5 Interesting Facts About Richard Gere
Richard Gere is an American actor, producer, and activist. He has won an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his role in the 2013 miniseries The Affair.
5 Interesting Facts About Richard Gere
Richard Gere was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1949.
In 1977, he co-founded The International Foundation for Art Research with his wife, Joan Ganz Cooney.
Gere has been married four times and has three children – two daughters and a son.
Gere is Jewish.
Gere’s first marriage to actress Cindy Williams lasted from 1970 to 1972 and produced his only daughter, Daisy Gere. His second marriage to French actress and singer Anouk Aimee lasted from 1976 to 1980; they had a son named Homer Jack Gere. In 1995, he married British fashion designer Carey Lowell, with whom he has one daughter named Mischa Gere.
Carey Lowell died of ovarian cancer on October 18, 2011, at age 52.
Gere’s Birth, Early Life, And Education
Gere was born in Philadelphia to a Hungarian Jewish family. His father, George Gere, was an electrician and his mother, Fania Bergstein, a seamstress. He has one brother, Lanny Gere. When he was four years old, Gere contracted polio at the age of eight and spent nine months in hospital while recovering.
He then studied at the city’s Park School for Boys where he was on the football team. He then attended James Monroe High School (known today as Charles Evans Hughes High School) in North Philadelphia where he excelled academically as well playing on the basketball team and running track.
In 1962 Gere enrolled at Temple University as a theater arts major with a minor in international relations. There he met future wife Annette Benning who also studied acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio and married her soon after college graduation. They have three children: two daughters named India Pearl and Shana Leahi Gere; and their son named Raffi Gere.
Gere’s Career
Gere began his acting career in the 1970s, starring in several plays, some films and a few TV shows. From 1977 to 1978 he co-starred with Peter Sellers in the film The Magic Christian and in the following year starred alongside Barbra Streisand in the film “The Main Event”. In 1980 Gere appeared in three films: American Gigolo as Richard Gere, The Chosen as Jack Lira, and Endless Love.
In 1981 he starred in An Officer and a Gentleman as Alden Pyle, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.
He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: first for playing Louis Ironson in 1984’s Silkwood with Meryl Streep, then again for playing Moses Herzog in 1989’s The Milagro Beanfield War.
In 1994 he co-starred with Marisa Tomei in My Life.
Gere has produced films including Shall We Dance? (2004), Bobby (2006) for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, and Fly Away Home (2014).
Gere’s Personal Life
Richard Gere was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1949. His mother, Gladys (Klein), was a housewife and his father, Benjamin Gere, was an insurance salesman. Gere’s paternal great-grandfather immigrated to the United States from Lithuania.
Gere’s mother died of leukemia when he was 12 years old and he went on to attend Central High School where he became active in theater. Upon graduating from high school, he attended the University of Minnesota to study theater and film. He eventually dropped out and relocated to New York City in 1972.
In 1975, Richard Gere married American actress Annette Benning who is four years his senior. They have three children together: two sons, Homer Jack in 1979 and Roman Sky in 1981 and a daughter, Cheyenne Autumn in 1983. They divorced in 1990 after 20 years together but remain friends today.
