US comedy legend Jerry Lewis spent the night in hospital in New York after feeling faint, but is doing “fine” and was expected to be released Wednesday, an aide said.
The 86-year-old “Nutty Professor” actor was rushed to hospital Tuesday night after collapsing at an event at the Friars Club honoring Tom Cruise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“It was one of those matters where it was just a blood sugar imbalance,” said a staff member at Jerry Lewis Films, his Las Vegas-based production company, declining to give her full name.
“He just felt faint,” she told AFP, adding that Lewis thought he was okay to leave the hospital that night, but doctors insisted he stayed overnight. “He’s doing fine, it was just a precautionary measure to make sure that they have got the levels balanced.”
The representative, called Rose, added that Lewis “might be released today, tonight.”
Lewis was in New York attending meetings and rehearsals for a Broadway musical he is preparing based on “The Nutty Professor,” she said. Lewis wrote the original 1963 film, which was remade in 1996 starring Eddie Murphy.
A publicist for the comedian declined to comment, referring the matter to the Friars Club, which did not immediately respond to a request for details.
One of the most popular comic actors of his era, Lewis perfected the role of the quirky clown in a series of movies that captivated audiences in the 1950s and 1960s.
In more recent decades, Lewis showed himself to be a complete entertainer as an actor, singer, writer, director and producer. He won acclaim for the 1983 Martin Scorsese film “The King of Comedy,” co-starring with Robert De Niro.
Lewis’s career has also included theater, where he appeared in 186 performances of the Broadway musical “Damn Yankees,” in front of sellout crowds beginning in 1985.
