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44-794: The hotel, owned and operated by the Dan Hotels group, has traditionally been the chosen venue for hosting heads of state, dignitaries, politicians and celebrities during their visits to Jerusalem. It is also famous for the 1946 King David Hotel Bombing , when a terrorist attack by the Zionist organization Irgun targeted the hotel's southern wing, which contained offices for the British authorities during Mandatory Palestine , killing 91 people of various nationalities and injuring 45. In 1929, Palestine Hotels Ltd. purchased 4.5 acres (18,000 m) on Jerusalem's Julian's Way, today King David Street. Half

88-795: A minister . Gere was raised Methodist in Syracuse, New York . His paternal great-grandfather, George Lane Gere (1848–1932), changed the spelling of his surname from "Geer". One of his ancestors, also named George, was an Englishman who came from Heavitree , England, and settled in the Connecticut Colony in 1638. Both of Gere's parents were Mayflower descendants; his ancestors include Pilgrims such as John Billington , William Brewster , Francis Eaton , Francis Cooke , Degory Priest , George Soule and Richard Warren . In 1967, Gere graduated from North Syracuse Central High School , where he excelled at gymnastics and music and played

132-438: A "Biblical" style. Hufschmid, also Swiss, stated that his intention was "to evoke by reminiscence the ancient Semitic style and the ambiance of the glorious period of King David ." In the early days of the hotel, there were few Jews or Arabs on the staff. The chefs were Italian, the service staff were mostly Berbers , the management was Swiss, and the menu served primarily European influenced dishes. In 1958, after ownership of

176-569: A day of dancing for his role as lawyer Billy Flynn in Chicago. He also studied karate for An Officer and a Gentleman . Multiple film critics and media outlets have cited Gere as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Gere regularly visits Dharamshala , the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile . He is an advocate for human rights in Tibet and

220-402: A live news conference to promote condom use among truck drivers, he embraced Bollywood superstar Shilpa Shetty , dipped her, and kissed her several times on the cheek. As a result of that gesture, a local court ordered the arrest of Gere and Shetty, finding them in violation of public obscenity laws. Gere has said the controversy was "manufactured by a small hard-line political party". About

264-578: A month later, a two-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, K. G. Balakrishnan , described the case as "frivolous" and believed that such complaints against celebrities were filed for "cheap publicity" and have brought a bad name to the country. They ruled that Gere would remain free to enter the country. Gere contributed some of his writing for the book We Are One: A Celebration of Tribal Peoples , released in October 2009. Gere discussed

308-838: Is a co-founder of the Tibet House US , creator of the Gere Foundation, and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the International Campaign for Tibet . Because he supports the Tibetan Independence Movement , Gere is permanently banned from entering China . In 1993, Gere was banned from being an Academy Award presenter after he denounced the Chinese government while announcing the nominees. In September 2007, Gere called for

352-573: Is an Israeli hotel chain established in 1947. The chain owns 18 hotels in Israel with 3,669 rooms, a convention center and a hotel training center, as well as a 226-room hotel in Bangalore, India. In June 1947, Yekutiel and Shmuel Federmann leased Kaete Dan, a small guest house on Tel Aviv beach from its then-owner, Abraham Stamberg. They built the Dan hotel around the original pension, finally purchasing

396-659: Is no clear evidence either way. In 1995, Gere was the president of the jury at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival . On May 17, 2012, Albanian President , Bamir Topi awarded the Medal of Gratitude to Gere with the citation: "With gratitude and honor outstanding personality of the world art, great humanist and activist for the protection of human rights, which unmasked and the American public made known, and further, inhuman crimes, ethnic cleansing in Kosovo , in 1999 ,

440-715: Is on the grounds of this property. In 2007, it bought the Ariel Hotel in Jerusalem, which was renovated and reopened as the Dan Boutique. The Hyatt-Regency on Mount Scopus was acquired and renamed the Dan Jerusalem. In 2017, Dan Hotels opened its first overseas property at Bangalore, India. The 226 room hotel is named 'The Den' and is located in the Whitefield district of the city. In June 2018, it opened

484-722: The 14th Dalai Lama in India and became a practicing Tibetan Buddhist (specifically of the Gelugpa school) and an active supporter of the Dalai Lama. In February 2023, Gere was diagnosed and hospitalized with pneumonia during a family vacation in Nuevo Vallarta in Mexico . It was reported by his wife that he had fully recovered from his illness. Gere has often been included on lists of famous vegetarians; however, there

