Heath Ledger could be the ‘next James Dean’, says lawyer

Heath Ledger could be the 'next James Dean', according to a lawyer who has managed the estates of several Hollywood legends, including Marilyn Monroe.

Roger Richman said Ledger, who was found dead in his New York apartment on Tuesday at the age of 28, could follow in the footsteps of tragic Rebel Without A Cause star Dean.

Richman said: "He [Ledger] has the look."

Dean starred in just three major movies before his death in a 1955 car accident at the age of 24.

Decades later, his estate continues to rake in about $6 million USD-a-year from licensing his name and image on a wide range of products.

And if Ledger's performance as the Joker in the new Batman movie lives up to its hype, it could boost his posthumous profile and his beyond-the-grave earning power, Richman told a US newspaper.

He said: "That may be enough to create a 'James Dean' legend."

Richman has also marketed Mae West, Albert Einstein and the Marx Brothers.

However, Carla Sofka, a Siena College professor who studies the staying power of dead celebrities, isn't sure Ledger's flame will burn as long or as brightly as Dean's.

She said: "I don't want to be disrespectful, but he's not an icon in the same way. He wasn't a poster boy."

But she said Ledger's Oscar-nominated performance as a cowboy struggling with his homosexuality in Brokeback Mountain could make him an idol among gay men. "They may applaud the risks he took with that roleidentify with him in some way," Sofka added.

Any money earned from Ledger's estate, who made at least $3 million USD a movie, is likely to go to his two-year-old daughter with Michelle Williams, Matilda.

But Richman warned that the earnings potential could be curtailed if the courts decide he was "domiciled" in New York, instead of Los Angeles or his native Australia.

Unlike California, New York has no laws protecting the estates of late celebrities - and anyone can make T-shirts or other memorabilia without paying a cent to the family, he said.

By Gavin Wilson, Jan 25 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy