Actor listed as serious

August 5, 2008

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was hospitalized in serious condition yesterday after the car he was driving left a rural road in the Mississippi Delta and flipped several times. Freeman was airlifted to a hospital in Memphis, about 90 miles north of the accident. A hospital spokeswoman declined to discuss his injuries. Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, said he arrived at the accident scene on Mississippi Highway 32 soon after it happened about 5 miles west of Charleston, near where Freeman, 71, owns a home with his wife. The accident occurred shortly before midnight Sunday. "They had to use the Jaws of Life to extract him from the vehicle," McFerrin said. (AP)

Columnist Robert D. Novak is retiring immediately because of a dim prognosis in his battle against a brain tumor, the Chicago Sun-Times reported yesterday. Novak, 77, a conservative Sun-Times political commentator whose columns are syndicated nationwide, was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week and was admitted to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston for treatment. He announced at the time that he was "suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period."

Federal investigators want to question Mary-Kate Olsen about how Heath Ledger got two powerful painkillers that contributed to his accidental overdose death, but she's refusing to talk without immunity, a law enforcement official said yesterday. Olsen's lawyer has twice refused requests for her to speak with investigators, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The lawyer, Michael C. Miller, said the actress has nothing to do with the drugs and has already told the government everything she knows. (AP)

"I really hope the best for her, because ... she's one of the sweetest girls I've ever met, so I just hope it works out -- and it will, because she's a good person, and good things happen to good people." - Brittany Snow, talking about her "Hairspray" costar Nikki Blonsky, who was arrested Friday along with her father after a brawl at a Caribbean airport