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. "But you know, to me, you can witness his talent, celebrate his talent within this movie. Anything else is gravy."

Superhero flicks usually are not the stuff Oscar dreams are made of. Yet Ledger delivered so far beyond anyone's expectations that he could end up as the second performer to win Hollywood's top honor after his death.

"He may be the first actor since Peter Finch. He may even win the damn thing," said Gary Oldman, who co-stars as noble cop Jim Gordon in "The Dark Knight," which hits theaters July 18.

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

News of Ledger's death at age 28 from an accidental drug overdose broke just hours after the Oscar nominations were announced last January, darkening what normally is one of Hollywood's happiest days. The nominations next year fall on the same date because they were moved back two days from their traditional Tuesday announcement to avoid conflicting with the presidential inauguration.

With nothing remotely like the maniacal Joker among his credits beforehand, Ledger had been a surprising choice to fans, some feeling he was too young, others sensing he would not live up to the campy but earnest performance Nicholson gave in 1989's "Batman." (The role earned Nicholson a Golden Globe nomination, though he did not make the Oscar cut.)

As filming progressed last year, word began leaking from the set about the feverishly psychotic persona Ledger was creating.

With a marketing campaign heavily focused on the Joker, the movie trailers that followed presented a Joker with sloppy, ominous clown makeup that looked as though it had been applied in a windstorm. The brief footage revealed a character whose cackling humor cannot conceal the malevolent soul beneath.

"Whatever Heath channeled into, he's found something quite extraordinary," Oldman said. "It's arguably one of the greatest screen villains I think I've ever seen."

Fans were hooked, but some were skeptical when Oscar buzz for the performance started circulating after Ledger's death. Comic-book tales and other big action flicks rarely are taken seriously by awards voters, who are willing to honor them for technical achievements but generally not for acting.

Skepticism dissolved once Warner Bros. began screenings for "The Dark Knight."

"Heath Ledger didn't so much give a performance as he disappeared completely into the role," filmmaker and lifelong comics fan Kevin Smith said on his MySpace blog after seeing "The Dark Knight." "I know I'm not the first to suggest this, but he'll likely get at least an Oscar nod (if not the win) for best supporting actor."

Ledger's performance is surpassing even the sky-high expectations hardcore fans have going in.

"He was better than I thought he was going to be," said Bill Ramey, founder of the fan Web site Batman-on-Film.com, who caught an advance press screening. "I think he legitimately would deserve an Oscar nomination, not just out of sympathy to his passing, but because he was just fantastic in the movie. ... It's right up there with Hannibal Lecter," which earned Anthony Hopkins an Oscar for "The Silence of the Lambs."

Along with Finch, past posthumous Oscar contenders include James Dean, who was nominated for best actor twice after his death, with 1955's "East of Eden" and 1956's "Giant."

The other actors nominated after their deaths were Spencer Tracy (1967's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"); Ralph Richardson (1984's "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes"); Massimo Troisi (1995's "The Postman"); and Jeanne Eagels (1929's "The Letter").

The aura surrounding Ledger since his death is a sign that, like Dean, he could endure as a mythic figure of talent silenced before his time. Ledger had a best-actor nomination for 2005's "Brokeback Mountain" and was considered a gifted performer just coming into his own.

That will not necessarily improve his Oscar chances. Dean had two shots after his death and lost both.

"The fact that only one actor has ever won an Oscar from the grave tells us that in general at the Oscars, the feeling is when you're dead, you're dead," said Tom O'Neil, a columnist for TheEnvelope.com, an awards Web site. "Maybe the point is that the Oscars are all about hugs. Nobody wants to hug a dead guy."

Oscar voters tend to hand out the trophies for heroic or sympathetic roles, so Ledger's supremely evil characterization could prove a drawback along with the action-genre stigma.

Yet there are notable instances when actors playing villains made such an impression that academy members could not resist voting for them.

Besides Hopkins as cannibalistic killer Lecter, bad guys who won include Fredric March in the title role of 1932's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"; F. Murray Abraham as Mozart's mortal enemy in 1984's "Amadeus"; Kathy Bates as a novelist's demented fan in 1990's "Misery"; Denzel Washington as a corrupt cop in 2001's "Training Day"; and Charlize Theron as a serial killer in 2003's "Monster."

