3 Year Old Daughter of Heath Ledger To Receive Oscar

Matilda Ledger, the three-year-old daughter of late Australian actor Heath Ledger, will eventually be the owner of an Oscar; he won best supporting actor Oscar at the February 22 Academy Awards in Hollywood after picking up virtually every other award in that category this season. Talk about a landslide. But his family will accept the award on his behalf.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stated Matilda would receive the Oscar after she turns 18. "We have had Oscars awarded to a minor directly and Oscars awarded posthumously but generally there has been a spouse or an oldest child of legal age" to accept them, said Bruce Davis, executive director of the Academy. "I don't think we have ever had a situation like this. It was a new circumstance for us and we had to figure out what was fair and what would work."

Matilda is too young to sign the winner's agreement, required of all nominees, which says the recipient will not sell his or her Oscar before offering it back to the Academy for $1.

Davis said that after discussions, actress Michelle Williams, Matilda's Mother agreed she would hold any Oscar in trust for Matilda until her daughter turns 18. Matilda could then choose to keep the statuette or return it to the Academy.