REID READIES HORNE BIO FOR TV.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

At long last, the incredible saga of Lena Horne's life is on its way to the screen - the small screen. Decisions are currently being made as to how many hours will be given to the biographical drama-with-music, and who will play the show-business legend.

This is the word from filmmaker/actor Tim Reid, who holds the rights to the 79-year-old singer's story and has been working for years to get it before the cameras. Reid made a comprehensive co-production deal with consumer products giant Procter & Gamble in July. He now tells us that he and P&G have put ``The Lena Horne Story'' on priority track.

Reid has begun conversations with a select few actress/singers - ``It'll be a name,'' he says - about portraying Horne. The plan is definitely to make ``a television event,'' says Reid, who aims to have the saga on air before the season is through.

``It's an incredible story that not only crosses racial ground, but tells the best and worst of Hollywood - and of course, the struggles of one woman to triumph through a life of adversity.''

Reid's production firm and his renown as a director (``Once Upon a Time ... When We Were Colored'') keeps growing, even as he retains his ``day job'' as a cast member on ``Sister, Sister.''

Ugghh: Oh, the lengths to which actors will go to play a role authentically. Onetime ``A Different World'' actress Dawnn Lewis is playing a rough 'n' tumble character named Stagecoach Annie in HBO's ``The Cherokee Kid'' comedy-western movie, which stars her old series love, Sinbad.

Lewis not only took lessons to become proficient in stagecoach driving and gun handling, she also forced herself to go around talking with a cigar clenched in her teeth. ``I finally had to light it. When I was just holding it in my mouth unlit, the juices would start going down my throat,'' says nonsmoker Dawnn.

She initially met with ``Cherokee Kid'' producers about playing Sinbad's love interest (that part went to Vanessa Bell Calloway), but ended up playing a character decidedly different from her nice-girl image. Stagecoach Annie not only shoots and smokes, but, well, gets around, if you know what we mean.

The pic, planned for Christmas-season airing, also stars Burt Reynolds (as Sinbad's friend), James Coburn (the head bad guy), A Martinez, Ernie Hudson, Arnetia Walker and Hal Williams.

Reverse aging: ``Party of Five'' actress Jennifer Love Hewitt admits it's ``very weird'' to see herself playing a 13-year-old in MGM's current ``House Arrest.'' ``We made the movie last year, and it felt funny to play that young even then. And it's even funnier to me now, when I'm 17.''

Hewitt, who plays some pretty grown-up romantic scenes with ``Party of Five's'' hunky Scott Wolf, also has a music career that's maturing, with a self-titled album on the way. ``It's definitely r&b, no dance tunes,'' she lets us know. She recorded the disc this summer, while working on the Warner Bros. big-screen contemporary love story ``Trojan War.''

MEMO: The Celebrities column appears Monday through Friday.