The masseuse who found the actor Heath Ledger dead in his New York apartment made two calls to the actor Mary-Kate Olsen before calling the emergency services, authorities said today.

Diana Wolozin told police that she called Olsen, a friend of Ledger’s whose number was in his mobile phone, for advice when she thought the 28-year-old actor was unconscious.

Olsen, who lives in Manhattan but was in California at the time, said that she would send over her private security staff. The massage therapist realised that Ledger might be dead, called Olsen again, and then called 911. Paramedics and Olsen’s security people were said to have arrived minutes later.

It also emerged that Ledger had six different types of drugs at his flat, including three – sleeping pills, anti-anxiety tablets and an antihistamine – which were prescribed in Europe. Ledger was in London last week, filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, directed by Terry Gilliam.

The results of a post-mortem examination have so far proved inconclusive, and the cause of the Australian actor's death will not be known for about ten days, according to the authorities.

A rolled-up $20 note was also found on the floor near Ledger's bed, but laboratory tests detected no traces of drug residue, officials said. Police also said that no illegal drugs were found in the apartment.

It is thought that Ledger died between 1pm and 2.45pm local time on Tuesday. At 1pm, his housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, went into his bedroom to change a lightbulb, saw him sleeping and heard him snoring.

At 2.45pm, Ms Wolozin, the massage therapist, arrived for Ledger’s appointment, and got no answer when she knocked on his door. She tried to call him on his mobile phone, but again got no response. She went into the bedroom, set up her massage table and again tried to wake him.

Ms Wolozin told police that Ledger was cold to the touch, but that she assumed he was just unconscious. She said she then used his mobile phone to call Olsen, whose number was programmed into the telephone, because she knew they were friends.

“I didn’t think anything was wrong,” Ms Solomon, told the New York Post. She said that she was “still shaking; and unable to sleep" a day after the actor’s death.

The pills were found near Ledger's body and he recently said that he was taking the prescription drug Ambien to combat insomnia. According to unconfirmed reports in the US, the actor had also been suffering from pneumonia.

The authorities have corrected initial reports that pills were found strewn around the room. The medication was found in containers on the bedside table and in a bathroom cabinet, they ssaid.

Ledger’s family insists his death was accidental. Michelle Williams, the star's former fiancée whom he met while they were filming Brokeback Mountain, and their daughter Matilda Rose, 2, immediately flew back to their home in New York after hearing the news will working on the film Mammoth on location in Sweden.

Last night, the pair arrived at their house in Brooklyn in a black SUV and were rushed inside by friends and security guards. Williams made no comment to the photographers and reporters outside.

A note placed outside the house, which the couple shared before they split last year, read: “You were an amazing actor as well as a wonderful father. We love you! The Vega Family.”

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