Sheen Cops a Plea

Hollywood bad boy Charlie Sheen won't be going to prison for beating up a former girlfriend. A Los Angeles judge today gave him a suspended one-year sentence and two years probation after the actor pleaded no contest to a charge of battery against Brittany Ashland. "You will not see me back in this courtroom," Sheen told the judge, who replied: "Not unless I order you." Sheen also has to pay $2,800 in fines and restitution, perform 300 hours of community service and get counseling. Ashland still has a civil suit against Sheen over the Dec. 20 incident at his home. Sheen's attorney had said Ashland acts in porn flicks and that they would have used a self-defense argument if the matter had gone to trial.

Danko Busted in Japan

Canadian rock star Rick Danko faces heroin charges in Japan. Danko was arrested a month ago when police found 1.25 grams of heroin in a magazine that had been mailed to him from the United States. He's being held in a police detention center in Chiba, a Tokyo suburb, and police say he'll soon go on trial. Danko could be sentenced to a maximum three years in prison but could also be deported. Danko, a bass guitarist and vocalist for the group The Band, which broke up in 1976, was on a five-concert tour of Japan which started on April 30 and ended on May 6.

Mike and Michelle

He played both the hero and the villain in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and now Mike Myers is going to play both the boyfriend and the girlfriend in "Just Like Me." It's the story of a guy who wishes for a girl who's just like himself.

Downey Gets Insurance

It took a little creative insurance work to get Robert Downey Jr. his role in "U.S. Marshals," the spinoff of "The Fugitive" that will star Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes. After three drug-related arrests in a two-month period last year, Downey was widely considered too risky to be put in a movie. But Warner Bros. has paid an insurance premium that the Los Angeles Times says is in the low to mid-six-figures in case Downey ends up in jail again. Downey's done two independent films since going through rehab, but "U.S. Marshals" is his first studio film. One of the conditions of the insurance policy is that Downey be tested for drugs twice a week.

Back to School for Pfeiffer

Michelle Pfeiffer is returning to the blackboard jungle. Her production company is working on a script about the Rosewood Community Education Center in south-central Los Angeles for a movie that would be about gang members who work with handicapped kids. Scriptwriter Marlene King describes it as "Boyz N the Hood" meets "Rain Man." Pfeiffer, who played an inner-city teacher in "Dangerous Minds," may play the mother of a handicapped child in the film.

Risque Rosie

Rosie O'Donnell helped make Sunday's Tony Awards show one of the most successful ever but television viewers didn't get to see her funniest work. O'Donnell's host work was relatively restrained and economical on the air, but during commercial breaks she reportedly cut loose a little for the live audience at Radio City Music Hall. She threw out some ad libs and racy material that The New York Times said couldn't be printed in a family newspaper.

Sly on the Radio

Sylvester Stallone is said to be on the verge of signing up for a movie with Renny Harlin, who directed Stallone in "Cliffhanger." The new project is "Frequency" and Stallone would play a firefighter in 1969 who manages to communicate over ham radio with his son, who is a homicide cop in 1997. When the son learns he's talking to his father, he tries to warn him about his impending death in a fire. Variety says it's unclear if Stallone will get his usual $20 million fee but sources said his profit participation plan could put him way over that figure if the movie is a hit.

Pop Breaks 50

Punk rock pioneer Iggy Pop recently turned 50 and didn't do much celebrating. "I was in Mexico, and I had the runs," he says. "It just wasn't the greatest day." But Pop has no problem with getting older. "I feel so cool about it," he says. "An awful lot of things I wanted to happen to me and within me have happened, and it feels really, really good. I find myself in a fairly good position and (in) reasonable health, and I'm having a good time, and I've got a lot of work." His recent work includes doing the score for the Johnny Depp film "The Brave," composing a theme for a cartoon show titled "House for Rent" and acting in "Devil Deer," a sci-fi horror film.

Pinter to Rewrite Blixen

Another work by Danish writer Karen Blixen, aka Isak Dinesen, is going to be made into a movie. Actress Julia Ormond plans to produce and possibly star in "The Dreaming Child," the tale of a child who gives his life so that his adoptive mother can find true love. British playwright Harold Pinter will do the script. Dinesen's work was the basis of the hit "Out of Africa," as well as the acclaimed Danish film "Babette's Feast." Universal also is making a movie of her gothic tale "The Angelic Avengers."

Battle of the Bardot Books

Former sex symbol Brigitte Bardot and her ex-husband, Jacques Charrier, continue their book war. Bardot today asked a court to make big cuts in "My Reply to BB," which Charrier wrote after she said mean things about him in her memoir, "Initiales BB." Bardot's lawyers requested that descriptions of their intimate life, love letters she once wrote to him, and pictures of her be deleted from Charrier's book. Charrier had taken similar court action against Bardot's book but lost his fight.

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