Alex Pettyfer to star as 'loveable rogue' John Bindon in The Chelsea Cowboy

Alex Pettyfer has been tapped to star as John Bindon in The Chelsea Cowboy, a biopic about the life of the notorious English actor and bodyguard.

Deadline reported that the film will follow Bindon from his troubled youth, when he spent time in a borstal, through his chequered rise and fall from stardom.

Spotted in a London pub in 1967, Bindon received a lucky break when he was offered a role in Ken Loach's Poor Cow. He then enjoyed a successful acting career and a string of lothario-style romances, including a rumoured dalliance with Princess Margaret at her Caribbean home. In the '70s, Bindon took up security work alongside acting, including for Led Zeppelin on their 1977 U.S. tour, where he was fired for fighting backstage.

Despite his fame, Bindon retained connections to the London criminal underworld of his past and his clandestine activities were exposed in 1978 when he was tried for the murder of gangster Johnny Darke. Although he was acquitted, the trial damaged Bindon's reputation and he became increasingly reclusive before dying from cancer in 1993 aged 50.

The Chelsea Cowboy will be directed by Waiting For Anya's Ben Cookson, who told Deadline: "I am delighted to have Alex Pettyfer onboard and more than excited to see what he brings to the role of John Bindon - a complex, artistic yet brutal, loveable-rogue who charmed paupers and princesses alike in London's vibrant sixties and seventies."

Production is scheduled to begin in September.