PERTH, Australia (AP) - Heath Ledger's family joined celebrities and hundreds of other mourners Saturday to bid farewell to the actor at a memorial service in his Australian hometown that began with a haunting Aboriginal dirge.

Heath Ledger found it hard to play a junkie in 2005 Candy, because he had never been addicted to anything stronger than tobacco.

NEW YORK (AP) - Heath Ledger turned down more teen movies after starring in the romantic comedy ''10 Things I Hate About You,'' waiting for the kinds of grueling, intense roles that would become his trademark.

Jake Gyllenhaal was too scared to take part in the naked cliff jump scene in Brokeback Mountain, leaving his co-star Heath Ledger to do the honors. Ledger, who also acted nude in his latest movie Candy, says he had no fears over the scene, but Gyllenhaal quickly opted out.

A free-spirited art student and a roguish poet find their addiction to each other taking a back seat to their taste for heroin in director Neil Armfield's intensely personal tale of recreational drug use gone bad. When Candy (Abbie Cornish) and Dan (Heath Ledger) first fell in love, they both thought they had found all they ever needed in life. Continue Summary... Photo gallery / More

Heath Ledger checked himself into an Australian rehab facility and learned how to shoot up heroin from a junkie to perfect his latest movie role. The Aussie actor plays a drug addict in new movie Candy, but he had no idea how to portray his sick character on the big screen because he has never stuck a needle in his arm.