ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 1996 TAG: 9609170015
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 11 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The People Column
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
Robert Downey Jr. pleaded no contest to drug and weapon charges and was ordered to remain in a drug treatment center until sentencing.
Downey, 31, could get a maximum of three years in prison for the felony and two years total on three misdemeanors. Sentencing was set for Nov. 6. Under the plea, a felony heroin possession charge was dropped.
Prosecutors said they will probably seek some jail time for Downey, who was arrested in June. Officers said they found crack cocaine, heroin and a handgun in his truck during a Malibu, Calif., traffic stop.
Hours before he was to be arraigned on those charges, sheriff's deputies arrested him again after he broke into a neighbor's home, where he was found sleeping in a child's bed.
Downey received an Oscar nomination for the 1992 film ``Chaplin.'' His other films include ``Less Than Zero'' and ``Natural Born Killers.''
Mel Torme turned 71 Friday, and his doctors are said to be encouraged with the Velvet Fog's progress since a stroke nearly five weeks ago. The singer can't talk yet, but he's communicating with pad and pen.
Torme was moved to a private room this week at his Los Angeles hospital and underwent his fourth day of neurological rehabilitation, said Rob Wilcox, Torme's publicist.
Vic Damone is crooning ``ciao'' to Diahann Carroll.
The 68-year-old nightclub singer, who had million-sellers with ``Again'' and ``You're Breaking My Heart,'' filed for divorce this week in Los Angeles.
The couple have been married for nine years but have been separated since 1991, according to court papers.
Carroll, 61, played a nurse and a single mother in the TV series ``Julia'' from 1968 to 1971, becoming the first black woman to star in her own comedy in a ``prestige'' role, rather than as a maid or a second banana.
She also starred in ``The Diahann Carroll Show'' in 1976 and appeared in ``Dynasty'' from 1984 to 1987.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB