OSCAR-WINNING actor Brenda Fricker is recovering in a Co Louth hospital after a fall down stairs into a "dungeon bar" at the castle hotel where Paul McCartney married Heather Mills in 2002.
The mishap, at Castle Leslie, near the Co Monaghan border village of Glaslough, altered her plans for a relaxing Christmas at the castle.
Fricker, who won an Oscar for her role in My Left Foot, was with friends as she was walking down the stairway during a tour of the historical building when she tripped.
She sustained some broken ribs and facial injuries and was taken by ambulance from the castle to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
The group was understood to be visiting the "red room" at the castle, which is reputed to be haunted by Norman Leslie, the ghost of an uncle in the Leslie family who was killed during the first World War.
The actor underwent emergency treatment at the Drogheda hospital and was detained for observation.
It was expected yesterday that the actor, who recently received the newly created Maureen O'Hara Award in Wexford for her contribution to Irish acting, may be transferred later this week to a convalescent centre in Dublin, to complete her recovery.
She said yesterday she still suffered severe pain after her fall. "Every time I breathe it hurts. It feels like I'm having a heart attack."
Close friends of the actor said yesterday she was still "in good spirits" despite the mishap.
"This misfortune came as she had just only recently recovered from a shoulder injury following a fall in her Dublin residence," one friend said.
It is understood that Fricker has plans to star in a new film, which is due to be shot early in the new year.