Rip Torn Cops Plea

Instead of fighting a drunken driving charge as he originally announced he would following a December crash, the Emmy winner pleaded guilty Monday to driving while ability impaired.

By Josh Grossberg Apr 18, 2007 7:31 PMTags

It's official. Rip Torn was ripped.

After initially signaling that he would fight a drunken driving charge stemming from a December arrest,  the Emmy winner abruptly changed his mind and pleaded guilty Monday to driving while ability impaired.

"It's a lesser charge than the original DWI he was booked on," said Trish Rubino, a court clerk in North Salem, New York.

The 76-year-old Torn will have to surrender his license for 90 days and pay a $380 fine as a result of his plea.

According to the authorities, the veteran actor was a 1995 Chevy Cavalier on Route 22 in the Westchester County hamlet at approximately 2:30 p.m. when he attempted a turn and collided with a tractor-trailer.

No one was injured.

Torn refused to take a Breathalyzer test, was taken into custody and was charged with driving while intoxicated and making an unsafe lane change.

After posting bail, a surly Torn declared his innocence. Earlier this month, when Torn first requested the case go to a nonjury trial in June, his Los Angeles-based publicist, Dick Guttman, denied to E! Online that the Dodgeball actor had been drinking.

Guttman said Torn had told him he was returning from a hunting or fishing trip when the incident occurred, and that the driver of the tractor-trailer had crossed in front of Torn's vehicle and forced him into a ditch. Guttman added that the wipeout left his client "somewhat groggy," leaving the officers the impression that he was drunk.

Torn's lawyer, Kevin Reeves, could not reached for comment.

This isn't the first alcohol-related run-in with the law for the Texas native, who resides in Connecticut.

A Manhattan jury acquitted Torn of a drunken driving charge in 2004 after he plowed his Volvo into a cab in Greenwich Village.

Despite the driving snafus, the actor—who made his feature film debut in Elia Kazan's 1956 adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Baby Doll—continues to be in demand on the big screen.

Upcoming projects include Three Days to Vegas, a comedy costarring Peter Falk; Turn the River, a drama with Famke Janssen; August, a drama with Josh Hartnett; and a voice part in Jerry Seinfeld's computer-animated Bee Movie, which is due out in November.

Torn is best known for his costarring roles in the  Men in Black films and as Artie on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Emmy in 1996. He also scored an Oscar nomination for the 1983 drama Cross Creek.