LESS than three months ago, Heath Ledger described his sleepless nights and mental exhaustion as he wrestled with his role as the "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic" Joker in the new Batman film.

One night he took a sleeping pill, Ambien, to little effect. He took a second, slept for an hour, but then woke, his mind racing.

"I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going," he said, while admitting he also "stressed out a little too much" about his role in the Bob Dylan film I'm Not There.

Yesterday, the 28-year-old Australian film star was found dead, face-down and naked at the foot of his bed in his rented SoHo apartment in Manhattan. There were prescription drugs, including sleeping pills, by his bed.