After weeks of speculation about a drug overdose, results of a coroner's report released today reveal that Sage Stallone died of heart disease.
The AP reports that the 36-year-old actor-director son of Sylvester Stallone died of a condition that causes blocked arteries, and that this condition alone was a factor in his death. Only trace amounts of hydrocodone were in his system.
The LA Times quotes coroner's officials as saying that smoking may have contributed to the condition, even though the family said that the younger Stallone had cut down on his habit, and had largely been smoking an electric cigarette.
The death was the first in a pair of tragedies to hit the Stallone family. Sylvester Stallone's half-sister, Toni-Ann Filiti, died of lung cancer on August 26 at age 48. News media has not commented on whether her illness was smoking related.
Sage Stallone, a product of the action star's marriage to first wife Sasha Czack, was found dead in his Hollywood Hills home by his housekeeper on July 13. It was reported at the time that prescription pill bottles had been removed from the scene by police, which rapidly gave rise to speculation of drug abuse and an overdose.
Sage Stallone was one of two sons born to his parents' marriage. He has three younger half-sisters through his father's current marriage to Jennifer Flavin.
He made his acting debut in Rocky V in 1990, playing the son of his father's character. He again appeared with his father in 1996's Daylight, but declined an offer to reprise his first character in 2006's Rocky Balboa, reportedly because of scheduling conflicts. His other projects were generally confined to small, independent films.
He was co-founder of Grindhouse Releasing, a company dedicated to restoring old films, with special emphasis on Italian exploitation films of the 1970s and 80s.
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