Coroner: Mix of heroin and alcohol killed 'Glee' star

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Lea Michele is grieving alongside Monteith's family, her reps say
• Death was nothing more "than a most-tragic accident," coroner says
• Monteith was found dead Saturday in a Vancouver hotel room
• The actor, 31, had been on the hit Fox series since it premiered in 2009

(CNN) -- "Glee" star Cory Monteith died as a result of "a mixed drug toxicity, involving heroin and alcohol," the British Columbia Coroners Service said Tuesday.

"At this point there is no evidence to suggest Mr. Monteith's death was anything other than a most-tragic accident," the coroners service said in a statement, adding that no further details were available pending a full investigation.

Monteith, 31, was found dead Saturday in his room by staff members at Vancouver's Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel after he missed his checkout time.

The actor spent time in rehab this year, checking into a drug addiction treatment facility in late March.

Monteith had been frank about his struggles with substance abuse, telling Parade magazine in 2011 that he began using drugs at 13 and by 19 went into rehab after his mother and friends intervened.

Monteith had been on Fox's hit musical comedy show since it began in 2009, playing the dim quarterback of the football team who is forced to join the glee club. After graduation, he comes back to town and helps direct a musical at the school.

How will 'Glee' handle the death of Cory Monteith?

Adam Shankman, who directed an episode for each of the past three seasons, told CNN's Poppy Harlow that he had talked to Monteith on Saturday morning. The actor said he wanted to come down to California to Jet Ski.

Shankman described Monteith as the glue of "Glee." He was always welcoming, whether it was to a guest director or a new cast member, Shankman said.

The actor knew all of his lines when filming began each time and would congratulate his fellow cast members when he thought they did well.

"He showed up every day, and he was a delight," Shankman said.

Offscreen, Monteith was dating co-star and on-screen love interest Lea Michele.

Lea Michele on 'devastating' news of Monteith's death

He was madly in love with her, Shankman said. "He felt like it had renewed his spirit."

Representatives for Michele issued a brief statement Monday saying the actress is "deeply grateful for all the love and support she has received from family, friends, and fans."

"Since Cory's passing, Lea has been grieving alongside his family and making appropriate arrangements with them," the statement said. "They are supporting each other as they endure this profound loss together."

People we lost in 2013

'Glee' star Cory Monteith found dead in hotel in Canada

 Cory Monteith, who played heart throb Finn Hudson in the Fox hit "Glee," was found dead in a Vancouver, Canada, hotel room Saturday, police said. He was 31.

Vancouver police said the cause of death was not immediately apparent, but they ruled out foul play.

Medical examiners will conduct an autopsy Monday.

Monteith's body was discovered by staff members at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel after he missed his checkout time, acting Chief Constable Doug LePard told reporters.

Monteith apparently had several people over to his room at one point Friday night, but LePard said Monteith, who had checked in July 6, was seen on hotel surveillance video returning to his room in the early morning hours by himself.

The glue of Glee

Adam Shankman, who directed an episode for each of the past three seasons, told CNN's Poppy Harlow that he had talked to Monteith on Saturday morning. The actor said he wanted to come down to California to Jet Ski.

Shankman said Monteith was the glue of "Glee." He was always welcoming, whether it was to a guest director or a new cast member, Shankman said.

The actor knew all of his lines when filming began each time and would congratulate his fellow cast members when he thought they did well.

"He showed up every day and he was a delight," Shankman said.

'My heart is broken'

One of his castmates on "Glee," Mark Salling, tweeted a simple "no" after police held their news conference.

Celebrities react to Monteith's death

Dot-Marie Jones, who plays the football coach at the fictional William McKinley High tweeted: "I have no words! My heart is broken. Cory was not only a hell of a friend, he was one amazing man that I will hold close to my heart forever.

"I am blessed to have worked with him and love him so much! My heart is with his family and our whole Glee family! I love you all!"

Share your memories of Monteith

Offscreen, Monteith was dating co-star Lea Michele.

He was madly in love with her, Shankman said. "He felt like it had renewed his spirit."

Struggles with substance abuse

Monteith spent time in rehab this year, checking into a drug addiction treatment facility in late March.

He had been frank about his struggles with substance abuse, telling Parade magazine in 2011 that he began using drugs at 13, and by 19 went into rehab after his mother and friends intervened.

"I had several interactions with him yesterday where he said that he was doing amazing," Shankman said. "He even said I am feeling fantastic. I'm like everybody else, really devastated and confused by what happened."

Awards for show

Monteith had been on the musical comedy show since it began in 2009.

On the show, Monteith played the dim quarterback of the football team at the Ohio high school who is forced to join the glee club. After graduation, he comes back to town and helps direct a musical at the school.

In 2011, he won a Teen Choice Award for top actor in a comedy. The show's cast won a Screen Actors Guild Award for an ensemble in a comedy the previous year.

He was in three projects that are in post-production, according to the Internet Movie Database.

