SHARIF

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., (Reuters):

Actor Omar Sharif of Dr. Zhivago fame pleaded no contest on Tuesday to hitting a Beverly Hills parking attendant in the face, and was sentenced to probation and anger management counselling.

Sharif, 74, the Egyptian-born actor who played the romantic gentleman lead in movies such as Funny Girl and Lawrence of Arabia, did not appear in Beverly Hills Superior Court to settle the 2005 case but entered his plea through his lawyer.

A no contest plea is equivalent under California law to pleading guilty.

Sentenced

He was sentenced to two years probation, 15 sessions of anger management counselling and told to stay away from the parking attendant. He was also fined $1,000.

According to a lawsuit filed by parking attendant Juan Anderson, Sharif was drunk when he left a Beverly Hills steakhouse around midnight in June 2005 and found that his car was not waiting for him.

Sharif demanded the parking valet find his car, offered him a 20 euro bill in payment, then assaulted him when the attendant refused to accept the money as payment, prosecutors said.

In 2003, Sharif was given a one-month suspended sentence by a French court for head-butting a police officer in a suburban Paris casino.

Sharif has made more news in the past 20 years as a gambler and a bridge player than as an actor.