Known to have battled alcohol and drugs off and on for years, the Malibu actor runs into trouble again.
By Cortney Litwin/Staff Writer
Malibu resident Nick Nolte was arrested Sept. 11 for a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to California Highway Patrol spokesperson Leland Tang, and will be arraigned on Oct. 28.
CHP officers, who had pulled over another motorist at 12:10 p.m. last Wednesday, spotted the 61-year-old actor swerving erratically-cutting off other drivers on Pacific Coast Highway near Kanan Dume Road-and pulled him over. The officers said his eyes were drooping and he appeared to be disoriented. Nolte, who was attracting picture-taking motorists when they recognized the Oscar-nominated actor, was taken to the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station. No drugs were found on Nolte or in his car, Tang said.
This isn’t the first time Nolte, who is known to have a bit of a rebellious streak, has been nailed by the law. At age 21, he was busted with a felony conviction for selling counterfeit draft cards that were used by underage kids as IDs. His sentence was suspended and he was given five years probation.
Nolte has talked openly about his previous arrest as well as his excessive drinking, although he has attempted to embrace a healthier lifestyle in recent years.
“I was a functioning drunk,” he told a television interviewer last year.
Nolte is best known for his roles in “Affliction” (1997) and “The Prince of Tides” (1991), for which he received Academy Award nominations for best actor. He also received an Achievement in the Arts Award at last year’s Malibu Film Festival. Nolte is known for successfully taking on a wide range of roles and immersing himself in the characters, from portraying a drug-smuggling veteran in “Who’ll Stop the Rain” to a football star in “North Dallas Forty.”
Born in Nebraska, Nolte attended several colleges but dropped out. A turning point came in his early 20s when he saw a production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and decided to become an actor himself. Then, on the advice of a friend, Nolte became involved with the Pasadena Playhouse and continued traveling around doing regional theater for many years.
His first shot at fame came in 1976 when he was cast in the popular television miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man,” for which he earned an Emmy nomination. A year later, he was cast opposite Jacqueline Bisset in “The Deep.” More films followed, with varying success, including “48 Hours” with Eddie Murphy, “Cannery Row,” based on the John Steinbeck classic, “Under Fire,” “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” where he played a fortunate bum, and “Weeds,” which earned him a Golden Globe award for best dramatic actor. He also won Golden Globes for “Affliction” and “The Prince of Tides.”
An eccentric with a volatile temperament, Nolte has a long history of fibbing to the press and once reportedly told NBC’s Bryant Gumbel that he’d had a testicular tuck “to lift them up higher so you don’t sit on them.”
“Early on in my film career, when I started getting interviewed, I decided I was going to lie to the press since I didn’t think I had anything to say that was really of value,” Nolte told a newspaper in 1996. “Over the years, I’ve just lied about a lot of things … I’ve sometimes found it a little difficult to know who I am. And when the media insisted on finding out, I just flat-out told a lot of different stories.”
A stormy personal life has accompanied Nolte’s successful acting career. Married three times, he has a 16-year-old son, Brawley, by his third wife, Rebecca Linger. In 1977, his seven-year companion, Karen Louise Eklund, sued him for palimony, which was settled out of court. And acting may run in the family-Brawley played Mel Gibson’s kidnapped son in the 1996 film “Ransom.”