Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in "Bent" made him realize he's gay
Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in "Bent" made him realize he's gay
#1Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in "Bent" made him realize he's gay
Posted: 6/26/22 at 4:02pm
In an interview with his friend Andy Cohen, journalist Anderson Cooper, 55, tells Andy he realized he was 'totally gay' at the age of 11 when he saw Richard Gere shirtless on the Broadway stage in 'Bent', back in 1977. Cooper explains he went with his mother's two gay friends to see the show (his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt didn't go), and in the opening scene where a guy gets out of bed naked, Cooper realized he was gay. Afterwards, the three of them met Gere in his dressing room (one of his mother's friends knew Gere) and Gere was shirtless - Cooper couldn't even ask him to sign his Playbill because he couldn't speak and couldn't stop staring at his chest. Cooper finally told this story to Gere ten years ago, and he says Gere was 'tickled'.
https://youtu.be/l7qSiieVw_Y
#2Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in "Bent" made him realize he's gay
Posted: 6/26/22 at 6:06pm
I saw that production. I think Gere was also naked in it. Have a playbill he signed. I remember we had to send them in through the stage door and wait for them. Gere did not come out and sign or greet fans afterwards.
#3Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in "Bent" made him realize he's gay
Posted: 6/26/22 at 6:46pm
It must have been shocking for an 11 year old kid to see, no matter how smart or mature he was at the time. Could he understand the story, or was he just watching the naked actors on stage ?
Were they allowing 11 years olds in to see the recent revival of TAKE ME OUT, or was there an age requirement ?
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#4Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in "Bent" made him realize he's gay
Posted: 6/26/22 at 6:58pm
An 11 year in the 1970s was enormously different than an 11 year old in 2022. We were very street smart, savvy, and aware of things. I saw A CHORUS LINE three times in June 1975. I was 10 years old. Did I get the grown-up references? Absolutely not, but boy did I love what I understood at age 10. Parents in the 70s were doing their own thing and didn’t censor nor dissect everything. If you saw boobs in a movie, you saw boobs. No big deal. Anderson Cooper saw a bare chested actor. He didn’t see a hardcore gay porn film. His sophisticated mom had her gay friends take her son to a Broadway play. Just another night for that family. No one blinked an eye. Life was life. Now a 17 year old has a tracking program on their phones. In the 1970s you knew you had to be home when the street lights turned on. Your parents weren’t spying on what you were doing. You had to take responsibility for yourself… or else. 
thedrybandit
Leading Actor Joined: 12/10/18
#5Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in "Bent" made him realize he's gay
Posted: 6/26/22 at 8:43pm
Brody, I gotta ask. You're aware that the kids growing up in the 70's are the ones that now have tracking programs on their 17 year old kids phones, right? Kids are still aware of the world, parenting styles have just changed. 
#6Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in "Bent" made him realize he's gay
Posted: 6/26/22 at 10:51pm
BrodyFosse123 said: "An 11 year in the 1970s was enormously different than an 11 year old in 2022. We were very street smart, savvy, and aware of things. I saw A CHORUS LINE three times in June 1975. I was 10 years old. Did I get the grown-up references? Absolutely not, but boy did I love what I understood at age 10. Parents in the 70s were doing their own thing and didn’t censor nor dissect everything. If you saw boobs in a movie, you saw boobs. No big deal. Anderson Cooper saw a bare chested actor. He didn’t see a hardcore gay porn film. His sophisticated mom had her gay friends take her son to a Broadway play. Just another night for that family. No one blinked an eye. Life was life. Now a 17 year old has a tracking program on their phones. In the 1970s you knew you had to be home when the street lights turned on. Your parents weren’t spying on what you were doing. You had to take responsibility for yourself… or else."
This is true. I grew up in the 70s, too. Our generation was trusted more (than the kids of today) and had more responsibilities. I think that made us more mature than the younger kids of today.
#7Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/26/22 at 10:56pm
thedrybandit said: "Brody, I gotta ask. You're aware that the kids growing up in the 70's are the ones that now have tracking programs on their 17 year old kids phones, right? Kids are still aware of the world, parenting styles have just changed."
