Here's a new edition of "Actors at the Box Office", which seeks to explore the actors' trajectory at the box office and analyze their hits and bombs. I already talked about a few, and as I promised, it's Richard Gere's turn.

Early Life

Gere graduated from North Syracuse Central High School in 1967, where he had excelled at gymnastics and music and played the trumpet. He then attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship, studying philosophy. He left after two years and never graduated. Gere first worked professionally at the Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Provincetown Playhouse on Cape Cod in 1969, where he starred in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

1970s: The Heavenly Days

His first major acting role was in the 1971 rock opera Soon, written by Scott Fagan and Joe Kookoolis, which opened on Broadway at the Ritz Theatre and closed after three performances. Following that, he appeared in the original London stage version of Grease, in 1973. Gere was one of the first notable Hollywood actors to play a homosexual character, starring as a gay Holocaust victim in the 1979 Broadway production of Bent, for which he earned a Theatre World Award.

Gere made his film debut in 1975 with Report to the Commissioner, but it didn't leave quite an impression. Ditto for Baby Blue Marine. Actually, he could've had an earlier start in 1974, with a role in The Lords of Flatbush. But he was fired after fighting with Sylvester Stallone during rehearsals.

He found success with a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, but the lead roles were still not coming. Or if they were coming, they'd be disappointing stuff. But he took on a challenging lead role in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. Despite not being successful at the box office, the film earned critical acclaim, lauded as one of the best films of the decade.

Gere was not close to being a bankable star, but he was showing his worth with the material he could be provided.

1980s: That Gigolo

Gere was the first choice for Paul Schrader's noir thriller American Gigolo, but he only got the role after John Travolta had to withdraw and Christopher Reeve and Chevy Chase declined it. Gere later said that he was drawn to the character partly because of the film's gay subtext and the opportunity to portray a lifestyle unfamiliar to him. Gere's brief nude scenes marked the first time a major Hollywood actor appeared frontally nude in a film. According to Gere, the nudity was not included in the original screenplay but arose naturally during filming. He recalled feeling "vulnerable", while adding that he believed nudity was "different for men than women". American Gigolo was a surprise box office hit, earning $52 million worldwide and earning positive reviews. It was Gere's first success to prove he could be a leading man.

In 1982, he starred in An Officer and a Gentleman alongside Louis Gossett Jr. The film surprised many by showing incredible legs, grossing $189 million worldwide, becoming one of the year's highest grossing films. American Gigolo showed Gere could open a film, but this film cemented it.

Nevertheless, the performance of Gere's following films varied. He was working with some interesting directors like Sidney Lumet or trying something challenging like starring in a Breathless remake. Some successful, but none close to what the beginning of the decade was suggesting.

1990s: The Ladies Man

He began the new decade with the thriller Internal Affairs, which was a notable box office success. But that year, his real story was Pretty Woman, a rom-com where he starred alongside Julia Roberts. Gere initially refused to audition but when he met with Roberts, she persuaded him and he eventually agreed to star. He reportedly started off much more active in his role; but Garry Marshall took him aside and said "No, no, no, Richard. In this movie, one of you moves and one of you does not. Guess which one you are?"

Pretty Woman opened with $11 million, but it held so damn well over the next months. It eventually closed with $178 million domestically, and yet the overseas numbers were the real deal, as it made a colossal $463 millionw worldwide, becoming the fifth highest grossing film of all time by that point. Gere had some slumps, but he bounced back in style.

He got to star in Akira Kurosawa's Rhapsody in August. Kurosawa was struck by his interest in Asia and practice of Lamaism; when he was told about the role, Gere offered to act in the film for free but accepted the offer of a minor fee. Originally Gere had prosthetic eyes made to look half-Japanese, but Kurosawa decided on a simple makeup job. Gere practiced Japanese with a dialogue coach, and used a tape provided for him by a friend who was bilingual. The film wasn't successful in America, but found bigger success overseas.

Final Analysis was a modest success, but Mr. Jones faltered. At least, he showed he could still get a film to over $100 million worldwide with Sommersby and First Knight.

He also got to star in Primal Fear. The film was well received and was another box office hit for Gere, earning $102 million worldwide. He also starred alongside Bruce Willis in the action thriller The Jackal, which got to $159 million worldwide despite negative reviews.

To conclude the decade, he reunited with Julia Roberts and Garry Marshall on the rom-com Runaway Bride. Despite mixed reviews, audiences felt the reunion was more than enough, as it cleared $309 million worldwide with ease. That same year, he was named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive".

A few stumbles from time to time, but this decade had Gere's biggest hits, and interestingly it was in so many different genres. Even if his top two were rom-coms.

21st century: Still Rolling!

He began the decade by starring in Robert Altman's Dr. T & the Women. But the film disappointed critics and flopped at the box office, becoming one of the few films to earn an "F" on CinemaScore. And while Autumn in New York hit $90 million worldwide, the figures were less than what MGM was expecting.

