many medical research centers, where finding a cure for AIDS is a steadfast priority. Teams of brilliant minds at Home are vigilantly at work in search of treatments and cures, infusing any and all advances they discover.
Rock’s home here is made entirely of windows, which overlook his vast hydroponic gardens. He’s one of our most prolific and charming hosts, regularly entertaining the widest possible variety of friends, and during the course of a party he can always be counted on to sing one of his favorite songs, “Send in the Clowns,” accompanied on piano by his frequent sidekick Martha Raye. (He wants those he left behind to know that he finally remembers all the words.) He never misses a concert of music from the 1950 s and, a self-described “frustrated song and dance man” on earth, is excited to be in rehearsals for the title role in The Music Man.
About his most recent lifetime he says, “Of course I have regrets, especially about those times when I was completely irresponsible with the excuse that I was just having a good time. But for the most part, I loved my life, my career, and my dear, dear friends. I was blessed in so many ways, and whether or not I remembered to show it often enough, I was and am so grateful to God for every moment.” His chosen life themes of Victim and Humanitarian became clear to him in his final months on earth, when he proved to the world what an equal-opportunity monster AIDS really is. When he was first diagnosed, he says, he didn’t want anyone to know. But when his diagnosis and prognosis became undeniable, he took pride in the fact that he helped to “wake people up” and inspired global awareness, more informed prevention, and, above all, compassion.
He’s often a tangible presence at AIDS clinics around the world and still stops by the courtyard of the home in the Hollywood Hills where he lived so many happy years. (It delights him that he’s occasionally successful in setting off the motion detectors as he checks on what he continues to think of as “his house.”) He was also the first to welcome Home his longtime partner, Tom Clark, who was by Rock’s side for the last months of his lifetime.
Heath Ledger
A nother star who left before the world was ready, actor Heath Ledger was born April 4, 1979, in Perth, Australia. His father, Kim Ledger, was both a race car driver and a mining engineer with the family company, the Ledger Engineering Foundry. Heath’s mother, Sally Ledger, was a French teacher. Heath was an incredibly bright child, winning Western Australia’s Junior Chess Championship when he was only 10. Inspired by his older sister, Kate, an actress and later his publicist, to whom he was very close throughout his life, he was cast, also around the age of ten, in the lead role in his elementary school’s production of Peter Pan . Sadly, his parents’ marriage fell apart at this same time, forcing Heath to spend the next few years moving back and forth between them. But his love of acting, which expanded into a love of dance and choreography as well, became his outlet, and his determination led to extra roles in a feature film called Clowning Around and the television series Ship to Shore .
He graduated from high school at the age of sixteen and promptly headed to Sydney, where he became even more serious about his career as an actor. He found television work almost immediately and made his first official appearance on the big screen in 1997 ’s Blackrock, which was impressive enough to land him a starring role in the successful Australian series Home and Away and in a fantasy series called Roar . Roar was financed with American money, giving Hollywood its first exposure to Heath Ledger. His costar and girlfriend, Liza Zane, convinced the nineteen-year-old actor to move with her to Los Angeles and find himself an agent.
Success came quickly after his arrival in the United States—in 1999 Heath costarred with Julia Stiles in the
Rock’s home here is made entirely of windows, which overlook his vast hydroponic gardens. He’s one of our most prolific and charming hosts, regularly entertaining the widest possible variety of friends, and during the course of a party he can always be counted on to sing one of his favorite songs, “Send in the Clowns,” accompanied on piano by his frequent sidekick Martha Raye. (He wants those he left behind to know that he finally remembers all the words.) He never misses a concert of music from the 1950 s and, a self-described “frustrated song and dance man” on earth, is excited to be in rehearsals for the title role in The Music Man.
About his most recent lifetime he says, “Of course I have regrets, especially about those times when I was completely irresponsible with the excuse that I was just having a good time. But for the most part, I loved my life, my career, and my dear, dear friends. I was blessed in so many ways, and whether or not I remembered to show it often enough, I was and am so grateful to God for every moment.” His chosen life themes of Victim and Humanitarian became clear to him in his final months on earth, when he proved to the world what an equal-opportunity monster AIDS really is. When he was first diagnosed, he says, he didn’t want anyone to know. But when his diagnosis and prognosis became undeniable, he took pride in the fact that he helped to “wake people up” and inspired global awareness, more informed prevention, and, above all, compassion.
He’s often a tangible presence at AIDS clinics around the world and still stops by the courtyard of the home in the Hollywood Hills where he lived so many happy years. (It delights him that he’s occasionally successful in setting off the motion detectors as he checks on what he continues to think of as “his house.”) He was also the first to welcome Home his longtime partner, Tom Clark, who was by Rock’s side for the last months of his lifetime.
Heath Ledger
A nother star who left before the world was ready, actor Heath Ledger was born April 4, 1979, in Perth, Australia. His father, Kim Ledger, was both a race car driver and a mining engineer with the family company, the Ledger Engineering Foundry. Heath’s mother, Sally Ledger, was a French teacher. Heath was an incredibly bright child, winning Western Australia’s Junior Chess Championship when he was only 10. Inspired by his older sister, Kate, an actress and later his publicist, to whom he was very close throughout his life, he was cast, also around the age of ten, in the lead role in his elementary school’s production of Peter Pan . Sadly, his parents’ marriage fell apart at this same time, forcing Heath to spend the next few years moving back and forth between them. But his love of acting, which expanded into a love of dance and choreography as well, became his outlet, and his determination led to extra roles in a feature film called Clowning Around and the television series Ship to Shore .
He graduated from high school at the age of sixteen and promptly headed to Sydney, where he became even more serious about his career as an actor. He found television work almost immediately and made his first official appearance on the big screen in 1997 ’s Blackrock, which was impressive enough to land him a starring role in the successful Australian series Home and Away and in a fantasy series called Roar . Roar was financed with American money, giving Hollywood its first exposure to Heath Ledger. His costar and girlfriend, Liza Zane, convinced the nineteen-year-old actor to move with her to Los Angeles and find himself an agent.
Success came quickly after his arrival in the United States—in 1999 Heath costarred with Julia Stiles in the
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