Richard Gere biography: Everything to know about Richard Gere

April 2024 · 6 minute read

Who is Richard Gere?

Richard Gere is an American film and television actor. He made his acting debut in the 1970s, appearing in Days of Heaven and Looking for Mr. Goodbar in supporting roles. He rose to fame thanks to his part in the movie American Gigolo, which made him a leading man and sex icon.

Richard Gere bio

The second child and oldest son of homemaker Doris Ann (née Tiffany; 1924-2016) and NMIC insurance agent Homer George Gere, Richard Tiffany Gere was born on August 31, 1949, in Philadelphia (born May 7, 1922).

Initially, his father wanted to become a minister.

A Methodist, Gere was brought up in Syracuse, New York.

George Lane Gere (1848–1922), his paternal great–grandfather, changed the spelling of his last name from “Geer.”

Richard Gere education

He attended North Syracuse Central High School, where he excelled in gymnastics, music, and trumpet playing, and graduated in 1967.

He received a gymnastics scholarship to the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he majored in philosophy. After two years, he left the school and did not complete his degree.

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Richard Gere career

In his early career, Richard showed promise in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. In 1969, he began performing professionally at the Provincetown Playhouse on Cape Cod and the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

In the 1973 production of Grease on the original West End stage in London, he played his first significant theatrical role.

When he played a gay Holocaust survivor in the 1979 Broadway play Bent, Gere became one of the first Hollywood actors to depict a homosexual character.

He won his first Theater World Award for his performance.

In the middle to late 1970s, Gere started to make appearances in Hollywood movies. He was given a leading role in the 1974 film The Lords of Flatbush but was later replaced after an altercation with Sylvester Stallone, his intended co-star.

His appearances in low-budget movies like the drama Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven rapidly brought him notoriety (1978).

However, it was his performance in the 1980 movie American Gigolo that catapulted Gere into the public eye and cemented his status as a leading man and sex icon.

He furthered established himself as a top leading man by appearing in a number of successful movies, such as 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman, which he co-starred in with Debra Winger.

In both of these $130 million box office hits, Gere’s performance catapulted him to prominence. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast.

Gere made a comeback in 1990 with the release of Internal Affairs after a quiet decade in the 1980s. In the ground-breaking Pretty Woman that same year, Gere starred as successful businessman Edward Lewis opposite Julie Roberts.

Richard received his second Golden Globe nomination for the film, which was a box office success and enjoyed tremendous popularity.

With the releases of Runaway Bride in 1999, Primal Fear in 1996, and Sommersby, Gere maintained his popularity well into the 1990s. Later in 1999, People magazine named Gere the Sexiest Man Alive.

He kicked out the new decade by acting alongside Diane Lane in the blockbuster The Mothman Prophecies (both 2002 releases).

Later in 2002, when he starred in the musical film adaptation Chicago, Gere received his first Golden Globe Award. In the drama Shall We Dance from 2004, Gere got to put his ballroom dancing skills to the test.

The movie eventually made $170 million globally. The semi-biographical 2007 film I’m Not There, in which he was one of six actors to play a version of Bob Dylan, was his next huge success.

In the 2008 romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe, which was a commercial success (making $84 million globally) but was highly derided by critics, Gere once more paired up with Diane Lane.

Gere’s most recent movie to be made by a big studio was Nights in Rodanthe. According to rumors, Gere has been marginalized in Hollywood as a result of his political views on China, a significant source of funding for major studios.

Since then, he has made countless independent film appearances. He was nominated for a fourth Golden Globe for the independent movie Arbitrage from 2012.

When he played the lead role in Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer in 2016, he made another noticeable deviation from the type of character he often portrays. RogerEbert.com praised his portrayal of Norman Oppenheimer as “consistently, utterly interesting.”

Richard Gere has remained a constant presence in movies throughout the course of a four-decade career, regularly surprising audiences with fresh bursts of talent and charisma. Gere is a multi-faceted and well-rounded performer who is a skilled musician.

He wrote and played the piano theme for the movie Pretty Woman, as well as the Runaway Bride guitar solo. For his part in Chicago, he also picked up tap dancing, and for An Officer and a Gentleman, he put a lot of karate study into it.

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Richard Gere net worth

Richard Gere is an American actor who has a net worth of $120 million dollars. Richard Gere began his career in the 70s and is probably most widely recognized for his work in such films as “Pretty Woman”, “An Officer and a Gentleman”, and “Chicago”. 

Richard Gere relationships

From 1971 until 1978, Gere was romantically involved with actress Penelope Milford, and from 1978 to 1986, he was linked to painter Sylvia Martins.

Along with Tuesday Weld, Carole Mallory, Dawn Steel, Loree Rodkin, Diane von Fürstenberg, Barbara Carrera, and Barbra Streisand, he was irregularly associated to all of them throughout that time.

In confessional memoirs published by Priscilla Presley’s former boyfriend Michael Edwards and Kim Basinger’s former husband Ron Snyder, he was charged with having relationships with both women.

According to reports, he has also dated Padma Lakshmi, Tina Chow, Dalila Di Lazzaro, and model Laura Bailey.

From 1991 to 1995, he was married to Cindy Crawford, a model.

Gere wed Carey Lowell, a model and actress, in November 2002. Homer James Jigme Gere, their son, is named after both of his grandfathers and also takes the Tibetan name “Jigme”; he was born in February 2000.

After 11 years of marriage, the two decided to separate in September 2013. High-stakes divorce procedures took place in New York County Supreme Court for three years. In October 2016, a settlement was reached.

Richard Gere wife and kids

Early in April 2018, Gere wed activist Alejandra Silva from Spain.

They made the announcement that they were expecting their first child in August 2018.

Alexander, their son, was born in February of this year. Their second son was born in April 2020, according to reports.

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