Actor Morgan Freeman, pictured here in 2007, won an Oscar for his supporting role in 2004's Million Dollar Baby. (Canadian Press)

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, currently starring in the Batman movie The Dark Knight, was in serious condition in hospital Monday after a car accident in Mississippi where witnesses said he had to be freed with the Jaws of Life.

Clay McFerrin, editor of the Sun Sentinel in Charleston, said he arrived at the accident scene on Mississippi Highway 32 soon after it happened. McFerrin said the accident occurred just west of Charleston, Miss., not far from where Freeman owns a ranch with his wife.

"They had to use the Jaws of Life to extract him from the vehicle," McFerrin said, adding the car was in a ditch.

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

McFerrin also said many bystanders appeared on the scene, trying to get a glimpse of the 71-year-old actor.

When one person tried to snap a photo with a cellphone camera, Freeman joked, "no freebies, no freebies," McFerrin said.

The actor was admitted to hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Stringer said Freeman was in serious condition Monday.

The actor "has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage, but is in good spirits," according to a statement from Donna Lee, Freeman's publicist.

Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Ben Williams said Freeman was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima belonging to Demaris Meyer of Memphis when the car skidded off the road and flipped several times shortly before midnight Sunday.

"There's no indication that either alcohol or drugs were involved," Williams said.

The officer did not release details of what happened to Meyer, who was also in the car, but did say both occupants were wearing seatbelts.

The woman's condition was not immediately available.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Freeman was airlifted from the scene.

The actor captured an Academy Award in 2004 for his supporting role in Million Dollar Baby and earned a Golden Globe trophy for best actor for the 1990 film Driving Miss Daisy.

His other film credits include The Shawshank Redemption, Se7en and Unforgiven.

The actor is currently working on his third project with Clint Eastwood in the forthcoming film The Human Factor, about former South African president Nelson Mandela.

With files from the Associated Press