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Honors

melgibson — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:20:43 +0200

On July 25, 1997, Gibson was named an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), in recognition of his "service to the Australian film industry". The award was honorary because substantive awards are made only to Australian citizens. In 1985, Gibson was named "The Sexiest Man Alive" by People, the first person to be named so. Gibson quietly declined the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government in 1995 as a protest against France's resumption of nuclear testing in the Southwest Pacific. Time magazine chose Mel Gibson and Michael Moore as Men of the Year in 2004, but Gibson turned down the photo session and interview, and the cover went instead to George W. Bush.

Early Hollywood career

melgibson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:03:40 +0200

Mel Gibson’s first American film was Mark Rydell’s 1984 drama The River in which he and Sissy Spacek played struggling Tennessee farmers. Gibson then starred in the gothic romance Mrs. Soffel for Australian director Gillian Armstrong. He and Matthew Modine played condemned convict brothers opposite Diane Keaton as the warden's wife who visits them to read the Bible. In 1985, after working on four films in a row, Gibson took almost two years off at his Australian cattle ranch. He returned to play the role of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon, a film which helped to cement his status as a Hollywood star. Gibson’s next film was Robert Towne’s Tequila Sunrise, followed by Lethal Weapon 2 in 1989. After starring in three films back-to-back, Bird on a Wire, Air America, and Hamlet, Gibson took another hiatus from Hollywood.

Stage career

melgibson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:02:38 +0200

Growing up, Mel Gibson considered becoming a journalist, a chef, or a religious brother. Then Gibson’s older sister Mary secretly submitted $5 along with an application for the recent high school graduate to the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. After the audition, Gibson was accepted into an acting class that included Judy Davis and Steve Bisley. The students at NIDA were classically trained in the British theatre tradition rather than for screen acting. As students, Gibson and Judy Davis played the leads in Romeo and Juliet, and Gibson played the role of Queen Titania in an experimental production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.. After graduation in 1977, Gibson immediately began work on the filming of Mad Max, but he continued to work as a stage actor, joining the State Theatre Company of South Australia in Adelaide. Gibson’s theatrical credits include Waiting for Godot, playing Estragon opposite Geoffrey Rush, and a 1982 Sydney production of Death of a Salesman, playing Biff Loman. Gibson’s most recent theatrical performance was a 1993 Telluride production of Love Letters by A. R. Gurney, opposite Sissy Spacek. At the beginning of his acting career, Gibson also appeared in television pilots for series including The Sullivans, Cop Shop and Punishment.