Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman was hospitalized in serious condition today after the car he was driving careened off a Mississippi road and flipped over several times, officials said.
Freeman, 71, appears in the current blockbuster “The Dark Knight” – and his misfortune is leading to talk of a “Batman” curse.
Freeman, who stars as Wayne Enterprises head Lucius Fox in the flick, suffered a broken arm and broken shoulder in the accident, which took place on a rural highway shortly before midnight on Sunday.
Cops said Freeman was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima belonging to pal Demaris Meyer when the car swerved off the road.
Highway Patrol Sgt. Ben Williams said it was “possible” that Freeman had fallen asleep at the wheel, but he added that authorities had ruled out alcohol as a factor in the wreck.
“The vehicle went off the edge of the road and flipped several times,” said Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Ben Williams. No other car was involved.
Witness Bill Rogers told the Commercial Appeal, “I was watching TV, and I heard the skid.
“I looked out the window and saw the car flipping head over end” before it landed in a ditch, he said.
Local newspaper editor Clay McFerrin said he arrived at the scene soon after the accident.
“They had to use the Jaws of Life to extract [Freeman] from the vehicle,” McFerrin said. “He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point.”
McFerrin said bystanders converged on the scene trying to get a glimpse of the star, who played a chauffeur in “Driving Miss Daisy” and an auto mechanic in “The Bucket List.”
He said when one person tried to take Freeman’s picture with a cellphone camera, he quipped, “No freebies, no freebies.”
He was airlifted to a hospital in Memphis, about 100 miles from the accident site.
A business partner of Freeman’s, Bill Luckett, visited him and said, “He’s in good spirits, but he’s in some pain.”
“He’s resting quietly and has some fractures. Nothing life-threatening. Nothing permanent,” Luckett told the Clarion-Ledger.
Meyer, 48, was treated for her injuries and released.
Freeman won an Oscar in 2005 for his supporting role in “Million Dollar Baby.” He also earned Oscar nominations for “Street Smart,” “Driving Miss Daisy” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”
While “The Dark Knight” has been a critical and box-office triumph, it’s also been touched by misfortune and tragedy.
Special-effects technician Conway Wickliffe was killed in a stunt accident during filming of the Batman sequel, and Heath Ledger, who plays the Joker, died of a drug overdose last January.
Christian Bale, who plays Batman, was arrested soon after the movie’s London premiere after allegedly getting into an altercation with his mother and his sister.