Tom Hanks is to take the leading role of in a biopic of American singer, actor and filmmaker Dean Reed who died in mysterious circumstances in 1986.
In 1958 one of Reed's singles, 'Our Summer Romance', made him more popular in South America than Elvis Presley.
He lived there for several years, making albums, starring in films and he also had his own television show in Buenos Aires.
Reed was deported from Argentina in 1966 because of his political views and ended up in Rome, where he made spaghetti westerns for several years.
He made his first concert tour of the Soviet Union in 1966, becoming enormously popular there and in Eastern Europe.
He moved to East Germany in 1973 and worked there until June 1986 when his body was found in a lake outside his home in Berlin. It is not known whether it was murder or suicide.
Hanks is currently on Irish screens in the Coen brothers' remake of 'The Ladykillers'.
