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.
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.The following year, Gere landed a starring role in Terrence Malick's epic Days of Heaven.
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. Then in 1990, Gere landed a successful romantic comedy, Pretty Woman.
Gere was married to model Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995.
In 2002, Gere wed actress Carey Lowell; they have one child together, a son named Homer. Gere and Lowell lived together in Bedford, New York, for many years. There they also co-owned the Bedford Post Inn with Russell Hernandez. In September 2013, Gere and Lowell announced that they were separating.
The Canadian poet and novelist who abandoned a promising literary career to become one of the foremost songwriters of the contemporary era has died.