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Quick Facts
- NAME: Richard Gere
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Anti-War Activist, Film Actor, Theater Actor, Pianist, Philanthropist
- BIRTH DATE: August 31, 1949 (Age: 63)
- EDUCATION: University of Massachusetts at Amherst, North Syracuse Central High School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Full Name: Richard Tiffany Gere
- AKA: Richard Gere
- ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo
Best Known For
Richard Gere is an American actor best known for his status as an American sex symbol and his leading film roles, including in Report to the Commissioner, American Gigolo, An Officer and A Gentleman, Pretty Woman and Chicago.
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Play NowRichard Tiffany Gere. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 09:06, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/richard-gere-9309229.
Richard Tiffany Gere. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/richard-gere-9309229 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Richard Tiffany Gere." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 09:06 http://www.biography.com/people/richard-gere-9309229.
"Richard Tiffany Gere," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/richard-gere-9309229 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Richard Tiffany Gere," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/richard-gere-9309229 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Richard Tiffany Gere [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/richard-gere-9309229.
Richard Tiffany Gere, http://www.biography.com/people/richard-gere-9309229 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Richard Tiffany Gere. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/richard-gere-9309229. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 31, 1949, Richard Gere studied at the University of Massachusetts, became a pop musician, and went on to gain extensive experience as a stage actor. Gere received acclaim for an off-Broadway appearance in Killer's Head, then made his big-screen debut with a small role in Report to the Commissioner. His other films include Yanks, American Gigolo, An Officer and A Gentleman, Pretty Woman,
Quotes
"There's really one character for every actor. The voyage is to find that one character."
"All of our energy should be in sacrifice and services. Suffering, at least."
Chicago and Shall We Dance?.
Early Life and Career
Born on August 31, 1949, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, actor Richard Tiffany Gere has made a name for himself with such films as An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, Chicago and Arbitrage. He grew up in a large Methodist family, one of five children born to Homer and Doris Ann Gere. A musical child, Gere became quite skilled at playing the trumpet.
After graduating from North Syracuse Central High School in 1967, Richard Gere studied philosophy at University of Massachusetts at Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship. He left school after two years to explore his interest in theater. In the early 1970s, Gere landed the role of Danny Zuko in the musical Grease in London.
Gere had a career breakthrough in 1977 with the dramatic thriller Looking for Mr. Goodbar, starring Diane Keaton. In the film, he plays a rough-and-tumble lothario who meets a schoolteacher (Keaton). The following year, Gere landed a starring role in Terrence Malick's epic Days of Heaven.
Hollywood's Leading Man
Gere became an actor on the rise in the 1980s. In 1980, he had the title role in American Gigolo. Gere's character in the film is the personification of smooth and cool with his distinctive fashion style and swagger. Two years later, he came to embody the romantic lead in An Officer and a Gentleman opposite Debra Winger. Gere plays a troubled military recruit who gets involved with a local girl near his basic training camp. The drama proved to be a box office hit.
In 1990, Gere enjoyed another wave of success with the romantic comedy Pretty Woman. The film follows the unlikely relationship that develops between a prostitute, played by Julia Roberts, and her client (Gere). He also showed himself capable of handling more weighty roles, such as the dirty cop in 1990's Internal Affairs and a defense attorney in Primal Fear (1996).
Known for his charisma, charm and good looks, Gere earned People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" honor in 1999. He played against type for 2002's Unfaithful as Diane Lane's cuckolded husband. That same year, Gere returned to his musical theater roots with the film adaptation of the Broadway hit Chicago. He won a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of slick lawyer Billy Flynn.
Activist Actor
Throughout his career, Gere has devoted much of his time to his social and political causes. The longtime Buddhist co-founded the Tibet House in 1987 and has served as the chairman of the board for the International Campaign for Tibet since 1995. He later established the Gere Foundation "to help sponsor human rights in Tibet and support the Dalai Lama," Gere explained to Redbook.
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