Richard Tiffany Gere (/ɡɪər/; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and a starring role in Days of Heaven (1978). He came to prominence with his role in the film American Gigolo (1980), which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol. He went on to star in many well-received films, including An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), The Cotton Club (1984), Pretty Woman (1990), Primal Fear (1996), Runaway Bride (1999), I\'m Not There (2007), Arbitrage (2012) and Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (2016). For portraying Billy Flynn in the Academy Award-winning musical Chicago (2002), he won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the cast.\n', '

Gere was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Doris Ann (née Tiffany, 1924–2016), was a housewife. His father, Homer George Gere (1922-), was an insurance agent for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and had originally intended to become a minister. Gere is their eldest son and second child.\n', '

His paternal great-grandfather had changed the spelling of the surname from "Geer". Both of his parents were Mayflower descendants; Gere\'s ancestors include Pilgrims Francis Eaton, John Billington, George Soule, Richard Warren, Degory Priest, Francis Cooke, and William Brewster.\n', '

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