Vintage Hunk: Richard Gere

Thirty years ago I thought Richard Gere was the most beautiful man in films. After seeing Looking for Mr. Goodbar with his infamous jock strap dance, and especially Bloodbrothers and Days of Heaven, I was totally hooked. Now that Gere is past 60, he is still a sexy, imposing figure with a gorgeous full head of gray hair. If my ardor for Gere cooled during the 1980s, it was probably my changing fickle taste and no fault of this wonderful movie star. Yes, Richard Gere has aged but not like Michael Douglas or Martin Sheen. Gere is still a vibrant and very sexy leading man.

Richard Tiffany Gere was born in 1949 in Philadelphia. A descendant of Mayflower Pilgrims, Gere grew up in an upper-middle class home. In high school he was good at music (the trumpet) and gymnastics, and went on to attend the University of Massachusetts on a gymnastic scholarship; however, he left the college after two years. After a stint at the Provincetown Playhouse he got his first major role in the London production of Grease, which led to Hollywood and his first good supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar.

This Diane Keaton film is pretty repulsive today with its thesis that a sexually active woman deserves a grisly death, but Gere jumped off the screen with his sexy portrayal of Tony, an Italian thug who introduces Keaton to rough sex (hence the jock strap dance with switchblade scene). Gere was electric in Goodbar and this lead to the starring role in Bloodbrothers. Once again playing an Italian (those gorgeous dark eyes and hair gave him a sexy ethnic look), Gere was the star of this little known but fantastic film about a sensitive son who wants to be a teacher rather than go into construction like the rest of his working-class family. Robert Mulligan's (To Kill a Mockingbird) beautiful direction gave Gere the full star treatment, and Gere's beautifully photographed image was used alone on the poster advertising the film.

Bloodbrothers did not make much money but it put Gere on the map as a major new male star and heartthrob. I remember seeing this film when it came out and being astonished at this man's beauty. And if that visage led me to believe that he was a fine actor, what can I say?

Days of Heaven may have been Gere's finest film. This amazing film follows a couple who escape Chicago after a murder and end up involved with Sam Shepherd (the playwright's first major movie role), and it's one of the most gorgeous films ever made. Director Terence Malick, who has only made a handful of films, actually started filming this epic in 1976 and some of Gere's footage from the film landed him his role in Goodbar. When Days of Heaven was finally released in 1978 it was praised for its gorgeous Oscar winning cinematography and the great musical score by Ennio Morricone. Gere was wonderful in the film but it was really a director's movie, a once-in-a-lifetime film whose pictorial beauty and fine acting make it a rare emotional experience.

Now a bonafide star, Gere starred in John Schlesinger's Yanks, then got the most notorious role of his career playing Julian Kaye in American Gigolo. Gere received so much attention for his role as a high-class male hustler that it is difficult to remember how bad the movie is; indeed, the only thing going for the film is Gere getting in and out of his fabulous Armani wardrobe. He had a brief frontal nude scene, which was pretty daring in 1980, and the film's soundtrack featuring "Call Me" by Blondie, along with Gere's beauty, helped turn this rather dull film into a cultural sensation.

Gere's next smash hit was An Officer and a Gentleman, co-starring mega talent Debra Winger in a fairy-tale story of a Navy man falling in love with a poor factory worker. It was a financial bonanza, Gere earned a Golden Globe Best Actor nomination, and the sentimental ending where Gere carries off Winger from her dreary factory was as sudsy as the ending of Breakfast at Tiffanys— and just as effective. Most of the critical praise went to Winger and Louis Gosset, Jr. who won the Best Supporting Oscar, and the hit song "Up Where We Belong" which also won an Oscar. That said, at this point Gere was the hottest American actor in films.

Unfortunately, Gere's follow up films were pretty bad. A remake of the great French classic Breathless was unmercifully panned even though it had yet another brief full frontal nude scene of the actor. The worst drubbing came with King David. This biblical epic has to be seen to be believed. Gere's loin clothed writhing (called "The Diaper Dance" by some critics) was the nadir of his career. High class flops like Power and several other turkeys followed, and by 1990 he was no longer a top box office draw or star.

Then came Julia Roberts to the rescue. Pretty Woman officially starred Gere but Roberts stole the spotlight and all the reviews with her star-making portrayal of a hooker with a heart of gold. While the rest of the '90s were unkind to Gere—except for Unfaithful with the luminous Diane Lane, who stole the film and received an Oscar nomination—the Pretty Woman glow remained. Finally in 2002 he was cast as Billy Flynn in the Oscar winning Chicago. Personally, I loathe this film and the reason is Rene Zellwinger (She can't sing, she can't dance and she is not very pretty - a triple threat!), but Gere won a Golden Globe for his supporting role and Catherine Zeta Jones an Oscar.

Along this stready ride Gere dated many of Hollywood's most gorgeous stars. He was People's Sexiest Man Alive in 1999 and married to super model Cindy Crawford. None of Gere's post-Chicago films caused a ripple at the box office, which is too bad as the elder Gere is still a good actor and handsome man; I just saw his latest film The Double, which received tepid reviews and limited release, and I was impressed with Gere in the title role. He is trim and the sexiest post-60 movie star we have.

Gere starred in a number of wonderful films. He was one of the first male stars to show his privates to his legion of female and gay fans. But when I see Bloodbrothers I keep thinking that Gere is going to be a different kind of movie star—sort of a sexier Al Pacino or Robert de Niro. I don't think Richard Gere has near the talent these two icons have, but he has never disgraced himself late in his career like these fallen stars. Which leads me to my final thought that Richard Gere was an American beauty, and still an imposing lion of American cinema.