Witherspoon Sweet on Honey West

July 16, 2001 -- Legally Blonde star Reese Witherspoon has put a sexy twist on lawyering with her new No. 1 film — now she'll do the same for the private eye biz. The 25-year-old actress has signed a deal to bring the stylish 1960s small-screen detective Honey West to the big screen, Variety reports.

The character, who emerged from the spy-crazy '60s when Mission: Impossible and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. ruled the airwaves, was known for her pet ocelot and girly gadgets like a lipstick case that concealed a radio.

A similar TV project, about a character called Honey Vicarro, was announced in March as a vehicle to star blond bombshell Jenny McCarthy.

The Honey West script will be penned by the Legally Blonde team of Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith and will be produced by Blonde producer Marc Platt.

The rights to the character, who originated in a series of pulp fiction novels by Skip Firling, reverted from Aaron Spelling, who only briefly owned them, to Firling's widow, Gloria.

"We had a lot of martinis and developed a love fest with Glori, got the rights and put the film together with Marc and Reese on the Legally Blonde set," Smith told the trade paper.

The film is described as a contemporary action-drama, but it's sure to be lighthearted, considering that West is a gumshoe whose business card features her 38-24-36 measurements.

Reuters/Variety contributed to this story.