Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman has been seriously injured in a car accident in Mississippi and is in a Memphis hospital.

Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Stringer said Freeman is in serious condition.

The hospital, commonly known as The Med, is an acute-care teaching facility that serves patients within 150 miles of Memphis.

Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Sergeant Ben Williams said that Freeman was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima that belonged to Demaris Meyer when the car left Mississippi Highway 32 in Tallahatchie County and flipped several times.

Police told the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com that Freeman was in the one-car accident about 11:30 p.m. Sunday near the small town of Ruleville and was airlifted from the scene.

Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston was at the scene of the accident. He said that it appeared that Freeman's car was airborne went it left the highway and landed in a ditch.

"They had to use the jaws of life to extract him from the vehicle," McFerrin said. "He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point."

Even though the accident occurred in Tallahatchie County, the sheriff's department referred calls to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

State troopers told TMZ that Freeman was talking at the scene.

TMZ said the news of the accident was first reported on MediaTakeout.com, which said Freeman was "very seriously injured," and that an unidentified female passenger was riding in the car.

A source told TMZ that Freeman had several broken ribs and injured his knee. The site also was told that the passenger also had to be cut out of the car using the Jaws of Life.

The source told TMZ that the passenger suffered bumps and bruises, but is in "all in all in good condition."

Freeman, 71, currently stars as Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox in the "Batman Begins" sequel "The Dark Knight." He's also currently starred in the action thriller "Wanted" and the comedy drama "The Bucket List."

Freeman won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "Million Dollar Baby" in 2005. He's also starred in such films as "The Shawshank Redemption," "Driving Miss Daisy," "Unforgiven" and "Street Smart" -- which earned the actor his first Oscar nomination.