Showbiz: Has anyone got a spare Britney?

Britney Spears has hired a blond Brazilian lookalike to throw frenzied fans and paparazzi off her trail while she is in Rio de Janeiro.

"She asked for a double who could confuse fans and journalists when she comes out of the hotel, so that she can have things a bit quieter around town," confessed her 18-year-old lookalike Renata Barros, who scored the gig while Spears is in town to play the Rock in Rio festival.

Barros has been making a living out of impersonating Spears for the past few months. Her dream is to work with the star as her official double in the United States.

Spears is due in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow, 24 hours before her scheduled festival appearance.

* * *

Twice an Oscar winner and eight times a bride, Elizabeth Taylor says she has no interest in extending her string of marriages to nine.

"I'd live with someone if he were cute, intelligent, compassionate, adorable, had a good sense of humour," the 68-year-old actress, sporting a new look, said on CNN's Larry King Live. But she ruled out marrying again.

Taylor said she had two great loves in her life: actor Richard Burton, who was married to her twice, and Broadway producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash 13 months into their relationship.

* * *

After more than five decades in theatre, playwright Arthur Miller is putting down his pen and making his first appearance on the big screen.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist will play a supporting role in the movie Plain Jane, an adaptation of his short story Homely Girl, A Life.

Israeli director Amos Gitai will oversee the $NZ20 million English-language film, which stars Samantha Morton as the troubled daughter of a Jewish immigrant.

The 85-year-old Miller, who co-wrote the screenplay, will play Morton's father in the film.

* * *

Troubled girl group All Saints put their differences to one side this week to perform at a star-studded ceremony in London's Royal Albert Hall.

Melanie Blatt, Shaznay Lewis, and sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton, who are widely rumoured to be on the verge of going their separate ways, were singing at the World Sports Awards 2000.

Performing their smash hit Pure Shores in front of an audience which included world record holder Michael Johnson, Olympic gold medallist Marion Jones and boxing legend Muhammed Ali, the girls put on a brief display of harmony.

Pregnant Nicole Appleton declared her feelings for boyfriend Liam Gallagher by wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "I Love Liam."

The short performance could be the last time the All Saints are seen on stage as a foursome. A bitter rift is rumoured to have opened up between the Appleton sisters and their two bandmates.

* * *

Des O'Connor has told how he helped the victim of a brutal robbery on the paradise island of Barbados, but the 69-year-old singer and comedian denied he was a hero for acting after the gun-toting thugs struck.

O'Connor, who spent a few weeks on holiday in Barbados over the New Year, protested: "Somebody said something about me being a hero because there were some robberies but I don't believe I was. I didn't don a blue cape and fly out of a telephone box to help or anything like that."

O'Connor said the victim had flagged down his rental car after the gang had pounced.

"Somebody had been robbed and the guys were on the run. I just offered to help and called the police."

There was no truth in reports he had helped to see off the criminals, he added.

- NZPA