The last two years have brought Oscar wins by Forest Whitaker as brutal dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," Tilda Swinton as a murderously ruthless attorney in "Michael Clayton," Daniel Day-Lewis as a savage oilman in "There Will Be Blood" and Javier Bardem as a psychopathic killer in "No Country for Old Men."

"When a performance as a villain is that memorable, it can be held up as being that much more special," said Chuck Walton, managing editor of online movie-ticket site Fandango.com. "Oscar voters have a lot of respect for actors willing to really let themselves go and inhabit darker roles."

Warner Bros. and the filmmakers are profuse in their praise of Ledger but have been diplomatic about the Oscar talk. Awards publicity generally pads a movie's box-office and DVD receipts, and the studio has cautiously avoided any appearance of profiting from the added attention Ledger's death has brought to the film.

"The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan sidestepped the Oscar question, saying that he was simply happy that early viewers were responding to the performance the way Ledger would have liked.

Authorities say they are now looking for a man with a history of passing himself off as a rock musician to pick up women.

Rockett was accused of raping a woman at a central Mississippi casino in September 2007 and arrested in March. The Neshoba County district attorney's office confirmed Tuesday that the charges were dropped.

Rockett said he was in California when the rape was alleged.

"I was with my fiance watching her try on wedding dresses," Rockett said in a Tuesday phone interview with The Associated Press from Salt Lake City, where Poison is preparing to launch a 49-date tour. "We've got eyewitnesses to that."

Police arrested Rockett, whose real name is Richard Ream, at Los Angeles International Airport upon his return from a concert in New Zealand in March. The 46-year-old said he's never been arrested before and feared his reputation would be ruined.

"That is one word you don't want associated with your name," Rockett said. "Rape is right up there with murder and child molestation."

Authorities are now looking for John Minskoff, who authorities say has a history of passing himself off as a rock musician to pick up women. Messages left with the Neshoba County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday were not immediately returned.

Rockett held an exoneration benefit party on Saturday to raise money for Centurion Ministries, which aids those who have been wrongly convicted of crimes. He's now in Utah practicing with bandmates in preparation for the tour that starts Thursday.

The hair-metal act that scored hits in the '80s like "Talk Dirty To Me" and "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."

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The New York Times reported Wednesday that the bequest was included in a so-called mission statement for the estate of the real estate magnate, who died last August.

It's not certain that all the money will go to the dogs, however. The mission statement wasn't formally incorporated into Helmsley's will or trust documents.

Two people who saw the statement told the Times the document also says the estate trustees may use their discretion in distributing the money.

They could, for instance, decide to spend the money for animal rescue groups, veterinary schools or research on canine diseases.

The hotel queen's will named her own dog, Trouble, as a beneficiary. But the Maltese isn't quite as well-heeled as she used to be. In April, a Manhattan judge reduced the trust fund for the 9-year-old pooch from $12 million to $2 million.

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The Oakland County Sheriff's Arson Unit and the Rochester Hills Fire Department are investigating the Friday night blaze.

A passer-by had noticed flames coming out of the unoccupied house in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills and called the fire department.

Rochester Hills Fire Chief Ron Crowell told The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press the fire appears to have started in the living room area. He said it caused extensive smoke and fire damage throughout the two-story brick house.

The 49-year-old Madonna, known then as Madonna Louise Ciccone, spent some of her younger years as one of six siblings living in the home.

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Documents released Monday show that Spears seeks a house with a larger yard that's closer to parks and recreation areas for her children, Sean Preston and Jayden James. She also wants a "less trafficked" locale than her paparazzi-stalked Beverly Hills home, which she bought for nearly $7 million early last year.

Spears' father, James, requested the sale in mid-June, and a court commissioner agreed. James Spears is acting as his daughter's conservator following several incidents of erratic behavior by the 26-year-old singer.

The children's father, Kevin Federline, has custody.

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Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have founded the New Village Academy, scheduled to open in September.

The school will use instructional methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard called study technology. And a few teachers belong to the church.

But the couple says they are not Scientologists, and the academy's director insists the facility has no religious affiliation.

"We are a secular school, and just like all nonreligious independent schools, faculty and staff do not promote their own religions at school or pass on the beliefs of their particular faith to children," New Village Academy director Jacqueline Olivier told the Los Angeles Times.

Oliver said some of the school's staffers are Scientologists, Muslim, Christian or Jewish.

