Rip Torn Pleads Guilty In DWI Case

Rip Torn, who beat drunken-driving charges three years ago, has decided not to fight this time.

The 76-year-old actor pleaded guilty Monday night to driving while impaired and agreed to pay $380 and give up his license for 90 days, said Trish Rubino, a clerk at North Salem Town Court.

Torn, who recently appeared on NBC's "30 Rock" and had big hits with the "Men in Black" movies, was arrested in December on a charge of driving while intoxicated after his car hit a tractor-trailer in North Salem, about 60 miles north of New York City. He refused a sobriety test.

He had been scheduled to go to trial in June before pleading guilty to the less serious charge.

A telephone call by The Associated Press to Torn's lawyer, Kevin Reeves, was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Torn, a Texas native, won an Emmy in 1996 for playing the hard-drinking producer on TV's "The Larry Sanders Show."

In a Manhattan case in 2004, Torn was acquitted when jurors said the prosecution failed to prove he was drinking before a fender-bender with a taxi, although a police videotape showed him cursing and berating officers before turning down a sobriety test.

When he was acquitted, he declared, "I love New York."