Did Kevin Spacey use to look...different?

The Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder comedy Hear no Evil, See no Evil features a young Kevin Spacey, who has some kind of growth on his face:

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It doesn't serve any plot function, nor is it mentioned or elaborated on.

Other people around the web have asked if it was some kind of (real life) boil or cyst, that was removed later on in his acting career. Could this be true? There doesn't seem to be any definitive word on this anywhere...

Does anyone know if it was intended to be included in the film? Perhaps a scene was cut that somehow made reference to it, or could someway imply this was makeup?

make-up

Best Answer

Kevin Spacey had a cyst that was removed after it grew to painful proportions. This is outlined in the book by Robin Tamblyn, "Looking Closer" which is a biography of him.

Here is the quote from the book:

Spacey does have at least three genuine scars, however. The crease above the lid of his left eye is the legacy of a childhood altercation with a cat named Prince Albert, while the dimple on his left cheek results from a cyst that was removed by surgery in the late Eighties after it grew to painful proportions. In See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), it is particularly prominent. He also bears a small “<” shaped furrow above one eyebrow, the mark left by a cardboard coathanger cover thrown at him by Randy during a spat between the siblings in 1968.

Also, if you look at the left side of his face in the below photo, you can see the small roundish scar from where it was removed.

enter image description here