No assault charge for Batman Bale

Christian Bale attended a police station by appointment

Batman star Christian Bale will not face charges over an alleged assault on his mother and sister during a row, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

The actor, 34, was arrested in London last month and questioned over claims he had lashed out at his family members while staying at the Dorchester Hotel.

Mr Bale, who was in the UK to promote The Dark Knight, denied the charges.

A spokesman for the CPS said there was “insufficient evidence to afford a realistic prospect of conviction”.

“The police have been advised that no further action should be taken against Mr Bale.”

The actor’s publicist, Jennifer Allen, said in a statement that he was “relieved that this issue has been resolved and hopes to put the matter firmly behind him”.

She added: “Mr Bale considers this to be a deeply personal matter and would ask that the media respect both his and his family’s privacy.”

The star had earlier appealed for privacy when asked about the incident at a press conference in Barcelona last month.

Child star

Mr Bale’s sister Sharon, 40, shouted “it’s a family matter” at reporters who visited her home in Corfe Mullen, near Wimborne, Dorset.

And a man who answered the door at the home of his mother Jenny, 61, in Bournemouth, said she did not want to comment.

Mr Bale rose to fame as the child star of Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun.

He went on to play Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, and had leading roles in Shaft and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

In 2005, he took on the role of the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins, and reprised the role in The Dark Knight.

Morgan Freeman hurt in car crash

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman is in hospital after being injured in a car accident near his Mississippi home.

The 71-year-old Dark Knight star is in a serious condition, according to staff at Memphis’s Regional Medical Center.

The accident happened shortly before midnight on Sunday outside Charleston in the Mississippi Delta.

A Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman told the that Mr Freeman’s car left the road and “began to flip several times” before landing in a ditch.

Mr Freeman – who had been driving the car – and a female passenger were airlifted to the Memphis hospital, about 145km (90 miles) north of where the accident occurred in Tallahatchie County.

Talking at the scene

Both the actor and the woman, Demaris Meyer of Memphis, had been wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident, said Sergeant Ben Williams.

“There’s no indication that either alcohol or drugs were involved,” he added.

Mr Freeman was conscious and talking at the scene, he said, but the extent of his injuries was unclear.

There were “no other vehicles or pedestrians involved”, he said.

An investigation into the accident is currently under way.

Clay McFerrin, editor of local newspaper the Sun-Sentinel, told the Associated Press news agency he had been at the scene on Mississippi Highway 32, not far from where Mr Freeman owns a home with his wife.

“He was lucid, conscious,” Mr McFerrin said. “He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point.”

When one person tried to take a photo with a mobile phone, Mr Freeman joked, “no freebies, no freebies,” Mr McFerrin said.

FREEMAN FACTS

Born 1 June 1937, in Memphis, Tennessee

He spent several years in the US Air Force as a mechanic

Freeman started acting in the 1960s, appearing a couple of off-Broadway shows

His first credited film appearance was in 1971’s Who Says I Can’t Ride a Rainbow!

Freeman starred in some of the biggest films of the 1990s, including The Shawshank Redemption, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Se7en, and Deep Impact

He won an Oscar in 2005 for the film Million Dollar Baby

Freeman plays Lucius Fox in this summer’s blockbuster, The Dark Knight (pictured)

Mechanic

Morgan Freeman is one of Hollywood’s best loved and busiest actors.

Mr Freeman won a best supporting actor Oscar for boxing drama Million Dollar Baby in 2005.

He has twice been nominated in the leading actor category – for The Shawshank Redemption in 1995 and Driving Miss Daisy in 1990.

Last year it was announced the actor would play former South African president Nelson Mandela in forthcoming film The Human Factor.

His first credited film appearance was in the 1971 movie Who Says I Can’t Ride a Rainbow!

Prior to that, he had worked as a mechanic in the US Air Force.

His film appearances include Se7en, Unforgiven and the rebooted Batman franchise.