As Kevin Spacey told David Letterman in 1998, a close friend of his once decided on a lark to make him "Lord Kevin Spacey":

Letterman: Now, you can't just do that.

Spacey: Apparently you can. What you can get for twenty-five American bucks is amazing, but [takes out wallet]... it's so... it's actually... I'm telling you this is legitimate because it would not be on my credit card if it weren't true.

Letterman: Oh good heavens, it's right there! That makes it seem like it's your name more than a title really. Can you see that there? [to camera]

Spacey: What I like about it is my friend... while he made me a Lord, he made himself a Count.

[Laughter from audience] It's kind of a two for one deal.

Letterman: You go to, like, the equivalent of a courthouse or something and you say, "I've got a friend... here's the money..."

Spacey: I have no idea how it happened, but I think we can make you a Duke.

["The embarrassing thing," Spacey added, "is when you go to 7-Eleven and you're buying a six-pack with this thing..."]

[Subordinating his ego to the sanctity of the story, Spacey once adopted a policy of reading scripts without knowing which role the producers wanted him to play.]