Jerry Lewis suffers mild heart attack

Entertainer cancels July engagement in Las Vegas due to condition

Stephen Chernin / AP

Jerry Lewis, left stands with artist Leroy Neiman next to the Friars Club statue at the Friars Club celebrity roast in Lewis' honor on June 9. Lewis suffered a mild heart attack on June 11 and was forced to cancel performances scheduled for July.

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updated 1:06 p.m. ET June 14, 2006

LAS VEGAS - Comedian Jerry Lewis postponed a July engagement to perform live after suffering a heart attack Sunday that a casino spokeswoman described as “mild.”

“At present, he is under hospital care and is expected to make a full recovery,” said Candi Cazau, spokeswoman for the Orleans hotel-casino in Las Vegas, where Lewis was to perform July 13-16.

Lewis, 80, is also suffering from “a touch of pneumonia,” Cazau said in a statement.

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A call to Lewis’ manager, Claudia Marghilano, was not returned Tuesday.

Last week, a wise-cracking Lewis appeared healthy at a news conference in Las Vegas when he announced his first return to live performances in five years after a battle with pulmonary fibrosis, a crippling lung ailment.

He also appeared at a roasting as abbot of the Friars Club in New York on Friday, with fellow comedian Robert Klein and the Amazing Kreskin in attendance.

Lewis announced last week that he planned to direct a version of his hit 1963 comedy, “The Nutty Professor,” as a musical on Broadway by October 2008.

Those plans have not changed, said executive producer Ned McLeod of The Michael Andrew Company, which bought the rights to develop the show in March.

“We support and will be by Jerry on any health issue that comes up for him as well as he would for me or Michael,” McLeod said. “It’s not going to affect us.”