Richard Gere: Difference between revisions
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===Shilpa Shetty kissing incident=== |
===Shilpa Shetty kissing incident=== |
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In April 2007, Gere kissed [[Hollywood]] actress [[Shilpa Shetty]] on the neck and cheeks several times during an AIDS-awareness event.<ref>[http://youtube.com/watch?v=pt23lqF-nM8 video of kiss]</ref><ref name="a kiss">{{cite web | work=comcast.net| title=Chaos over a kiss| url=http://www.comcast.net/entertainment/index.jsp?cat=ENTERTAINMENT&fn=/2007/04/16/637859.html| accessdate=16 April| accessyear=2007}}</ref> The pair had appeared at a press conference in New Delhi as part of a campaign to preach safe sex to truck drivers in [[India]] and promotion of [[Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome|AIDS]] awareness in India.<ref name="HIV AIDS CAUSE">{{cite web | work= dailymail.co.uk| title=Shilpa & Richard up for a cause| url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=448932&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490 |
In April 2007, Gere kissed [[Hollywood]] actress [[Shilpa Shetty]] on the neck and cheeks several times during an AIDS-awareness event.<ref>[http://youtube.com/watch?v=pt23lqF-nM8 video of kiss]</ref><ref name="a kiss">{{cite web | work=comcast.net| title=Chaos over a kiss| url=http://www.comcast.net/entertainment/index.jsp?cat=ENTERTAINMENT&fn=/2007/04/16/637859.html| accessdate=16 April| accessyear=2007}}</ref> The pair had appeared at a press conference in New Delhi as part of a campaign to preach safe sex to truck drivers in [[India]] and promotion of [[Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome|AIDS]] awareness in India.<ref name="HIV AIDS CAUSE">{{cite web | work= dailymail.co.uk| title=Shilpa & Richard up for a cause| url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=448932&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490 |
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| accessdate=16 April| accessyear=2007}}</ref> Following the kiss, protesters, allegedly members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group [[Shiv Sena]], beat burning [[effigy|effigies]] of Gere with sticks. Similar protests broke out in other cities, including [[Varanasi]], [[Hinduism]]'s holiest city, and in the northern town of [[Meerut]], where crowds of hundreds of thousands chanted "Down with Shilpa Shetty!" The protests did not take any violent turn and the situation was quickly brought under control with some activists being detained.<ref name="The Hindu">{{cite web | work= The Hindu| title=Shilpa, Gere's kissing triggers an outcry | url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200704162068.htm| accessdate=22 April| accessyear=2007}}</ref> |
| accessdate=16 April| accessyear=2007}}</ref> Following the kiss, protesters, allegedly members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group [[Shiv Sena]], beat burning [[effigy|effigies]] of Gere with sticks. Similar protests broke out in other cities, including [[Varanasi]], [[Hinduism]]'s holiest city, and in the northern town of [[Meerut]], where crowds of hundreds of thousands chanted "Down with Shilpa Shetty!" The protests did not take any violent turn and the situation was quickly brought under control with some activists being detained.<ref name="The Hindu">{{cite web | work= The Hindu| title=Shilpa, Gere's kissing triggers an outcry | url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200704162068.htm| accessdate=22 April| accessyear=2007}}</ref> |
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On [[26 April]] [[2007]] an Indian court in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, issued a warrant for Gere's arrest.<ref name="Arrest Warrant">{{cite web | work= accesshollywood.com| title= Indian Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Richard Gere | url=http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah5051.shtml| accessdate=26 April| accessyear=2007}}</ref> Former Indian attorney general Soli Sorabjee criticized the arrest warrant, saying: "Magistrates should not behave like the Taliban moral police. The order is unsustainable and makes us look ridiculous."<ref>Gere Apologizes to Indians over the Shetty kiss http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070427131830.fvijn06c&show_article=1</ref> |
On [[26 April]] [[2007]] an Indian court in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, issued a warrant for Gere's arrest.<ref name="Arrest Warrant">{{cite web | work= accesshollywood.com| title= Indian Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Richard Gere | url=http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah5051.shtml| accessdate=26 April| accessyear=2007}}</ref> Former Indian attorney general Soli Sorabjee criticized the arrest warrant, saying: "Magistrates should not behave like the Taliban moral police. The order is unsustainable and makes us look ridiculous."<ref>Gere Apologizes to Indians over the Shetty kiss http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070427131830.fvijn06c&show_article=1</ref> |
