LOS ANGELES • Director and actor Kevin Smith, best known as the laconic sidekick Silent Bob of his 1990s cult comedies, said on Monday that he suffered a "massive heart attack" after taping a stand-up comedy show in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale.

The 47-year-old maker of films including 1999's Dogma said on Twitter that he fell ill after completing the first of two scheduled performances on Sunday evening.

"The doctor who saved my life told me I had 100% blockage of my LAD artery (aka 'the Widow-Maker')," Smith tweeted from the hospital. He was referring to the left anterior descending artery, or left coronary artery, which is considered the most important for supplying blood to the heart.

"If I hadn't cancelled show 2 to go to the hospital, I would've died tonight," he said on Twitter. "But for now, I'm still above ground!"

Smith, who currently stars in the AMC TV reality series Comic Book Men, earned critical praise for his satires on suburbia, romance and religion.

He rose to prominence with his raunchy low-budget comedy Clerks (1994), about a day in the life of two convenience store workers. He won a screenwriting Independent Spirit Award for Chasing Amy (1997).

Fans and fellow celebrities, including actor Chris Pratt, tweeted their concern to Smith on Monday. "Praying for you. I will continue to," Pratt wrote on Twitter.

REUTERS, WASHINGTON POST