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528-735: The Hamptons International Film Festival and the Career Achievement Award from the Hollywood Film Awards . Gere had earlier received an award from the 34th Cairo International Film Festival in December 2010. Gere made a notable departure from his traditional screen persona with Joseph Cedar 's political drama Norman (2016). The film saw Gere portray Norman Oppenheimer, a small-time Jewish fixer . Gere himself described

572-906: The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange . Despite economic problems in the 1980s, the chain opened the Dan Panorama in Tel Aviv and Dan Panorama in Haifa. In 1995, it opened the Dan Eilat, followed by the Dan Panorama Jerusalem, Dan Gardens Ashkelon and Dan Panorama Eilat. In 2000, the chain renovated and refurbished the Dvir Hotel in Haifa, renaming it the Dan Gardens Haifa. The Dan Gourmet School for chefs

616-1017: The armistice line that divided Jerusalem into Israeli and Jordanian territory. The hotel was purchased by the Dan Hotels chain in 1958. Multiple scenes in the 1960 film Exodus were shot at the hotel, both outside and inside, in the main lobby and on the terrace. When East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War , two additional floors were added. Among the hotel's famous official guests: British monarch Charles III ; King Hussein of Jordan; U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon , Gerald Ford , Jimmy Carter , Bill Clinton , George W. Bush , Barack Obama , Donald Trump and Joe Biden ; British Prime Ministers Winston Churchill , Harold Wilson , Margaret Thatcher , John Major , and Tony Blair ; Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ; U.S. politicians Henry Kissinger and Hillary Clinton ; as well as many stars including Elizabeth Taylor , Richard Dreyfuss , Richard Gere and Madonna . The design for

660-503: The war in Iraq was not supported by the American people and that the Bush administration had "bullied" Americans into the decision. He called George W. Bush a "very poor president". In a press conference held on the sidelines of the 34th Cairo International Film Festival , Gere said, "I'm very sorry about what the U.S. has done in Iraq. This war has been a tragedy for everyone. I hope that

704-642: The 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and a starring role in Days of Heaven (1978). Gere came to prominence with his role in the film American Gigolo (1980), which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol . Gere's other films include An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), The Cotton Club (1984), No Mercy (1986), Pretty Woman (1990), Sommersby (1993), Intersection (1994), First Knight (1995), Primal Fear (1996), Runaway Bride (1999), Dr. T &

748-910: The Kaete Dan in 1956. Adopting the name from the previous owner, they formed the Dan Hotels Corporation. The Dan Tel Aviv in 1953 was the city's first luxury hotel. In 1957, the Federmanns purchased the King David Hotel in Jerusalem . In 1958, they purchased the beach front Dan Accadia in Herzliya , followed in 1960 by the Dan Carmel in Haifa and Dan Caesarea in 1971. In June 1982 its shares were listed for trading on

792-611: The Link & Hub hotel in Tel Aviv. In December 2018, Dan hotels was in talk to purchase the hotel properties of the Israel Land Development Company which owns the Rimonim hotel chain. [REDACTED] Media related to Dan Hotels at Wikimedia Commons Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( / ɡ ɪər / GEER ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began appearing in films in

836-521: 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 began appearing in Hollywood films in

880-566: The Women (2000), Shall We Dance? (2004), I'm Not There (2007), Arbitrage (2012) and Norman (2016). For portraying Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago (2002), he won a Golden Globe Award . Gere was born in Philadelphia on August 31, 1949, the eldest son and second child of homemaker Doris Ann ( née Tiffany; 1924–2016) and NMIC insurance agent Homer George Gere (1922–2023). His father originally intended to become

924-580: The action thriller The Jackal (1997), playing former IRA militant Declan Mulqueen; Gere affected an Irish accent for the role. Gere was named People magazine's " Sexiest Man Alive " in 1999. Not long thereafter, all in the same year, he appeared in the hit films The Mothman Prophecies (2002), Unfaithful (2002), and the Academy Award -winning musical film adaptation Chicago (2002), for which Gere won his first Golden Globe Award . His ballroom dancing drama Shall We Dance? (2004)

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968-540: The best reviews of his career. Gere was notably singled out for portraying businessman Robert Miller in Arbitrage (2012), earning his fourth Golden Globe Award nomination. Among many positive reviews, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone cited Gere's performance as "too good to ignore" and "an implosive tour de force". Also in 2012, he received the Golden Starfish Award for Lifetime Achievement from

