison Break and met Ledger when they starred in 2005 comedy The Brothers Grimm, also attended the service.

Other big names who were understood to have attended the service included Hollywood party girl Lindsay Lohan, Pirates of the Caribbean pin-up Orlando Bloom - who was Ledger's co-star in Ned Kelly - and British bombshell Sienna Miller - who played Ledger's lover in 2005 romantic comedy Casanova.

The gathering also included industry luminaries and people connected to top Hollywood agency CAA, which represented Ledger.

US website People.com said Tom Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes, who are also managed by CAA, attended the service but they were not seen leaving the event and a guest said he had not spotted the Tinseltown power-couple.

The service came exactly a week after a select group of relatives and close friends including Williams and Watts - paid tribute to the 28-year-old actor at a private memorial at a small LA mortuary.

After yesterday's service, the Ledger family, who evaded waiting media by leaving through a side gate, returned to a luxurious hotel in Beverly Hills where they have been staying since flying into Los Angeles about a week ago.

They are expected to fly to Perth for Ledger's funeral - which is believed to be scheduled to take place this week on the grounds of his old school Guildford Grammar.

It is not clear whether Williams, 27, and Ledger's young daughter - who are based in New York - will be flying to Australia for the burial.

Paparazzi agencies were reportedly offering up to $US5000 for information about the location of the service.

One guest stopped his car and yelled at a large group of paparazzi waiting outside the studio's gate.

"Have a heart," the man screamed before speeding off.

Ledger's death has prompted intense interest from the international media, with his family choosing to have yesterday's ceremony behind the high walls of the secure studio block, away from prying eyes.

The final autopsy report, which will include the cause of death and the results of toxicity tests for drugs in Ledger's system, are expected to be released this week.
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Источник: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s … 28,00.html