One of them was a movie entitled "All The Wrong Reasons," also starring Kevin Zegers.

"I've never lost a friend this close. This feels like a mistake," Zegers wrote.

REAL-LIFE CASE OF DEMON POSSESSION DOCUMENTED

REAL-LIFE CASE OF DEMON POSSESSION DOCUMENTED

Woman levitated, spoke other languages, showed paranormal powers

An American woman who levitated, demonstrated paranormal psychic powers and spoke foreign languages unknown to her was clearly demon possessed, according to a board-certified psychiatrist and associate professor of clinical psychiatry at New York Medical College.

The unnamed woman, with a long history of involvement with Satanic groups, was observed by a team of priests, deacons, several lay assistants, psychiatrists, nuns, some of whom also had medical and psychiatric training, levitating six inches off the ground while objects flew off shelves in the same room, according to Dr. Richard E. Gallagher, who documented the case in theFebruary issue of the New Oxford Review.

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“Periodically, in our presence, Julia would go into a trance state of a recurring nature,” writes Gallagher. “Mentally troubled individuals often ‘dissociate,’ but Julia’s trances were accompanied by an unusual phenomenon: Out of her mouth would come various threats, taunts and scatological language, phrases like ‘Leave her alone, you idiot,’ ‘She’s ours,’ ‘Leave, you imbecile priest,’ or just ‘Leave.’ The tone of this voice differed markedly from Julia’s own, and it varied, sometimes sounding guttural and vaguely masculine, at other points high pitched. Most of her comments during these ‘trances,’ or at the subsequent exorcisms, displayed a marked contempt for anything religious or sacred.”

The subject would have no recollection of speaking these phrases upon recovering from the trance-like state, according to Gallagher.

“Sometimes objects around her would fly off the shelves, the rare phenomenon of psychokinesis known to parapsychologists,” reports Gallagher. “Julia was also in possession of knowledge of facts and occurrences beyond any possibility of their natural acquisition.

“She commonly reported information about the relatives, household composition, family deaths and illnesses, etc., of members of our team, without ever having observed or been informed about them,” he said. “As an example, she knew the personality and precise manner of death (i.e., the exact type of cancer) of a relative of a team member that no one could conceivably have guessed. She once spoke about the strange behavior of some inexplicably frenzied animals beyond her direct observation: Though residing in another city, she commented, ‘So those cats really went berserk last night, didn’t they?’ the morning after two cats in a team member’s house uncharacteristically had violently attacked each other at about 2 a.m.”

Julia requested a Roman Catholic exorcism ritual, convinced from the beginning of her consultations that she was under demonic attack.

“The exorcism began on a warm day in June,” Gallagher recollects. “Despite the weather, the room where the rite was being conducted grew distinctly cold. Later, however, as the entity in Julia began to spout vitriol and make strange noises, members of the team felt themselves profusely sweating due to a stifling emanation of heat. The participants all said they found the heat unbearable.

“Julia at first had gone into a quiet trance-like state. After the prayers and invocations of the Roman Ritual had been going on for a while, however, multiple voices and sounds came out of her. One set consisted of loud growls and animal-like noises, which seemed to the group impossible for any human to mimic. At one point, the voices spoke in foreign languages, including recognizable Latin and Spanish. (Julia herself only speaks English, as she later verified to us.)

“The voices were noticeably attacking in nature, and often insolent, blasphemous and highly scatological. They cursed and insulted the participants in the crudest way. They were frequently threatening – trying, it appeared, to fight back – ‘Leave her alone,’ ‘Stop, you whores’ (to the nuns), ‘You’ll be sorry,’ and the like.

“Julia also exhibited enormous strength. Despite the religious sisters and three others holding her down with all their might, they struggled to restrain her. Remarkably, for about 30 minutes, she actually levitated about half a foot in the air.”

The purpose of Gallagher’s paper, he says, is to “document a contemporary and clear-cut case of demonic possession.” He explains that even those who doubt such a phenomenon exists may find this case “rather persuasive.”

“Possession is only one and not the most common type of demonic attack. Possession is very rare, though not as exceedingly so as many imagine,” he concludes. “So-called ‘oppression,’ or ‘infestation,’ is less rare, though hardly frequent either, and sometimes more difficult to discern accurately.”

JANIS JOPLIN - Summertime Recording Session (1968)

Nelson Mandela in critical condition days before Obama visit

Former South African President Nelson Mandela's family visited him Monday as he lay in a hospital bed in critical condition.

His ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and daughters Zindzi Mandela-Motlhajwa and Zenani Mandela-Dlamini spent time with him at the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria, the South African Press Association reported.

Government officials paid visits as well.

His wife, Graca Machel, spends every night at the hospital, where the former president has been since June 8 for a recurring lung infection. Previously, authorities had described his condition as serious but stable.

But over the weekend, his health took a turn for the worse, with the South African president's office saying he was in critical condition.

"The doctors are doing everything possible to ensure his well-being and comfort," President Jacob Zuma told the nation Monday.

