Catherine Zeta-Jones

Catherine Zeta-Jones was paid a staggering £3,700 a second to star in a shampoo commercial.

The Oscar-winning actress earned £1.55 million for the seven-minute TV advertisement for haircare product Lux, which will only be broadcast in China and Japan.

An executive at Unilever, the firm behind the commercial, told Britain’s The Sunday Times newspaper: “We wanted Catherine as we remember her in ‘Entrapment, all slinky and mysterious “That’s why the advert was written as a mini spy movie. Pity you won’t see it on British television. She looks pretty good in it, but that’s the deal.”

In the advert 39-year-old Catherine steals a youth-enhancing elixir from a high-security laboratory, which turns out to be Lux shampoo and is later seen shimmering down the red carpet with fabulous looking hair.

The British beauty - who has previously appeared as the face of Elizabeth Arden cosmetics and an American telephone company - is not the first Hollywood star to appear in a commercial which will only be shown outside their home countries.

Catherine’s ‘Chicago’ co-star Richard Gere filmed Ferrero Rocher adverts for Italy while Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in many commercials for Japanese TV.