But Dangerfield 'starts to recover'

Veteran American stand-up Rodney Dangerfield slipped into a coma while recovering from heart surgery, it emerged today.

But his wife Joan said the 82-year-old comic "is starting to show signs of awareness".

The statement contradicts earlier information that the comic was conscious when friends and fellow entertainers including ay Leno, Roseanne, Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler visited him at hospital in Los Angeles.

Dangerfield has been on a respirator in intensive care since undergoing a heart-valve replacement on August 25; but he was able to breathe on his own for the past 24 hours, Joan said on Monday.

In a statement, she said that Dangerfield fell into a "light coma" a couple of weeks ago, but "after recent visits from his family and close friends, Rodney is starting to show signs of awareness, and we are all hopeful that he will regain full consciousness soon."

She added: "Our family remains optimistic that Rodney will make a complete recovery."

The statement appeared to conflict in some respects with previous information provided by Sasaki, who said last week that Dangerfield was conscious when friends and fellow entertainers such as Jay Leno, Roseanne, Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler visited him at the UCLA Medical Centre.

Dangerfield, whose catchphrase is "I can't get no respect” has suffered health problems for several years. He had double-bypass heart surgery in March 2000, an operation in May 2000 to correct an aneurysm and he suffered a mild heart attack in November 2001.

Published: 21 Sep 2004