Ledger Begins Final Journey

Cops held paparazzi back as Heath Ledger's body, inside a wooden shipping crate, was removed from a Manhattan funeral home yesterday for the journey to Australia, where the 28-year-old actor will be buried, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. A private memorial service was held in New York yesterday, and a public one will be held in Los Angeles next week.

Ledger's body began its journey home as police made plans to speak to actress Mary-Kate Olsen about phone calls she received after Ledger's masseuse found his body. Olsen received four increasingly frantic phone calls in a 9-minute period before 911 was called. Olsen has released her first statement on the actor's death. "Heath was a friend,'' she said. "His death is a tragic loss." (More Heath Ledger stories.)