A suicide attempt by the Wedding Crashers co-star Owen Wilson cast a shadow yesterday over the film career of the loveable Hollywood rascal.

Wilson, known for his long blond locks, pleaded for privacy after being taken to hospital in Santa Monica on Sunday. He had reportedly slit his wrist and taken drugs.

“I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time,” the actor and Oscar-nominated screenwriter said in a statement from his hospital bed, where he was listed as being in good condition.

A police log listed the reason for the emergency call from Wilson’s house as “attempt suicide”, appearing to confirm reports that the actor tried to kill himself.

The actors Samuel L. Jackson and Woody Harrelson and the basketball player Magic Johnson visited the hospital in Los Angeles, where Wilson was expected to remain under observation for two or three more days. He has reportedly undergone detoxification and surgery to his wrist.

Wilson, 38, one of three Texas-born brothers who became Hollywood actors, has become a bankable star with a string of box-office successes. His highest-grossing film was Wedding Crashers (2005), which grossed $285 million (£140 million), in which he and Vince Vaughn played two men who turn up at weddings uninvited to meet women.

He also starred in the romantic comedy You, Me, and Dupree (2006) as a man who moves into his best friend’s home and causes turmoil in his marriage, and played opposite Ben Stiller in the 2004 big-screen adaptation of the 1970s television series Starsky and Hutch.

Wilson also earned an Oscar nomination as the screenwriter for The Royal Tenenbaums (2002), a quirky comedy about a dysfunctional family, with his long-time friend, the director Wes Anderson.

Wilson’s hospitalisation cast doubt on his roles in two new films as well as his ability to promote two forthcoming releases; The Darjeeling Limited, due to premiere at the Venice Film Festival next week, and Drillbit Taylor, which is due out in March. His publicist said that he had completed his promotional duties for The Darjeeling Limited.

The Ben Stiller-directed Tropic Thunder, a comedy about a group of actors who go on location to shoot a war movie and find themselves in the midst of real-life conflict, is being filmed in Hawaii. DreamWorks Pictures refused to say whether Wilson’s part would be recast.

He was also due to appear opposite Jennifer Aniston in the comedy Marley & Me, an adaptation of John Grogan’s memoir about a mischievous labrador retriever.

A spokesman for 20th Century Fox told the Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety that “it’s a totally inappropriate question at this time” whether he would appear in the film.

Wilson was taken to hospital at noon on Sunday after an ambulance was called to his home in Santa Monica.

The police and hospital officials refused to give more details of the incident but celebrity magazines and websites said that he had cut his wrist and taken drugs in an apparent suicide attempt.

The celebrity television show Extra said he was found by his younger brother, Luke.

Wilson was later transferred from St John’s Hospital in Santa Monica to a celebrity unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles.

Wilson has a reputation as a party animal and has been linked to several famous women, including Demi Moore and Sheryl Crow.

He appeared to have been leading a quieter life since breaking up with Kate Hudson, the actress who worked alongside Wilson on You, Me, and Dupree, in May, and was seen on a yacht in the Mediterranean this month.

Hudson was photographed with her new boyfriend, Dax Shepard, in a grocery shop in Malibu on the same day that Wilson was admitted to hospital.

The New York Post reported yesterday that the suicide attempt followed a bitter quarrel with a close friend. The newspaper said that Wilson had a history of depression, and that the actor’s break-up with the Hudson had not contributed to his suicide attempt. “It’s very upsetting. People are complicated. It’s not just one thing,” a friend told the Post.

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