Heath Ledger's death made world news, but dominated the headlines in Australia - not least because the actor left his home country to escape press intrusion, writes Pádraig Collins, in Sydney.
Australia's prime minister Kevin Rudd kept it simple, if a little stilted, in speaking about Heath Ledger's death this week. "It is tragic that we have lost one of our nation's finest actors in the prime of his life. Heath Ledger's diverse and challenging roles will be remembered as some of the great performances by an Australian actor." Ledger's relationship with his home country could also be described as "diverse and challenging".
His death has dominated the news in Australia since it broke locally at 8.35am on Wednesday. By 8.40am, his Wikipedia entry had been updated. At 8.52am, Neil Mitchell, one of Australia's most highly-paid broadcasters, said on Melbourne's Radio 3AW that he was "trying to talk to some of his friends here in Australia". At 9am, the ABC news bulletin led with the story.
However, no famous person's tragic death, particularly when he is a local hero, is immune to the spirit of free enterprise, and by 9.34am, the inboxes of newspapers, TV stations and other media outlets started filling with e-mails such as this one: "Subject: Heath Ledger.
"With the sad news breaking about the death of Australian actor Heath Ledger, I just wanted to let you know that we can supply pictures of Heath from our recent release . . . [ The author] has spent a life photographing celebrities and had spent time with him at a couple of US events. If needed, [ the author] can also provide an insight into Heath's character and what he thinks this loss will mean to the acting industry.
"Publicity manager, [ Australian book publisher]."
His fellow Australian actors, the people who genuinely knew and cared for him and admired his talent, paid tributes from the heart. Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush, who worked with Ledger in the gritty Australian film Candy, said: "He was such a sensitive and committed and daring actor. This is truly a tragedy."
Cate Blanchett, who co-starred with him in I'm Not There and had just been nominated for best actress and best supporting actress in this year's Oscars, said she was shocked and very saddened. "I deeply respect Heath's work and always admired his continuing development as an artist."
Though fame was the natural byproduct of his talent and success, it never sat easily with him. Two years ago, he described walking the red carpet at awards ceremonies as "surreal. Like diving into an Olympic pool, swimming the length underwater, then emerging gasping for breath. It's so noisy that it's quiet, you can't hear. The flashlights are so blinding that it's dark, you can't see."
For a man named after Heathcliff, from Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, choosing to live in the beachside Sydney suburb of Bronte was surely no coincidence. For an actor of brooding intensity, living next door to Australia's most historic graveyard, Waverley Cemetery, must have been a bonus. But it was not to be.
His hatred of the notoriously intrusive Sydney paparazzi caused him to leave the Bronte house he had spent a year renovating after just 10 days living there with his then partner Michelle Williams and their daughter Matilda. He fell out with the photographers after allegedly spitting at them while on a night shoot in Sydney for Candy.
Ledger said the whole thing was fabricated to give him a more sellable bad-boy image. No pictures of the supposed incident exist, which is strange seeing as that is what the paparazzi were there for. On that night, one of them said to him: "See ya at home, Heath."
"It chilled my spine. Michelle and I were renting in Bondi, and a photographer perpetually hid in the barbecue area, following us everywhere . . . we were pursued like we were aliens," Ledger told the Sydney Morning Herald two years ago.
A year after the incident, three photographers sought revenge by squirting Ledger and Williams with water pistols as they stepped onto the red carpet at the Sydney premiere of Brokeback Mountain.
"That broke my heart. They obviously wanted me to punch and swear at them, looking a big bad idiot, but I was crushed. I had to introduce the film, but I could barely speak. I went straight home to Bronte, got into the bathroom and broke down."
The next morning, his house was under siege from photographers, television crews and reporters.
"They kept ringing my doorbell, demanding I come out. One paparazzi was on my front step . . . giving TV interviews, saying they had to teach me a lesson, I needed to be brought down a peg.
"We were like prisoners in our own house; our own goldfish bowl, it turned out. I'd installed dark reflective glass on the balconies and windows, but they had special lenses to shoot pictures of us through the glass.
"I felt so stressed and disheartened. I wanted Michelle to love Australia, but we couldn't live like that. It never let up, so after 10 days we packed our bags, flew to America, and I put the house on the market.
"It sucks that I can't live in my own country. Russell [ Crowe] and Nicole [ Kidman] have told me that when you first get successful, Australians love you and put you up there. Then for 10 years they beat you down. Then you're fine again and they leave you alone. So you just have to get through those first 10 years," he said.
Unfortunately, Heath Ledger didn't live to see the other side of those 10 years.