When asked why he was at Harvard, Gibson replied, "I don't have to answer that. I'm rich.

Most questioners were casual in their delivery, but one woman drew boos from the audience when she confronted Gibson about distorting historical facts in film.

After the woman pointed out that the idea of "prima nocta" in Gibson's film "Braveheart" was an 18th century invention that had no place in a medieval film, Gibson asked, "Damn cinematic, isn't it?"

"My life, my work, my career are about creating images," Gibson said. "And those people from 1250 are all fucking dead."

One woman in the audience seized her opportunity to flirt with the hand some star by asking Gibson if he needed a co-star in his next production.

Gibson squinted through the bright lights in his face at her, and replied, "No, but you could bring me coffee maybe."

After a second look, he asked, "Could we have children maybe?"

Not missing a beat, the questioner responded from the balcony, "I'll be right down."

Workshop

In addition to his talk at Sanders, Gibson spoke with more than 30 undergraduates yesterday morning and led a workshop with more than 100 students from Boston-area high schools and the Graduate School of Education in the early afternoon.

Gibson described the art of acting as the skill of deception.

"If you can fake people out, truly, that's the art," he said.

During the afternoon session, Gibson affirmed that he had compromised his artistic integrity before.

"Sure, it makes you really wealthy," Gibson said. "You do some things--and I have done [some things]--that are terrible.... Some things I did because I was really hungry."

Gibson was brought to Harvard by a joint effort of the Learning from Performers program and the Graduate School of Education's Arts in Education concentration. Law School alumnus and Hollywood screenwriter Ken Lipper was also involved with the arrangements for his visit