SAN JOSE, Calif. — Officials are confirming that artist Thomas Kinkade died from an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription tranquilizers.

The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said Tuesday the self-described “Painter of Light” died April 6 due to a combination of ethanol and Diazepam intoxication, or in common terms, alcohol and the tranquilizer often marketed as Valium.
Before his death, the 54-year-old Kinkade produced sentimental scenes of country gardens and pastoral landscapes that he sold in a nationwide chain of galleries.

In recent years, however, he had run into personal difficulties, including a 2010 bankruptcy filing by one of his companies. His brother Patrick Kinkade did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday, but has said the painter battled alcoholism and had relapsed before his death at his Monte Sereno home.

London jogger: Dustin Hoffman saved my life

LONDON — A man who had a cardiac arrest while jogging in London’s Hyde Park says his life was saved with help from a famous passer-by: Dustin Hoffman.

Sam Dempster said Tuesday that the actor waited with him after he collapsed on April 27 until paramedics arrived.

Dempster initially credited Hoffman with having summoned an ambulance, but the London Ambulance Service said someone else had made the emergency call.

Representatives of the “Tootsie” and “Rain Man” star, who has a home in London, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Martin Macarthur, one of the paramedics on the scene, said Hoffman described seeing Dempster collapse and froth at the mouth.

“It is essential to get a history of what has happened, and he witnessed the jogger go down. He was the main witness and saw him stagger and go down,” Macarthur said. “He stayed on the scene for the whole duration of the resuscitation which was about 15 minutes. He was very concerned.”

Macarthur said the 74-year-old actor told medics, “Great job, guys” after they resuscitated Dempster with a defibrillator.