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Australian-born actor Heath Ledger (28) has been found dead in his downtown Manhattan apartment, pills sprawled around his naked body, in the Broome Street apartment of Mary-Kate Olsen, the NYPD said Tuesday. According to various news accounts, the 28-year-old Australian actor appeared to be a victim of an accidental overdose or suicide.

The NYPD released a short statement that did not mention the actor by name:

ON TUESDAY, 01/22/08, AT APPROXIMATELY 1530 HOURS, IN THE CONFINES OF THE 5 PRECINCT, POLICE RESPONDED TO 421 BROOME STREET AND FOUND A M/W/28 UNCONSCIOUS. THE VICTIM WAS PRONOUNCED DOA AT THE SCENE. M.E.’S OFFICE TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF DEATH. INVESTIGATION CONTINUES.

Voice film critic J. Hoberman had this to say about Ledger in Brokeback Mountain: “But moony as Gyllenhaal is, he’s only barely able to hold up his side of the equation; it’s the self- contained Ledger’s repression and scary, sorrowful, hard-luck rage that fuel the movie.”

The actor was sick with pneumonia when he died, the TMZ.com website has reported.

Ledger was found dead in his bed at his apartment on Broome Street, SoHo, in Manhattan, by his housekeeper about 3.35pm local time.

Ledger’s body was removed from his New York apartment and wheeled into the back of a medical examiner’s van.

A huge crowd of news photographers gathered outside the apartment in the SoHo building lit up the scene with flashes as authorities wheeled his body on a trolley from the complex into the van.

A police spokesman said the cause of death was unknown, despite the presence of drugs.

“We don’t have that [the cause of death] yet. The matter is still under investigation,” the spokesman said.

He was pronounced dead at 3.45pm (7.45am AEDT) by a medical examiner who went to the apartment.

Naked and unconscious

Ledger was naked and unconscious, The New York Times reported.

New York police officer Martin Brown said investigators would most likely not know the cause of death until an autopsy was held on the body.

Asked if foul play had been ruled out, Officer Brown said it had not.

“That’s what needs to be investigated,” Brown told AAP.

“It takes a while. The medical examiner will do an autopsy and they will determine the cause of death.”

Pills found

US television network NBC reported his body was found surrounded by pills.

The New York Times reported Ledger was discovered by a masseuse who arrived at his apartment for an appointment.

The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of Ledger’s bedroom, The New York Times reported.

When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Ledger unconscious.

They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities.

“It’s all preliminary at this stage,” Officer Brown said.

“We had a call for an unconscious male at 421 Broome Street.

“At 3.26pm [New York time] we got to the scene and there was an unconscious male.

“We called EMS [ambulance] to the scene and EMS pronounced the unconscious male dead.

“Preliminarily, it is believed it is the actor Heath Ledger.”

Police officers stood guard at the Soho apartment building as a crowd of photographers gathered outside.

Asked about reports of the pills in Ledger’s apartment, Brown said: “I can’t confirm that but I’ve heard the same thing.”

Ledger was taking sleeping pills after completing I’m Not There, in which he played one of the many incarnations of singer Bob Dylan.

He told The New York Times in a November interview that he “stressed out a little too much” during the Dylan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy”.

“Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night,” Ledger told the Times.

“I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.”

He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour, the paper said.Ledger was an Oscar nominee for his role in Brokeback Mountain and had numerous other screen credits.

His breakthrough role was the Australian movie Two Hands, directed by Gregor Jordan and in another movie from the same year, 10 Things I Hate about You, he established himself as an up-and-coming star.

Ledger’s other film credits included A Knight’s Tale, The Patriot and Monster’s Ball.

He starred in I’m Not There, one of several actors playing a role representing Bob Dylan, and was due to appear as the Joker in the upcoming Batman film The Dark Knight.

Ledger’s death comes during the making of his latest movie The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, directed by Terry Gilliam and in which he was to star alongside Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits.

Ledger had a difficult relationship with some sections of the media.

In 2004 he allegedly spat at and assaulted a photographer in Sydney. The retaliation was during the premier to Brokeback Mountain when photographers squirted him with water on the red carpet.

Incredibly sad: Armfield

The director of Ledger’s last Australian movie, Candy, Neil Armfield, told ABC Radio he was “incredibly saddened” to hear of the 28-year-old’s death.

“He was a young boy in many ways, still a boy when he left Perth and got into this whirlwind of his career,” Armfield said.

“He handled his career incredibly well - he made a decision about four years ago to stop being led by producers and managers and to forge his own way. He started working with the most interesting directors. He was so successful at breaking out of the teen idol image.

“We saw with his relationship with the paparazzi that he was vulnerable and felt intensely invaded and got so unbelievably distressed. The photographers would try to push him into a reaction and he was a young man so he would react.”

Stepmother in tears

Ledger’s stepmother, Emma Brown, was in tears this morning.

Ms Brown, who married Kim Ledger last year, said the family was not ready to talk about her stepson’s death.

“I’m sorry, we’re not ready to talk,” Ms Brown said, while crying.

Industry has lost enormous talent: Warner Bros

The president of Warner Brothers said the film studio was devastated.

“The studio is stunned and devastated by this tragic news,” Alan Horn said in a statement carried on the tmz.com website.

The studio is producing The Dark Knight.

“The entertainment community has lost an enormous talent.

“Heath was a brilliant actor and an exceptional person. Our hearts go out to his family and friends.”

Websites crash

Less than an hour after news of Ledger’s death broke, fan sites including heathledger.net, heathbaby.com and heathledgercentral.com and heathledger.com had melted down and were inaccessible.

Messages of sorrow from fans are flooding unofficial Heath Ledger pages and fan groups on MySpace and Facebook. Already, at least two “R.I.P Heath Ledger” Facebook groups have been created as memorials.

Perth boy

Ledger was born in Perth, Western Australia.

He had a two-year-old daughter, Matilda, with former fiancee and Brokeback Mountain co-star Michelle Williams.

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts.

He was the son of Sally Ledger Bell, a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, a racing car driver and mining engineer.

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