Richard Gere
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Richard Gere | |
| Born | August 31, 1949 (age 57) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Notable roles | An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) Pretty Woman (1990) Chicago (2002) |
Richard Tiffany Gere[1] (born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He first became famous during the 1980s, after appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including An Officer and a Gentleman, and has since retained his status as a leading man. During the 1990s and 2000s, he starred in the well-received films Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, and Chicago; he won a Golden Globe award as Best Actor for the latter film.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Gere was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is descended from Mayflower passengers Francis Eaton, John Billington, George Soule, Richard Warren, Degory Priest, William Brewster and Francis Cooke.[1] Gere's father, Homer George Gere, was an insurance agent for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. His mother, Doris Anna Tiffany, was a housewife. He has three sisters and a brother. In 1967, Gere graduated from North Syracuse Central High School, where he excelled at gymnastics and music, playing the trumpet.
[edit] Career
Gere's first major acting role was in the original London stage version of Grease in 1973. He began appearing in Hollywood films in the mid 1970s, co-starring in the thriller Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), and playing the leading role in director Terrence Malick's well-reviewed 1978 film, Days of Heaven. His acting career took off in 1980, with the successful film American Gigolo, followed by the popular romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman, which had grossed over $100 million in 1982. Subsequently, he was the first man ever to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine. In 1979 Gere appeared in the West End production of Bent, in which he did a nude scene.
Gere's career in the 1980s alternated between box office successes and failures. After the release of both Internal Affairs and the huge hit Pretty Woman in 1990, Gere's status as a leading man was again solidified, and he continued starring in solidly performing films throughout the 1990s, including 1993's Sommersby, 1996's Primal Fear and 1999's Runaway Bride, which re-teamed Gere with his Pretty Woman co-star, Julia Roberts. People magazine named him the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1999.
In 2002, he appeared in three major releases: the horror thriller The Mothman Prophecies, the drama Unfaithful, and the Academy Award-winning film version of Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe as "Best Actor - Comedy or Musical". Gere's 2004 ballroom dancing drama, Shall We Dance, was also a solid performer, although his next film, Bee Season, largely failed to find an audience amid the Oscar-contenders of November 2005.
Gere is Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals' "Man of the Year" for 2006. In July 2006, Gere was cast opposite Jesse Eisenberg and Terrence Howard in Spring Break in Bosnia, a comic thriller in which he will play a journalist in Bosnia; the film will be released in 2007.[2]
[edit] Personal life
Gere was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. During their marriage, there were numerous rumors in the press that both partners were gay, and that the marriage was a coverup. Both Gere and Crawford denied the rumors.[3] He married actress Carey Lowell in 2002, after dating her for several years. They have a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, who was born in 2000, and is named after Gere's father. They live in Pound Ridge, New York.[4]
Gere is a well-known Buddhist and an active supporter of the Dalai Lama. He has also been a persistent advocate for better human rights in Tibet; he was a co-founder of the Tibet House and served on the Board of Directors for the International Campaign for Tibet. He also campaigns for ecological causes and AIDS awareness, and has expressed his concern for AIDS problems in India. Because he strongly supports the Tibetan Independence Movement, he is permanently banned from entering China.
Gere currently serves on the Board of Directors for Healing the Divide, which concerns itself with global initiatives that promote peace, justice and understanding.[5] Gere was banned as an Academy Award presenter in 1993 after he used the opportunity to condemn the Chinese government.[6]
In 2006, Gere, his wife and a neighbour were involved in turning a group of Eighteenth century buildings on a 14-acre tract in Bedford Hills, New York into a combination 125-seat restaurant/lodge/cafe/yoga studio/stables and horse trails. The incipient business was incorporated as Squirrelly Acres L.L.C.
[edit] Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Expat | ||
| Spring Break in Bosnia | |||
| The Hoax | Clifford Irving | ||
| 2005 | Bee Season | Saul Naumann | |
| 2004 | Shall We Dance | John Clark | |
| 2002 | Chicago | Billy Flynn | |
| Unfaithful | Edward Sumner | ||
| The Mothman Prophecies | John Klein | ||
| 2000 | Dr. T & the Women | Dr. T | |
| Autumn in New York | Will Keane | ||
| 1999 | Runaway Bride | Ike Graham | |
| 1997 | The Jackal | Declan Joseph Mulqueen | |
| Red Corner | Jack Moore | ||
| 1996 | Primal Fear | Martin Vail | |
| 1995 | First Knight | Lancelot | |
| 1994 | Intersection | Vincent Eastman | |
| 1993 | Mr. Jones | Mr. Jones | |
| Sommersby | John Robert 'Jack' Sommersby | ||
| And The Band Played On | The Choreographer | ||
| 1992 | Final Analysis | Dr. Isaac Barr | |
| 1991 | Rhapsody in August | ||
| 1990 | Pretty Woman | Edward Lewis | |
| Internal Affairs | Dennis Peck | ||
| 1988 | Miles from Home | Frank Roberts, Jr. | |
| 1986 | No Mercy | Eddie Jillette | |
| Power | Pete St. John | ||
| 1985 | King David | David | |
| 1984 | The Cotton Club | Dixie Dwyer | |
| 1983 | Beyond the Limit | Dr. Eduardo Plarr | |
| Breathless | Jesse Lujack | ||
| 1982 | An Officer and a Gentleman | Zack Mayo | |
| 1980 | American Gigolo | Julian Kaye | |
| 1978 | Bloodbrothers | Thomas Stony De Coco | |
| Days of Heaven | Bill | ||
| 1977 | Looking for Mr. Goodbar | Tony Lo Porto |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b Roberts, Gary Boyd. The New England Ancestry of Actor Richard [Tiffany Gere]. NewEnglandAncestors. Retrieved on 2007-01-12.
- ^ KillerMovies. Jesse Eisenberg Joins "Spring Break in Bosnia". Retrieved on July 3, 2006.
- ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,252865_7%7C6671%7C%7C0_0_,00.html "Cooking For Mr. Goodbar" article from Entertainment Weekly
- ^ Costaregni, Susie, "'Law & Order' actress spotted in Greenwich", from "The Dish" column in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut and the Greenwich Time daily newspapers, November 12, 2006, page 2 of The Advocate: "Actor and Pound Ridge, N.Y., resident Richard Gere's new project ..."
- ^ http://www.healingthedivide.org
- ^ http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/richardgere/
[edit] External links
- Richard Gere at the Internet Movie Database
- Defended India's nuclear tests
- Hello Magazine, Hello! Profile
- The Gere Foundation, dedicated to end the Chinese Occupation of Tibet
- The Druk White Lotus School (external link) of which Gere is an Honorary Patron.
