Ledger may have died of heart attack, say police

Police investigating the death of Heath Ledger believe the young actor may have died of a heart attack, and not a drug overdose, it has been reported. TMZ, the celebrity website that broke the news of the actor's death last Tuesday, quoted sources "intimately connected with the investigation" saying that the 28-year-old may have died from natural causes, as the level of toxicity (from prescription drugs) in Ledger's body was too low to cause his death. Initial tests on the actor's body have proved inconclusive, but Ledger's family has insisted that he would not have taken his own life.

The Brokeback Mountain star's body has been flown from New York to Los Angeles where a private memorial service was held on Saturday for family and close friends. Ledger's ex-fiance, Brokeback co-star Michelle Williams, and former girlfriend, actress Naomi Watts were among the mourners at the ceremony. The actor's body is expected to be flown to Australia today, where a funeral will be held in Perth, his home town, this week.

Meanwhile Hollywood actors paid tribute to Ledger at the the annual Screen Actors Guild awards in Los Angeles [see separate report on awards]. A montage of film clips to honour those stars who died over the past year ended with a scene from Brokeback Mountain. Daniel Day-Lewis, star of There Will Be Blood, dedicated his best actor award to Ledger, saying the young Australian's work had inspired him to keep acting. Day-Lewis said Ledger's challenging performances encouraged other actors to keep "regenerating… There are many actors in this room tonight including my fellow nominees who've given me that sense of regeneration. Heath Ledger gave it to me," he said, to loud applause.

However, outside the Shrine auditorium where the SAG awards ceremony was held, anti-gay protesters, still angry over Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal’s depiction of a homosexual relationship between two cowboys in Brokeback Mountain, waved placards that read "Heath's in Hell".