Halle Berry

Halle Berry is to play a real life international jewel thief in the drama Who Is Doris Payne?, Variety reports.

Payne, a genteel woman from the Deep South who would confuse store owners into letting her walk away with diamond rings, spent five decades plying her trade across the US and Europe.

She was arrested several times, and is currently behind bars in Las Vegas for stealing a ring from department store Neiman Marcus.

Payne began stealing in Cleveland, Ohio, where she spent her teenage years, falling pregnant at the age of 18.

She used at least 22 aliases, and worked as far afield as Greece, France, England and Switzerland. She generally operated on her own and relied on store staff forgetting how many rings she had tried on, in order to walk away with the goods.

"I've had regrets, and I've had a good time," Payne, then 75, said in 2004. "I think the whole thing just got out of hand. It kind of went amok."

Eunetta Boone is writing the script for the project, which currently has no director or other casting details.