It was the most notorious celebrity mugshot of all time – Nick Nolte gazing into the camera with his hair flying wildly in all directions as he sported a vivid Hawaiian shirt after being booked for driving under the influence of GHB in 2002.
Back in the day, the Prince of Tides star quipped that he resembled ‘an asylum inmate out for a lark’ in the shot, snapped during a chaotic era of his life when he was taking the party drug every day.
Fast-forward 22 years, and the 83-year-old former action man till looks unnervingly similar to that notorious noughties image.
In photographs exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, Nolte wears the same lost-in-thought expression beneath a furrowed brow and a wild unruly silver mane that spirals in all directions.
He even sported a similarly loose-fitting shirt – only this time it was solid lilac – with the cuffs unbuttoned and splayed wide.
Veteran Hollywood star Nick Nolte, 83, evokes his notorious 2002 mugshot as he’s spotted out and about in Malibu last week
Nolte in his infamous mug shot from 2002 after being booked for driving under the influence of GHB
He was photographed this time as he emerged from a flashy black Lincoln sports car in his leafy Malibu neighborhood.
The actor now lives a reclusive life out of the spotlight with fourth wife, actress Clytie Lane, as they raise a 16-year-old daughter together in the beachside California city.
Nolte’s 1961 mugshot after he was arrested for selling fake draft cards
He’s no stranger to his chaotic history though, as he detailed the arrest which led to his 2002 mugshot in his 2018 autobiography.
In a lesser-known incident 40 years earlier and before he found fame, he was busted for selling fake draft cards in 1961. He was fined $75,000 and sentenced to 75 years in prison, later suspended.
In that booking photo, he looks the epitome of conformity, wearing his hair short and a button-down shirt.
‘I’ve had two mug shots in my lifetime,’ Omaha-born Nolte said in 2018.
‘It’s hard to get those. And if you get them, you better make sure you examine the circumstances that you got them.
‘The best way to deal with the biggest mistakes in your life is to discuss them. With everybody, including God.’
Nolte described how he had taken GHB, short for Gamma Hydroxybutyrate, on September 11, 2002, before going to the gym and an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting, the incident which led to his booking that year.
Once the Gangster Squad star got to the AA meeting, which was being held at a church near his home in Malibu, the effects kicked in and he felt he had to leave.
Hollywood veteran Nick Nolte has been spotted looking disheveled in a rare public appearance since living a low-key life in Malibu
Nebraska-born Nolte looked lost in thought as he wore a loose-fitting purple shirt and white pants with his wispy silver hair laying loose and unkempt
In photographs exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, the 83-year-old actor was seen emerging out of his flashy black Lincoln sports car in the lux beachside city earlier this month
‘I was a mess and driving on the Pacific Coast Highway,’ he wrote in his memoir detailing the arrest, adding that he had been taking the drug every day for four years at the time.
‘I’m told six drivers called 911 to report a big sedan weaving on the wrong side of the road.’
Nolte was eventually arrested and taken to an area hospital for blood tests, where he agreed when an officer asked if he could snap a photo of the Nightwatch star.
His autobiography, Rebel: My Life Outside the Lines, traces the rise of the headstrong actor – literally, because he had a bizarre habit of head-butting parked cars.
He was a Midwestern boy, a natural jock, who found fame later in life when he traded in performing on the stage to movies.
Nolte previously linked his career to his chaotic personality, telling AP that acting ‘always appealed’ to him because it involved ‘risk taking’.
Nolte also recently guest starred in an episode of Poker Face, the new whodunit series on Peacock starring Natasha Lyonne as an amateur detective who can always tell when someone is lying
Nolte was recently spotted in Malibu in photographs exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com
‘I mean when I’m standing backstage and that curtain is about to open I say, ‘Why would you do this to yourself? Are you really that much of an idiot to just expose yourself to a thousand people?” he said.
‘And then the curtain opens and, if it goes all right, you don’t remember opening night – there’s too much adrenaline. Actors are risk takers. And they’re taking the risks for their own sanity.’
The curtains haven’t yet closed on Nolte’s storied career, as he’s soon set to appear as a notorious murderer in the upcoming movie The Ploughmen, starring alongside Bill Murray and Owen Teague as law enforcement officers.
Directed by Ed Harris and based on a 2014 novel by Kim Zupan, the neo-noir crime thriller follows a strange friendship between a young deputy sheriff played by Teague and Nolte’s villain.
It is set to be filmed in the Montana wilderness this fall.
Nolte also recently guest-starred in an episode of Poker Face, the new whodunit series on Peacock starring Natasha Lyonne as an amateur detective who can always tell when someone is lying.
Nebraska-born Nolte wore a loose-fitting purple shirt and white pants with his shoulder-length hair laying loose and unkempt
Nolte emerged from a flashy black Lincoln sports car after running errands in Malibu
The Golkden Globe winner will also reunite with his co-star from The Deep, Jacqueline Bisset, 78, along with German actor Oliver Masucci, 54, in new PBS drama Shelter Me.
The plot follows an artificial intelligence research scientist who develops a remote monitoring system that exposes personal struggles, weaknesses and strengths during the isolation caused the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nolte was last seen brushing his shoulder-length hair away from his face as he went to visit a friend in Malibu in March this year.
He was also spotted wearing a bright yellow button-down shirt and green gingham patterned pants while on a casual grocery run the month before.
Nolte pushed around his purchases in a small cart before driving off and enjoying the rest of the day.
The outing came just months after the former action man addressed his on-set tensions with Julia Roberts during I Love Trouble, a film they shot nearly 30 years ago.
Nolte was reminded that Roberts blasted his alleged crude behavior as ‘disgusting’ back in the 90’s – and he revealed they never repaired their rift.
When asked whether he ever extended an olive branch he said: ‘No, I haven’t’, adding that the whole affair had been ‘buried’.
Nick opened up about behind-the-scene drama with Julia Roberts while shooting the romantic-comedy crime film I Love Trouble in 1993
Nearly 29 years after Roberts’ ‘disgusting’ quote, Nolte maintained that there’s no feud between the two stars
Blame game: When elaborating about their reported row in 1993, Nolte took some responsibility: ‘I mean, it was absurd what we went through. It was partly my fault and a little bit of hers. Julia got married at the beginning of that film and it was one of those things where I just approached it all wrong’
Their feud came while they were shooting the 1994 movie, in which they playrival newspaper reporters in Chicago.
Around halfway through production of the romantic-comedy crime film, Roberts publicly aired their tensions by calling Nolte ‘completely disgusting’ during a December 1993 interview with the New York Times.
‘From the moment I met him we sort of gave each other a hard time, and naturally we get on each other’s nerves,’ Roberts said.
‘[While he can be] completely charming and very nice, he’s also completely disgusting,’ she added.
‘He’s going to hate me for saying this, but he seems to go out of his way to repel people. He’s a kick.’
Nolte shot back at the Pretty Woman actress during an interview with the LA Times at the time saying: ‘It’s not nice to call someone “disgusting”.
‘But she’s not a nice person,’ he added. ‘Everyone knows that.’
