Maybe he should change his name to Blitzed Drunk.
Rip Torn — the award-winning actor who’s no stranger to the back seat of police cruisers — was “highly intoxicated” when he was busted in his Connecticut hometown Friday for breaking into a local bank while packing heat.
The “Men In Black” and “Larry Sanders Show” star forced his way into a Litchfield Bank Corporation office in Salisbury at 9:40 p.m. and set off a security alarm, a police report said.
State troopers rushed to the scene to find Torn — whose real name is Elmore Rual Torn — “armed with a loaded revolver and highly intoxicated.”
Despite several hostile run-ins with the law in the past, Torn was taken in to custody without incident.
Torn, 78, was charged with five counts: carrying a gun without a permit, carrying a gun while intoxicated, first-degree burglary, first-degree criminal trespass and third-degree criminal mischief, state police said.
“It was determined that forced entry was used on the building,” said the written report by Trooper James Parker.
Torn was taken to the state police barracks in North Canaan.
He’s being held on $100,000 bond. A court date is set for tomorrow.
Calls to Torn’s house and to his publicist were not answered yesterday. The bank was closed.
Longtime neighbors said the latest incident was surprising.
“I had no idea, I wouldn’t think he’d do that,” said Donald Reid.
“We just say ‘Hi.’ He gets along fine with everyone here. No trouble at the house or anything,” the neighbor added.
But Torn is no stranger to drunken antics.
He was busted last in December 2008 for alleged DWI — his third boozy-driving bust in five years.
Troopers saw him driving his Subaru — with a Christmas tree strapped to the top — in the emergency lane.
When confronted by the cops, he went on an expletive-laden tirade and refused to take a Breathalyzer test before failing a field-sobriety test, officials said.
During that incident — which was filmed by a camera on the arresting trooper’s rear-view mirror — Torn allegedly told the trooper he was a police officer too, according to published reports.
Torn got probation for that incident.
In April 2007, Torn had to pay a $380 fine and surrender his license for 90 days when he pleaded guilty to driving while impaired in North Salem.
No one was injured in that incident. Again, Torn refused a sobriety test.
And in 2004, Torn was acquitted of charges that he was drunk when he got into a bumper-buster with a yellow cab in Manhattan in the early morning. The jury said prosecutors failed to prove Torn was drinking before the accident.
After that decision came down, Torn shook hands with the male jurors and kissed the hands of the female jurors.
He then bellowed: “This is the greatest event of my life, to be in the hands of this wonderful jury. I love New York!”
Torn’s career has slowed down recently. In 2010, he’s scheduled to do a voice-over for the movie “Cat Tale.” He’s also recently appeared in the sitcom “30 Rock.”
