The Hollywood heavyweighters gathered for the Screen Actors Guild awards this weekend, and the memory of Heath Ledger was kept alive with Best Actor award winner Daniel Day-Lewis dedicating his award to Ledger and when the show's "In Memoriam" segment closed with a shot of the beloved actor.

"There are many actors in this room tonight including my fellow nominees who have given me that sense of regeneration. Heath Ledger gave it to me," Day-Lewis said in his acceptance speech. "In Monster's Ball, uh, that character that he created seemed to be almost like an unformed being retreating from themselves, retreating from his father, from his life, even retreating from us, and yet we wanted to follow him and yet were scared to follow him almost. It was unique, and then of course in 'Brokeback Mountain' he was unique, he was perfect. And that scene in the trailer in the end of the film is as moving as anything I think I've ever ever seen."

After the ceremony, Day-Lewis continued his praise of the talented actor: "I thought he was beautiful. I just had a very strong feeling I would have liked him very much as a man. I admired him very much. I'm absolutely certain he would have done many wonderful things in his life. We should leave him alone and we should leave his family alone to suffer their unimaginable grief in private, and it's not going to happen. We should just stop encouraging people to have greater and greater interest in raking over every detail, which is none of our business anyhow."

Unfortunately, that was not what the sorry souls over at Westboro Baptist Church had in mind for the evening. Outside the awards show, the religious wingnuts were picketing with signs saying "Heath's in Hell," a reference to his "Brokeback Mountain" role in which he portrayed a gay cowboy.

Earlier, a private memorial service for Ledger was held in Los Angeles, attended by family and friends. The fact it was held in private is believed to have been due to the threats of religious protesters.

Last update: 01-28-2008 21:27