Cowboy Mourns A Mate

Newcastle Herald

Friday January 25, 2008

By MATTHEW KELLY

ADAM Sutton, the Central Coast horse wrangler who inspired Heath Ledger to play a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, spoke yesterday about the loss of his good mate on Wednesday.

Mr Sutton, 33, the "real gay cowboy" from Cooranbong said that Ledger had also had a profound effect on his life.

Sutton initially met Ledger when he was working as a horse wrangler on the set of the 2003 movie Ned Kelly.

A year later Ledger told Mr Sutton that he was considering a script about a gay cowboy.

"He came back to Sydney one time and said 'Bushy, I've just read this script about a gay cowboy and it sounds a lot like you'," Mr Sutton, who is in Los Angeles, said.

"That script he was reading went on to be Brokeback Mountain."

The movie in turn inspired Mr Sutton to reveal his own painful journey as a gay horse wrangler, first in The Sydney Morning Herald and then on Australian Story.

The pair remained good mates and stayed in touch to the extent their careers allowed.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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