Porn star Ron Jeremy hospitalized with aneurysm

Actor Ron Jeremy attends the premiere of the movie ''Finding Bliss'' at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in this January 18, 2009 file photo. Jeremy, one of the porn industry's biggest stars, was in intensive care and undergoing surgery for an aneurysm near his heart in Los Angeles, his manager said on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran pornography actor Ron Jeremy, one of the industry's biggest stars, was in intensive care and undergoing surgery for an aneurysm near his heart in Los Angeles, his manager said on Wednesday.

Jeremy, 59, the star of more than 2,000 adult films, drove himself to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles early on Wednesday after suffering from chest pains.

"He just felt chest pains, like a very heavy weight," Jeremy's manager Mike Esterman told Reuters.

"He is being worked on for an aneurysm near his heart," Esterman added.

Jeremy, nicknamed the "Hedgehog" for his short and hirsute body and known for his large mustache, parlayed his porn star fame into mainstream celebrity status by appearing on the American reality television series "The Surreal Life" in 2004, and by being featured in an advertisement by animal-rights advocates PETA.

His memoir, "The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz," was published in 2007 by HarperCollins, a division of News Corp.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Philip Barbara)