Kingsley chooses role with Annette Bening

Oscar winner Ben Kingsley who has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as an Iranian immigrant in House Of Sand And Fog, will portray Dr Herman Tarnower, the inventor of the Scarsdale Diet, for his next project.

Annette Bening will star with him in Mrs Harris, the story of school headmistress Jean Harris.

The script is based on real events in 1980 when Harris killed Tarnower, who was her boyfriend, in what she said was an attempt to shoot herself.

Her was previously dramatised for American television in 1981 with Ellen Burstyn portraying the convicted killer.