Richard Gere opens up about his difficult early years in New York

It is hard to imagine that the big stars, those who have been known to the public around the world by their first and last names for a long time, did not always lead movie lives, surrounded by luxury and glamour. Perhaps so that the mystery and that halo that turns them into demigods is not lost, they are the ones who decide to keep their past as mortal beings in the strictest secret. For this reason, Richard’s recent statements caused great surprise in the networks.

the actor of challenge to destiny y Pretty Woman he remembered what his life was like before his leading role in the spicy american gigolo made him one of the best-known and most sought-after actors in Hollywood. “My favorite food was eggs,” he told Page Six of his early days in New York City. And he revealed: “Eating out at restaurants was not even a real possibility for me at that time. Looking back, I remember them as difficult and desperate times.”

To put the situation in context, Gere explained: “During the ’70s, at the beginning of my career, I was almost literally starving myself as an actor. He was trying to get started and although he was lucky to be able to do what I love, at that time there weren’t many actors making money doing it. Me neither. I worked on Broadway, but also off-Broadway, then off-off-Broadway.”

“In New York nobody made money. Unfortunately, hunger was normal. Being hungry was normal for many people, but especially for actors starting their journey in New York. That’s why this organization is so important to me,” he said, referring to the City Harvest food charity with which he partners.

He added: “Eating is a need and many people don’t have that need met in the United States. Everything is so fucking expensive now! So I’m happy to lend my hand when someone gets a nutritious meal. It is a basic human right.”

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The truth is that if his time in New York was not easy, his arrival in Los Angeles was not a bed of roses either. Exactly a decade before it was released challenge to destiny, Gere got a big break on the big screen. In 1974, the actor received an offer to participate in The Lords of Flatbush, an ensemble film focused on the experiences of a group of young bikers in the 1950s. Among his castmates were young actors with promising careers such as Sylvester Stallone, Henry Winkler and Paul Mace. Of course Gere accepted, but the experience did not end as he expected.

As Stallone explained in an interview, from the moment he first saw Gere he felt an “immediate dislike” for him. “He strutted around in his oversized biker jacket like he was the baddest guy in the roundtable,” he described.

Stallone, who had yet to lend his body to either Rocky Balboa or Rambo, was also looking to make a name for himself in Hollywood. For this reason, beyond the fact that his castmate was not exactly his favorite person in the world, he tried to make coexistence on set as harmonious as possible. The peace ended soon and, in this case, the cause was not a war of egos, but a simple piece of chicken.

“We were rehearsing at Coney Island and it was lunch time and we decided to take a break. It was cold, so I sat in the back seat of one of the production cars. While I was eating my hot dog, he came up with half a chicken covered in mustard and with fat almost dripping from the aluminum wrapper,” recalled the actor from The indestructibles. “That thing is going to drip all over the place… If it gets in my pants, you’re going to find out,” he warned his colleague. Gere looked at him, smiled, and answered him. “Don’t worry about that”.

Seeing that, indeed, the sauce fell on his jean pants, Stallone was enraged. “I elbowed him in the head and basically pushed him out of the car,” the actor recalled, without remorse. And he continued. “The director had to make a decision: one of us had to go. And I was the one who stayed.” Sure enough, Gere was fired and replaced by actor Perry King.