PARIS, Aug 8: Actor Omar Sharif has been sentenced by the Tribunal de Grande Instance of the Paris suburb of Pontoise to one-year in jail as well as 1800 euros ($2050) in fines and damages.

The fine and jail sentence, which is suspended, were meted out to the 71-year-old star of such classics as Doctor Zhivago, Funny Girl and Lawrence of Arabia, for having assaulted a policeman as he was gambling in the night of July 5-6 at the casino at Enghien-les-Bains, 20 kms out of Paris.

Sharif where since the end of his film career, he’s been a usually successful gambler who has won many national and international prizes for his card-playing talents, served as director of the casino at the seaside resort of Trouville. At the time he was arrested, he had already lost some 30,000 euros ($35,000).