 TRAGIC Hollywood heart-throb Heath Ledger was planning a movie about a Midland singer whose death bore striking similarities to his own. Ledger's fascination with Nick Drake, who died from a suspected accidental overdose of prescription medication in the prime of his musical career, was the drive behind trying to bring his life story to the big screen. The Brokeback Mountain star had even made an amateur video for the last song written by Drake before he died at his parents home in 1974 aged 26, in what friends maintained was a tragic accident. The 28-year-old Australian actor was found dead in his New York City apartment surrounded by sleeping pills last Wednesday. Drake, from Tanworth-in-Arden, in Warwickshire, was the brother of Crossroads star Gabrielle Drake. His three folk albums earned him cult status and many top artists, from Madonna to Paul Weller, cited him as an influence. His fame soared in recent years after his haunting music was used in films In September, Ledger spoke of his fascination with the songwriter, who he described as a "very mysterious figure", while he was at the Venice Film Festival to promote the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There. "I was obsessed with his story and his music and I pursued it for a while and still have hopes to kind of tell his story one day," Ledger said. He had recently shot and edited a music video for a Drake song called Black Eyed Dog. At the end of the video, Ledger is seen drowning himself in a bathtub. A representative for Drake's estate described the clip, which was shot in black and white, as "gorgeous" and "extremely moving". The video, which consists mainly of Ledger turning the camera on himself, has not been released and has only been screened twice. Friends of Ledger said he began talking about the movie biopic on his return to the US after spending Christmas with his family in Perth. "He was still very excited about a Drake film," one said. An investigation into his death has now been launched. One theory is that the star had taken an accidental overdose. | 
