SALISBURY, Conn. -- The report of the arrest, released by state troopers over the weekend, achieved near perfection in cop jargon.

"On 0-1/29/10, at approximately 9:42 pm, Troopers from the Connecticut State Police were notified of a burglary alarm at the Litchfield Bancorp located at 326 Main Street in Salisbury. Troopers were dispatched to the scene and upon their arrival they observed a broken window at the rear of the building. Observed inside the bank was a lone white male walking within the premise."

That lone white male walking within the premise, as millions of gossip Web site visitors learned over the weekend, was Elmore "Rip" Torn, 78, an actor whose legendary list of film credits now seems threatened only by his ability to stretch the longevity of movie bad-boy behavior.

Torn is a well known and loved figure around Salisbury, especially within the town's active winter bar scene, and few residents were surprised by the details, or the explanations that the police and Torn's lawyer provided about the event. After a night of drinking, Torn was headed home to his modest clapboard house on Farnum Road, just around the corner from the bank. But the bank, which is built in a remodeled clapboard home, looks remarkably like Torn's house, and that is where he thought he was. When his key didn't work, Torn broke a window to get inside and then neatly placed his cowboy boots and a wool cap by the back door.

Add a few more details -- the troopers tested Torn at 2 1/2 times the legal limit of alcohol, and he was carrying a loaded .22 revolver -- and the event takes on the kind of senior roguishness that has made Torn an almost folkloric hero in this genteel corner of the state. Police said that Torn looked unsteady on his feet, that his fly was open and that he repeatedly complained about being handcuffed and then taken from what he thought was his own home.