NATION : Esther Rolle Injured in Crash

LAS VEGAS — Actress Esther Rolle, whose credits include the hit television series “Good Times” and the movie “Driving Miss Daisy,” is in serious but stable condition after a car crash that killed a Texas woman.

Rolle, 69, was in the intensive care unit at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where she was flown by helicopter after Sunday afternoon’s accident near the Nevada-California border.

Rolle suffered cuts on the head and face, fractured ribs and a bruised heart, said hospital spokesman Dale Pugh. He said she was awake and alert today.

The character for which Rolle is best known, Florida Evans, started on the situation comedy “Maude” and later became the focus of the spinoff “Good Times.” In “Maude,” Florida Evans was a sassy maid; in “Good Times,” the role focused more on how she was the strong-willed matriarch of her family.

She was a passenger in a northbound car that rolled over on Interstate 15 near the California border, Nevada Highway Patrol troopers said.

The driver, Paulene Hopkins, 70, of Marshall, Tex., was pronounced dead at the scene.