Date: 17th January 2002

Ted Demme Autopsy Inconclusive


Film-maker TED DEMME's sudden death on Sunday (13th January 2002) was likely the result of "natural causes", according to the Los Angeles Coroner's Office. Toxicology tests and a thorough look at the burly 38-year-old's medical history - a process which could take several weeks - will now be conducted.

Demme was pronounced dead Sunday at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center in California. He had been brought to the hospital in full cardiac arrest after collapsing at a celebrity basketball game at nearby Crossroads School. The popular director of films such as the Denis Leary kidnapping satire The Ref, the MARTIN LAWRENCE and EDDIE MURPHY prison comedy Life (1999) and the hit JOHNNY DEPP drug saga BLOW (2001) had seemed destined to become as well-known and admired as his uncle, Oscar-winning director JONATHAN DEMME.

A former football lineman in college, Ted Demme was less than six feet (1. 8 metres) in height but, according to the coroner's office, "in excess of 200 pounds (90 kilograms). " He reportedly played basketball as often as five times a week. He was known to joke about his shape and size. In a 1998 interview with the Los Angeles Times he said, "It's an encouraging thing that studios are hiring, big, husky guys. .. We're the minority that has been deprived of work for years. The millennium will be good for the husky. Watch out, you skinny bums. " (RGS/WNWE/NFA)

Source: WENN