Richard Gere - 70: The Formula Of Happiness Of The Chief Gigolo, Prince And Buddhist Of Hollywood

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The famous American actor Richard Gere celebrates his 70th birthday on August 31st. Its star lit up in the 1980s with the film American Gigolo. After that, many assumed that the actor would forever "get stuck" in the role of a hero-lover, but Gere broke stereotypes all his life. After the release of "Pretty Woman", he really got the title of the main prince of Hollywood and the standard of male beauty, but he used his popularity to promote his social and political views, charitable projects and broadcast the ideas of Buddhism. He really has a lot to learn, because the actor even deduced his own formula for happiness …

In his youth, Richard Gere did not dream of an acting profession - he was born into a poor family with many children, grew up on a farm, played sports and had a vague idea of what he wanted to do in the future. After leaving school, he entered the University of Massachusetts, where he studied directing and philosophy, but after 2 years he dropped out. After that, he became interested in music, deciding to become a professional trumpeter. However, the time spent in the commune of rock musicians forced him to abandon these plans - he said that the musicians were even more capricious than the actors. However, he did not leave music lessons - later, finding himself in Hollywood, Richard Gere wrote several compositions for films and musicals.

After that, Richard Gere became interested in the theater, however, for a long time he did not impress anyone at the auditions - the directors found him too shy and insecure. The ability to present himself really came to him much later, and at first he appeared on stage in small episodes. Everything changed dramatically after Gere played a criminal sentenced to death in one of the productions. His monologue made the whole audience hold their breath, and directors and film critics finally considered great acting potential in him.

Richard Gere got the main role in American Gigolo after John Travolta turned it down - he did not want to compromise himself with such a role. Gere later admitted that this decision was not easy for him either - after all, there was not a single trait of himself in the young man who provided escort services to rich women. But it was this film that brought him his first popularity and the title of the first sex symbol of Hollywood.

However, this fame had a downside - after that he was offered the same type of role of hero-lovers for a whole decade. And so, when Gere again had to play the romantic hero in the movie "Pretty Woman", he replied with a categorical refusal. Ironically, Travolta again refused this role before him. This image did not arouse the slightest interest in Gere, but his agent forced him to change his decision, reminding the actor of the impressive amounts of his debts.

The actor did not expect that this film would become a cult for many generations of viewers. He had millions of fans all over the world, he was called a model of respectability, masculinity and magnetic attractiveness, Julia Roberts herself tried to attract his attention on the set, but the increased attention to her person did not touch him at that time. Later, the actor admitted that at the time of filming in "Pretty Woman" he was in a deep depression: his financial situation was deplorable, he grew out of the image of a hero-lover for a long time, a crisis was brewing in his personal life.

After "Pretty Woman", Gere seemed to have a second wind - his business went uphill, the directors bombarded him with new proposals, and a year after the release of the film the actor married - the famous supermodel Cindy Crawford. Their union was called "the novel of the century" - together they looked very impressive and harmonious, but in fact, it was just harmony in their relationship that was lacking. He was 42 years old, she was 25, she did not share his passion for Buddhism and did not accompany him on trips to Tibet, although she tried to pretend that she also liked meditation. But in fact, the spiritual quest of the actor Crawford did not care much - she was too carried away by her own career. After 4 years, both realized that each of them lives his own life, and they parted.

In 1999, the actor was named "the sexiest man on the planet." On the screens, Gere looked like a womanizer and a rake, but in real life he was very far from this image. He was looking for a long and deep relationship, but no woman fascinated him as much as self-development, spiritual quest and Eastern philosophy. And social activities and charity occupied him much more than secular parties.

Passion for Buddhism was not just a hobby. After the actor became a student of the Dalai Lama, rumors spread in Hollywood that he himself was going to become a Tibetan monk. However, this was not true. Richard Gere has repeatedly participated in protests, polemics at press conferences and television shows, where he defended the rights of Tibetans oppressed by the Chinese government, and declared that he would personally fight the Chinese, to which he once heard a mocking exclamation from the audience: "" Later, the actor admitted that this phrase returned him from heaven to earth, and the girl who uttered it - actress Carey Lowell - became his second wife.

Only in his second marriage did the actor find peace and happiness - his wife understood and supported him. When Geru was 50 years old, his first son was born. For the sake of her husband, Carey left her career, but in 2013 their marriage broke up. Both were silent about the reasons for the divorce.

In 2018, Richard Gere married for the third time. His chosen one was the Spanish entrepreneur Alejandra Silva, who was 33 years younger than him. And at 69 he became a father again - the couple had a son. He tries to spend all his free time with his family and admits that he finally discovered the formula for happiness: "".

Despite his mature years, he is still called a sex symbol, which is puzzling for the actor himself. Just like the film that brought him worldwide fame. Behind the Scenes of Pretty Women: How Dark Social Drama Turned into Romantic Comedy.