Heath Ledger’s father says final conversation with son was warning not to mix prescription drugs

'His sister was on the phone to him the night before telling him not to take the prescription medications with the sleeping tablets'

Heath Ledger (Getty)

Heath’s Ledger’s father Kim has recalled the final conversation the family had with him before he died of an accidental overdose of prescription medication aged 28.

The Australian actor, who won an Oscar posthumously for his portrayal of the Batman villain the Joker, died shortly after filming on The Dark Knight wrapped up. A report by the medical examiner’s office found Ledger had taken a cocktail of the drugs oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.

Ledger’s father launched ScriptWise, a prescription drug abuse prevention charity, in the wake of his son’s death in 2008.

“It was totally his fault. It was no one else's - he reached for them. He put them in his system. You can't blame anyone else in that situation,” Mr Ledger told Daily Mail Australia.

“That's hard to accept because I loved him so much and was so proud of him."

Kim is now warning of the dangers of mixing prescription drugs after research by ScriptWise found more than half of Australians would be afraid of admitting an addiction to a prescription painkiller. He is also calling for doctors to take more care when prescribing drugs to patients.

'His sister was on the phone to him the night before telling him not to take the prescription medications with the sleeping tablets.

'He said: 'Katie, Katie, I'm fine. I know what I'm doing'.

“He would have had no idea.”