Cocaine Found in Director Ted Demme’s System

Director Ted Demme, who collapsed and died January 13 after playing in a charity basketball game, had cocaine in his system, says coroner. As stated on Pagesix.com, Los Angeles County Coroner’s Lt. Erick Arbuthnot stated Saturday, "Demme had thickened arteries, and died when a blood clot formed in a heart vessel. The small amount of cocaine in his body could have been a factor in the fatal heart attack. We’ve ruled it an accidental death."

Demme suffered a heart attack after playing in a celebrity hoops contest at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica. He was then rushed to Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and was pronounced dead after 20 minutes. His weight may have been an issue, Demme weighed in over 200 pounds, but he was very active and played basketball a few times a week. His autopsy came back inconclusive and a battery of toxicology tests were then ordered, which lead to the discovery that he had cocaine in his system.

Demme, who was 38 at the time of his death, was the nephew of Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia director Jonathan Demme. The younger Demme got his start as a producer on Yo! MTV Raps and as a director of music videos such as Bruce Springsteen’s Streets of Philadelphia. He directed many feature films, his debut being Who’s the Man? with Ed Lover and Dr. Dre. Other film credits include Beautiful Girls, The Ref, Life and most recently Blow, starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in the real-life cocaine saga. Also a television director, Demme co-produced the TV movie A Lesson Before Dying, which won him an Emmy in 1999. Demme is survived by his wife, Amanda Scheer-Demme, and their two young children.