Morgan Freeman in serious car accident

[apsham]

As I was sending around to all of you during the downtime;

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/...dent/index.html

(CNN) -- Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was in serious condition at a Memphis hospital after being involved in a car accident Sunday night, but did not suffer any "life-threatening" injuries, according to a friend. The Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion-Ledger reported that Freeman's business partner, Bill Luckett of Clarksdale, visited Freeman at Memphis' Regional Medical Center.

"He's resting quietly and has some fractures. Nothing life-threatening. Nothing permanent," Luckett told the newspaper. "He's in good spirits, but he's in some pain."

Milla Borden, spokeswoman for the Memphis Regional Medical Center, confirmed that Freeman was a patient at the hospital.

CNN affilliate WMC of Memphis reported that Freeman was in a car accident in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, about 100 miles south of Memphis, late Sunday.

According to The Associated Press, Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Ben Williams said Freeman was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima belonging to Demaris Meyer of Memphis when the car left a rural highway and flipped several times shortly before midnight Sunday.

"There's no indication that either alcohol or drugs were involved," Williams said, according to the AP. Both Freeman and Meyer were wearing seat belts, Williams reported. The woman's condition was not immediately available.

Freeman was airlifted to the hospital in Tennessee.

"They had to use the jaws of life to extract him from the vehicle," Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, Mississippi, told the AP. "He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point."

McFerrin, who told the AP he arrived at the accident scene not long after the incident, said bystanders were trying to get a look at the actor.

When one person tried to snap a photo with a cell phone camera, Freeman joked, "no freebies, no freebies," McFerrin told the AP.

Freeman, 71, won an Academy Award for best supporting actor in 2005 for his role in the gritty boxing film "Million Dollar Baby." He has been nominated for Oscars three other times, for the movies "Street Smart," "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Shawshank Redemption."

He's currently starring in two successful summer films, the hitman drama "Wanted" and the blockbuster "The Dark Knight."

He recently starred on Broadway in a production of the Clifford Odets play "The Country Girl."

Freeman was born in Memphis and spent part of his childhood in Mississippi. He owns a club, the Ground Zero Blues Club, in Clarksdale, Mississippi. In a 2005 interview with CNN, he said returning to the area was "one of the smartest moves I've made in life."

"My aim in life, when I graduated from high school, was to get out of Mississippi," he said. "I started coming back in about 1979, because my parents moved back, which I couldn't understand. What in the world would make you come back here? It took me about 20 years to figure that out."

Freeman's non-profit foundation has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to schools in the historically poor region, and he established the club in part to preserve the Delta's musical heritage.

Also; "he was talking and joking with some of the rescue workers"

Hells yeah.

Edited August 4, 2008 by apsham

[Reddaye]

Glad to hear he's alright. Morgan Freeman is a personal favorite of mine even if he usually plays the same general sort of characters. When I first read the topic title I expected the worst.

[GRIFT]

When they make a movie about my life, Morgan Freeman is the actor I want to play me.

[LL!]

America's voiceover is still kicking ass even with serious injuries. Awesome.

[Docpepper]

The wreck happened last night about 20 minutes from where I live. I was listening to it on the scanner but didn't know it was him at the time. they had to use the jaws of life to get them out. Good to hear its not as worse as I thought it was.

[PkmnTrainerJ]

Good that he's alright. Odd for the NY Times to tell via Twitter a while ago though

[SeanDMan]

I can just imagine him narrating his injuries to the paramedics.

"I could feel a sharp pain in my side. It was possible that one of my ribs was broken, from the way it felt when he moved his hand over it. He told me it was going to be alright and that soothed me a little. It was hard to relax with all this blood all over me. It was flowing out of my broken nose like a rapidly gushing river; a warm stream of plasmodium spilling from the depths of my now mangled face. But I felt like I was in good hands as they loaded me into the ambulance. Yes. Something told me everything was going to be alright. Maybe it was the morphine drip."

[Hellfire]

Thank god he's alright. Morgan Freeman is the man. Theres nothing else to say really, he seems like he could be anyones grandfather, but he still comes across so damn cool.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

Thank god he's alright. Morgan Freeman is the man. Theres nothing else to say really, he seems like he could be anyones grandfather, but he still comes across so damn cool.

QFT. Thankfully he's alright.

[Kwanzabot]

You know how awesome Morgan Freeman is? Someone cast him to play god. Shows how much of an awesome person he seems like.

Hope he's okay and all.

[ROC]

Don't forget that he's in two Batman movies and yet plays a character who is cooler than Christian Bale and Christian Bale as Batman. THAT'S HOW COOL HE IS.

Good to see the man's healing, the guy's one of a kind.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

You know how awesome Morgan Freeman is? Someone cast him to play god. Shows how much of an awesome person he seems like.

Hope he's okay and all.

But it evens out with the fact it was a Jim Carrey vehicle.

[Gene Kiniski]

Now, now, we all know that Jim is fucking awesome and Bruce Almighty was great (even if it was for the breast enlargement).

[sahyder1]

Freeman got released from the hospital today.

[Bigal]

He's apparently also getting a divorce now.

Tough week for the guy.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Bigal Vito

[sahyder1]

He's apparently also getting a divorce now.

Tough week for the guy.

He's been separated since December.....the news only came out now because obviously the media was snooping around for stuff post accident.