Heath Ledger refused to present Oscars after being asked to make controversial joke with Jake Gyllenhaal

If you needed another reason to love Heath Ledger, hearing about how he stood on business instead of bending to the will of award show executives will probably do the trick.

The late actor, 28, is remembered as a legend in both cinema and life, having won the hearts of millions of fans through his incredible movie roles while being renowned for his creativity and compassion.

One of the most important and impactful projects he worked on was of course Brokeback Mountain, the 2005 romantic-drama which he starred in alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.

The powerful film explores the forbidden love of two ranch-hands who fall for one another while working as sheepherders in Wyoming, but they are forced to deny their true feelings for one another.

It's a tear-jerker, that's for sure - but upon the release of Brokeback Mountain nearly two decades ago, the world was a very different place, and same-sex marriage wasn't even legalised in the US at that point.

Mental, right?

So as you can imagine, a lot of narrow-minded people were clutching their pearls when they heard that Ledger and Gyllenhaal were portraying two cowboys in a homosexual relationship in Ang Lee's movie.

The Joker star expertly shutdown critics who branded the film 'disgusting' while doing press for the film, saying he thought it was 'really immature' for people to have such negative opinions on 'the way two people wish to love one another'.

A mic drop moment if ever there was one.

But despite articulating the perfect response to those who couldn't get over the love story was about two men, the controversy surrounding Brokeback Mountain didn't subside - and people still thought they could make a mockery of it.

According to Gyllenhaal, this includes some bigwigs at the Oscars.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal broke the mould with the 2005 film (Focus Features)

The Road House star, 43, explained that he and Ledger had been asked to present at the Academy Awards ceremony in 2007.

But there was a catch which came with the proposition - they wanted the two actors to make fun of their fictional romance and Gyllenhaal claims they were asked to joke about their complex relationship depicted in the film.

Ledger was not on board with this and turned down the gig, his co-star explained.

During an interview with Another Man magazine previously, Gyllenhaal said: "I remember they wanted to do an opening for the Academy Awards that year that was sort of joking about it. And Heath refused.

"I was sort of, at the time, 'Oh, okay... whatever'. I'm always like, 'It's all in good fun'. And Heath said, 'It's not a joke to me - I don't want to make any jokes about it'."

"That's the thing I loved about Heath," Gyllenhaal went on. "He would never joke. Someone wanted to make a joke about the story or whatever, he was like, 'No. This is about love. Like, that's it, man. Like, no'."

The actors, seen at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2006, were supposed to present at the Oscars in 2007 (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Fans of Ledger applauded the late actor for standing up for what he believed in, dubbing him a 'hero'.

One social media user said: "Heath Ledger was a real f**king man. World lost a real one way too soon. RIP big dog."

Another wrote: "Kept his dignity, the dignity of the role, the dignity of the story, and dignity of all those who are gay. 2007 doesn’t seem long ago but it still wasn’t as openly accepted as it is today."

A third added: "I feel that so hard, like he really stood up for what mattered. Mad respect for him keeping it real, especially back then."

A fourth chimed in: "It’s a reminder of the importance of standing up for what you believe in."

Ledger won the Best Supporting Actor award for his iconic performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight just over a year after his tragic death in 2008, making him the second actor to scoop a gong posthumously at the Academy Awards.