In addition to reading and math, the school offers classes on yoga, robotics and etiquette.

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After taking the stage Saturday, the troubled singer climbed down into the pit and scuffled briefly with a reveler.

It was unclear what sparked the altercation but witnesses say a fan tried to grab Winehouse.

Winehouse sang for about an hour in front of an estimated crowd of 80,000.

She shocked fans last week by performing at a special birthday concert for Nelson Mandela.

The performance came just after she was hospitalized. Her father says she developed emphysema from smoking cigarettes and crack cocaine, although her spokeswoman has said Winehouse only has pre-emphysema symptoms.

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The 27-year-old socialite made an "extremely generous" donation toward the construction of a medical building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, hospital officials said Thursday, although they did not specify the amount.

"The children I have met through my involvement with Childrens Hospital have truly touched my heart," Hilton said in a statement. "I am proud to make a donation and lend my name to the fundraising effort to help children who are facing terribly serious illnesses."

The 460,000-square-foot Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases is expected to open in 2010.

After spending about 23 days in jail last year for violating probation on alcohol-related reckless driving charges, Hilton told CNN's Larry King the experience caused her to re-evaluate the role partying played in her life. She said she wanted "to help raise money for kids and for breast cancer and multiple sclerosis."

A press screening of the "Batman Begins" sequel Thursday night had the audience cackling along with Ledger's Joker, a depraved creature utterly without conscience whom the late actor played with gleeful anarchy.

At times sounding like a cross between tough guy James Cagney in a gangster flick and Philip Seymour Hoffman's fastidious Truman Capote, Ledger elevates Batman's No. 1 nemesis to a place even Jack Nicholson did not take him in 1989's "Batman."

Nicholson's Joker was campy and clever. Ledger's Joker is an all-out terror, definitely funny but with a lunatic moral mission to drag all of Gotham, the city Batman thanklessly protects, down to his own dim assessment of humanity.

Spewing alternate personal histories for how he got the horrible scars on his face, the Joker hides behind distorted clown makeup that looks like a chalk drawing left out in the rain.

The Joker masterminds a series of escalating abductions, assassination attempts, murders and bombings, all aimed at calling out Batman (Christian Bale) and proving to the tormented vigilante hero that they are two sides of the same coin.

"You complete me," the Joker tells Batman, dementedly borrowing Tom Cruise's sappy romantic line from "Jerry Maguire."

Long before Ledger's death in January from an accidental prescription drug overdose, his collaborators on "The Dark Knight" had been describing his performance as a new high in the art of villainy for a comic-book adaptation.

Director Christopher Nolan, reuniting with "Batman Begins" star Bale, told The Associated Press earlier this year that Ledger came through with precisely what he had envisioned for this take on the Joker, "a young, anarchic presence, somebody who is genuinely threatening to the establishment."

"It was though they'd taken the Joker and all the colors, everything of it, and just kind of put him through a Turkish prison for a decade or so," Bale told the AP. "It's like he's gone through that personal hell to come out being this, if you can even call him mad, at the end here."

A best-actor Academy Award nominee for "Brokeback Mountain," Ledger has earned fresh Oscar buzz for "The Dark Knight," which could land him in the supporting-actor race.

Running just over two and a half hours, "The Dark Knight" is a true crime epic. Throughout, the Joker's bag of tricks is bottomless, twisted to the point of horror-flick sick.

"Some men aren't looking for anything logical," Michael Caine's butler Alfred tells Bruce, who's trying to decipher the Joker's motives. "Some men just want to watch the world burn."

Come July 18, when "The Dark Knight" lands in theaters, the world will be watching Ledger burn up the screen.

The 26-year-old celebutante will again display a caustic streak in an upcoming guest spot on NBC's "Chuck," portraying the mean-spirited high school nemesis of undercover CIA agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski).

In the episode, which will air this fall, Sarah must confront Richie's character when she is forced to attend her 10-year high school reunion for a mission with fellow agent Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) as her date.

"Nicole auditioned for the part and was very funny," executive producer Josh Schwartz said in a statement Wednesday. "This role is a great opportunity for her to show off her comedic skills and be diabolically evil and kick some butt. It's going to be really fun."

She has previously guest starred on TV's "American Dreams" and "8 Simple Rules ... for Dating My Teenage Daughter."

Richie and her beau, Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden, welcomed daughter Harlow Winter Kate Madden in January.

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