Jaunted

Perth, Australia
Heathcliff Andrew Ledger was born in Perth on April 4, 1979. He attended the Guildford Grammar school where he got his first taste of theater and then later dropped out to act full-time.

His family still lives in Perth and just over the Christmas holidays he went back there. He even left a message for the editor of the Western Australian newspaper while he was there saying:

I don't know whether it's a conscious thing or an unconscious thing giving me space and respecting my privacy. It's just been awesome and I've had the most beautiful time back here and being able to see all my friends and family, let alone the press and the people within the community of Perth, it's been so lovely.

It's really enabled me to be a boy again from home and feel like I'd never left.

Sydney, Australia
Heath drove cross-country to Sydney when he was 16 to pursue his acting career. Later, after he hit it big with the movies "10 Things I Hate About You" and "The Patriot," he bought a house in Bronte Beach. Eventually he sold the house, probably after 2004 when he got into a scuffle with paparazzi there at a red-carpet event.

Los Angeles, California
While he was a Hollywood star, Heath wasn't big on LA. But can movie stars ever really stay away from Tinseltown? In 2005, Heath played Skip Engbloom in the film "Lords of Dogtown" about a group of surfer/skaters in the 1970s who helped make skateboarding a competitive sport. According to hotelier Jeff Klein, Heath lived at the Sunset Tower Hotel for several months in 2006. Heath later bought Ellen DeGeneres' old house in the Hollywood Hills in 2006 as a second residence for his then-girlfriend Michelle Williams and their daughter.

Canadian Rockies, Southern Alberta
Although the movie "Brokeback Mountain" was set in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming of the 1960s, filming took place in this mountain range in Canada. Aside from giving an Academy Award-nominated performance as gay cowboy Ennis del Mar in one of the biggest movies of all time, Heath fell in love with his co-star Michelle Williams here.

Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Heath and Michelle chose this trendy 'hood of Brooklyn to settle down in after the birth of their daughter Matilda in 2005. The couple was regularly spotted at neighborhood shops doing normal things like running errands, shopping and eating. The folks over at Flight 001 tell us he used to pop into their store frequently. Some really upset fans have even started placing flowers outside the couple's former house where Matilda's footprints can be found in concrete. Yeah, um...

Soho, New York
Heath moved to Soho after he split from Michelle in September 2007 and got his own place at 421 Broome Street, which has already been turned into a make-shift memorial to the actor. Before he died, people say Heath frequented such spots as Calypso Kids, the Beatrice Inn, and L'Orange Bleu. And everyone said he was down-to-earth and very un-Hollywood.

Our Remembering Heath Ledger Map

[Photo: Jennifer S. Altman/LA Times]