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A week later the judge issuing the warrant, Judge Dinesh Gupta, was transferred from the Jaipur court to the town of [[Kishangarh]].<ref>Shetty attack on 'lunatic fringe' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6618553.stm</ref> |
A week later the judge issuing the warrant, Judge [[Dinesh Gupta]], was transferred from the [[Jaipur]] court to the town of [[Kishangarh]].<ref>Shetty attack on 'lunatic fringe' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6618553.stm</ref> |
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==Selected filmography== |
==Selected filmography== |
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Revision as of 18:08, 4 May 2007
Richard Gere | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Tiffany Gere |
| Spouse(s) | Cindy Crawford (1991-1995) Carey Lowell (2002-) |
Richard Tiffany Gere[1] (born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He first became famous during the 1980s, after appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including An Officer and a Gentleman, and has since retained his status as a leading man. During the 1990s and 2000s, he starred in the well-received films Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, and Chicago for which he won a Golden Globe award as Best Actor.
Biography
Early life
Gere was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is a descendant of Mayflower passengers Francis Eaton, John Billington, George Soule, Richard Warren, Degory Priest, William Brewster and Francis Cooke.[1] Gere's father, Homer George Gere, was an insurance agent for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. His mother, Doris Anna Tiffany, was a homemaker. He has three sisters, a brother, and a half brother, the German Henry Januszewski.[citation needed] In 1967, Gere graduated from North Syracuse Central High School, where he excelled at gymnastics and music, playing the trumpet. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, on a gymnastics scholarship, majoring in Philosophy, but did not graduate, leaving after two years to pursue acting.[2]
Career
Gere's first major acting role was in the original London stage version of Grease in 1973. He began appearing in Hollywood films in the mid 1970s, co-starring in the thriller Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), and playing the leading role in director Terrence Malick's well-reviewed 1978 film, Days of Heaven. His acting career took off in 1980, with the successful film American Gigolo, followed by the popular romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman, which had grossed over $100 million in 1982. Subsequently, he was the first man ever to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine. In 1980 Gere appeared in the Broadway production of Bent.
Gere's career in the 1980s alternated between box office successes and failures. After the release of both Internal Affairs and the huge hit Pretty Woman in 1990, Gere's status as a leading man was again solidified, and he continued starring in solidly performing films throughout the 1990s, including 1993's Sommersby, 1996's Primal Fear and 1999's Runaway Bride, which re-teamed Gere with his Pretty Woman co-star, Julia Roberts. People magazine named him the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1999.
In 2002, he appeared in three major releases: the horror thriller The Mothman Prophecies, the drama Unfaithful, and the Academy Award-winning film version of Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe as "Best Actor - Comedy or Musical". Gere's 2004 ballroom dancing drama, Shall We Dance, was also a solid performer, although his next film, Bee Season, largely failed to find an audience amid the Oscar-contenders of November 2005.
Gere was Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals' "Man of the Year" for 2006. In July 2006, Gere was cast opposite Jesse Eisenberg and Terrence Howard in Spring Break in Bosnia, a comic thriller in which he will play a journalist in Bosnia; the film will be released in 2007.[3]
Personal life
Gere was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. In 2002 he married actress Carey Lowell. They have a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, who was born in 2000, and is named after Gere's father. They live in Pound Ridge, New York.[4]
Gere is a well-known Buddhist and an active supporter of the Dalai Lama. He has also been a persistent advocate for better human rights in Tibet; he was a co-founder of the Tibet House and served on the Board of Directors for the International Campaign for Tibet. He also campaigns for ecological causes and AIDS awareness, and has expressed his concern for AIDS problems in India. Because he strongly supports the Tibetan Independence Movement, he is permanently banned from entering China.
Gere currently serves on the Board of Directors for Healing the Divide, which concerns itself with global initiatives that promote peace, justice and understanding.[5] Gere was banned as an Academy Award presenter in 1993 after he used the opportunity to condemn the Chinese government.[6]
In 2006, Gere, his wife and a neighbour were involved in turning a group of Eighteenth century buildings on a 14-acre tract in Bedford Hills, New York into a combination 125-seat restaurant/lodge/cafe/yoga studio/stables and horse trails. The incipient business was incorporated as Squirrelly Acres L.L.C.[citation needed]
Shilpa Shetty kissing incident
In April 2007, Gere kissed Hollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on the neck and cheeks several times during an AIDS-awareness event.[7][8] The pair had appeared at a press conference in New Delhi as part of a campaign to preach safe sex to truck drivers in India and promotion of AIDS awareness in India.[9] Following the kiss, protesters, allegedly members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena, beat burning effigies of Gere with sticks. Similar protests broke out in other cities, including Varanasi, Hinduism's holiest city, and in the northern town of Meerut, where crowds of hundreds of thousands chanted "Down with Shilpa Shetty!" The protests did not take any violent turn and the situation was quickly brought under control with some activists being detained.[10]
Shetty responded to these protests by saying "I understand this (kissing) is his culture, not ours. But this was not such a big thing or so obscene for people to overreact in such a manner. I understand people's sentiments, but I don't want a foreigner to take bad memories from here."[10]
Gere has apologized to the actress several times since the incident; the actress says he was only trying to entertain his audience in action since he could not in speech. Gere said: "My clumsy attempt at a 'Shall We Dance' move was a naive misread of Indian customs, and I assure you nothing more."[11] The actress has countered the protesting groups arguing that this incident promotes the image of India as 'regressive'.[9]
On 26 April 2007 an Indian court in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, issued a warrant for Gere's arrest.[12] Former Indian attorney general Soli Sorabjee criticized the arrest warrant, saying: "Magistrates should not behave like the Taliban moral police. The order is unsustainable and makes us look ridiculous."[13] A week later the judge issuing the warrant, Judge Dinesh Gupta, was transferred from the Jaipur court to the town of Kishangarh.[14]
Selected filmography
References
- ^ a b Roberts, Gary Boyd. ""The New England Ancestry of Actor Richard (Tiffany) Gere"". New England Historic Genealogical Society. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Richard Gere Biography", Carey Latimore, The Biography Channel. Retrieved May 1, 2007.
- ^ "KillerMovies". Jesse Eisenberg Joins [Spring Break in Bosnia]. Retrieved July 3.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Costaregni, Susie, "'Law & Order' actress spotted in Greenwich", from "The Dish" column in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut and the Greenwich Time daily newspapers, November 12, 2006, page 2 of The Advocate: "Actor and Pound Ridge, N.Y., resident Richard Gere's new project ..."
- ^ http://www.healingthedivide.org
- ^ http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/richardgere/
- ^ video of kiss
- ^ "Chaos over a kiss". comcast.net. Retrieved 16 April.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Shilpa & Richard up for a cause". dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Shilpa, Gere's kissing triggers an outcry". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 April.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Gere Apologizes to Indians over Shetty kiss" http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070427131830.fvijn06c&show_article=1
- ^ "Indian Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Richard Gere". accesshollywood.com. Retrieved 26 April.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Gere Apologizes to Indians over the Shetty kiss http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070427131830.fvijn06c&show_article=1
- ^ Shetty attack on 'lunatic fringe' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6618553.stm
External links
- Richard Gere at IMDb
- Defended India's nuclear tests
- Hello Magazine, Hello! Profile
- The Gere Foundation, dedicated to end the Chinese Occupation of Tibet
- The Druk White Lotus School (external link) of which Gere is an Honorary Patron.