Ledger could receive posthumous Oscar

FILM. Jack Nicholson’s Joker was a blast. Heath Ledger’s Joker is as dark and anarchic a figure as Randle McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the role that brought Nicholson his first Academy Award.

Ledger’s performance in the Batman tale “The Dark Knight” is so remarkable that next Jan. 22, the one-year anniversary of his death, he could become just the seventh actor in Oscar history to earn a posthumous nomination.

“I do think that Heath has created an iconic villain that will stand for the ages, and of course, I would love to see him get an award,” said Christian Bale, who reprises his “Batman Begins” role as the tormented crime fighter.

Gary Oldman, who co-stars as noble cop Jim Gordon in “The Dark Knight,” says Ledger may be the first actor to be nominated posthumously since Peter Finch.

“He may even win the damn thing,” he said.

Finch is the only person to win posthumously, earning the best-actor prize for 1976’s “Network” two months after he died.