'"You dreamed your dreams and lived them with passion and intelligent commitment. We have been privileged to accompany you on a ride through life that has simply been amazing and through it all we have loved each other beyond imagination," the notice added. "Our hearts are broken."'
There's also something very touching to hear Heath's nicknames - 'Roast' and 'Beef' - like being let into a family joke. One wonders what Heath called his sister in return.
Thanks to Pia for letting me know about this tribute to Heath from Rolling Stone's Peter Travers, who, like others in the movie world, heard the news at the Sundance Festival in Utah on the day of the Oscar nominations. Talk about putting things in perspective... Here is the original article about Heath, which put Heath on the cover of Rolling Stone back in the Spring of 2006.
Ellen Degeneres, a friend of Heath's, broadcast her own tribute to Heath, which includes footage from Heath's last appearance on her show. Watching this made me laugh and laugh and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Finally, it is Ellen's 50th birthday, today I believe, and her birthday show today contains a celebrity rendition of I Will Survive. One of the contributors is our very own Jake Gyllenhaal, of course recorded before Tuesday. Thanks to Neely who has just seen it, we know Jake is seen four times and he does the 'Just turn around now' line 'and he does a little hip shaking'. Now let's hope we can all get to see this as that would be a fine tonic, indeed.
I hope everyone has a peaceful and safe weekend.
Includes pictures from IHJ, Just Jared and Rolling Stone.
31 comments:
Oh WDW, this is such a helpful post. I feel silly carrying on so as a fan and still having ups and downs about it when you know how devastating it must be for his family and friends, but still . . .
I love the words you chose, Heath's family flying to the US to "look after him" as in taking care of him. I'm glad he has that, and I feel better knowing it.
It will be a great tonic seeing Jake sing "I Will Survive", just what we need. Can't wait to see.
Thanks again, and we will miss our Heath so much. :')
He is beautiful on the cover the Rolling Stone, isn't he?
Sorta wish we all lived in small villages where all the town folks followed a coffin down the street -we've become a world community, as we discover in every death that hits us hard. I liked D-DLewis's words, "I didnt know him, but I think I would have liked him if I did, and I have much admired his work" . . . something like that. Those of us who have followed the careers and lives of actors/artists we admire stand sorta on the same ground with DDL, it seems to me, and should feel ashamned of our feelings.
I, too, feel better knowing that his family is flying to US, I feel better knowing where his body is, today - and also appreciate your language, WDW, as in "looking after him. . ." so important!
p.s. typo. should NOT be ashamed of our feelings!
Hi Bertie. I'm so glad you liked this. Don't feel silly. Those ups and downs you mention are a big part of the meaning of this post, it's all part of the process. Thanks for liking the choice of words, I thought hard about them. He is definitely a beauty on the magazine :) Please take care.
Hi Pia - I like that, that we're a community following behind down the street. Daniels's words were so... understanding.
Just got back from leaving flowers and a note from all of us at Heath's apt. on Broome St. Very surreal to say the least. There were crowds and lots of beautiful tributes, note, flowers, etc. One was a eye shaped piece of metal painted and saying "Heath, Andy Warhol would have loved you." I always find it surreal when people stand and take pictures at a memorial site I guess since going down to Ground Zero just after 9/11 and seeing people do it just leaves a strange feeling for me. I know they are dealing with it in their own way too. Anyway, everyone was just respectful and quiet. Some people went into the building and a delivery man as well. The clothing store next door was buzzing people in for business. Just life and mourning in NYC. Glad I could go and represent us all and share our love and feelings to Heath.
Thanks again for another very touching post, WDW. The tributes to Heath are very nice. Like Neely I saw the Ellen episode before I left and it was very fun! Will be a nice break for us all to see Jake shake his cute behind and lip synching to "I Will Survive ." ;) Yes, it was taped before this week. Jake was wearing the black outfit from his last visit so I think it was taped then. I am sure since it was a big special show that they taped things when the actors/celebs were there.
Thank you for the Ellen vid, WDW, very sweet and funny.
Oh wow Get Real - what an amazing thing to do for all of us - thank you more than I can say for taking us with you. That was a good thing you did.
Wouldn't mind seeing Jake shake his cute behind right now :)
Thanks Get Real for sharig that with us.
Hi Anouska - it did me good watching that video :)
The amazing Stephanie at IHJ has the video of Jake on Ellen up! :)
O get real thank you so much - such gestures are so full of meaning and love - just when I think Im "okay" I am once again moved to tears.
I was down at Ground Zero the t'giving after 9/11 and all was both bizarre and yet somehow essential.
when you said "that's life and mourning in NYC" - yes. thanks again.
Get Real - you've done it again, thanks! That made me feel much better tonight.
Thanks Pia - that is really moving, to get a glimpse of NYC.
and thanks for heads up on Ellen video - oh man Jake hits the spot and you know what spot -
wigglin' his butt - ! - OMY!
Jamie somethin' else, too.
p.s. not exactling wigglin', he's doing serious bump and grind, guess I'll go to bed happy.
Thank you for another beautiful,poignant but uplifting post WDW,sensitively handled as always.
