Published: June 22, 2015| 12:00 PM

The 50th Karlovy Vary IFF will honour distinguished American actor Richard Gere with its highest award – the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema.

Richard Gere is one of today’s most highly regarded actors. His rich filmography spans diverse genres, includes creative collaborations with major directors and shows the artistic temerity to work on roles that defy standard typological classification.

Born in Philadelphia, Gere devoted himself to music from an early age. Beginning in the 1970s he performed in various theatres and gradually began getting film roles. Positive reviews from critics to his performance in the film Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) brought him an offer of one of the main roles in Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978). Among the countless awards that the film received, Richard Gere came away with a David di Donatello Award for best actor.

The breakthrough performances in his career can be considered his title role in Paul Schrader’s American Gigolo (1980) as well as his role in Taylor Hackford’s An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), which brought him his first nomination for a Golden Globe. With Francis Ford Coppola he made the jazz-era film tribute Cotton Club (1994), he tried out the role of villain in Mike Figgis’ crime drama Internal Affairs (1990) and topped off a decade of success with a second Golden Globe nomination for the role of millionaire in Garry Marshall’s romantic hit Pretty Woman (1990).

From the early 1990s, Gere played roles in many films of various genres – romantic drama Sommersby (1993), historical romance First Knight (1995), the courtroom drama Primal Fear (1996), and the romantic comedy Runaway Bride (1999), for which he reunited with Julia Roberts and director Marshall, or in Robert Altman’s delicate study of relationships Dr. T & the Women (2000).

Gere put his versatile talent to good use in the lead role in the film adaptation of the musical Chicago (2002) by director Rob Marshall, for which he received a Golden Globe. On the opposite end of Gere’s spectrum of roles is Lasse Hallström’s comedy The Hoax (2006). His most recent Golden Globe nomination was for his role in Arbitrage (2012).

Richard Gere has also been acknowledged around the world for his clear stances on social issues. He is a personal friend of the Dalai Lama and a steadfast defender of human rights and independence in Tibet. He has also actively stood up for the need to combat AIDS, and is an important donor benefactor and supporter of numerous charity organisations.

The Karlovy Vary IFF will be showcasing versatile actor Richard Gere with two new films – the psychological drama of a man seeking a way to reach his estranged daughter, Time Out of Mind (2014) and drama Franny (2015), the story of a philanthropist who gets involved in the lives of a young married couple in the attempt to compensate for traumas of the past.