Heath Ledger’s Tragic Death

Police said they did not suspect foul play and believe that the Oscar nominated actor’s death was caused by accidental drug overdose after “prescription-type drugs” was found near his body — the numerous pill bottles were nearly full.

Among the last few images of Heath Ledget before his tragic death. He was filming on the set of the movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in London.

Six different types of prescription drugs were found in the apartment including anti-anxiety medications and sleeping pills. Three of the drugs were prescribed in Europe, where Ledger had been filming recently.

NYPD found a rolled up $20 bill near his bed but tests found no drugs residue on the bill.

Ledger was found by his housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, 56, who got into his room, trying to let him know his masseuse had arrived. Ledger was nude, lying on the floor curled up, at the foot of his bed. They added that Ledger probably died sometime between 1 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday of what authorities say may be an accidental drug overdose.

Body of Heath Ledger being removed from his apartment by representative of medical examiner’s office.

Autopsy had been performed on Heath but his exact cause of death will only be determined when the toxicology results gets in sometime in the next two weeks. At the time meantime, his body has been released to a New York City funeral home. Arrangements have not been disclosed.

Ledger’s housekeeper arrived at his apartment with her own key and let herself in. At 1 p.m., she went to his bedroom to change a light bulb, and saw Ledger sleeping and heard him snoring. She left the room without thinking anything was wrong.

At 2:45 p.m., massage therapist, Diana Wolozin showed up for Ledger’s regular scheduled massage appoint at 3:00pm, he didn’t answer when she knocked on his door. She then tried to call him on his cell phone, but again got no response. She was later let into the bedroom by Heath’s housekeeper, set up her massage table and again tried to wake Ledger.

Wolozin told police that Ledger was cold to the touch, but that she assumed he was just unconscious. She grabbed his cell phone and called Mary-Kate Olsen, whose number was programmed into the phone. Wolozin knew that the “Full House” star and Ledger were friends, and she asked Olsen for advice on what she should do next.

Olsen, who also lives in Manhattan but was in California at the time, responded by saying she would send over her private security guards to help deal with the situation. In the ensuing moments, Wolozin realized that Ledger might be dead. She called Olsen again, then called 911.

The emergency operator provided Wolozin directions on how to do CPR, but it was too late.

Paramedics and Olsen’s security guard arrived just minutes later.

Heath began his acting career in 1996, when he was 17, in an Australian TV series called Sweat, but later found big-screen stardom in Hollywood with 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You, opposite Julia Stiles. He continue working on films with huge box office success including 2000’s The Patriot and 2001’s A Knight’s Tale and Monster’s Ball.

Ledger met actress, Michelle Williams on the cast of his Oscar nominated role, Brokeback Mountain in 2005. Ledger and Williams began a romantic relationship. They dated and got engaged shortly after they met on cast of the movie.

The pair remained engaged when they had their daughter, Matilda and lived together in Brooklyn until they splits September, last year. 2-year-old Matilda had been living with Michelle since their split.

Photo of Michelle Williams and Matilda Rose on Labor Day last year.

In his regular life, he clearly embraced being a dad to Matilda. “Fatherhood has changed me as an artist because I feel things on a deeper level,” he said. “I think my performances will grow simultaneously.”

He was to appear as the Joker this year in The Dark Knight, a sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins.

New York’s Washington Square Park was a place for Heath to roam when he have trouble sleeping.

“He would walk early in the morning – around 6:30 a.m. or 7,” says retired city-worker Tony Rivera, 52, who walks his dog in the park each day at that time, “because, he said, he always had trouble sleeping. That’s why he’d come out so early in the morning.”

He often talked about his daughter, says Rivera, who struck up a chat with the actor during one of his sleepless strolls. “He said it was a great thing, being a dad.”

Ledger spoke in a recent interview about how work-related stress gave him insomnia. During the shooting of his last completed film, The Dark Knight, Ledger told The New York Times in November that he often took the prescribed sleeping aid, Ambien, in an attempt to coax himself into a slumber.

“Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night,” he told The Times. “I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted and my mind was still going.” Ledger continued to say that taking one pill had no effect on him. He’d have to take second to fall asleep, only to awake an hour later with his “mind still racing.”

Heath’s neighbors, Roger Lang, who lived across the street from Ledger and Michelle Williams during the then-couple’s time in Brooklyn, tell media that Ledger left a footprint marking of Matilda in wet cement near the fire hydrant in front of their house.

“The Matilda thing in the sidewalk with the footprints, he did that about two years ago,” Lang says. “It was a secret. It was a fun thing. He did it as a surprise for his family.”

Last night, a bouquet of flowers was placed next to the concrete imprint of their young daughter’s foot.

Fans continues to lay flowers and candles outside of his apartment at 421 Broome Street.

Heath Ledger’s death quickly became the cover story of most weekly celebrity gossip magazine. People magazine and Entertainment Weekly are among the first.

Rest in Peace, Heath Ledger 1979 - 2008.

[Photo: WireImage, TMZ]

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70 Grumps Published 1/24/08   Message Add to Friends