Hollywood star 'critically ill' after being cut from crashed car

Published on Monday 4 August 2008 22:30

MORGAN Freeman was critically ill in hospital yesterday after the car he was driving overturned several times.

The Oscar-winning actor was airlifted to hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where his condition was described as "serious" following the crash on a highway in rural Mississippi shortly before midnight local time on Sunday.

The 71-year-old broke his shoulder and arm in the incident, but is expected to make a "good" recovery, Freeman's spokesman said.

A police spokesman said Freeman had been driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima, which belonged to Demaris Meyer, of Memphis, when the car left a rural highway and overturned several times.

"There's no indication that either alcohol or drugs were involved," the spokesman said.

He added that both Freeman and Ms Meyer were wearing seatbelts. There was still no information on Ms Meyer's condition.

The crash happened north of the small town of Ruleville in rural Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta. Freeman was airlifted from the accident scene to the hospital, around 90 miles away where he is being treated.

State troopers said the actor was talking before he was taken to the hospital.

It is understood that rescuers had to use hydraulic cutters to free him from the wreckage.

Freeman, who won an Oscar in 2005 for his role in Million Dollar Baby, lives near Charleston with his wife, Myrna, on a 126-acre ranch.

It was reported last night that bystanders converged on the scene of the accident trying to get a glimpse of the actor and when one person tried to take a photo with a mobile phone camera, Freeman joked: "No freebies, no freebies."

Freeman was born in Memphis, but spent much of his childhood in the Mississippi Delta.