5 Unexpected Facts About Richard Gere (Like That Sylvester Stallone Got Him Fired)
There’s no one quite like Richard Gere, a multifaceted talent who is also in his fourth decade as a Hollywood sex symbol. After bursting on to the scene as the star of the sleek 1980 crime drama American Gigolo, Gere melted hearts as the star of An Office and a Gentleman, starred in thrillers like Internal Affairs and Primal Fear, dominated the 1990s rom-com with his onscreen partnership with Julia Roberts and — just when you thought you had him figured out — won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of a sleazy singing lawyer in 2002’s Chicago. After a quiet period, Gere, 75, is back with two major productions: On Nov. 29, his spy thriller The Agency debuts on Showtime, and on Dec. 6, Oh, Canada, his drama about a draft-dodging documentary filmmaker looking back on his life, hits theaters.
But Gere is much more than an acclaimed actor and big-screen hunk. He’s also a gymnast … and a pianist … and descended from Pilgrims?? Read on to learn everything you would have never guessed about this timeless hunk.
1His Family Is Descended From the Mayflower
Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection
Not only is Gere related to the original Pilgrims — he is actually descended from the Mayflower on both sides of his family!
2He Was Once a Gymnast
Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM
Long before he appeared on any stage or screen, Gere appeared on the uneven bars. As a teenager, Gere was a talented gymnast — so much so that he received a gymnastics scholarship to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He dropped out of college to act, but he hasn’t put his gymnast past entirely behind him. “There’s a picture of me [at home] having just done a dismount — I was actually looking pretty good,” Gere told Jay Leno on The Tonight Show in 2012. He added that while watching the Summer Olympics with his son, “He was very impressed that his dad had been a gymnast.”
3He Was Fired From His First Film Role Because Sylvester Stallone Didn’t Like Him
United Artists/courtesy Everett Collection;
After a few years of stage acting, Gere landed his first film role, in the 1974 coming of age comedy The Lords of Flatbush, alongside Sylvester Stallone. However, Gere was fired and replaced by Perry King before filming began — not due to any creative or casting reasons, but simply because he and Stallone kept getting into conflicts.
In a 2006 interview with AintItCoolNews, Stallone recalled:
“We never hit it off. He would strut around in his oversized motorcycle jacket like he was the baddest knight at the round table. One day, during an improv, he grabbed me (we were simulating a fight scene) and got a little carried away. I told him in a gentle fashion to lighten up, but he was completely in character and impossible to deal with … [Another time, during a lunch break] I was eating a hotdog and he climbs in with a half a chicken covered in mustard with grease nearly dripping out of the aluminum wrapper. I said,’That thing is going to drip all over the place.’ He said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ I said, ‘If it gets on my pants you’re gonna know about it.'”
The Lords of Flatbush sans Gere. His replacement Perry King is pictured far right. Everett Collection
Naturally, Gere’s chicken did drip on Stallone, and as promised, Stallone hit Gere. As Stallone recalled, “The director had to make a choice: One of us had to go, one of us had to stay. Richard was given his walking papers and to this day seriously dislikes me. He even thinks I’m the individual responsible for the gerbil rumor. Not true… but that’s the rumor.”
Decades later, after both men were stars, the conflict between An Officer and a Rocky raged on: Elton John reported that in 1994, the two men nearly came to blows during a dinner party at John’s house. The source of the conflict? Both men were supposedly interested in the then newly single Princess Diana, who was also a guest.
4His Three Breakthrough Roles Were All Offered to John Travolta First
Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
You probably already know that over the course of three roles and four years, Gere went from an unknown to a household name: He played the lead in the 1978 flop Days of Heaven, the 1980 hit American Gigolo, and cemented his Hollywood hunk reputation with 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman. But what you may not know is that every single one of those roles almost went to John Travolta first.
Travolta secured the lead role of Bill in Days of Heaven, but was still signed to a contract with ABC for Welcome Back, Kotter and couldn’t make the scheduling work. Travolta was also originally cast in the lead role of American Gigolo — so much so that press photos of him promoting the film exist. But Travolta ultimately dropped out after the death of his mother. In a 2020 interview, American Gigolo director Paul Schraeder claimed that he had two days to find a replacement after Travolta dropped out; after Christopher Reeve passed, he showed up to Gere’s house on a Sunday and told him he needed an immediate answer. Gere said yes.
An Officer was originally set to star John Denver, but after it wound through a few other potential stars, including Jeff Bridges, the script once again ended up in the hands of Travolta, who passed, giving Gere a chance to accept.
5That Was Really Him Playing the Piano in Pretty Woman
Everett Collection
That scene where uptight Edward reveals his sensitive side to Julia Roberts’ Vivian by playing some sweet piano music? That was actually Gere playing the piano — something he told director Garry Marshall he often did to entertain himself while staying in hotels. On The Today Show, he recalled of the scene, “I just improvised [the song he played] right there. And then they gave me a “composed by” [credit]. People expect me to be able to play that again. I say, ‘I don’t know’ … I just played.”
What is your favorite role of Gere’s? Let us know in the comments!
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February 2021
1990s Rom-Coms
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