People: Between Rocky and a hard place
Sylvester Stallone has been charged with trying to bring vials of a muscle-building hormone into Australia, where it is restricted.
Lawyers for Stallone, the 60-year-old “Rocky” and “Rambo” star, represented him on Tuesday in a Sydney court where he faces a charge of importing a banned substance.
During a trip to promote his new film, “Rocky Balboa,” Stallone and his entourage had their bags searched when arriving at Sydney’s airport Feb. 16, and his hotel room was searched three days later.
Those searches turned up 48 vials of the human growth hormone product Jintropin, which cannot be brought into Australia without a permit.
The maximum penalty for bringing it into the country illegally is a fine of $86,000 and five years in prison, but the Local Court can only impose a fine of $17,000. Stallone is unlikely to face the maximum penalty.
The case was adjourned until April 24, when his lawyers will be asked to enter a plea.
Mommy fast track
Angelina Jolie‘s adoption application is being processed quickly and she could pick up her new 3 1/2-year-old son within a few weeks, Vietnam’s top adoption official said Tuesday.
The boy, abandoned as a baby, is described as “a little bit shy” but gets along well with other children and loves to play soccer.
Jolie and partner Brad Pitt have three other children: 5-year-old Maddox, adopted from Cambodia; 2-year-old Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia; and another daughter, Shiloh, who was born to the couple in May.
Chop cop
Martial arts expert and actor Jackie Chan has taken on a new role promoting the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to Asian-Americans in a public service ad.
The Chinese star and stunt man will step out of a squad car dressed in a sheriff’s deputy uniform in the ad and will urge potential recruits to join the force.
Invasion of the B-list
A Muncie, Ind., woman who says police mistakenly raided her apartment during filming of the now-canceled CBS reality show “Armed & Famous” has warned city officials that she intends to file a lawsuit.
Accompanying the SWAT team were celebs Jack Osbourne and La Toya Jackson.
That’s apprentice host Trump
Guest hosts are lining up to fill in for Regis Philbin on “Live With Regis and Kelly” while he recovers from heart bypass surgery scheduled this week.
Philbin, 75, is expected to take off at least five weeks from the syndicated morning show.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper plays opposite Kelly Ripa again today, while MTV’s Damien Fahey sits in on Thursday and Friday.
Waiting in the wings: Howie Mandel, Neil Patrick Harris, Pat Sajak, Jeff Probst, Martin Short and Donald Trump.
The birthday bunch
Actor Michael Caine is 74. Music impresario Quincy Jones is 74. Country singer Michael Martin Murphey is 62. Actor Steve Kanaly (“Dallas”) is 61. Comedian Billy Crystal is 59. Actress Tamara Tunie (“Law and Order: SVU”) is 48. Singer Kristian Bush (Sugarland) is 37. Actor Chris Klein is 28. Singer-keyboardist Taylor Hanson (Hanson) is 24.