Why Heath Ledger Gifted Andrew Garfield Sunglasses the Day They Met: 'I Still Have Lots of Mementos of His'

Mar. 15, 2025

Andrew Garfield and Heath Ledger.Photo:Jacopo M. Raule/Getty; BILLY FARRELL/Patrick McMullan via Getty

Jacopo M. Raule/Getty; BILLY FARRELL/Patrick McMullan via Getty

Andrew Garfieldis remembering late costarHeath Ledger’s generosity.

During Garfield’s recent appearance on theHappy Sad Confusedpodcast to promoteWe Live in Time, the actor recalled that Ledger, who died in 2008 at age 28, once gave him a pair of sunglasses the first time they met.

“I still have lots of mementos of his,” Garfield, 41, said. “I remember the first day I met him he was wearing these amazing Ray-Ban sunglasses and I said, ‘Hey, cool sunglasses,’ and he was like, ‘Oh yeah?’ And the next day they were in my dressing room. He just left them for me.”

“He was just a very generous, like, beautiful creative spirit,” he added.

Garfield and Ledger worked together on the 2009 movieThe Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which ultimately amounted to Ledger’s final onscreen appearance after hisdeath from an accidental overdose. When Garfield met Ledger, the latter actor was fresh off filming his famous role as the Joker in​Christopher Nolan’s 2008 movieThe Dark Knight.

“I think he was a kind of beacon, it was kind of like a wild animal. He had just done the Joker, he had just finished doingThe Dark Knight, and he was so smug about it,” Garfield said with a laugh. “I was like, ‘How did that go?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be good.’ “Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Andrew Garfield on Sept. 28, 2024.Juan Naharro Gimenez/WireImage

Juan Naharro Gimenez/WireImage

“[Ledger] was so free and so wild and kind of dangerous on set in a way that was a kind of thing that is inspiring and spontaneous,” Garfield recalled, admitting that he himself was “really concerned with getting it right, or being good, whatever that means,” at that point in his career.

“He would say before every take or maybe one take every scene, ‘Let’s have some fun with this one,’ " Garfield added. “And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s have some fun with this one, let’s have some fun rather than trying to get it right.’ "

We Live in Timeis in select theaters now, then nationwide on Oct. 18.

source: people.com