Rip Torn gets probation in drunken-driving case

May 21, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

LITCHFIELD, Conn. — Actor Rip Torn has been given probation in a drunken-driving case in Connecticut.

The 78-year-old Salisbury resident was approved Tuesday for admission into an alcohol-education program. The judge says Torn must be retested for his driver’s license because of his severe hearing impairment. The actor will still be allowed to drive.

Torn was arrested near his home in December while driving a car with a Christmas tree tied to the top. He pleaded not guilty in January to drunken driving.

He qualified for the program even though he has two previous drunken-driving arrests in New York.

Torn has appeared on the TV comedy “30 Rock” and has starred in the “Men in Black” movies.

Aretha Franklin cancels university appearance

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Brown University officials say Aretha Franklin will miss the school’s commencement because of a family emergency.

The university announced Wednesday that a representative for the “Queen of Soul” called to say a family emergency would keep her from traveling to graduation Sunday.

Franklin was to get an honorary doctor of music degree. Brown University President Ruth Simmons says the school hopes to honor her on another occasion.

Ingmar Bergman’s home is up for sale

STOCKHOLM — The secluded island home where Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman spent his final years is up for sale.

Several bidders have expressed interest in the 84-acre property on the small Baltic Sea island of Faro, according to Joachim Wrang-Widen at Christie’s Great Estates in London, which is managing the sale.

Bergman, who died on July 30, 2007, is famous for cinema classics such as “The Seventh Seal” and the Oscar-winning “Fanny and Alexander.”

He lived in the main house alone after his wife Ingrid died in 1995. The building is partly designed by Bergman and is surrounded by pine forest and meadows. The estate also has other buildings, including a whitewashed barn where he had his private cinema and a writing lodge.

“We’ve had requests from France, Sweden, Germany, and several from the U.S.,” Wrang-Widen said Wednesday.

He declined to put a price tag on the property. Bergman moved to Faro after visiting the island in 1960 in search of a shooting location for “Through a Glass Darkly.” The filmmaker spent almost 40 years on the island and was buried there.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Ron Isley of the Isley Brothers is 68. Guitarist Hilton Valentine of The Animals is 66. Actor Richard Hatch (“Battlestar Galactica”) is 64. Keyboardist Bill Champlin of Chicago is 62. Actress Carol Potter (“Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Sunset Beach”) is 61. Singer Leo Sayer is 61. Comedian-turned-politician Al Franken is 58. Actor Mr. T is 57. Drummer Stan Lynch (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) is 54. Actor Judge Reinhold is 52. Actor Brent Briscoe (“Mulholland Drive,” “A Simple Plan”) is 48. Actress Lisa Edelstein (“House”) of 41. Actress Fairuza Balk (“The Waterboy”) is 35. Rapper Havoc of Mobb Deep is 35. Actress Ashlie Brillault (“Lizzie McGuire”) is 22. Actress Sarah Ramos (“American Dreams”) is 18.