|
Born August 31, 1949 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
August 31, 1949
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gere is a descendant of Mayflower Pilgrims Francis Eaton, John Billington, George Soule, Richard Warren, Degory Priest, William Brewster and Francis Cooke. Gere's mother, Doris Anna, was a homemaker, and his father, Homer George Gere, was an insurance agent for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and had originally intended to become a minister. Gere has three sisters and a brother. In 1967, he graduated from North Syracuse Central High School, where he excelled at gymnastics and music, playing the trumpet. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship, majoring in Philosophy, but did not graduate, leaving after two years.
Gere Co-Stars in "Looking for Mr. Goodbar"
January 1, 1971
Gere first worked professionally at the Provincetown Playhouse on Cape Cod in 1971 where he starred in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. 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. In 1980, Gere appeared in the Broadway production of Bent. His acting career took off that year 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.
Gere Discovers Buddhism
January 1, 1978
Gere was raised by Methodist parents; his interest in Buddhism began when he traveled to Nepal in 1978 with the Brazilian painter, Sylvia Martins. He is a practicing Buddhist and an active supporter of the Dalai Lama. Gere is also a persistent advocate for human rights in Tibet; he is a co-founder of the Tibet House, creator of The Gere Foundation, and he is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the International Campaign for Tibet. Because he strongly supports the Tibetan Independence Movement, he is permanently banned from entering The People's Republic of China. Gere was banned as an Academy Award presenter in 1993 after he used the opportunity to condemn the Chinese government. In September 2007, Gere called for the boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to put pressure on China to make Tibet independent. On the March 14, 2008 The Situation Room, Gere spoke against China's crackdown on the uprising in Tibet.
Days of Heaven
September 13, 1978
1978 film written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard and Linda Manz. Set in the early twentieth century, it tells a story about transient laborers who travel to the Texas Panhandle to harvest crops on a farm, and who conspire to exploit a dying farmer.
American Gigolo
Feburary 8, 1980
1980 feature film, written and directed by Paul Schrader. Schrader based the film on French director Robert Bresson's Pickpocket (1959). It is also indirectly considered the second installment in his "night workers" trilogy, following Taxi Driver (1976) and preceding Light Sleeper (1992).
The plot concerns Julian Kaye (Richard Gere), a male prostitute in Los Angeles whose job supports his expensive tastes in cars, stereophonic equipment, and clothes (which serve as a surrogate for emotional contact). He is, at times, blatantly narcissistic and superficial; however, he openly claims to take some pleasure in his work from being able to sexually satisfy women.
The film's tagline is: "He's the highest paid lover in Beverly Hills. He leaves women feeling more alive than they've ever felt before. Except one."
An Officer and a Gentleman
July 28, 1982
1982 film which tells the story of a United States Navy aviation Officer Candidate (Gere) who comes into conflict with the Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who trains him. It was written by Douglas Day Stewart and directed by Taylor Hackford. In addition to Gere, the film stars Debra Winger and Louis Gossett, Jr. The original music score was composed by Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie, winning an Oscar for the song "Up Where We Belong". To date Buffy Sainte-Marie has not been paid any royalties for this song.
The film's title uses an old expression from the British navy or from the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, as being charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman" (from 1860).
The Cotton Club
December 14, 1984
1984 crime-drama, centered on a popular real-life Harlem jazz club in the 1930s, the Cotton Club.
The movie was co-written (with William Kennedy) and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, choreographed by Henry LeTang, and starred Gere, Diane Lane, and Gregory Hines. Other notable actors that appeared included Nicolas Cage, Bob Hoskins, Laurence Fishburne, Fred Gwynne, Maurice Hines, James Remar and Gwen Verdon as Tish Dwyer. Despite performing poorly at the box office, the film was nominated for several awards, including Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Picture (Drama) and the Oscar for best Film Editing.
Pretty Woman
March 23, 1990
Gere's career in the 1980s alternated between box office successes and failures. After the release of both Internal Affairs and the box office 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 Sommersby (1993), Primal Fear (1996), and Runaway Bride (1999), which paired Gere with his Pretty Woman co-star, Julia Roberts. In Mr. Jones, Gere accurately portrayed a high-functioning, creative, and intellectual man with bipolar disorder. The movie was not a commercial success, but was well-received by the mental health community. It is frequently utilized as a training tool to acquaint students and families with the disorder.
