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Hollywood star Heath Ledger, found dead in his New York apartment two weeks ago, died of accidental intoxication brought on by his abuse of a cocktail of prescription drugs, officials said.

Ledger, who scored critical acclaim for his performance as a repressed gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005, was taking a mixture of pain killers, sedatives and antidepressants used to treat anxiety and sleep problems.

"Mr Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine," the city's chief medical examiner's office said in a statement.

"We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications," it added.

The cause of the 28-year-old Australian's death had been shrouded in mystery, with an initial autopsy proving inconclusive and conflicting speculation that he was a drug user and suffering from pneumonia.

He had been found naked and unresponsive in his Manhattan apartment, with police saying that prescription medications were found in the residence but that a rolled-up 20 dollar bill near the body had tested negative for drugs.

His family insisted throughout that he would not have taken his own life.

Ledger had told The New York Times in November, during the shooting of the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight," in which he portrays The Joker, that he often took Ambien, a prescription sleeping aid, to help his insomnia.