It was the pash that stopped the nation. At the 2006 Australian Film Institute awards, Heath Ledger was being interviewed by a TV journalist when a screech made everyone jump. Magda Szubanski, who was wandering the red carpet in character as her graceless Kath and Kim character Sharon Strzelecki, screamed at the sight of Ledger – who, without blinking, kissed her passionately. Szubanski promptly pretended to faint.
Now, 20 years later, Szubanski has revealed that Ledger was such a fan of this entirely improvised moment that he called her the next day to ask if he could play Sharon’s stalker on Kath and Kim, shortly before his death.
