MALIBU, Calif. – Nick Nolte has successfully completed probation ordered after his 2002 no contest plea to a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of drugs, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Nolte was present at the hearing before Judge Lawrence Mira.
"I'm about to do 'Pride and Glory,' a film in New York with Colin Farrell, and he'll just be coming out of rehab so he'll have a lot of support [from me]," the 64-year-old actor told syndicated TV show "The Insider" outside court.
Farrell was being treated for exhaustion and dependency on medication prescribed after a back injury, his publicist, Danica Smith, said last month.
Nolte was taken into custody Sept. 11, 2002, after being seen driving his luxury car erratically along Pacific Coast Highway and then failing a field sobriety test. He was accused of being under the influence of the so-called "date-rape" drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB.
His lawyer said later that Nolte apparently consumed GHB inadvertently while taking a weightlifting supplement. The actor voluntarily entered a substance abuse rehabilitation center for several weeks.
In December 2002, Nolte pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of drugs and was placed on three years' probation, with the conditions that he undergo counseling and drug testing.
Nolte, who has attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings since 1989, has appeared in dozens of movies, including "Cape Fear," "The Prince of Tides" and "48 Hrs."
His upcoming project with Farrell is a generational drama about a family of police officers.
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