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Heath autopsy didn't tell cause of death

NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- An autopsy performed on Heath Ledger's body Wednesday in New York reportedly left the cause of the 28-year-old actor's death undetermined.

Ledger, the Australian star of "Brokeback Mountain" and "I'm Not There," was found dead Tuesday afternoon in the Manhattan apartment he rented.

Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for New York's chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, told The New York Times results of the post-mortem examination proved inconclusive.

Borakove said more blood and tissue testing needs to be done before the manner and cause of Ledger's death can be determined.

She told the Times the process could take 10 days to two weeks.

"If you have no apparent cause, you have to do further testing," she said, adding no reason for his death has been eliminated.

Borakove also said Ledger's corpse was ready to be released to his family for burial.

"We don't need to keep the body once the family is ready," she told the newspaper.

Ledger's family speaks out about his death

PERTH , Australia, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The family of Australian film star Heath Ledger, who died unexpectedly in New York Tuesday, have thanked well-wishers and asked for privacy as they mourn.

The actor's father Kim appeared alongside Heath's sister, Katie, and mother Sally Ledger-Bell outside Ledger-Bell's house in Western Australia, and read a brief statement, PerthNow reported.

"We, Heath's family, confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda, who was found in a peaceful sleep in his New York apartment," Kim Ledger said.

"We would like to thank our friends and everyone around the world for their kind wishes," he continued. "Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life, but few had the pleasure to truly know him. He was a down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving and unselfish individual who was an extreme inspiration to many. Please now respect our family's need to grieve and come to terms with our loss privately."

The cause of Ledger's death wasn't immediately known, although police said they didn't expect foul play and found "prescription-type" drugs near Ledger's body.

TMZ.com also reported Ledger was suffering from pneumonia when he died.

The results of an autopsy conducted Wednesday proved inconclusive.

Ringo skips 'Regis & Kelly' appearance

NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- British rock 'n' roll icon Ringo Starr canceled an appearance on "Live with Regis & Kelly" because producers told him to shorten the song he was to perform.

Starr pulled the plug on the gig Tuesday less than an hour before he was set to perform because he and the producers couldn't agree on the length of the tune he wanted to sing, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.

The morning talk show limits the length of songs performed to two minutes and 30 seconds, however, Starr's song reportedly took nearly five minutes to complete during rehearsal.

A show spokeswoman told the News that Starr's camp was told of the time limit when he was booked in November.

However, Ringo said the song couldn't be abridged and left the studio.

"They refused to keep the performance and the interview commitment," the show spokeswoman said.

'As I Am' tops U.S. album chart

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Alicia Keys' CD "As I Am" is No. 1 on the U.S. album chart for a third, non-consecutive week, Billboard.com reported Wednesday.

Coming in at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 is the soundtrack to the Oscar-nominated film "Juno," followed by Mary J. Blige's "Growing Pains" at No. 3, Radiohead's "In Rainbows" at No. 4 and Raheem DeVaughn's "Love Behind the Melody" at No. 5.

Rounding out the top tier are Taylor Swift's self-titled debut at No. 6, John Legend's "Live From Philadelphia" at No. 7, the compilation disc "Now 26" at No. 8, Chris Brown's "Exclusive" at No. 9 and Miley Cyrus' "Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus" at No. 10.

Sales this week are down 4 percent from last week and down 9 percent from the same period in 2007, Billboard.com said.