There’s little out of “Hollywood” that will stop me in my tracks, but when I heard that Heath fucking Ledger was dead, I must admit, I paused.

The police said Mr. Ledger, 28, was discovered facedown in bed in an apartment at 421 Broome Street in SoHo. Police officials said that a bottle of prescription sleeping pills were found on a nearby night table, but that they did not know whether they played a role in Mr. Ledger’s death.Mr. Ledger, the star of “Brokeback Mountain” and other films, was discovered by a housekeeper and a masseuse, the police said. The housekeeper had been in the apartment for some time before Mr. Ledger’s body was discovered, and she let the masseuse in when she at the apartment for a 3:31 p.m. appointment with Mr. Ledger, the police said. They said they did not know when Mr. Ledger scheduled the appointment.When Mr. Ledger did not respond to a knock on the bedroom door, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger unconscious. They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities and moved Mr. Ledger to the floor, the police said.“There was no indication of a disturbance,” Deputy Police Commissioner Paul J. Browne said. He said officers who checked the apartment found other prescription medications it in the bathroom. He said that there was no sign that Mr. Ledger had been drinking and that no illegal drugs were found in the apartment.

I actually spotted Heath at on Clinton Street a little over a year ago, just after he reportedly moved into his new Brooklyn (Boerum Hill) abode with then girlfriend Michelle Willams.This is one of those times I am left scratching my head. Sad loss, for everyone.

Mr. Ledger told The Times last November that his favorite thing to do was hang out at home with his daughter. Leaving her for work, he said, was “kind of like your body has a lump in his throat.”

Heath leaves behind also his daughter Matilda.