We wish you were here, Heath: Sister

Heath Ledger won the best supporting actor Oscar on Sunday for his performance as The Joker in Batman movie The Dark Knight, with the award hailed as a fitting tribute for the Australian actor who died a year ago.

 Ledger, 28, who was found dead in his New York apartment 13 months ago after an accidental prescription drug overdose, was the hot favorite to win the award which made him only the second actor to receive a posthumous Oscar.

Peter Finch was awarded an Oscar for best actor two months after dying from a heart attack for his role as a TV anchorman in the 1976 film Network.

“This award tonight...validated Heath’s quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here, his peers, in an industry that he so loved,” said his father, Kim, as the actor’s family accepted the Oscar on his behalf.

The chilling Joker played by Ledger helped power the Batman sequel to a global box-office gross of more than $1 billion and made him an emotional favourite to win the Oscar.

“We really wish you were here, but we proudly accept this award on behalf of your beautiful Matilda,” his sister Kate Ledger told the glitzy Oscar ceremony.

Matilda, his three-year-old daughter with actress Michelle Williams, his former fiancee, will receive his Oscar when she turns 18.