The Who2 Blog
Richard Gere Sells His Guitars for $936,000
An auction at Christie's this week brought in $936,438 for actor Richard Gere. He says he'll give the money to charity. Apparently Gere no longer needed a million dollars worth of guitars.
Gere auctioned off more than 100 pieces from a collection of guitars he started 40 years ago.
Christie's has a pretty slick video interview with Richard Gere, along with some other videos showing off the collection. It's emphasized that these are guitars Gere bought over the years because he liked the way they sounded, not because he was consciously building a collection.
Gere grew up in a musical family and was trained on the trumpet. As a teenager he taught himself to play the guitar (he says he has "a few idiosyncrasies" as a player).
For more on the actor, read the Who2 biography of Richard Gere.
For more on the auction, read about it here at Christie's, or here at Art Daily.
1 comment
I watched a lot more of that interview than I expected to.
It's funny what a complicated emotional relationship I have with G.E. Smith, considering how little I know about him. I just remember thinking he seemed like a jerk when he was leading the "Saturday Night Live" band, always posturing soulfully for the camera. Then I read that he had been married to Gilda Radner, and I thought "Wha--?" Then later I realized he was actually quite a respected musician. But he still kind of bugs me from my original impressions.
When I saw him here I thought, "Oh, jeez, they have to drag this guy in to make it all seem legit." But he turns out to be A-OK, of course.
You have to salute Christie's for producing this INCREDIBLY slick video to promote the sale. Gere seems downright garrulous. I didn't know he played. And I only take off a few points for him talking about how he was influenced by the TRUE Delta blues. I guess that's just a required comment for every guitarist in the world.