The New York Times-20080126-Actor-s Body Is Leaving New York for Burial in Australia

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Actor's Body Is Leaving New York for Burial in Australia

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The body of the Australian-born actor Heath Ledger was taken from a Manhattan funeral home on Friday, and police officers who had been assigned to the funeral home said the body would be flown to Australia for burial.

Mr. Ledger, 28, was found dead in bed in his apartment on Tuesday. A bottle of prescription sleeping pills was nearby.

An autopsy on Wednesday was inconclusive, and the medical examiner's office is awaiting the results of blood and tissue tests before announcing the cause of death.

About 100 fans, reporters and photographers spent hours on Friday waiting outside the funeral home, Frank E. Campbell, on Madison Avenue near 81st Street.

The police set up barricades there on Thursday and posted signs prohibiting parking on Friday along a two-block stretch of Madison Avenue around the funeral home.

Shortly before 4 p.m., a plain wooden box was loaded into a hearse, and the hearse pulled away. Officers who had been assigned to the funeral home said the box contained Mr. Ledger's body.

There had been speculation that a service would be held in Los Angeles. But Mara Buxbaum, the publicist who had represented Mr. Ledger, wrote in an e-mail message, There are no plans for a public service.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Heath Ledger's remains in transit on Friday. Private security guards arrived at his apartment on Tuesday at the same time as medical help.(PHOTOGRAPH BY ROB BENNETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)