The tributes to Heath from his family were so beautiful,we're priveleged to be granted a glimpse into the great and private love in a close family which has lost a jewel of a young man.
I was so glad in the previous post to see the genuine admiration,respect and deep regret from an obviously moved Daniel Day-Lewis...and here Ellen,lovely Ellen,just managing to get those few words out,then letting the clip show us Heath's capacity for happiness and fun. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry...so I did both.
Get Real - I can't tell you what it means to me,to everybody I'm sure,that you paid your respects on our behalf outside Heath's home. I'm so touched and so grateful,thankyou.
And I had to smile at Mr Cheeky-chops doing his bootylicious "I will survive" routine...just makes me want to hug (((((Jake)))))even more right now...
Hi Kate and everyone,
Just peeping in to say I went to Broome street last night and left flowers and a note from all us and from Gyllenbabble too. Very sad and very respectful.
love and hugs to everyone
Thank you Sass for doing that, I've kept my distance mainly because I think I'm still in disbelief. Wondering if maybe this is some idea of a bad joke. I went skiing last nite and sat on the chairlift by myself and thought how Heath loved to snowboard and ride the hills. That he won't be able to do that again, or surf. I keep thinking this is a dream that will go away, that it was a mistake, it wasn't really him.
Thanks for tonight's post WDW. Again, I don't know how you mananged to do it, but I'm deeply grateful that you have.
What can I say...I've been feeling a bit like Bertie Knox today, feeling almost like a fraud for being so upset and crying more than once today, when what I'm feeling can't ever come within a million miles of what Heath's loved ones are feeling. What right do I have to grieve for Heath? It's not me who's lost a child or a little brother. But I have a child and two little brothers of my own, and the thought of losing them is too much to bear. Heath's family spoke of him so eloquently and with so much love, giving us a glimpse of how extraordinary he was, and at the same time, so ordinary, not a celebrity or a movie star, or even an immensely talented actor,just a much loved son and a brother. I had a feeling of "there but for the Grace of God..." reading their moving tributes and I just wish so much they didn't have to go through this.
Then I read the Rolling Stone tribute, and the line about how Heath "went on to capture the loneliness of the guarded heart— as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, as a heroin junkie in Candy" really got me. Those two performances by Heath reduced me to a quivering wreck, still do in the case of Ennis del Mar(and probably Dan would again too if I had the guts to watch the film again) and that is testament to Heath's massive talent. I can see so much of myself and people I've loved in Ennis and in Dan, and for the time I watched them on screen,they were real people because Heath made them so. So if Heath can make me weep for them, how can I NOT weep and grieve for Heath himself? Of course as the RS article says, the real tragedy is his loss at such a young age, and I would add that of course it is the tragedy of those close to him. But for those of us who he touched with his work, and who saw ourselves reflected in him or in his characters I think it's only natural to feel a sense of loss.As Hemingway said "Ask not for whom the bell tolls - it tolls for thee".
I'm sorry to ramble on...I watched the Ellen video with tears of both laughter and sorrow streaming down my face and I've got so many thoughts going on in my head I feel like my head's going to explode if I don't get them out. Thanks for letting me do that (((WDW and all of you who post here)))
Massive thanks (((Get Real))) and (((Sass))) for palcing tributes on our behalf. Some posters on EJ have done the same, and honestly, it means the world to those of us that are too far away to go ourselves.
Thanks also for the letting us know about the Ellen video with Jake. I haven't watched it yet, but will do later or tomorrow.
Sass this gesture as that of ger real means so very much. thank you!
I honored Heath in my own way at work today: I put the "Ennis Alone" screencap from "Brokeback Mountain" on the desktop of my computer. Those who see it, but don't know what it means, will just see a mountain vista. But I will know that Ennis is there, and that he may be lonely, but he wants and needs love....
You are very welcome, everyone. I wish I didn't have to do it but I felt I had to. I had to do it for all of us.
Sass, sorry I wasn't able to make it last night to meet you.
The Ellen video is just so adorable! I have watched it over and over to see Jake shake that sexy, adorable booty! ;p
Thank you, Get Real and Sass for including us when you paid your respects to Heath. It means a lot to me. And thanks to Stephanie for getting that Jake clip up on Youtube.
So I'm thinking, if each one of those celebrities filmed their dancing when they were a guest on the show, then there must be film somewhere of Jake dancing to the entire song? hmmm...how do I get a job on the Ellen show? :)
I watched BBM last night - just had to see Heath. I was holding it together until the scene where Ennis storms out of Monroe and Alma's house at Thanksgiving, with his daughters calling out "Bye, Daddy!" :(
The clip of Ellen and Heath on the bobsled is a treasure. Thank you, WDW. :)
Get Real and Sass, Thank you so much for that gesture. It means a lot. Hugs to you both.
WDW, Thank you for another sensitive and lovely post. Thank you to everyone else for such wonderful, thoughtful comments.
I agree there is something so endearing about Heath's family nicknames. It's so hard to think of his families loss. I hope all the tributes, and the flowers and messages outside Broome Street let them know how much Heath was loved and respected, and that it will give them some comfort in the future.
