Coroner: Pneumonia, drugs killed Brittany Murphy

Ending weeks-long speculation over the actress’ unexpected death right before the holidays, the Coroner’s officials announced Thursday that Murphy had gone into sudden cardiac arrest because of pneumonia, with anemia and "multiple drug intoxication" also playing key role.

They classified her Dec. 20 death as an accident, caused by drug intake.

Murphy’s sudden death
Murphy, the star of movies "Clueless" and "8 Mile," died on Dec. 20 at age 32 after collapsing in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home, which she shared with husband Simon Monjack and her mother Sharon Murphy.

L.A. firefighters, who responded to a medical call at about 8 a.m. at her home in the 1800 block of Rising Glen Road, tried unsuccessfully to revive Murphy on the way to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead about two hours later.

Multiple drug intoxication killed Murphy
The preliminary report shows that the primary cause of her death was "community-acquired pneumonia," with contributing factors of "iron deficiency anemia" and "multiple drug intoxication."

The drugs found in Murphy's body were a mixture of prescription and over-the-counter medications she took orally, said Ed Winter, assistant chief at the L.A. County Coroner's office. No illegal drugs were found.

"She was anemic and she wasn't in good health," Winter said, adding that the full autopsy report would be available in two weeks and would document the specific drugs involved in Murphy's death.

Murphy’s death could have been prevented
The coroner believes that Murphy could still be alive today had she seen a doctor sooner.

“It is true that I believe her death could have been preventable but she was actually very sick with pneumonia and was anemic and she was taking prescription and over-the-counter medicine," Winter told People.

"Murphy was planning on seeing a doctor, but she unfortunately passed away before she did. This was a case of a person with pneumonia who was anemic (having a low blood count) who was taking medication when she should've been getting medical treatment," he further said.

Monjack’s reaction to the coroner's report
Meanwhile, Murphy’s writer husband has told People magazine’s Web site that his wife was "not that ill" the day she died.

Monjack told People.com he was "ridiculously upset" Thursday after learning the reason of Murphy’s death.

"Everything [surprised me and Brittany's mom about the report]," screenwriter Simon Monjack told the celebrity magazine’s Web site. "I expected [the cause of death] to be her heart."

Murphy’s filmography
Born Nov. 10, 1977, in Atlanta, Murphy was an alternately upbeat and offbeat actress who worked in films including “Girl, Interrupted” (1998) and featured as the voice of Luanne Platter in the Fox television series “King of the Hill.”

She got her start in the 1995 movie "Clueless," in which she starred opposite Alicia Silverstone, and subsequently made many other film appearances, including in "8 Mile" (2002), "The Dead Girl" (2006), and "Across the Hall" (2009).