Heath Ledger wanted to appear on Kath and Kim as Sharon Strzelecki’s stalker, Magda Szubanski has revealed in her new memoir.
The late Perth-raised actor made the suggestion after an unscripted kiss with Szubanski’s character at the 2006 Australian Film Institute Awards, a moment which later became widely known.
Szubanski, 65, said Ledger had not been aware of the plan before Sharon reacted to seeing him at the ceremony.
“As soon as Sharon saw Heath, overtaken by my own avatar, she went off-script and screamed,” she wrote in I Can’t Tell You But I Will, which is due to be published in Australia on Tuesday.
“Heath jumped out of his skin, composed himself, strode over, grabbed my face in his hands, and planted one right on me — then Sharon fainted.”
Szubanski said Ledger called her the following morning to discuss the idea of joining the Australian sitcom.
“Heath rang me the following morning to tell me our red-carpet improv was the most fun he’d had in ages,” she wrote. “He wanted to float an idea: Could he be a guest on Kath and Kim . . . as Sharon’s stalker? Mic drop!”
The pair spoke several times about the proposed appearance and planned to meet in London to work out the details. That meeting never took place after Ledger died in January 2008, aged 28, from an accidental overdose.
Ledger later won the Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, receiving the award one month after his death.
Reflecting on the role that might have been, Szubanski described Ledger’s death as one of the great unanswered possibilities of her life.
“The loss of a superb human like Heath reverberates so deeply and widely it is impossible to express — but it is one of the great ‘what ifs’ of my life,” she wrote.
“What if he hadn’t died, and we could have kept playing? The delight and hilarity that would have brought to us and the world . . . it hurts to think about.”
