Heath Ledger was posthumously honored for his portrayal of the demented Joker in the Summer 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight at the 2009 Golden Globe Awards.

The actor, who died of an overdose in January 2008, won the trophy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama during Sunday night’s ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan accepted the award for Heath. “On behalf of all of us who worked with Heath on Dark Knight, I accept this with mix of sadness and incredible pride,” Nolan said. “He will be eternally missed but he will never be forgotten.”

“We are overjoyed for him,” Heath’s dad, Kim Ledger, told PEOPLE on Sunday. “It’s wonderful.”