Sending Good Wishes to Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman, the 71-year-old, Oscar-winning and Tony-nominated actor was in a serious automobile accident last night.

People magazine reports:

Morgan Freeman is in good spirits and is planning to have surgery after sustaining injuries in a car accident Sunday night, the actor's rep said in a statement Monday afternoon.

"He has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage but he is in good spirits," said Donna Lee. "He is going to have surgery this afternoon or tomorrow to correct the damage. He says he'll be okay and is looking forward to a full recovery."

In 2006, Freeman came to the Virginia Film Festival and spoke about his career and a new film, 10 Items or Less.

Freeman seemed genuinely happy to be in Charlottesville. (It was a return visit for him, as he had spent some time in the area filming the sequel to the hit Bruce Almighty, the flop Evan Almighty.)

He was engaged and engaging and enjoyed the give-and-take with the audience at the Paramount Theatre. (The photograph on the right shows Freeman during the panel discussion with 10 Items or Less director Brad Silberling; in the photo above and to the left, former WVIR-TV/Channel 29 correspondent David Douglas is interviewing the actor during his brief press availability.)

Prior to his formal appearance on stage at the Paramount, Freeman ran a press gauntlet, where he answered questions from local print and broadcast reporters and flirted with some of the prettier ones. (I think they were correspondents for the Cavalier Daily.)

I caught some of that encounter on video. Unfortunately there is no audio track -- I took this with my digital camera, which has no microphone -- but you can tell by the twinkle in his eye that the man-who-plays-God-in-the-movies has a real down-to-earth touch.

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Fans and admirers of Morgan Freeman are no doubt sending him their best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.