Saturday February 9, 2008
Heath Ledger attends the New York premiere of "I'm Not There" on November 13, 2007 in New York City.
Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
Heath Ledger was memorialized in a service attended by hundreds and a 10-person private funeral Saturday in his hometown of Perth, Australia.
Ex Michelle Williams, Gemma Ward and Cate Blanchett were among the hundreds of mourners who attended the first service, held in the theater of Penrhos College, according to Australia's The Age newspaper.
The papers says Williams appeared distraught and was leaning on the arm of Ledger's sister, Kate, who later gave a speech.
A mourner told the paper, "Kate (Ledger) spoke of the unique bond she shared with her brother, how he would ring her three or four times a day and how he never forgot his friends even at the height of his fame."
Blanchett also delivered an emotional eulogy.
"He achieved so much in his short life and was capable of so much in the future," she said.
Ledger's favorite songs were played at the memorial, including "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes, "The Times, They are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan, the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" and "Come Together," and Ben Harper's "Happily Ever After," which Harper wrote for Ledger and Williams' two-year-old daughter Matilda.
Following the service, 10 close family members went to Fremantle Cemetery, where the paper wrote that Ledger was cremated.
Next, guests gathered at nearby Indiana's Restaurant on Cottesloe Beach. As the sun was setting, about 50 guests, "just dropped their clothes and swam into the water in their underwear," an eyewitness tells Usmagazine.com.
The onlooker adds: “After a while Michelle Williams came down and went swimming in her dress. Security guards were waiting for her with a towel when she emerged. Kate Ledger then came down, to tremendous cheer from the partygoers, before diving in fully clothed.”
Ledger's parents watched the emotional moment from the restaurant balcony.
"Everyone in the water started slapping the water and shouting, 'Heath,' in kind of mass relief that the stress of the occasion was behind them," the witness tells Us.
For a retrospective on Heath Ledger's life, click here.
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Posted by Lindsay Powers at 9:44 am ET
