An autopsy conducted on the actor Heath Ledger was inconclusive, New York medical examiners said today, and it will take almost two weeks for a cause of death to be determined.Ledger, 28, was found dead in a New York apartment yesterday afternoon, his naked body lying face down at the foot of the bed.
Authorities moved today to correct earlier reports that pills had been strewn around the room. Sources said that the medication found in the apartment was in containers on a bedside table and in a bathroom cabinet.
Ledger's family had earlier contacted an American news website to deny its report that the 28-year-old had committed suicide.
"The autopsy was finished and the cause of death for Mr Ledger will be pending further study. We have to do additional testing and investigation. It's going to be about 10 days to two weeks," said Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the office of chief medical examiner.
Speaking in Perth, Australia, Ledger's father, Kim, said the family could "confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda".
Ang Lee, the Taiwanese director whose 2006 film Brokeback Mountain earned Ledger an Oscar nomination for his depiction of brooding gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar said working with the actor had been "one of the purest joys of my life".
"He brought to the role of Ennis more than any of us could have imagined - a thirst for life, for love, and for truth, and a vulnerability that made everyone who knew him love him. His death is heartbreaking," Lee said in an email to media.
Fellow Australian actor Cate Blanchett, who heard yesterday that she was nominated for two Oscars, said the news of Ledger's death overshadowed the announcement.
Nicole Kidman and Mel Gibson were among a host of other film industry people who expressed their shock and sadness at the news.
Ledger's death cut off at its prime an acting career that saw a young man emerge from Perth, Western Australia and rise to become one of the most sought after and accomplished actors of his generation.
He started out in small roles in little known Australian independent movies, but reached wider attention in 1999 when he played a school heart-throb in 10 Things I Hate About You.
Lead roles in The Patriot and A Knight's Tale followed, and he played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in Monster's Ball. But it was Brokeback Mountain, based on an E Annie Proulx short story about two teenage cowboys who fall in love one heady summer, that propelled him to stardom.
Ledger played the initially reluctant partner, alongside Jake Gyllenhall's more extrovert and sexually confident Jack Twist.
The film received ecstatic reviews and Ledger was nominated for the best actor category at the 2006 Oscars. The award eventually went to Philip Seymour Hoffman for his characterisation of Truman Capote, but Ledger claimed the best actor title from both the New York and San Francisco film critics' circles.
New York magazine opined that "great joy can be taken in witnessing the small-miracle performances of Ledger (so eloquent in his mute despair)".
Rolling Stone was even more effusive, saying: "Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides," it said.
Ledger looks destined to be most remembered for his devastating performance in Brokeback Mountain, starring as a taciturn ranch-hand who 'ain't queer' but who neverthless falls in love with Jake Gyllenhaal's wannabe rodeo star. It was a role that captured the public imagination, brought an Oscar nomination and prompted director Ang Lee to compare the by then 26-year-old actor to the young Marlon Brando.
It was during the filming of Brokeback Mountain that Ledger began a relationship with the actor Michelle Williams. They set up home together in Brooklyn and had a daughter, Matilda Rose, who is now two.
At the time, Ledger spoke of the happiness they found in Brooklyn, away from the glare of Manhattan media attention.
"I walk my laundry down to the laundromat, I get my groceries and carry them back; photographers don't live out there, and local people don't care," he said.
But the happiness did not last for long. The couple split up last year and Ledger moved back to Manhattan.
He rarely alluded to his private life, but there was clearly a troubled streak. He regularly complained about the attention of paparazzi, and he was hypercritical of his own acting performances.
In November he told the New York Times he had been unable to sleep while making I'm Not There, Todd Haynes's film in which Ledger plays one of six versions of Bob Dylan.
"I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going," Ledger said. He confided to the reporter that he took a prescription sleeping pill and, when that failed, took another.
The actor had been travelling between New York and London where he was filming, as recently as last weekend, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus directed by Terry Gilliam. He will also appear later this year as the Joker in the next Batman movie, The Dark Knight.
Ledger had last been home to Australia over the Christmas period, which he spent with his family in Perth.
He had had a difficult relationship with the local paparazzi, but he left a long and rambling phone message for West Australian newspaper's film editor, Mark Naglazas, to thank the media for leaving him alone during his stay.
"I don't know whether it's a conscious thing or an unconscious thing, giving me space and respecting my privacy," he said. "It's just been awesome. It's really enabled me to be a boy again from home and feel like I'd never left." (The Guardian)