Marriage to Cindy Crawford
January 1, 1991 - December 31, 1995
Gere was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. In 2002, he married actress Carey Lowell. They have a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, who was born in 2000 and is named after Gere's father.
First Knight
July 7, 1995
1995 film based on Arthurian legend. The principal characters are Lancelot (played by Richard Gere), King Arthur (played by Sean Connery) and Guinevere (Julia Ormond). Location shots were filmed in North Wales.
The film follows the rogue Lancelot's romance with Lady Guinevere (Ormond) of Leonesse, who is to marry King Arthur (played by Sean Connery) of Camelot. Ben Cross appears as the villain Malagant. The film is notable for its absence of magical elements (like Merlin and Morgan Le Fay), its drawing on the Arthurian material of Chrétien de Troyes rather than Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur for plot elements (Malagant appears in Chrétien's Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart) and the substantial age difference between Arthur and Guinevere.
Named "Sexiest Man Alive"
January 1, 1999
People magazine named Gere 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, failed to find an audience amid the Oscar-contenders of November 2005.
Runaway Bride
July 30, 1999
1999 romantic comedy reuniting Gere and Julia Roberts and directed by Garry Marshall. While not as successful at the box office as "Pretty Woman" (also guest starring Hector Elizondo), the movie was, nevertheless, a hit among moviegoers.
The Mothman Prophecies
January 25, 2002
2002 film directed by Mark Pellington, adapted from the 1976 book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean John Keel.
Richard Gere plays John Klein, a hot-shot Washington, D.C. reporter whose life suddenly takes a different turn after he and his wife, Mary, (Debra Messing) are involved in a car accident. Although she suffers a non-fatal head injury, Mary's CAT scans show that she has a brain tumor diagnosed as glioblastoma. Shortly after her death, John discovers an assortment of cryptic drawings that she had made of a strange creature.
Chicago - a Golden Globe win for Gere
June 27, 2002
2002 musical film released by Miramax Films. First released in limited cities on June 27, 2002, Chicago opened in wide release on January 24, 2003. An adaptation of the satirical stage musical, the film explores the themes of celebrity and scandal in Jazz age Chicago. Directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, and adapted for film by screenwriter Bill Condon, Chicago won six Academy Awards in 2003, including Best Picture. The film was the first musical film to win the Best Picture Oscar since Oliver! (1968).
Chicago centers around Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, two murderesses who find themselves on death row together in 1920s Chicago. Velma, a professional vaudevillian, and Roxie, a housewife with aspirations of being a star, fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows. The film stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, and Richard Gere, also featuring Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Christine Baranski, Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, and Mýa.
Gere won a Golden Globe Award for Best Musical/Comedy Actor, for his work in the film.
The Forbidden Kiss: Shilpa Shetty
April 15, 2007
On April 15, 2007 Gere appeared at an AIDS awareness rally in Jaipur, India. During a live news conference to promote condom use among truck drivers, the American actor affectionately grabbed and pecked Bollywood superstar Shilpa Shetty three times on the cheek. As a result of that seemingly innocuous gesture, a local court ordered the arrest of Gere and Shetty, finding them in violation "public obscenity" laws. Gere, who quickly fled the country, has said the controversy was "manufactured by a small hard-line political party." About a month later, a two-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, KG Balakrishnan described the case as "frivolous" and believed that such complaints (against celebrities) were filed for "cheap publicity" and have brought a bad name to the country. They ruled that "Richard Gere is free to enter the country. This is the end of the matter."
I'm Not There
August 31, 2007
Gere has a supporting role in the 2007 biographical film inspired by the life of iconic singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It depicts six distinct stages of Dylan's life and public persona portrayed by an ensemble cast of actors in addition to Gere: Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and Cate Blanchett, all of whom play characters based on Dylan but with different names.
The film tells its story using non-traditional techniques, similar to the poetic narrative style of Dylan's songwriting. It takes its name from the Dylan outtake "I'm Not There", a song never officially released until its appearance on the film's official soundtrack album. Critically acclaimed, I'm Not There made many top ten film lists for 2007, topping the lists for The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, Salon and The Boston Globe.
