Next Thursday will mark the one year anniversary of Heath Ledger’s death, and Entertainment Weekly has put together a fitting tribute for the fallen star, where Heath’s friends and co-workers highlight their experiences with him.  Below are some excerpts from the article.

Gil Junger, director, 10 Things: Heath came in to read, and he exuded a sexuality so uncommon for a man of that age. As soon as he left, I stood up and said, ”Ladies, I have never wanted to sleep with a man, but if I had to, that would be the man. Please hire him immediately.”

Terry Gilliam, director, The Brothers Grimm: [Cinematographer] Nicola Pecorini was working on The Order, and he called me and said, ”This kid is extraordinary. He’s fearless.” I went out to L.A. and met Heath and just liked him immediately. As we were talking, he was constantly jiggling around. I was like, ”That’s great — you’ve got to keep that.” He just had this incredible energy that was intense but very vulnerable at the same time. Heath was determined to be his own man, despite his success. Johnny Depp was someone he really admired. I introduced them at the Toronto Film Festival. Johnny has a good sense of competition. Right from the start, he was just, like, ”Ooh, this guy — watch out!”

Todd Black, producer, A Knight’s Tale: Heath was the pied piper. If you were sad, he took care of you. If you were happy, he made you happier just by dancing or talking or laughing. Fear didn’t enter his psyche. He would say whatever was on his mind. If he didn’t like you, you would know it, and if he liked you, you would know it.

Nicola Pecorini, friend and cinematographer, The Order and Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: Heath would sometimes ask for help to escape: ”Can you call me at 5:15 so I can pick up the phone and get off this interview?” It was very funny, because he was like a big kid — you know, ”Get me out of Science 101.” He went along for the ride, but at times it was a bit too much for him. He’d call me and say, ”Can I come play with your kid?” My son at the time was 10, and Heath would come and spend hours playing soldiers with him, just to get away from everything.

Emma Thomas, producer, The Dark Knight: The minute Heath started doing make-up and wardrobe tests, we realized it was going to be something really special. I remember doing a fitting where he put on that pink nurse’s dress and he had the Joker’s socks on and it changed the way he moved completely. Right from the beginning, people were talking about this as an Oscar-worthy performance.

Charles Roven, producer, The Dark Knight and Brothers Grimm: I showed Heath the first six minutes of The Dark Knight, the bank heist sequence, on an IMAX screen in London. I said, ”You have to see this. You haven’t seen yourself be the Joker!” He watched it, and it just blew his mind. He was so thrilled, he was just laughing. He said, ”I want to see it again!” It’s not an easy thing to rethread an IMAX, so it took about 15 minutes but we showed it to him again. That was the last time I saw him.

Terry Gilliam: He was obsessed with his daughter. She became the center of his thoughts. He would drag her up to my house in London. Here’s Heath, Academy Award nominee, and he’d just grab his daughter, stick her in a backpack, hop on the Tube, and come up to the house. Nobody would have thought, There’s Heath Ledger. He was just a guy with a kid.

Steve Alexander, his CAA Agent: We were making these incredible plans about what was next, career-wise. The day after he died, he was going to meet Steven Spielberg to explore the idea of playing Tom Hayden in a movie about the Chicago 7. This wasn’t a guy who was even for a second thinking about checking out in any way, shape, or form. There’s a moment in The Dark Knight when Heath’s hanging upside down and he says to Batman, ”You and I are destined to do this forever.” It’s a very sad moment. A sequel certainly would have happened. I cringe when I read that he was a tortured soul or a Method actor who couldn’t get out of his own way because he’d played this dark character. It’s just not true.

Nicola Pecorini: He was so solid into keeping clean, it was quite stunning. I really think he died of a broken heart. I know it can sound very romantic, but it’s very tragic. I think that’s what killed him.

Terry Gilliam: We’re cutting Parnassus now, so it’s like I work with Heath every day. He’s in fine shape, at least in the world I’m inhabiting at the moment. It just doesn’t make sense. Every day goes by and I think, He’ll be back in a second.

Read the complete interview here.