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Heath Ledger was mourned by Hollywood's A-List at the Screen Actors Guild awards, with an emotional Daniel Day-Lewis dedicating his SAG best actor award to Ledger and issuing a plea to the media to leave Ledger's grief-stricken family alone.
"Just stop," Day-Lewis said in his passionate plea.
"We should just stop encouraging people to rake over every detail of his life."
Ledger's photo closed a video tribute at the awards ceremony to actors lost in the past year.
Other nominees for the event wore black ribbons on their gowns and suits to honour Ledger while others, such as Cate Blanchett and Ryan Gosling, spoke lovingly about him as a talented actor and friend.
They also showed their disgust at four religious extremists who staged a protest aimed at Ledger outside Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, the site of the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The protesters, upset by Ledger's role as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, carried placards with anti-homosexual slogans.
"It's too ridiculous to talk about," said James Gandolfini, who won the SAG Award best actor in a TV drama for his mob boss role in The Sopranos.
The SAG Awards were supposed to be a night of celebration after a dismal three months in Los Angeles caused by the unresolved screenwriters strike.
Hollywood production has been brought to a standstill and recent awards nights, including the Golden Globes, were lacklustre affairs because the screenwriters' union, in a battle with the studios for a better pay deal, refused to allow its members to participate at the events.
SAG, which represents more than 100,000 actors, has been a strong ally of the screenwriters' union, the Writers Guild of America, so was given a free pass to hold an awards ceremony.
Ledger's shocking death last week left Hollywood's A-List actors in no mood to party.
Most were sickened by the media's coverage of Ledger's death and the paparazzi refusing to let his family and ex-fiancee Michelle Williams mourn in peace.
Ledger's family was forced to hold a private memorial service in Los Angeles on Sunday with security officers and Los Angeles police standing guard.
Abbie Cornish, Naomi Watts and Williams were reportedly among those who attended the memorial service.
"They should leave all the people in his life alone," Gosling, a nominee for the best actor SAG Award, said on the red carpet.
"It's a hard enough time as it is. I can't imagine what they are going through."
Day-Lewis became visibly upset as he told how he had never met Ledger, but had been awestruck by the Australian's roles in Brokeback Mountain and Monster's Ball.
Day-Lewis, who firmed as the favourite to win the best actor Oscar for There Will Be Blood at next month's Academy Awards after his SAG win, described Ledger's performance in Brokeback Mountain as "perfect".
"That scene in the trailer at the end of the film is as moving as anything that I think I've ever seen," London-born Day-Lewis, 50, said in his acceptance speech.
"I'd like to dedicate this to Heath Ledger."
Later, speaking to journalists, Day-Lewis was asked if New York police should probe deeper into Ledger's death.
"I think we should leave him alone," Day-Lewis replied.
"I think we should leave his family alone to suffer their unimaginable grief in private."
_ AAP
