Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman is in a "serious condition" in hospital today after a car accident in Mississippi.

The 71-year-old Hollywood veteran was driving on a freeway near his home at around 11.30pm on Sunday when his car left the road and flipped over several times, according to police.

The actor, who co-starred in the latest Hollywood blockbuster The Dark Knight, and an unidentified female passenger had to be cut out of the vehicle before they were air-lifted to Regional Medical Centre in Memphis.

Kathy Stringer, spokeswoman for the hospital, said he was listed as being in a serious condition. It is understood he has broken his arm and shoulder. The medical state of his passenger is not known.

Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, said he arrived at the accident scene on Mississippi Highway 32 soon after it happened.

It appeared that Freeman’s car was airborne went it left the highway and landed in a ditch, Mr McFerrin said.

“They had to use the jaws of life (hydraulic cutters) to extract him from the vehicle,” he said.

“He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point.”

Bystanders converged on the scene trying to get a glimpse of the actor.

He added that when one person tried to take a photo with a mobile phone camera, Freeman said: “No freebies, no freebies.”

The star, who won an Oscar in 2005 for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for Million Dollar Baby, comes from Mississippi and lives with his wife Myrna near Chareleston on a 126-acre ranch with peach trees and stables. He has four children, including Alfonso Freeman also an actor, and won the "Hollywood Outstanding Achievement in Acting" Award in 2000.

Freeman shot to fame as Jessica Tandy's chauffeur in Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and established his position in Hollywood's A-list when he co-starred in The Shawshank Redemption (1994).

Freeman is due to star as Nelson Mandela in The Human Factor, currently in pre-production.

Morgan Freeman, A Biography, Buy the book

Morgan Freeman And Friends, Caribbean Cooking For A Cause, Buy the book

Times Recommends

• Times Charity Appeal: SolarAid
• Is it Black Monday all over again for Dubai?
• Behind the scenes at the biggest deal