1012-771: The board of directors for Healing the Divide, an organization that supports global initiatives to promote peace, justice and understanding. Gere helped to establish the AIDS Care Home, a residential facility in India for women and children with AIDS, and also supports campaigns for AIDS awareness and education in that country. In 1999, he created the Gere Foundation India Trust to support a variety of humanitarian programs in India. On April 15, 2007, Gere appeared at an AIDS awareness rally in Jaipur . During

1056-673: The boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to put pressure on China to make Tibet independent. He starred in a Free Tibet-themed Lancia commercial featuring the Lancia Delta . On June 27, 2011, Gere meditated in Borobudur Temple in Indonesia . He actively supports Survival International , an organization dedicated to protecting the rights and lands of tribal peoples throughout the world. Gere campaigns for ecological causes and AIDS awareness. He currently serves on

1100-557: The character as an embodiment of the "sides of us we know are annoying and needy". His portrayal of Oppenheimer was called "consistently, completely fascinating" by RogerEbert.com and was singled out as a worthy Academy Award contender by Variety . Gere is an accomplished musician, composing and performing the Pretty Woman piano theme and a guitar solo in Runaway Bride . He studied tap for three months to shoot half

1144-658: The construction costs were paid by Ezra Mosseri , an affluent Egyptian Jewish banker and director of the National Bank of Egypt , and another 46% by the Goldschmidt family and other wealthy Cairo Jews. The approximately 4% remaining was paid by the National Bank of Egypt, which purchased 693 shares of the company between 1934 and 1943. From its earliest days, the King David Hotel hosted royalty:

1188-490: The dowager empress of Pahlavi dynasty , Tadj ol-Molouk , queen consort Nazli of Egypt , and King Abdullah I of Jordan stayed at the hotel, and three heads of state forced to flee their countries took up residence there: King Alfonso XIII of Spain , forced to abdicate in 1931, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia , driven out by the Italians in 1936 , and King George II of Greece , who set up his government in exile at

1232-553: The hotel after the Nazi occupation of his country in 1942. During the Mandatory Palestine , the southern wing of the hotel contained British administrative and military offices. On July 22, 1946, the southwestern corner of the hotel was bombed during a terrorist attack by the Zionist paramilitary group Irgun . 91 people of various nationalities, including Britons, Arabs and Jews, were killed and 45 people were injured by

1276-453: The hotel changed hands, the kitchen began to comply with kashrut regulations, but continued to serve a kosher version of French influenced haute cuisine . Dishes served by the hotel's restaurant during that era included entrecote steak with béarnaise sauce , pommes mignonettes dorées and salmon poached in court-bouillon . By the 1960s, demographics had changed with senior staff positions held mostly by Jews of German or Czech origin, and

1320-760: The hotel was commissioned from a Swiss architect, Emil Vogt  [ de ] , with the actual construction supervised by Jerusalem architect Benjamin Chaikin . According to Hebrew University professor Ruth Kark , Vogt's approach was typical of European architects who, commissioned to design buildings in Jerusalem, incorporated "Eastern-style domes, arches, various kinds of different-colored stone, and interior decorations with religious symbols and inscriptions," in buildings whose strict symmetry marks them indelibly as European. The public rooms were decorated by Gustave-Adolphe Hufschmid in motifs taken from Assyrian, Hittite, Phoenician and Muslim buildings in an effort to evoke

1364-463: The mid-1970s. Originally cast in a starring role in The Lords of Flatbush (1974), he was replaced after fighting with his co-star Sylvester Stallone . Gere played a small but significant part in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and starred in director Terrence Malick 's well-reviewed drama Days of Heaven (1978). The crime drama American Gigolo (1980) significantly boosted his profile and

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1408-583: The militant right-wing group. An earlier attempt by the Irgun to attack the hotel had been foiled when the Haganah learned of it, and warned the Mandatory Palestine 's British authorities. On May 4, 1948, when the British flag was lowered as the British Mandate ended, the building became a Jewish stronghold. At the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , the hotel found itself overlooking "no-man’s land" on

1452-561: The people of Iraq can rebuild their country." In 2016, Gere endorsed Hillary Clinton for president and donated $ 2,700 to her campaign . In 2017, Gere criticized Benjamin Netanyahu 's policies on the Palestinians and Israel 's expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank , stating, "Settlements are such an absurd provocation and, certainly in the international sense, completely illegal—and they are certainly not part of

