According to his family, Heath ledger had a premonition that his role in The Dark Knight would be rated as his finest

His gut feeling proved to be correct as he received the Oscar award though fate willed he received it posthumously.

The actor, who died last year, became the second man to win an acting Oscar posthumously.

And his family — Heath Ledger’s mother Sally Bell, father Kim Ledger, and sister Kate Ledger — was there to accept this year’s Best Supporting Actor award for his role of the Joker in The Dark Knight.

Ledger’s father Kim Ledger, mother Sally Bell and Kate made the nerve-wracking walk from the A-List audience inside Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre, up the steps and onto the podium to collect the gold statuette.

With many moist eyes looking on, each took turns to speak.

In an emotional speech, Heath’s father described the win as ‘humbling’ adding that it (award) would have ‘validated’ his son professionally. While Ledger’s mother said that it was time to celebrate her son’s achievement, his sister just wished he was alive to accept the award himself.

“This award tonight would’ve humbly validated Heath’s quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here, his peers, within an industry he so loved,” Kim Ledger said.
Back stage, the trio admitted they were shaking when they heard their son and brother had won Hollywood’s highest honour.
Bookmakers may have had him as the shortest priced favourite in Oscar history with odds as slim as 1/250, but they were not convinced his win was a fait accompli.

Ledger, who died aged 28 on January 22, 2008 in his New York apartment from an accidental overdose of painkillers and sleeping pills, was the sole Australian winner at the 81st Academy Awards ceremony.

Six other Aussies, costume designer Catherine Martin (Australia), art director Michael Carlin (The Duchess), visual effects wizard Ben Snow (Iron Man), film editors Kirk Baxter (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Lee Smith (The Dark Knight) and Tamara Anghie, producer of short live action film New Boy all went home empty handed.