HEATH LEDGER - WATTS: 'GIVE LEDGER THE OSCAR'

WATTS: 'GIVE LEDGER THE OSCAR'

HEATH LEDGER's ex-girlfriend NAOMI WATTS is urging Academy Awards bosses to recognise the late actor's talents by honouring him with a posthumous Oscar on Sunday (22Feb09) night.
The King Kong star, who is now dating actor Liev Schreiber, romanced Ledger for two years after they met on the set of Aussie film Ned Kelly in 2002. They split amicably and remained friends.
Ledger was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar on 22 January (09) exactly year after he died of an accidental drug overdose in New York.
And Watts is adamant that the Academy board should give Ledger the tribute for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight - because he was such an extraordinary star.
She says, "I hope he does win. He was amazing and his work should be recognised.
"I always knew it from the time we met on Ned Kelly. When we first rehearsed together I was blown away by his presence and the detail in his performance. I just thought, 'Wow, this guy is extraordinary, he has got something really special.'"
Ledger has already been posthumously honoured with a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award for his turn as the comic book villain and will compete against Josh Brolin (Milk), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt) and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) for the coveted Academy Award in Los Angeles on Sunday.