Dark Knight star Morgan Freeman has been seriously injured in a car crash. The Oscar-winning actor, who plays Bruce Wayne's aide Lucius Fox in the Christopher Nolan Batman franchise, was taken to Memphis's Regional Medical Center after the accident occured while the star was driving home to Charleston on Highway 32 in Tallahatchie County last night.

Reports of 71 year-old Freeman's condition vary from 'critical' to 'he's sitting up in bed and talking'. One source claimed that Freeman was "suffering from bumps and bruises, but is 'all in all in good condition'." Another report also suggests there is evidence that the actor may have been asleep at the wheel.

This latest incident is arguably the third piece of real-life drama to occur amongst the cast of Nolan's record-breaking The Dark Knight, which is heading for a take of half a billion dollars. Joker actor Heath Ledger died in January of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, and only a couple of weeks ago the European premiere of the film was marred by Christian Bale's arrest for 'verbal assault' on his mother and sister.