Travolta will next be seen as a fireman in Ladder 49

The Pulp Fiction actor - who turned 50 in February - has signed a deal with New York-based publisher Hyperion to write his as-yet-untitled life story.

"I've hit a milestone this year in my life, turning 50," the Saturday Night Fever star said in a statement.

"If I waited any longer I'd have to write two books," he continued.

"I've had such a full life that I really want to share it."

Will Schwalbe, Hyperion's editor-in-chief, said the book would be published in late 2006.

"John Travolta is one of the greatest and most beloved actors of our time," he said.

I've had such a full life that I really want to share it John Travolta

"He is also a tremendously thoughtful person with remarkable stories to share - about himself and his career; about his friendships with people ranging from Marlon Brando to Princess Diana; about the creative process and his passions."

Travolta shot to fame playing the disco-dancing Tony Manero in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever.

The 1978 musical Grease consolidated his success, though after a string of flops his career waned in the 1980s.

Oscar-nominated

Despite this, he was invited to a White House ball in 1985 where he famously danced with the late Princess of Wales.

"I was at the lowest point of my career and yet I was in that room," he said earlier this year.

Travolta and Scarlett Johansson at this year's Venice Film Festival

"I felt like a frog who had been turned into a prince."

However, he made a spectacular return to the limelight in 1994 when director Quentin Tarantino cast him as a drug-taking hitman in Pulp Fiction.

Travolta was Oscar-nominated for his role and followed it up with such box-office hits as Get Shorty and Face/Off.

His newfound fame took a knock with 2000's Battlefield Earth, a disastrous sci-fi epic based on a book by Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard.

Travolta's response was to take a break from acting and make a three-month round-the-world trip in his private Boeing 707.

Earlier this month Travolta attended the Venice film festival with actress Scarlett Johansson to promote their new film, A Love Song for Bobby Long.