Actor Sean Penn has seen his hopes of becoming an author dashed after his first novel was lost in a fire.
The Oscar winner had spent months writing the unnamed book, but his only copy was destroyed in the blaze.
He says, "It was written on an old typewriter and I had all the pages on my desk but they burned in a fire."
Penn launched his acting career in 1981 with the film Taps, which also starred Timothy Hutton and Tom Cruise.
Since then he has made over forty movies and is widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation. ( FF )