KEVIN SPACEY
Another Hollywood darling accused of being a predator. And once again, everyone knew
smart Chicago restaurant said a male colleague was once invited by Spacey back to his hotel suite for a party that rapidly evaporated when the star asked everyone else to leave. Aware of the actor’s intentions, the waiter ‘thanked him for the nice evening and left’.
In another alleged incident, Spacey was at Harvard University for a function in the late 1990s and later propositioned a gay male undergraduate in a bar.
When one man, propositioned by Spacey, told him he was hetero- sexual, the actor reportedly replied: ‘Well, you don’t have to be a professional hang glider to try it once.’
It is all a far cry from the polished image of the transatlantic thespian, as at home in the West End as he was on Broadway, loved by luvvies and royals alike. In 2010 he visited Clarence House to collect a CBE from the Prince of Wales for the part he played in reviving the fortunes of the Old Vic.
Three years later, he received an honorary knighthood for services to British theatre and interna- tional culture. Last night questions were raised as to whether he should keep the honours.
Spacey, who had largely lived in London for more than a decade, said he felt like ‘an adopted son’. He still likes to tell US interviewers who question the tennis fan’s support for Andy Murray ‘I’m a Brit’.
Born in New Jersey and raised in California, Spacey started as a comedian, before studying acting at the prestigious Juillard School in New York.
He made his name on Broadway, most notably in a production of A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, with Jack Lemmon who became a mentor. He expanded into TV and film work, culminating in an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for The Usual Suspects in 1996, and four years later the Best Actor award for American Beauty.
Spacey has, throughout his career rubbed shoulders with the liberal elite. He is a close friend of Bill Clinton. Another acquaintance is Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted US paedophile financier, a one-time friend of the Duke of York. But in his private life Spacey has maintained a resolute silence.
In 2000, he took his ‘girlfriend’ to the Oscars and thanked her during his Best Actor acceptance speech. Few have ever been very convinced. Asked repeatedly if he was gay, Spacey has insisted not.
‘I’ve never believed in pimping my personal life out for publicity,’ he said. ‘Everybody has the right to a private life, no matter what their professions are.’
As Tinseltown waits nervously in anticipation of more allegations, it remains obvious that, once again, the entertainment industry may have been ‘in’ on a secret the rest of the world has belatedly learned.
An episode of the US TV comedy Family Guy once carried a joke in which the baby character, Stewy, runs across the screen shouting: ‘Help! I’ve just escaped from Kevin Spacey’s basement.’
That episode – with a gag that must have seemed meaningless to nearly everyone watching – was aired in 2005.