I loved the Ellen clip, watched with a smile and some tears. I haven't watched Jake yet, but maybe later.
Hugs to all.
Rosie
x
Morning everyone - I hope you're all OK. I do feel better for having had a long sleep last night although there were dreams in it.
Hi Nadine - that Ellen clip had the same effect on me too, while the Jake video just made me feel so good.
Sass, thank you so much for thinking of us while making your wonderful and respectful gesture. What you and Get Real have done means so much to all of us.
CWG - I'm think of you...
TL, thank you so much for that and for telling us how you feel. I don't know much about this sort of thing but I do know that everyone has the right to grieve Heath as they need to, whether they knew him or not. I cried for Ennis, for months. I would say Heath is due a large measure of those tears now, for giving us Ennis and for what he won't now be able to give us in the future. That's good to hear about the EJ posters too. I feel so far away and wish I could pay my respects in person.
That's beautiful, Paulh.
Get Real, I'm so glad you did do it. I found a lot of comfort in Jake's ittle video and I will do again today.
Oh Neely, that scene got to me when I watched BBM on Thursday night too.
Morning Rosie - I have no doubt that Heath's family will know how strongly they are being thought of right now and how loved their son and brother was.
I'm fortunate this weekend, I'm spending it with Brokies and Jakers who all love Heath. But I will never be far from here. Take care, my friends.
Morning everyone.... that Rolling Stone cover, my favourite. I didn't keep that many magazines but this is one of them. And I remember it was who Michelle wrote "old man river" on Heath's wrist....
I went for a movie and dinner with my hubby last night, drank too much white wine, perhaps... so had a pretty long and good sleep...
Will commiserate together tomorrow with brokies, hope to you see there.
good morning, darlin's. Im glad some of you will be together this weekend. Im kinda together with a "best friend" from East Hampton Long Island with whom Ive shared love for J and H over past two years: he will visit Broome St. on Monday, with poems and so forth from both of us.
Im glad to read H's body left funeral home in "plain wooden box" Friday afternoon and that his publicist says there are no plans for public funeral.
Hugs to y'all, esp. those gathering together.
I was thinking, I hope Heath's mom brings one of his shirts to give to Jake, you know what I mean.
Take care everybody
Libby
I watched some BBM last night, up to the Motel scene. i was worried about how I would react, but I'm so glad I did it, cos it really made me feel so much better. The moment the music started and the truck appeared in the distance I was transported rigt back to Wyoming 1963 and when Heath jumped out of the truck, it was only Ennis that I saw. How often have we said that Heath and Jake didn't just play the parts of Ennis and Jack, they became Ennis and Jack? That was true before Tuesday's tragic events and it still held true for me last night.It was just like old times, as I watched those two beautiful boys fall in love and shared their joy and their pain.I even found myself,to my surprise, re-winding SNIT and re-watching it several times. Before Tuesday that would have been no surprise to me or anyone who knows me, but I thought that might all change now. I don't know how to say this without sounding heartless, but watching those scenes last night, I completely forgot that Heath has gone, I was so captivated again by Ennis and Jack that nothing else mattered. That was always the power,both real and imagined, of Brokeback Mountain.Whether it's the place itself for the characters, or the film for those of us who love it so much,BBM transcends everything else in the "real world" and exists in a pure and untouchable place of its own. It's something far bigger than the sum of its parts and nothing, not even Heath's tragic loss, can ever change that.
Having said that, the lines between fact and fiction did become blurred for me watching the early scenes between Ennis and Alma, the real-life parallels with Heath and Michelle are too poignant and painfully obvious to be ignored. But overall, I found it immensely comforting to watch the film last night.I know it's such a cliche, but Heath really does live on in his films.
Speaking of which, Sky Movies here in the UK are showing 3 films tonight,from 6pm, as a tribute to Heath: Casanova, Brokeback Mountain, and 10 Things I Hate About You. If like me, you only have the basic Sky package and not the Movie channels, get in touch with Sky cos they're doing a one month free trial offer during January for Sky Movies, which I've just signed up for. So while I'm still cut up and filled with sadness over Heath's loss, I'm also looking forward immensely to spending time tonight enjoying and celebrating some of the gifts he left for us.
o I see the "plain pine crate" is possibly shipping carton. hope Im not upsetting anyone speaking of these details. I am hoping that this be kept simple, that's all.
Hey all. Here's the link to that Jake vid montage on Ellen.
It made me so sad to watch Ellen's birthday show and get no birthday call from Jake, knowing full well why.
But then I saw this and I felt so much comfort, just seeing Jake singing in dancing.
Anyways, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAM6B-sjszs&eurl=http://perezhilton.com/
Hugs to all. xx Em
Hi everyone - thanks so much for the comments. I don't have Sky so I can't watch the films with you tonight TL but with Ruby and Anouska tonight we will celebrate Heath's life.
Winterbird, I will see you tomorrow and that makes me very happy.
Pia, have a good, good time with your friend and that's so good that he can leave a tribute from the two of you.
Thanks for being here, Libby.
Good to see you, Em. I hope you're OK. I found huge comfort in the karaoke clip too. I've watched it over and over. I've put that video in the new post.
I will see you all later - take care.
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