Fortensky Remains in Critical Condition

Larry Fortensky, the most recent ex-husband of actress Elizabeth Taylor, remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday after falling down stairs in his San Juan Capistrano home.

Authorities Friday released 911 tapes indicating that Fortensky, 46, had been intoxicated at the time of the incident.

“He’d been drinking quite a bit,” an unidentified woman told the 911 dispatcher at 3:06 a.m. Thursday.

The woman added that Fortensky was knocked unconscious by the fall and was bleeding from the mouth. Paramedics arrived at the Avenida Evita home within minutes and took him to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

Hospital spokeswoman Karen Prestia said Friday that Fortensky was in critical but stable condition. She would not confirm reports that he was on life support and was still unconscious.

Fortensky, a construction worker, met Taylor at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage in 1988. He was there after being convicted of drunken driving; Taylor was undergoing drug treatment.

Their 1991 marriage--Taylor’s eighth--ended five years later when the actress filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences.”

Taylor’s spokeswoman, Shirine Ann Coburn, said Friday she did not know if the actress planned to visit Fortensky in the hospital.

Fortensky has had several brushes with the law in recent years.

He was convicted in 1996 of carrying a loaded handgun in the saddlebag of his motorcycle after being pulled over in Redondo Beach for not wearing a helmet. He also did not have a valid driver’s license. He was fined for the violations and placed on two years’ probation.

He was also arrested that year in Hemet on suspicion of drug use, but Riverside County prosecutors declined to press charges after a drug test came back negative.

Times wire services contributed to this report.