ACTOR PROGRESSING AFTER HEAT STROKE.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

Actor Martin Lawrence was in critical but stable condition Wednesday, three days after he suffered heat stroke while trying to lose weight for a new movie by jogging in heavy clothing, officials said.

Lawrence, 34, emerged from a coma Tuesday after being brought in Sunday to the emergency room of Los Robles Regional Medical Center, spokeswoman Kris Carraway said. Doctors are monitoring him for possible kidney failure.

Carraway said Lawrence, who was in the critical-care unit, first showed signs of improvement Tuesday evening. She said MRI tests for brain damage came back negative.

``He is becoming increasing responsive,'' she said. ``When you ask him to squeeze your hand he will make an attempt to do that.''

Following his daily routine, the star of TV's ``Martin'' and the movies ``You So Crazy'' and ``Do the Right Thing'' had gone for an hourlong jog at 11:30 a.m. Sunday in the Westlake Village area, but failed to return, Carraway said.

``It was very, very hot outside and he was trying to lose weight for a new movie he was getting ready for,'' she said.

``He thought what he would do was what a lot of fighters do, which is dress in heavy clothes and sweat it out and lose weight. I was told he was wearing heavy layers of clothes, like thermal clothing,'' she said.

An unidentified family member found Lawrence on the ground in front of the actor's house, Carraway said. She did not know how long he had been unconscious.

``His breathing was labored and he was not responding to questions being asked of him,'' she said. ``The family member did the appropriate thing and placed a cold towel on his face and called 911.''

Paramedics arrived at 1 p.m. and treated Lawrence for acute hyperthermia. He had a temperature of 107 degrees when he was brought into Los Robles, Carraway said. The normal body temperature is 98.6.

Emergency room staff doused Lawrence's body with cold water and placed ice packs on his pulse points.

Carraway did not know how much weight Lawrence was trying to lose or the movie he was preparing for.

``It was just bad judgment,'' Carraway said. ``There has been throughout the years been the myth you go to the movies and see fighters bundled up running and sweating it off but all that does is dehydrate you.

``It's just a real lesson for people to learn, especially young people. It's not the way to lose weight,'' she said.

Lawrence recently told the Daily News that in the next movie he was scheduled to make, ``Big Momma's House,'' he would be playing an FBI agent who disguises himself as a grandmother.

``I've gotta go under prosthetics, the whole nine,'' Lawrence said of the physically demanding comedy, which he indicated would start production in September. Lawrence has faced both health and legal problems in the past.

In September 1997, he was sentenced to two years' probation and community service for his part in a nightclub scuffle. The actor, who pleaded no contest to battery, also was ordered to remain in a treatment program.

In May 1996, Lawrence was detained by police and hospitalized after he was found yelling and screaming in the middle of a busy Los Angeles intersection. He had a gun in his possession.

Lawrence had failed to take prescribed medication and had suffered a seizure, his physician told police.

Two months later, he was arrested at Burbank Airport after police found a loaded handgun in a suitcase he was taking on a flight to Phoenix.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Photo

Photo: (Color in Conejo only) Actor Martin Lawrence is shown arriving for the Los Angeles premiere of ``Nothing to Lose'' in this 1997 file photo.

Michael Caulfield/Associated Press