JAMES WOODS - WOODS CHATTED UP BY O.J.'S DEAD WIFE

Movie star JAMES WOODS wasn't surprised when he heard reports O.J. SIMPSON had allegedly killed his wife NICOLE - because she had confided in him at a charity dinner. Simpson had requested The Boost star's company at a dinner he was hosting after a golf tournament in Palm Springs, California and Woods found himself sitting next to O.J.'s stunning wife. Upon learning the actor was going through a divorce, Nicole revealed she was unhappy in her marriage - and Woods thought the mystery blonde was chatting him up. He recalls, "I'd never met her before... and I'm taking the bait... and I think, `Well, she's really unhappy, this is great... I guess I'm being set up and so on.' "And then all of a sudden... she said, `You should try being married to a big, famous black athlete.'" Woods then received an awkward offer to join the Simpsons for a late-night drink that he declined and then he received a note from Nicole four days later. He remembers, "It was this long note about `O.J.'s gonna be out of town and maybe you'd like to get together...' I'm thinking, `This can't be possible.'" Woods severed ties with O.J. and his wife but then realised he could be called to testify during the Naked Gun star's double murder trial in 1994. He adds, "My assistant comes across the letter and the photograph of us sitting together and she goes, `You could get subpoenaed.'" Woods famously found himself at the O.J. trial when his mother insisted on visiting the Los Angeles courthouse, and the actor was invited to take a seat behind the accused.