Richard Gere Biography

Richard Tiffany Gere was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Homer Gere, was an insurance salesman, and his mother, Doris, was a homemaker. Richard has three sisters and a brother. From an early age, Richard was good at playing musical instruments. He played the trumpet, and was also good at gymnastics, in fact; he attended the University of Massachusetts on a gymnastics scholarship. He studied philosophy over there, but he dropped out two years later to pursue a career in acting.

Richard started his acting career with theatre in the production Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. His first major role on-stage was in Grease in the London theatre version. Grease was a hit, and received praise for his lead act. He made his big screen debut with a small role in the film Baby Blue Marine. He received praise with his very next role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar. Though, the role was not a lead role, he made the most of it and gave a stellar performance.

A lead role soon came his way. Richard played the lead in Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978). The film was a hit, and Richard’s career as a lead started well. Now came the film that made him into a nation-wide sex symbol. He starred as the lead in American Gigolo. He played a male prostitute, who is accused of murdering one of his clients. The film was a thriller and a huge hit. It made Richard the object of desire of every woman in America. Cashing in on this craze, he followed it up with another great performance in the romantic An Officer and a Gentleman. This film did even better, and made close to $140 million at the box-office.

Everyone thought that Richard would become the next big star, but sadly it did not happen. Almost all his films were disasters at the box-office, and his career went through a major lull period during the whole of 80s. But with the turn of the decade, came new wave of chance in his career. His first release in the new decade was Pretty Woman and opposite him was Julia Roberts. The film was a huge hit, everyone loved him in the film. Though, Julia took more accolades than Richard, the film being a major draw at the box-office was more than enough for him. It made close to $500 million at the box-office and brought back the glory Richard had once seen with American Gigolo.

Richard’s next, Internal Affairs (1990), also did well, and he must have breathed a sigh of relief, now that his career was back on track. The 90’s proved to be good for him, as many of his films were hits. Sommersby did well, but it was Primal Fear (1996) that was a major success. He played a lawyer defending a young altar boy played by Edward Norton, who is accused of murdering the archbishop. The movie was a success, and won many awards. Cashing in his new wave of success, Richard also tried his hand at action and did the film The Jackal. The movie worked and did great business. The audience even accepted Richard in an action role.

In 2002, the Chicago was adapted to the big screen, and Richard played the male lead. It was a huge success and won the Oscar award for Best Film. Richard took home the Golden Globe Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor. After this film, Richard cut down on the amount of films he did. His next release Shall We Dance (2004) was again a success. It was the remake of the Japanese film of the same name. He also starred in the biographical film on Bob Dylan called on I’m Not There (2007).

Richard was last seen in Brooklyn’s Finest (2010). The film had a huge star cast. It did moderately well at the box office. Richard has really cut down on the amount of films he does and concentrates more towards charity work.