Richard Gere, 58, was honored by Philadelphia on Monday, receiving Marian
Anderson Award, for his time and money dedicated to the causes of Tibetan independence and HIV/AIDS care.
The festivity took place at the Kimmel Center
for the Performing Arts where the prestigious actor received the humanitarian
award together with its $100,000 honorarium.
"I'm not worthy of this award in any way whatsoever. I can't tell you
how this makes me feel. My heart is so wide open," said Gere visibly excited
when he was handed the award, the Associated Press reports.
The Philadelphia Orchestra and Philli native Patti LaBelle also attended the
ceremony.
Gere, who is known for being a Buddhist, supported Tibetan independence from
China since 1978. He is also a co-founder of the Tibet House and a board chairperson
of the International Campaign for Tibet.
He promoted Healing the Divide, an organization for improving care for patients
suffering from HIV/AIDS and he also is the owner of an organization called
after his name that provides assistance to humanitarian organizations.
The Marian Anderson Award bears the name of the black American opera singer who
became prestigious worldwide by the mid-1930 for her voice and for facing
racial segregation in her own country. She became famous in 1939 when being the
first black singer at the White House at the invitation of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt himself. In 1955, she was the first black soloist at the Metropolitan
Opera in New York.
She performed at the inaugurations of presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower. She is
also the winner of the Medal of Freedom in 1963. Her life ended in 1993 at the
age of 96.
Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy
Jones, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were the previous
personalities who won the Marian Anderson Award.
Gere's career as an actor, spreading over three decades, includes “Days of Heaven,”
“American Gigolo,” “An Officer and A Gentleman,” “Pretty Woman” and “Chicago”
which gained him a Golden Globe.
Gere got in trouble in April for kissing and embracing actress
Shilpa Shelty at a public AIDS awareness event in New Delhi. He was accused of violating India’s strict
anti-obscenity laws. However, the actor apologized later saying that a small
hard-line political party manufactured the incident.
