• May 03, 1993
• Vol. 39
• No. 17

Mel Gibson

• 

From PEOPLE Magazine

The Gibson, it seems, is everyone's favorite cocktail. No surprise—the recipe is irresistible. Put Mel on ice. Wait 37 years. Then defrost and stir—don't shake—awake. (Onion optional.) Contents are guaranteed to stay Forever Young. But sip slowly: Gulping a Gibson has been known to induce embarrassment in the inexperienced. Just ask twentysomething Forever Young costar Isabel Glasser. "You just hope you can find your voice and not spit all over yourself," she says of the first time she glimpsed her leading man. "Those blue eyes just knock you over."

Those knocked over—and out—by Gibson are everywhere: Lethal Weapon 3 and Young account for some $380 million in ticket sales around the world. And the Aussie rancher and father of six may be right when he scoffs at "all this 'sexy' stuff." If Gibson's a quaff with universal appeal, it may have to do with something more magical the camera captures: "Across a room, he's just another medium-size handsome guy," says Air America director Roger Spottiswoode. "But when you get close on him, he's got this old-fashioned movie-star voodoo." Here's looking at you, Mel.