Shekhar Kapur was Ledger's alarm clock

Melbourne (ANI): Director Shekhar Kapur spoke to actor Heath Ledger the night before the latter passed away, and promised to give him a wake-up call the following morning. Kapur, whose film Elizabeth: The Golden Age has seen actress Cate Blanchett receive her second Oscar nod, revealed that he had spoken to the Aussie star on Jan 21, after arriving in New York from London.

"I last spoke to him on the night before he died," News.com.au quoted Kapur, as telling London's Evening Standard. "He said he could not see me that night but really wanted to meet me the next day. He made me promise that I would call him in the morning and wake him up. "I tried. Little did I know that his soul had already left his body."

Kapur also paid tribute to the actor, calling him "one of the most gentle, the most honest, most caring and most compassionate persons I had met." Ledger"s body was discovered on Jan 22 by a masseuse and housekeeper in his New York apartment.