Sept. 9, 1995 New York Times

Richard Gere has been many things: sexy leading man, impromptu spokesman for troubled Asian nations, Buddhist. Now he is combining those roles in "Tibet: The Pure Realm," an exhibit of photographs he took there.

The show, with 22 black-and-white photographs that Gere shot between 1983 and 1993, is on display at the Menil Collection in Houston and will open at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York on Wednesday.

"The photographs represent the spiritual and physical voyage I have taken through various communities of the Himalayan region, from Zaskar to Tibet," Gere said Friday through his spokeswoman, Emily Bear.

Limited-edition prints of the photographs are being sold in sets of portfolios at $12,500 each, and the proceeds will go to the Gere Foundation, which promotes awareness of Tibet.

Gere, whose films include "Pretty Woman," is a longtime critic of China's presence in Tibet. He has studied there with the Dalai Lama. In 1993 he interrupted the Academy Awards ceremony to give a long speech on his cause, and was told he would not be invited back.

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