By Ellen Miller

ASPEN, Colorado - Actor Charlie Sheen was charged on Monday with three crimes including felony menacing stemming from an assault on his wife Brooke Mueller in a heated Christmas Day argument.

Sheen, 44, the star of the CBS hit comedy "Two and a Half Men," was also charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief, Aspen prosecutors said.

Sheen was arrested in the ski resort of Aspen, Colorado on December 25 after Mueller called police and told them he pulled a knife on her during an argument and threatened to have her killed. Sheen spent the day behind bars before being released.

Sheen and Mueller, the actor's third wife, married in 2008 and have twin sons.

Details of the case against the actor were not read in Aspen's Pitkin County District Court on Monday, but the judge did lift a "no contact" portion of a stay away order that kept the two apart, and the pair left the courthouse together.

The restraining order imposed in December had barred Sheen from talking to or having contact with his wife. Lawyers for Sheen and Mueller asked to have the order lifted, and prosecutors did not object.

Mueller told police the couple had argued furiously and that Sheen pulled out a knife and held it to her throat when she threatened to divorce him and take their children.

At the time, Sheen denied brandishing the knife but admitted crumpling his wife's eyeglasses and said both of them had slapped each other's arms, according to court records.

Sheen's film credits include "Platoon" and "Wall Street" but he is best-known for his starring role as a womanizing bachelor on the CBS comedy "Two and a Half Men".