Entertainment

To millions of moviegoers around the world, he's a goofy, happy-go-lucky actor whose life took a sudden, horrible turn over the weekend. His apparent suicide attempt is now the subject of tabloid and talk-show speculation. Few know what really happened, much less why.

But to many in his native Dallas, pop-culture phenom Owen Wilson deserves more than crass speculation. He is, as family members have long described him, the talker, the zany storyteller, the one most likely to get into mischief.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that police were called to the actor's home on Sunday because of a suicide attempt, according to a log of 911 calls. The 38-year-old star of such box-office sensations as Wedding Crashers and You, Me and Dupree lives in Santa Monica, Calif.

The log doesn't indicate who made the call but lists "attempt suicide" as the reason. Reached by The Dallas Morning News on Monday, Robert A. Wilson, the actor's father, declined to comment. Police and hospital officials also would not comment.

A source told the tabloid TV show Extra that Owen Wilson had been "depressed for the last few months." He's now reportedly in good condition at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Associated Press

Owen Wilson

Older brother Andrew Wilson and younger brother Luke were among those who rushed to the hospital to offer support, along with Pulp Fiction star Samuel L. Jackson.

"When I heard the news this morning, I was totally shocked and, quite honestly, saddened," said Robert D. Yeoman, the cinematographer on Mr. Wilson's upcoming movie, The Darjeeling Limited. "I hope he pulls through and gets whatever help he needs to get his life back on track."

Mr. Wilson's upcoming projects also include Tropic Thunder, directed by friend Ben Stiller; Marley & Me, a comedy opposite Jennifer Aniston; and the Judd Apatow-produced Drillbit Taylor. No one was willing to say how his condition might affect his upcoming work.

Mr. Wilson's world has long embraced Dallas, and many here reacted with stunned silence to Tuesday's news. But the far greater reaction was an outpouring of care and concern for the family, who moved here from New England in the 1960s. Robert A. Wilson is a former executive with KERA-TV (Channel 13), where he started the renowned program Newsroom in 1970. Laura Wilson, Owen's mother, is an acclaimed photographer who studied under the great Richard Avedon.

"Obviously, we're sad, and we're hurting for them," said Dallas restaurateur Herb Story, 63, who has known the family for three decades. Owen once wore the red apron as a waiter in Mr. Story's S&D Oyster Company on McKinney Avenue, where the Wilsons are longtime regulars.

The Wilsons are extraordinarily close, said Mr. Story, who credits Bob and Laura with being loving, supportive friends when his own son was suffering from leukemia.

Mr. Story and his wife were scheduled to leave this morning on a trip to Colorado with Owen's parents. But he received an e-mail from Ms. Wilson on Monday, saying "we're dealing with this emergency we've got with Owen in LA and won't be able to make it."

Rudy Reece, 73, who worked for years as one of Mr. Story's waiters at S&D, said he and fellow employee Warren Johnson, who recently died, trained Mr. Wilson to be a waiter.

They reveled in showing the North Dallas kid, whose family lives on the same street as Ross Perot, their own haunts in South Dallas. And, said Mr. Reece, they loved telling him stories, which the aspiring actor, whose one Oscar nomination came in screenwriting (The Royal Tenenbaums ), "loved to hear over and over." He eventually gave the men bit parts in Bottle Rocket, the indie film that launched his career and that of University of Texas classmate Wes Anderson.

"Warren and I kind of feel we raised Owen," Mr. Reece said, his mood turning abruptly serious. "When I saw it on the news the other night, I couldn't go back to sleep." Mr. Reece and Mr. Story complimented Mr. Wilson on never forgetting Warren Johnson, with whom he kept in touch even with Mr. Johnson on his deathbed.

Michael Bennett, who recently retired as a teacher at St. Mark's School of Texas, said he was sitting at his desk shortly after an article had appeared in the alumni magazine about his 40 years in teaching. The phone rang, and it was former student Owen Wilson.

"I was very touched that he had taken the time to call me all the way from LA to say congratulations and to thank me," said Mr. Bennett, 67, former Latin teacher and Senior Master.

He told Mr. Bennett about the time "I caught him doing something he shouldn't have been, and he respected me for it." At the Stoneleigh P, another of Mr. Wilson's favorite restaurants, owner Tom Garrison has known the family since the early 1970s. A poster from Bottle Rocket adorns one wall.

"We love them all," Mr. Garrison said of the Wilsons. He and his staff are feeling "nothing but sympathy, nothing but care and concern, wishing we could be there to help."

Robert Wilson ate at the Stoneleigh P on Saturday, said Mr. Garrison, "and didn't register anything but his usual demeanor. Meaning," he said with a laugh, "that he was worried about the Boston Red Sox."

Mr. Garrison has faith in Owen's future, he said, "because of the strength of that family. When we heard, we prayed that it wasn't true, but I want them to know when they do come back, we'll treat them like family, because they are family. And we love them."

The Associated Press and the New York Daily News contributed to this report.