A report falsely claimed that the actor perished in a paragliding accident

The reports of Will Ferrell's death are greatly exaggerated, misspelled and in serious need of fact checking.

On Tuesday, March 14th, a poorly written press release reported that the actor/comedian died the previous day in a freak paragliding accident -- when in actuality he was up in Canada filming his latest movie.

After hearing of the obvious hoax, Ferrell's publicist, Matt Labov, merely stated that the actor is "alive and well, and filming a movie in Montreal."

The false report stated that the fatal accident occurred in Torey Pines, Calif., after a gust of wind blew the actor and a paragliding companion into the trees before they hurtled to the ground. The release included numerous typos such as Ferrell was "the sonn [sic] of Hubert and Mary Ferrell" and had crashed "into the dense foilage [sic]." Other facts the anonymous prankster got wrong include the real name of Ferrell's parents (Kay and Lee), his alma mater (University of Southern California) and his age (38).

The online news service I-newswire.com removed the press release as soon as they learned of the error. The non-paying customer that generated the story could not be traced.

Ferrell was last seen in last summer's surprise hit comedy "Wedding Crashers," in which he played a character who mocked a lady whose boyfriend in a hang gliding accident, "Winter Passing," "The Producers," and in "Curious George" as the voice of the Man in the Yellow Hat who takes to the air with his monkey via a bunch of helium balloons.

He next stars in the NASCAR comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and "Stranger Than Fiction."