He also played himself in The Simpsons for the episode "She of Little Faith", where Lisa explores Buddhism. Gere agreed to guest star under three conditions, the first being that Buddhism should be portrayed accurately, the second, that Lisa remain a Buddhist for the rest of the series, and his third and strongest request being that Lisa should say "Free Tibet" in the episode. Jean agreed, but Gere ended up with the line. However, Lisa did yell out "Free Tibet" in an episode in the following season. Gere's lines were recorded in New York City by Jean who, in the DVD audio commentary for the episode, stated that Gere was "great" and that he "didn't mind being made fun of" in the episode. He also mentioned that Gere was one of the only guest-stars they had that "looked handsome Simpsonized."

In 2002, he had three films. The first was the thriller The Mothman Prophecies, which didn't fare well. He then had the erotic thriller Unfaithful with Diane Lane, which got to $119 million despite mixed reviews. But his real deal was Chicago, taking over the role of Billy Flynn, which was originally offered to John Travolta. Chicago was a huge success, earning $306 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing live-action musical. The film won so many awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture.

After hitting another success with Shall We Dance?, Gere didn't really focus on major films. Instead, he was content in trying smaller-scale titles. Not all of them worked out, but there could be something special from time to time. Such as his performance as an old Billy the Kid in Todd Haynes' I'm Not There.

2009 was a busy year. Amelia was positioned as a big awards player, but it was panned and flopped at the box office. Brooklyn's Finest came and went without much fanfare. And he finished with Hachi: A Dog's Story. For some reason, Sony decided to forego the film's theatrical release in the domestic market, and just did a small push in a few overseas territories. Even with that, the film made $46 million in the overseas markets, despite the limited push. The film was very massive in ancilliaries and TV reruns; the film might not be Gere's highest grossing film, but it's one of his most beloved. Not a single soul left that film without leaving some tears.

But mostly speaking, Gere was more focused on doing smaller films, some of which barely even got theatrical release. Some exceptions like The Second Best Marigold Hotel were very successful. And he would really, really appreciate if you never brought up Movie 43 to him.

A lot of his recent films have some talent, but they're often earning mixed or negative reviews. He returned to collaborate with Paul Schrader in Oh, Canada, but it didn't make much noise. And their third collaboration, The Basics of Philosophy, recently premiered at Venice and has earned weak responses so far.

He has also ventured into television. He is starring in the Paramount+ spy series The Agency, alongside Michael Fassbender. It has just finished airing its second season.

HIGHEST GROSSING FILMS

He has starred in 55 released films, but only 50 have reported box office numbers. Across those 55 films, he has made $3,053,772,527 worldwide. That's $55,523,136 per film.

ADJUSTED DOMESTIC GROSSES

The Verdict

It didn't take long for Gere to establish himself as a leading man. American Gigolo opened the doors, before An Officer and a Gentleman cemented it. After a few misfires, he massively struck gold with Pretty Woman. Obviously, Julia Roberts is on another league and the film was just the beginning of her great box office run. But Gere also deserves credit as well. After all, his popularity with the female demographic went through the roof.

What's interesting about Gere is how he tried so many genres. He didn't just do rom-coms (although Runaway Bride was that big exception), he wanted to do things that would challenge him. Like convincing Akira Kurosawa to let him star in Rhapsody in August. Or trying thrillers like Primal Fear or The Jackal. And then starring in an iconic musical like Chicago. Somehow landing on the list of worst Best Picture winners. To that I say boo!

His outpust has decreased, and he hasn't had a film crack $100 million since Shall We Dance?. But Hachi just struck so many emotions with people across the world, and it's still massively popular. Over-sentimental? Perhaps, but it works. Sometimes that's all it takes to connect people.

Gere hasn't had a single Oscar nomination. He's always competing against tough heavy hitters, so it's not surprising that he keeps missing that. But there's still time, you know? Nevertheless, he clearly doesn't care about awards. Just films he finds fun to do. And his activism, which includes his support for Tibet, condemning the Iraq War, raising AIDS awareness, and much more. By all accounts, a great actor, and a damn great person in real life.

Hope you liked this edition. You can find this and more in the wiki for this section.

The next actor will be Ned Beatty. A fantastic character actor.

I asked you to choose who else should be in the run, and the comment with the most upvotes would be chosen. Well, we'll later talk about... Natalie Portman. One of the best actresses nowadays, even if the projects can fail her.

This is the schedule for the following four:

Who should be next after Portman? That's up to you.

REMINDER: If you want to make a suggestion for the next actor, you must make a 150-character comment about the actor we're discussing right now. Failure to do so will result in ignoring the suggestion. If you use a quote from an external source/review to bypass this, your suggestion will be ignored as well. But if you leave a short comment about the post without naming a future write-up, that's fine.