Anne Heche in critical condition, on ventilator after fiery crash

Anne Heche remains in critical condition in hospital after her car smashed into a house and flames erupted. Photo / Jordan Strauss, Invision, AP, File

Anne Heche remains hospitalised on a ventilator to help her breathe and faces surgery four days after the actor was injured in a fiery car crash.

"Shortly after the accident, Anne became unconscious, slipping into a coma and is in critical condition," spokeswoman Heather Duffy Boylston said in an email. "She has a significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention."

Pulmonary is connected to the lungs. No further details were provided by Duffy Boylston, who is Heche's friend and podcast partner.

On August 5, Heche's car smashed into a house in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles' westside. Flames erupted, and Heche, who was alone in the car, was pulled by firefighters from the vehicle embedded in the house. It took nearly 60 firefighters more than an hour to douse the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

A native of Ohio, Heche first came to prominence on the NBC soap opera Another World from 1987 to 1991, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award.

Her film career took off in the late 1990s, with Heche playing opposite stars including Johnny Depp (Donnie Brasco) and Harrison Ford (Six Days, Seven Nights).

Anne Heche at the 74th annual Directors Guild of America Awards in March at The Beverly Hilton. Photo / Jordan Strauss, Invision, AP, File

In a 2001 memoir, Call Me Crazy, Heche talked about her lifelong struggles with mental health and a childhood of abuse.

She was married to camera operator Coleman Laffoon from 2001 to 2009. The two had a son together. She had another son during a relationship with actor James Tupper, her co-star on the TV series Men In Trees.

Heche has worked consistently in smaller films, on Broadway, and on TV shows in the past two decades. She recently had recurring roles on the network series Chicago P.D. and All Rise, and in 2020 was a contestant on Dancing With the Stars. - AP