Geena Davis 'ecstatic' over baby

Hollywood actress Geena Davis has given birth to her first child at the age of 45, her publicist said today.

Davis, who is still best known for her role alongside Susan Sarandon in Ridley Scott's classic feminist road movie Thelma And Louise, gave birth on Wednesday at a Los Angeles hospital. Her husband, surgeon Reza Jarrahy, was present at the birth.

The actress's spokesman, Paul Bloch, said that she had a normal pregnancy but the child's name and weight were not disclosed.

"The baby is beautiful and very healthy," said Mr Bloch. "Geena and Reza are ecstatic."

The actress, who won an Oscar in 1998 for her part in The Accidental Tourist, married Mr Jarrahy when he was 30 last September in Wainscott, Long Island, after meeting him through mutual friends. It was her fourth marriage and his first.

"We are very happy and we look forward to spending the rest of our lives together," they said at the time. The couple live in southern California.

In 1998 Davis divorced Renny Harlin, director of Die Hard 2: Die Harder, the box office flop Cutthroat Island and Cliffhanger, after discovering that he had made her personal assistant pregnant. She married actor Jeff Goldblum in a drivethrough ceremony in Las Vegas but they divorced in 1991; her first marriage to restaurant manager Richard Emmolo ended in 1983.

Her latest film, Stuart Little II, in which she appears alongside Hugh Laurie, is released this summer. As well as an early career in modelling, Davis, who is 6ft, finished 29th in the US national archery championship in 1999 and was being considered to represent her country in the Sydney Olympics. She is also a member of Mensa.

It is unclear whether the delivery of Davis's baby was like that portrayed in her female cult movie Angie, in which the heroine gives birth while her friends cheer her her on boisterously as if they were at a football match.

Jagger's 'fatherly' hug for Winslet
Dimmock: I've no regrets