The former president's health will not affect U.S. President Barack Obama's planned visit to the country this week, Zuma said, according to the press association.

Mandela, 94, has become increasingly frail over the years and has not appeared in public since South Africa hosted the World Cup in 2010.

Outside the hospital Monday, a security wall was awash with get-well cards, balloons, flowers, cards and paintings, the press association reported.

Ready for the spiritual realm

For Mandela's family, these are very personal times -- times to be cherished as the end nears.

"I believe he is at peace," said Makaziwe Mandela, who was born in 1953 to Mandela's first wife, Evelyn.

"All we do every day is take one day at a time and pray to the good Lord," Makaziwe told CNN's Robyn Curnow.

"All I pray for as a daughter is that the transition is smooth. ... He is at peace with himself. He has given so much to the world."

In and out of hospital

The anti-apartheid hero has been in and out of the hospital in recent years.

His history of lung problems dates to when he was a political prisoner on Robben Island during the apartheid era, and he has battled respiratory infections.

Considered the founding father of South Africa's democracy, Mandela became an international figure while enduring 27 years in prison for fighting against apartheid, the country's system of racial segregation.

South Africa's governing African National Congress noted "with concern" Sunday the change in Mandela's health.

"The African National Congress joins the presidency in calling upon all of us to keep President Mandela, his family and his medical team in our thoughts and prayers during this trying time," it said.

A Nobel laureate

In 1993, Mandela and then-South African President F.W. de Klerkjointly won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The iconic leader was elected the nation's first black president a year later, serving only one term, as he had promised.

Even as he has faded from the spotlight, he remains popular and is considered a hero of democracy in the nation. Last year, South Africa launched a new batch of banknotes with a picture of a smiling Mandela on the front.

His impact extends far beyond South Africa. After he left office, he mediated conflicts in Africa and the Middle East.

Word of his worsening health drew global expressions of concern.

"We have seen the latest reports from the South African government that former President Mandela is in critical condition," Caitlin Hayden, a U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman, said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and the people of South Africa."

Opinion: A white South African's memories of Mandela

Mandela's unusual tributes: Bird, nuclear particle named after him

South Africa: Following Nelson Mandela

Heart attack killed 'Sopranos' star James Gandolfini

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Autopsy confirms heart attack as cause of Gandolfini's death, official tells CNN
• Doctors will provide a final report on his death later in the day
• Gandolfini was taken to a Rome hospital Wednesday after falling ill at his hotel
• The actor was scheduled to receive an award at an Italian film festival

Rome (CNN) -- An autopsy has confirmed that actor James Gandolfini died of a heart attack, an Italian official familiar with the autopsy results told CNN on Friday.

Gandolfini, 51, died Wednesday while vacationing in Italy. Hotel staff reportedly had to break down the door to his bathroom to get to him after his son, Michael, alerted them.

Doctors had not noted any suspicious factors, such as alcohol, on his medical report, emergency room physician Claudio Modini said.

A van ferrying relatives of the deceased "Sopranos" star arrived Friday at the hospital morgue in Rome where his body lies. They were expected to speak to reporters about Gandolfini's death later.

Gupta: 51 is young for a heart attack

Remembering a 'Sopranos' icon

HBO's success built on 'Sopranos'

Gandolfini: From Broadway to 'Sopranos'

Died at his hotel

Gandolfini's son Michael alerted hotel staff after his father did not answer his knocks, said Tiziana Rocca, the head of a film festival the actor was scheduled to attend.

Staff then broke down a bathroom door to get to him, said Rocca, who spoke with Gandolfini's son by telephone.

The hotel called an ambulance.

Reactions to his death

Death certificate

Before Italian authorities can release his remains for transport back to the United States, the U.S. Embassy in Rome must issue a death certificate.

'Sopranos' cast mourns Gandolfini

The U.S. Embassy said it was "deeply upset" by the news of the actor's death, but had not received any official confirmation from local authorities.

It said the family will get assistance from the embassy when it requests it.

Had he survived

Gandolfini was to arrive Friday in Taormina in Sicily, a quaint town packed with historical architecture and nestled between lush green hills and the azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

There, he would have received an award at the Taormina Film Festival, set in the ruins of an ancient Roman arena.

Festival organizers announced their deep sorrow over his passing and will replace the award ceremony with a tribute to Gandolfini's lifetime achievements.

They believe that no one has ever portrayed the Italian-American saga as brilliantly as he did.

Breath No More

I've been looking in the mirror for so long.
That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side.
All the little pieces falling, shatter.
Shards of me,
Too sharp to put back together.
Too small to matter,
But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces.
If I try to touch her,
And I bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe no more. 

Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirits well.
Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child.
Lie to me,
Convince me that I've been sick forever.
And all of this,
Will make sense when I get better.
But I know the difference,
Between myself and my reflection.
I just can't help but to wonder,
Which of us do you love.
So I bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe no...
Bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe,
I breathe-
I breathe no more.