duly deserved

Just got into a little argument over this. She said that it doesnt matter how good the performance was. He wont cause he died. All dead guys win.

She has never seen the dark knight.

I think he earned it.

Your friend needs a little Oscar history lesson. "All dead guys" don't really win.

He acted as the Joker, and got it for his role.

he died, he didn't act like he died.

So he didn't get the oscar because of his death, he got it for his role.

He would have gotten it even if he was alive.

She's an idiot. i agree.

As stated, I'm stunned he won.

I understand the cynicism for people who haven't seen the movie. For those who had, he'd have won it dead, alive or vegetative.

I'm more stunned by the trends he broke then anything.

As fantastic as he was, I'm really not sure about this statement.

Rest In Peace, Heath.

Me either.

And on the "dead guys always win" front, I can think of several instances, just in teh Best Actor category, where an actor who was dead, or known to be dying, won the award.

Peter Finch won for Network after his death in January before the ceremony.

Henry Fonda was dying when he won for On Golden Pond.

Even though he wouldn't die for 10 years, many say that John Wayne's Oscar for True Grit was a sympathy vote for a man who had already lost a lung to cancer.

The list of actors who have won an Oscar late in life for a less than stellar performance because they had never won before in a long and distinguished career is also pretty long.

I don't even think he would have been nominated

i'm pretty certain this is true. before his death people were talking about his performance as the performance of the lifetime. plus the academy doesn't see every movie that rolls through. often big money films go a long way. i'm surprised that didn't pick it for best picture. i mean children of men should have won over departed. the fall should have won over slumdog. neither of those were nominated. people who are in the academy don't see all the movies. sometimes they just give their screener dvd's to their interns.

Or, they just vote for whoever Harvey Weinstein tells them to.

I agree. It was a good performance, but not in the type of films that normally get non-technical awards and had he even been nominated, It's pretty likely he wouldn't have won.

Oscars is at least as much about politics as it is about talent and the fact he's dead brought a huge amount of sympathy vote that wouldn't have been there otherwise.
You might not like it, I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, but it doesn't make it less true.

I think he would of won

It was a stunning performance

Those 'quirky' roles are always popular, eg. rainman

Agreed.