The day before he died, Heath Ledger had a quiet breakfast alone, then bought groceries and made plans for the following day, PEOPLE has learned.

Monday Morning

Ledger spent Monday morning having a light meal at Le Pain Quotidien near his apartment. "He wasn't chatty – he looked like he wanted to be left alone," an observer said, noting that Ledger spoke softly and ate a bowl of granola while listening to music on his iPod, with the volume loud.

Monday Afternoon

Later that day, the actor stocked up on groceries. A frequent patron to Gourmet Garage near his Broome Street apartment where he was found dead Tuesday, Ledger, 28, typically grabbed "a few items," but around 6 p.m. Monday night he bought food that "looked like stuff he would prepare," a grocery store employee tells PEOPLE.

Ledger's Soho apartment Photo by: James Devaney / WireImage

"He had three bags of groceries, mainly produce like fruits and vegetables. I remember he had organic chicken sausages," says catering sales manager Liz Bullis, 22. "He packed his own groceries. About half of our customers help out like that. He was always very friendly and pretty quiet."

Monday Evening

That evening, Ledger's director on the 2002 film The Four Feathers, Shekhar Kapur, arrived in New York and called his former star to meet.

"He said he could not see me that night but really wanted to meet me the next day," Kapur, 62, said. "He made me promise that I would call him in the morning and wake him up. I tried."

Tuesday, 12:30 p.m.

The last person to see Ledger alive was his housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, who arrived at the apartment around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to police.

Solomon went to change a light bulb in a bathroom next to Ledger's bedroom at 1 p.m., saw him on the bed and thought she heard him snoring, CNN and the Associated Press report.

It was 2:45 p.m. when masseuse Diana Wolozin arrived at the apartment and called his cell around 3 p.m. "She waited [outside his room] and tried calling him [on his cell phone] and he did not respond," a police source tells PEOPLE. "She went into the room. She started setting up the massage table and he wasn’t waking up – wasn’t responding."

Wolozin reportedly shook Ledger to rouse him and when he did not respond, she used the speed dial on Ledger's phone to call Mary-Kate Olsen.

Tuesday, 3:17 p.m.

The masseuse called Olsen, 21, three times (first, at 3:17 p.m. for 49 seconds; a second time at 3:20 p.m. for 1 minute, 39 seconds; and a third time at 3:24 p.m. for 24 seconds).

Then Wolozin called 911, at 3:26 p.m., 45 minutes after arriving at the apartment, police sources tell the AP. Cops say Olsen, who was in California, then arranged for her security personnel to go to the apartment.

Emergency aid workers arrived at the apartment just as Olsen's security people showed up (they took the elevator up together), but paramedics would not allow Olsen's team into the bedroom.

Ledger was pronounced dead at 3:36 p.m. ET, 19 minutes after the first call to Olsen, AP reports.

Wolozin called Olsen a final time, at 3:34 p.m.

Supermodel Helena Christensen, 39, told Women's Wear Daily that she was about to visit Ledger when she heard of his death. "I was on my way over to pay him a visit when I found out," she said. "I had just left him a message and heard his voice on the machine."

Update:1/23/08

Michelle Williams was on location in Sweden, believed to be with 2-year-old daughter Matilda, when she got the news: Heath Ledger was found dead in New York at age 28.

"She's devastated," says a source close to the 27-year-old actress.

Although their three-year relationship didn't last, Williams and Ledger could always agree that their daughter comes first.

"He was absolutely in love with his daughter," says another source. "And he really liked what he did [acting]. He spoiled [Matilda] rotten. He was playful and very funny with her."

The source adds: "I can't believe Matilda is going to grow up without a dad, without knowing her father. And that Michelle will have to deal with having a daughter who's lost her father. She's a survivor. She'll make it, but it's going to be hard. Her first concern is going to be Matilda."

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Heath Ledger Found Dead in NYC at Age 28

Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan residence, and police said drugs may have been a factor. He was 28. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the Manhattan apartment believed to be his home. The housekeeper who went to let him know the masseuse had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

The Australian-born actor was nominated for an Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain," where he met his wife, actress Michelle Williams, in 2005. Ledger and Williams had lived in Brooklyn and had a daughter, Matilda, until they split up last year.

Ledger was to appear as the Joker this year in "The Dark Night," a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins." He's had starring roles in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Patriot," and played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in "Monster's Ball."

Ledger grew up in Perth, and began doing amateur theater at age 10. At 16, he moved to Sydney to pursue an acting career, quickly landing TV movie roles and guest spots on Australian television.

After several independent films and a starring role in the short-lived Fox TV series "Roar," Ledger moved to Los Angeles and costarred in "10 Things I Hate About You," a teen comedy reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew."

Offers for other teen flicks came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, `You're crazy,' my parents were like, `Come on, you have to eat.'"

His latest role was in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan — as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.