I disagree with this. The kids growing up in the 70s are now in their 50s (like myself and Anderson Cooper). Most of our generation had children born in the 90s, so our off-spring is now in their late 20s and early 30s, if not a little older.
I believe the generation who were born in the late 80s and grew up in the 90s now have kids who are 17.
verywellthensigh
Broadway Star Joined: 6/14/22
#8Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/27/22 at 10:04am
Gere made us ALL gay in the eighties.
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#9Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/27/22 at 10:15am
FYI: both Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen didn’t adopt their children. They are both the biological fathers of their children. They used a surrogate. THAT’S the simple reason why their children look like them.
#10Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/27/22 at 7:51pm
I saw that production. I don’t remember much about it, but I don’t think there was nudity. That I would remember.
#11Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/27/22 at 10:48pm
Maybe people are conflating it with his unexpected full frontal nudity in American Gigolo later? I hadn’t realized how much of a cultural moment Gere hanging dong had been until You Must Remember This did an episode about it.
#12Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/27/22 at 11:03pm
I don’t know who Gere played but Wolf is completely naked in the production. Also, while it’s not porn, it does have a sexually explicit verbal exchange between the two men in the camp.
The 70s were a different time for parents for sure. Also I’m sure Gloria wanted her son exposed to all types of art and culture.
#13Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/27/22 at 11:32pm
Richard Gere was Max, James Remar was Wolf
https://playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-aea2-d936-a7fd-eef607da0003&type=op#cc
#14Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/28/22 at 12:47pm
quizking101 said: "Richard Gere was Max, James Remar was Wolf
https://playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-aea2-d936-a7fd-eef607da0003&type=op#cc"
Was Remar the actor who opened the play by getting out of bed next to Gere fully naked ? I probably wouldn't have been able to follow the story myself, after that.
#15Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/28/22 at 9:20pm
people need to recognize that Michael Gross - who would go on to greater fame as “Steven Keaton” on “Family Ties” originated the role of drag queen “Greta” in this original 1979 Broadway production.
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#16Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/29/22 at 4:31pm
Michael Gross, David Marshall Grant, and Richard Gere in the original 1979 Broadway production of BENT:
#17Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/29/22 at 6:35pm
BrodyFosse123 said: "Michael Gross, David Marshall Grant, and Richard Gere in the original 1979 Broadway production of BENT:
Thank you Brody for the visuals.
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#18Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/29/22 at 6:54pm
You’re quite welcome. I’m still a condescending know-it-all pr**k, but I still share the goods. 1 outta 2 ain’t so bad.
Jarethan
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
#19Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/29/22 at 7:00pm
uncageg said: "I saw that production. I think Gere was also naked in it. Have a playbill he signed. I remember we had to send them in through the stage door and wait for them. Gere did not come out and sign or greet fans afterwards."
Gere was not; James Ramar was. I saw the production also. It was really excellent. David Duke should have won the Tony as Gere’s fellow prisoner / love interest.
#20Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/30/22 at 3:20am
For me it was Looking For Mr Goodbar. The scene they filmed on the UWS in the bar on 64th street with the pinball machine. Genre was so sexy……
#21Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/30/22 at 10:59am
For me, it was his movie "Breathless" in 1983. I've never seen a sexier performance.
#22Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/30/22 at 7:37pm
BrodyFosse123 said: "You’re quite welcome. I’m still a condescending know-it-all pr**k, but I still share the goods. 1 outta 2 ain’t so bad. "
It's a love/hate thing with you. Like Jake and Heath in "Brokeback Mountain". I can't quit you.
#23Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 6/30/22 at 9:04pm
For me, it was seeing Barrymore in 1922. Those tights...
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#24Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 7/1/22 at 10:48am
Well, it can't be seeing Leonard Whiting's ass in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet for EVERY gay man of his generation.
#25Anderson Cooper says seeing Richard Gere shirtless in
Posted: 7/1/22 at 4:56pm
henrikegerman said: "Well, it can't be seeing Leonard Whiting's ass in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet for EVERY gay man of his generation."
Was that who did it for you? Leonard Whiting’s buttocks in Zeffirelli’s “Romeo & Juliet”?
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