Film mogul warns Lindsay: stop partying

year-old star told her sicknotes and excuses won't cut the ice any more

Lindsay Lohan, the 20-year-old actress known for her hard partying lifestyle, was back at work yesterday after a furious Hollywood executive warned her that her behaviour had cost his production hundreds of thousands of dollars.

James G Robinson, the chief of Morgan Creek Productions, told the actress she had "acted like a spoiled child" and that he did not believe her excuses of illness and tiredness which had delayed the filming of Georgia Rule, in which she stars with Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman.

"You and your representatives have told us that your various late arrivals and absences from the set have been the result of illness; today we were told it was 'heat exhaustion'," Robinson wrote in the letter that was made public and posted on the Smoking Gun website. "We are well aware that your ongoing all-night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called exhaustion."

Robinson bypassed the actress's agent and sent the letter directly to her at her hotel. He told her she had "alienated many of your co-workers and endangered the quality of the picture" and that "your actions have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage".

The letter has been greeted with fascination in Hollywood where Lohan, the trendsetter for millions of girls and the highest-paid female star of her generation, has earned a reputation as a nightclub-hopping wild child whose chaotic personal life has come under scrutiny in the gossip columns and fan magazines.

Robinson, 70, is known for his strong personality and his blunt candour, but even so the letter has surprised many film industry observers because the public scolding of a star is rare in Hollywood, where celebrities who behave badly can usually rely on politely coded cover-ups such as "the flu" or "creative differences".

While she is a talented actress and singer, her hectic personal life often tends towards the sensational. She was once involved in a car crash while fleeing from photographers.

Lohan's spokesman declined to comment on the letter or her client's behaviour, but Lohan herself said in a interview: "I feel older than I am because I've learned a lot at a very young age and I've lived a lot of lives so far."