Spacey, 40, praised Lemmon as his "mentor" and added: "I met Jack Lemmon when I was 14 years old. And he autographed a photo for me, and he still uses that photo."

Spacey, who won a best-supporting actor Oscar for The Usual Suspects, starred alongside Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross.

The actor is currently starring in British theatre director Sam Mendes' film debut, American Beauty.

Geri and Emma set for chart spat

Baby Spice Emma Bunton and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell are set for a head-to-head battle in the charts.

Emma plans to release her debut solo single, What I Am, on 1 November, the same day as Geri releases her latest single, Lift Me Up.

Bookmakers William Hill are offering odds of 2-1 on Geri making it to number one, while Baby is at 5-2.

Pinky and Perky set for a comeback

British TV puppet stars Pinky and Perky are set to make a comeback after a toy licensing group bought the rights to the characters.

Just Group Plc reportedly paid �500,000 for the pig pair and hopes to turn them into a worldwide brand.

In their 1960s heyday the singing and dancing pig pair had their own BBC show and even performed with The Beatles.

Their Czech creators Jan and Vlasta Dalibor said in a statement: "We are both confident that Pinky and Perky are now in the right hands to ensure that children today can grow to love them like their parents before."

B*Witched's record run 'to end'

Irish pop band B*Witched's record run of No 1s is expected to end this weekend as early sales figures show they are only likely to reach No 4.

HMV says their new single, Jesse Hold On, is unlikely to beat Genie In A Bottle by American Christina Aguilera.

The 18-year-old sensation, billed as the new Britney Spears, is already well ahead of her UK chart rivals.

B*Witched were the first group to debut at No 1 with their first four singles.

Twiggy cashes in three decades later

Sixties icon Twiggy is to launch her own brand name to cash in on continued interest from fans, more than 30 years after she first found fame.

The 50-year-old actress was angered to find her name plastered over merchandise in the Far East, she revealed in a Hello! magazine interview.

"So now we're going to do it ourselves. The first thing we'll launch is beauty creams mixed with aromatherapy oils," she said. "But we want to take it slowly, do it properly."

Documentary to come out of Carrey film

Behind-the-scenes footage from Jim Carrey's latest film Man on the Moon is set to be turned into a documentary.

Carrey plays the late comedian Andy Kaufman, whose girlfriend Lynn Margolis took more than 200 hours of video footage for the piece.

Carrey stayed in character throughout the shooting, either as Kaufman or his alter-ego - the smarmy lounge singer Tony Clifton.

He even had dressing rooms for both characters.

Gilliam puts Quixote film on hold

Former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam is delaying his plans to film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote until next summer, when his star Johnny Depp is available.

The film, which tracks the man from La Mancha from the 17th century to the present day, will also star Jonathan Pryce, Madeleine Stowe and French actor Jean Rocheford as Don Quixote.

Depp is currently promoting his latest film The Legend of Sleepy Hollow before starting work on two other projects, The Man Who Cried and Blow.

Watchdog gives cow advert the all clear

Television watchdog the ITC has cleared a suggestive advertisement featuring a scantily-clad woman who blindfolds a cow on a bed.

The Independent Television Commission received 70 complaints from viewers concerned that the animated advert for Boddingtons beer was too explicit.

A number of complainants thought the cartoon advert promoted bestiality.

However, the ITC felt the "surreal concept" of the cartoon advert would not be taken seriously by most viewers.

Miss World contest coup for Channel 5

The first Miss World beauty contest to be held in the UK for a decade is to be shown in Britain on Channel 5.

The competition will be broadcast from Olympia in London on 4 December, with about 150 countries due to tune in.

Women from 99 nations are taking part, including Miss UK, Nicola Willoughby, Miss Scotland, Stephanie Norrie, and Miss Wales, Clare Marie Daniel.

Channel 5 showed the Miss World contest for the first time last year.