The masseuse who found Heath Ledger made four calls to Mary-Kate Olsen to ask for advice, police have said.
Diana Wolozin spent nine minutes calling the actress before phoning for an ambulance, and contacted her again after paramedics arrived.
According to the Associated Press, she knew that the pair were friends and that Olsen lived close to Ledger's Manhattan apartment.
Police currently estimate the actor's time of death as between 1pm and 2.45pm, although he was not pronounced dead until 3.36pm.
It has also emerged that Ledger's housekeeper saw him sleeping and thought she heard snoring at 1pm, before Wolozin showed up at about 2.45pm for a 3pm appointment.
Police believe he was already dead when she arrived and that it was already too late by the time an emergency operator told her how to perform CPR.
Olsen was in California on Tuesday, but sent her personal security guards to the apartment to assess the situation.
A US talkshow host has caused outrage in the US by mocking Ledger's death.