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Actor Ledger died from an accidental overdose

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA | rocco.parascandola@newsday.com

8:37 PM EST, February 6, 2008

"Brokeback Mountain" star Heath Ledger accidentally killed himself with a brew of painkillers, anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills, the city medical examiner said Wednesday.

The announcement confirms what police had suspected since the Academy Award nominee was found naked in bed in his SoHo loft Jan. 22.

Ledger's masseuse, Diana Wolozin, raised eyebrows when she found Ledger unresponsive and called his friend, actress Mary-Kate Olsen, for guidance three times before she called 911. The former child star sent bodyguards to the scene.

And while police said the bodyguards, Wolozin and housekeeper Teresa Solomon cooperated with detectives, the NYPD soon found itself on the defensive for not interviewing Olsen.

Ledger's family, however, never seemed to suspect foul play and stressed that the well-liked actor did not kill himself.

On Wednesday, his father, Kim, noted that "no medications were taken in excess" but said the overdose should not go unnoticed. "Few can understand the hollow, wrenching and enduring agony parents suffer silently when a child predeceases them," Ledger said. "Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at a low dosage."

The Australian-born Ledger had recently finished shooting the Terry Gilliam film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" and the Batman movie "The Dark Knight," in which he played The Joker. He said late last year that playing that part took such a toll that he had started taking sleeping pills.

Wednesday, the medical examiner said in a statement that Ledger's death was accidental and that it was "the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine."

At a Starbucks near Ledger's Broome Street home, actor Brandie Edwards, 24, said she could relate to his isolation. "I'm sure he was staying up nights, worrying about pleasing and doing what everyone expected from him," she said.

Maria Alvarez contributed to this story.