The film "The Man Without A Face" is about actor Mel Gibson-Fiction!

The Movie “The Man Without A Face”  is Based on the Life of Mel Gibson-Fiction!

 
Summary of eRumor:
This email provides a narrative of a handsome young aspiring actor whose parents moved from the United States to Australia when he was young.  He was attacked by thugs one night and left for dead, his face gruesomely disfigured by kicks and blows with clubs.  His life became a misery of unemployment until someone suggested he become part of a circus freak show as “The Man Who Had No Face.”   He turned to God and was befriended by a priest who made connections for the best of surgeons…and the young man was given a life again and even became a famous actor…Mel Gibson.  The email closes by saying it’s a true story from radio commentator Paul Harvey.
The Truth:
This is not from Paul Harvey and is not a true story.  There is a bit of weaving of Mel Gibson’s story and the book THE MAN WITHOUT A  FACE, however.  According to his biography, Mel Gibson was born in the United States, but raised in Australia from the age of 12.  He got into acting as a teenager and did once get into a fight that left him with swollen wounds and stitches to his face.  It was nothing like the severity of what is described in THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE, however, a book which later became a movie that Mel Gibson directed.  In the movie, the disfigurement of the main character is the result of an automobile accident and fire, not a beating.