We did not kill Brittany Murphy says studio

Warner Bros have reacted furiously to a claim by the husband of actress Brittany Murphy, who died in December at the age of 32, that the studio brought on her fatal heart attack by firing her from a sequel to the animated movie Happy Feet.

Simon Monjack, a British screenwriter who married the actress in 2007, said this week he was suing Warner Bros for wrongful death.

He told the Daily Beast website that Warners had promised to pay her $10,000 a day for a minimum of five days' voice work on the film and by reneging on the deal caused her so much stress that her heart failed. "They killed her," he said.

A spokesman for the studio responded yesterday: "Any claim that Warner Bros Pictures was somehow responsible for Brittany Murphy's tragic death is demonstrably false, reprehensible, and defamatory.

"Despite press reports to the contrary, Warner Bros Pictures and Ms Murphy never entered into any deal for Happy Feet 2, and thus, there was not a contract to cancel."

Monjack claimed that Warners fired Murphy on the strength of rumours that she had been she had been let go from a new horror film, The Caller, for being difficult on set.

Murphy's career had hit the skids by the time she died. She had a successful run with Clueless, Sin City and 8 Mile, but after the failure in 2004 of a clunky comedy, Little Black Book, she was dogged by rumours of drug-taking and anorexia.

Monjack has been devastated by her death. In an interview earlier this month, his mother, Linda, told People magazine: "Simon is exactly as you would expect someone to be who has just lost the woman he loved. Some days he wants to kill himself, and other days he seems to be coping better."

Monjack told the Daily Beast how he tried to give Murphy CPR after his mother-in-law found her collapsed in the bathroom of their house in the Hollywood Hills.

"I felt a tiny heart beat," said Monjack. "I was pushing with the heel of my hand. And every second I pushed, I felt my hand become stronger and her heart weaker. And then it stopped. And I kept pushing. She died in my arms. I knew she was dead." ·