Exclusive: Klugman demanded rare test in Jackson autopsy.

Newsifact can exlusively reveal that actor Jack Klugman, famous for portraying a Los Angeles County Coroner in the TV show Quincy M.E., demanded that those carrying out the autopsy of deceased singer Michael Jackson conduct a very rare, time-consuming and expensive test in order to reveal Jackson's cause of death. Klugman was brought in by the Jackson family (as we previously reported) to oversee the autopsy, and sources suggest, he soon started to make waves.

Klugman as Quincy.

Within a few hours of his arrival shortly after Jackson's death in late June, Klugman angrily denounced the cost-cutting shortcuts being taken during Jackson's autopsy. At that point, the Coroner's Office was ready to rule that Jackson's death was accidental. But Klugman demanded an extremely rare test be undertaken - this was met with almost immediate resistance by the powers-that-be. Klugman was an actor that had only portrayed a coroner, they argued. But Klugman reportedly would not back down. The Quincy star then called actor Robert Ito, who played Quincy's assistant Sam Fujiyama, in the middle of the night and begged him to come to his aide and help him conduct the tests. Ito sighed, but came to the aide of his friend.

A late-night call persuaded Ito to help Klugman.

The LA County Coroner's Office soon retaliated, bringing in actor John S. Ragin, who had played Quincy's boss Dr Robert Astin. Ragin then attempted to persuade Klugman that the tests he was undertaking, based solely on some "outlandish theory", would cause a backlog of other cases to build. He also argued that Klugman had no idea of the consequences of his actions and that the bureacratic process had to be respected. But Klugman reportedly could not be persuaded to stop. He and Ito spent the next few nights conducting a series of special tests on Jackson's body.

Ragin: "Do you have any idea just how much time this is going to take?"

One final desperate action was taken: actor Gary Walberg, who played the crusty, short-fused LAPD officer Lt. Frank Monahan on the Quincy TV show was hauled in to angrily tell Klugman that he had better stop wasting everyone's time and just get this thing over with.

At first, Walberg was angered by Klugman's hard-headed attitude.

Reports suggest that Klugman blew his top and gave a long impassioned speech about how doing the right thing should be the number one priority and that if the autopsy wasn't conducted properly, then whoever caused Jackson's overdose might remain free to do it to someone else.

Klugman eventually prevailed and Robert Ito brought the necessary test results from the toxicology lab just in the nick of time. In a stunning reversal, Dr Astin reluctanty sided with Quincy and eventually even Walberg had to concede that he was right. The results were released on Monday, and showed that Michael Jackson had lethal amounts of the drug propofol in his blood - the coroner's verdict was homicide.

A seemingly vindicated Klugman announced the results on Monday.

It was a huge bombshell and, insiders say, entirely down to Klugman's relentless pursuit of the truth. Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, who is at the center of accusations of giving improper prescriptions to the singer, has denied responsibility for Jackson's death. Klugman, returning from "Danny's" pub on his way home to his houseboat in Newport Bay reacted by saying "The truth will soon come out".