Richard Gere turns 60 this month (on the 31st - he shares his birthday with Debbie Deborah Gibson and alleged Gianni Versace killer Andrew Cunanan).

The Virgo has enjoyed a long career, with sporadic hits like Pretty Woman and Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe (he has never been nominated for an Oscar) in he past couple of decades when he has spent much of his time following humanitarian causes. He’s a devoted friend of the Dalai Lama but had to flee India in 2007 when he was threatened with arrest for grabbing Bollywood actress Shilpa Shett and kissing her on stage during an AIDS benefit.

The 1980s were the Golden Age for Gere, where he sported very few clothes in Breathless (where he went nude and manrammed Valerie Kaprisky into the next century) and American Gigolo (self-explanatory).

When he has dressed, it was most memorably in military skin-tights in the megahit An Officer And A Gentleman where he memorably showed off great undearm sweat marks and carried Debra Winger out of a factory while Joe DCocker and Jennifer Warnes sung “Up Where We Belong”. Clip and many more pics after the jump)