1496-474: The persecution and loss of land of the Jumma people as an example of a tragic story that repeats itself in different continents of the world, calling attention to the crime against their peaceful culture and how it reflects on humanity's relationship with nature and capacity to survive. The royalties from the book's sale go to the indigenous rights organization Survival International . In 2010, Gere stated that

1540-599: The program of someone who wants a genuine peace process." In February 2023, Gere was one of the 480 global figures who signed a statement from Freedom House expressing support for Mahsa Amini protesters , urging sanctions on Iranian officials, and calling for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be proscribed as a terror group. Gere had on-again/off-again relationships with actress Penelope Milford from 1971 to 1978, and painter Sylvia Martins from 1978 to 1986. During those years, he

1584-405: The releases of Internal Affairs (1990) and Pretty Woman (1990), the latter of which earned Gere his second Golden Globe Award nomination. The 1990s saw Gere star in successful films including Sommersby (1993) (opposite Jodie Foster ), Primal Fear (1996) and Runaway Bride (1999) (which reunited him with his Pretty Woman co-star Julia Roberts ). He also took a leading role in

1628-528: The restaurant had also started serving traditional dishes from Ashkenazi cuisine for shabbos dinners, such as gehakte leber and gefilte fish . By the 1980s dinner menus included kugel , kreplach in consomme broth, and strudel . Breakfasts consisted of Danish pastry , fruit, cheese, and smoked fish ; the latter has become part of a typical Israeli breakfast . The hotel includes four dining options: La Régence and King's Garden are run by executive chef David Biton. Dan Hotels Dan Hotels

1672-403: The romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) (co-starring Debra Winger ) cemented Gere's ascent to stardom, grossing almost $ 130 million and winning two Academy Awards out of six nominations; Gere himself received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. For the remainder of the 1980s, Gere appeared in films of varying critical and commercial reception. His career rebounded with

1716-758: The trumpet. Gere attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship, studying philosophy; after two years, he left and did not graduate. 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 . His first major acting role was in the 1971 rock opera Soon , written by Scott Fagan and Joe Kookoolis, which opened on Broadway at

1760-663: Was also a solid performer that grossed $ 170 million worldwide. His next film, the book-to-screen adaptation Bee Season (2005), was a commercial failure. Gere went on to co-star with Jesse Eisenberg and Terrence Howard in The Hunting Party (2007), a thriller in which he played a journalist in Bosnia . He next appeared with Christian Bale , Heath Ledger and Cate Blanchett in Todd Haynes ' semi-biographical film about Bob Dylan , I'm Not There (2007); Gere

1804-455: Was also sporadically linked with Tuesday Weld , Carole Mallory , Dawn Steel , Loree Rodkin , Barbara Carrera , and Barbra Streisand . It was suggested that Gere had affairs with Priscilla Presley and Kim Basinger in tell-all books written by Presley's ex-boyfriend Michael Edwards and Basinger's ex-husband Ron Snyder. Gere has also reportedly dated models Laura Bailey , Tina Chow , Dalila Di Lazzaro , and Padma Lakshmi . He

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1848-636: Was married to model Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. In November 2002, Gere married model and actress Carey Lowell . They have a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, who was born in February 2000 and is named for his grandfathers as well as the Tibetan name "Jigme". In September 2013, the two separated after 11 years of marriage. They spent three years in highly contested divorce proceedings in New York County Supreme Court . The case

1892-642: Was one of six actors to portray a variation of Dylan. He co-starred with Diane Lane in the romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe (2008). The film was widely panned by critics (making #74 on The Times Worst Films of 2008 list), but grossed over $ 84 million worldwide. The film is his most recent to have been produced entirely by a major film studio . Gere has expressed a belief that his politics regarding China, an important financial resource for major Hollywood studios, have made him unwelcome within Hollywood . Gere embraced his apparent exile from Hollywood and instead appeared in independent films that garnered some of

1936-586: Was settled in October 2016. In early April 2018, Gere married Spanish activist Alejandra Silva . In August 2018, they announced that they were expecting their first child. Their son, Alexander, was born in February 2019. In April 2020, the birth of their second son was reported. Gere's interest in Buddhism began when he was in his 20s. Gere first studied Zen Buddhism under Kyozan Joshu Sasaki . After studying Zen for five or six years, he and Brazilian painter Sylvia Martins traveled in 1978 to Nepal , where Gere met many Tibetan monks and lamas. He then met

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