HOLLYWOOD: Heath Ledger is poised to become only the second actor in Oscars history to win a posthumous Academy Award on Sunday, a poignant final epitaph to a career tragically cut short just over a year ago.

Ledger, who died in New York in January last year aged 28, is the favourite to emulate fellow Australian Peter Finch — a winner for 1976 classic Network — for his performance as the Joker in Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight. One US bookmaker is quoting odds of 1/80 for a Ledger victory, meaning anyone wishing to bet on Ledger will have to place $80 to win one.

If the Oscar is confirmed, it will be the crowning accolade for Ledger, who has already been honoured at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and British Academy Film Awards amongst others.

Gary Oldman, who plays Gotham City police officer Lieutenant Jim Gordon in the film, was among several who predicted an Oscar, saying he was captivated by his co-star as soon as he saw him on set.

“I got a sense of it the first morning I worked with him. And I thought ‘... this kid’s a bit good’,” Oldman said. “It’s like he’s found a radio station that the rest of us can’t hear. And that happens to actors sometimes. When I’ve seen great performances — (Jack) Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon — you go ‘wow, there’s something really special at work here’. And I think Heath’s done that here. It’s like he’s gone through the sound barrier.”

Director Christopher Nolan said Ledger, renowned for taking on difficult, edgy roles during his career, was chosen for precisely for that reason. “For the role of The Joker I was looking for fearlessness,” Nolan said. “I needed a phenomenal actor, but he (Ledger) also had to be someone unafraid of taking on such an iconic role ... Heath created something entirely original.”