Heath's Final Days!!!!!!!

Heath's Final Days
Article from: Daily Telegraph

FAR away from the idolised lifestyle of a Hollywood star, tragic Australian actor Heath Ledger lived out his final days as a scruffy loner.

Drifting between acting gigs and fleeting visits from his beloved daughter Matilda, Ledger would wonder the Manhattan cobblestone streets alone, usually wearing ragged jeans, an old jacket and an unshaven chin.

When he returned to the SoHo apartment he rented for $26, 000 a month, a forlorn sight greeted him.

Apart from a few ornamental skateboards, the flat was more or less unfurnished.

Ledger slept on a mattress on the floor, sleeping pills beside his makeshift bed.

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"I didn't know he was an actor," said Camile Angelo, the host at the Grotta Azzurra Ristorante, where Ledger often ate breakfast. "He was always the first customer. He was always here alone."

Ledger moved to a SoHo loft from Brooklyn last year after splitting with girlfriend Michelle Williams. On the rebound, a heartbroken Heath quickly became linked to a slew of starlets and models, including Mary-Kate Olsen.

But when Angelo saw the Brokeback Mountain star last Thursday, he had only his cell phone and iPod for company.

"I told him to stop text messaging because his steak and eggs were getting cold," Angelo said in an interview with New York Daily News. "He smiled."

Liz Bullis, sales manager of Gourmet Garage, said she sometimes saw Ledger with his 2-year-old daughter, Matilda.

"He's usually very scruffy," Bullis said.

The Miro Cafe on Broadway was another Ledger haunt. Once again, the unfailingly polite young man gave no inkling he was somebody special.

"We were surprised, we never knew he was an actor," manager Max Barrsi said. "He was practically here all the time for coffee . . . always very nice with us."