Richard Gere is 77. How a gymnast without a diploma became the main heartthrob of Hollywood

On August 31, the actor turned 77 years old, because of whom more than one generation of viewers rewatched “Pretty Woman” and “An Officer and a Gentleman.” Gere began his career with a sports scholarship and the London stage, and it seems that he will end it in Spain — in his wife’s house.

From the gym to the stage

Richard Tiffany Geer was born on August 31, 1949 in Philadelphia in the most ordinary family: his father is an insurance agent, his mother is a housewife, and as many as five children in the house, reports xrust. No acting dynastic inheritance — ordinary working-class America.

He entered the university not on a theater course, but on a sports scholarship in gymnastics. But he lasted only two years at the faculty: the stage was stronger than the crossbar. Gere dropped out of school and went to try his luck in the theater — first in the London production of Grease in 1973, then in The Taming of the Shrew. At the same time, he starred in passing television films, which today are remembered only by IMDb archivists.

The gigolo who became an officer

class=»notranslate»>__GTAG17__The real breakthrough came in 1980 thanks to the role of Julian in Paul Schrader's American Gigolo — a film after which people started talking seriously about the young actor. “An Officer and a Gentleman” helped consolidate the success: it was after it that Gere firmly established his status as a leading Hollywood actor of the first magnitude.

But the real iconic role was another one — Edward Lewis, the cold millionaire from “Pretty Woman” (1990). For Soviet and post-Soviet viewers, this film generally became one of the first “real” Hollywood Cinderella stories to be released on video cassettes. The film's box office gross exceeded $463 million—at current exchange rates, that's about 40 billion rubles. Moreover, the money continues to flow even now: according to Forbes, since 1990, “Pretty Woman” has additionally brought in about 178 million dollars (that’s about 15 billion rubles more) — the audience clearly hasn’t had enough.

The on-screen chemistry with Julia Roberts, apparently, was not only on the set: the actors were more than once spotted laughing together at social events, and in 1999 the duo reunited in the comedy “Runaway Bride.”

Three wives, four children and one friendship across a generation

Gere’s personal life is a separate series. In 1991, the 42-year-old actor married 25-year-old supermodel Cindy Crawford. The couple looked impressive, but the marriage lasted only four years. Crawford later admitted to reporters that the usual lack of time between the two of them was to blame: flying from Paris to Los Angeles for one evening together turned out to be a poor substitute for living together.

A funny twist happened a quarter of a century later: Crawford’s daughter Kaia Gerber and Gere’s son Homer became friends on the set of Ryan Murphy’s series “Pieces” — Homer, by the way, also became an actor.

In 2002, Gere remarried, to actress Carey Lowell, whom he had been dating for about eight years by that time. The couple had a son, Homer, in 2000, and in 2013 the marriage broke up — according to sources close to the family, as peacefully as possible, with an emphasis on the interests of the child.

The third marriage seemed to be the most durable: since 2018, Gere has been married to Spanish activist and PR woman Alejandra Silva. The couple has two sons — Alexander (2018) and James (2020).

Spanish epilogue of a Hollywood career

At the end of 2024, the then 75-year-old actor and his younger sons moved to Spain, his wife’s homeland, so that she could be closer to her family. Gere himself explained the decision simply: his wife gave him six years of life in his world, now it’s his turn.

At the same time, Gere is clearly not going to retire from acting: a mini-series for Apple TV with Jessica Chastain and Ben Stiller, as well as a film adaptation of the novel “Asymmetry” are in development.

Sources:

• people.com

Xrust Richard Gere is 77. How a gymnast without a diploma became the main heartthrob of Hollywood