Heche taken off life support

LOS ANGELES • Hollywood actress Anne Heche has been taken off life support, two days after she was declared legally dead from brain injuries sustained in a car crash in Los Angeles, her spokesman said.

Heche, 53, known for the movies Donnie Brasco (1997) and Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), as well as a relationship with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, had been comatose since driving her car into a building on Aug 5.

Her body had been kept on life support until Sunday while organ donor options were explored, in accordance with her wishes, spokesman Holly Baird said.

"Anne Heche has been peacefully taken off life support," Ms Baird told Agence France-Presse on Monday, without saying whether organ recipients had been found.

The violent collision destroyed much of a two-storey house in the Mar Vista neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Dozens of firefighters battled the blaze for more than an hour.

Preliminary tests of Heche's blood came back positive for narcotics, prompting a felony DUI (driving under the influence) probe.

However, Los Angeles police said investigations and efforts to file charges would cease after she was declared legally dead.

Celebrity media outlet TMZ, citing unnamed police sources, said Heche tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl.

The latter is sometimes used for pain relief in clinical settings.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE