![]() It was felt with full force in Arbitrage (12), where he played corrupt financier Robert Miller, who leverages lies to build his storied Wall Street castle until he boxes himself in. No longer does Gere just show us his humanity-he shows us his fragility, as well. And even when his other lawyer, Billy Flynn in Chicago (02), stood on the other side of the moral spectrum, Gere’s delighted self-acceptance was one of the main reasons the film won the Best Picture Academy Award.Īnd yet, beginning in his 60s, a new force has crept into Gere’s screen roles, something deeper, more personal, more profound. As defense attorney Martin Vail in Primal Fear (96), his skilled manipulation of the law collides with his conscience. In Pretty Woman (90), his corporate creep Edward Lewis learns that it’s possible to be honest in his dealings, thanks to a blossoming romance with a lady-of-the-evening. Watching Gere’s characters reluctantly open up is one of the chief joys of charting a career that continues to gain in strength as he enters his fifth decade in the movie business. An Officer and a Gentleman, and celebrity, followed. Goodbar (77) with the visionary Terrence Malick on Days of Heaven (78) and with Paul Schrader on the very edgy American Gigolo (80), in which Gere risked his likeability at the exact moment he was establishing himself as a leading man. He worked opposite Diane Keaton in Oscar winner Richard Brooks’ Looking for Mr. ![]() After making it to the London stage and Broadway, Gere gained traction in Hollywood while pursuing bold material and maverick collaborators. Love lifted him up where he belonged-and Gere’s star power has remained stratospheric ever since.īorn in 1949 and raised in New England, Gere showed an early aptitude for gymnastics and an interest in philosophy the former laid the foundation for the graceful physicality of his acting, the latter drove him toward storytelling, Buddhism and the activism to which he has dedicated himself since his earliest successes. And redemption: the humble, frightening acknowledgement that he possessed sensitivity. The way Gere navigated both moments were pivotal for the film’s success, with Zack’s coy rebellious posturing gave way to hysterical rage, seething anger and brooding introspection. ![]() As Navy pilot hopeful Zack Mayo in An Officer and a Gentleman (82), Gere’s cockiness is upended twice at a military hazing where Zack is forced to admit he can’t quit because he has nowhere else to go, and again when his best friend hangs himself and Zack realizes what he has been fighting for: love. In many of Richard Gere’s most popular roles, he plays a hero who earns our sympathies by revealing a deep vulnerability beneath his handsome, romantic, out-of-everyone’s-league exterior.
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