Gibson E-mail Hoax Revealed

July 18 -- Have you heard? Mel Gibson’s 1993 directorial debut, The Man Without a Face, in which he starred as the horribly disfigured titular fellow, is based on the actor’s own life. After a savage beating that required extensive plastic surgery to fix, Mel overcame his tragedy and went onto become the A-list movie star he is today.

Not! Yep, folks, you’ve been had by yet another urban legend.

An e-mail making the rounds, which is in the form of a radio piece by Chicago personality Paul Harvey, has been officially debunked by Harvey’s office.

It’s true that Harvey did his trademark “… and that man was … Mel Gibson” piece on the Patriot star June 24, but it had nothing to do with the handsome movie icon needing plastic surgery.

The anecdote Harvey ran concerned the time Gibson was auditioning for the lead in Mad Max. He’d been in a bar brawl the night before and director George Miller liked the actor’s bruised, knocked-around look, which was perfect for the part of the leather-clad loner.

Somehow, that actual anecdote became distorted into the hoax e-mail snaking its way around the globe, with many versions saying it aired as a Paul Harvey piece.

How to spot whether that next tall tale is an urban legend or not? Go to www.urbanlegends.com, where they track — and debunk — such things. For more details on the Mel Gibson hoax, such as the fact that The Man Without a Face was based on Isabelle Holland’s 1972 novel and not on any incidents in Gibson’s own life, go to www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/gibson.html.