Spinal Tap Funnyman Michael McKean Hit by Car

Christopher Guest troupe regular and Laverne & Shirley star was taken to a New York hospital in critical condition

By Natalie Finn May 23, 2012 2:15 AMTags
Michael McKeanGary Gershoff/Getty Images

Michael McKean, star of This Is Spinal Tap and Christopher Guest troupe regular, was struck by a car Tuesday afternoon in Manhattan, his publicist, Harriet Sternberg, confirmed to E! News.

He remains hospitalized, but what is the 64-year-old actor-writer's prognosis?

Per the New York Daily News, McKean's condition has been upgraded from critical to stable, but, in addition to cuts and bruises, his rep confirms he did suffer a broken leg.

She said that McKean was struck shortly before 3 p.m. on Manhattan's Upper West Side, and that his wife, Smallville star Annette O'Toole, was flying in from Los Angeles to be with him. He also has two children from a previous marriage.

"It's the first time he will have ever missed a curtain in his entire life," Sternberg told the Daily News about her longtime client, who was on his way to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre for his scheduled performance in Gore Vidal's The Best Man when he was hit. "His understudy has never gone on in 40-plus years."

Happily, it doesn't sound as if David St. Hubbins needs to be writing his own epitaph just yet.

When not doing the occasional Spinal Tap reunion or making movies, McKean has spent the last few years packing in the guest appearances on shows like Castle, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Happy Endings, Homeland and Law & Order: SVU. He also bested the rest on Jeopardy!'s Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational in 2010.

Two other people involved in the accident were also taken to the hospital and police are not investigating the incident as a crime, according to the Daily News.