The American actor and producer will receive Spain's highest award for an international filmmaker on February 8th in Granada “for his extraordinary contribution to the art of cinema, starring in some of the most iconic films in the history of cinema, and for his personal and professional social commitment.

Richard Gere will meet with the media on February 7th in the Andalusian city

Days of Heaven, Officer and a Gentleman, American Gigolo, The Cotton Club, Pretty Woman, and the musical Chicago, for which he won the Golden Globe, are just some of the many titles inextricably linked to Richard Gere, in the memory and emotions of viewers around the world in recent decades.

World-renowned, the committed American actor and producer will be recognized with the fourth International Goya Award in history. Created to recognize personalities who contribute to cinema as an art that unites cultures and viewers around the world, he has been awarded “for his extraordinary contribution to the art of cinema, starring in some of the most iconic films in the history of cinema, and his social commitment, personally and professionally, developed over many decades.

With an undeniable attractiveness that he has displayed in his numerous appearances on the big screen, Gere has been acting for five decades and will collect the International Goya Award in the year that marks the 50th anniversary of his debut on the big screen.

Terrence Malick –photographed by the legendary Spanish cinematographer Néstor Almendros–, Francis Ford Coppola, John Schlesinger, Robert Altman, Paul Schrader, Richard Brooks, Lasse Hallström, Mike Figgis, Todd Haynes, Rob Marshall, Mira Nair and Jerry Zucker are some of the directors who make up the filmography of the star of Days of Heaven, Beyond the Limit, No Mercy, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Hachiko, Internal Affairs, Mr. Jones, First Knight, The Jackal, The Hoax, I'm Not There, The Flock, Amelia and Brooklyn's Finest. Gere was born in Philadelphia 75 years ago and grew up in a small town in Upstate New York.

Julia Roberts (with whom he filmed the now classic Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride), Kim Bassinger (Internal Affairs and Final Analysis), Jodie Foster (Sommersby), Winona Ryder (Autumn in New York), Susan Sarandon (Shall We Dance? and Arbitrage), 

Diane Keaton (Looking for Mr. Goodbar), Diane Lane (The Cotton Club, Unfaithful and Nights in Rodanthe) and Uma Thurman (Final Analysis and the recently released Oh, Canada) have been some of the film co-stars of Gere, who received the Donostia Award at the San Sebastian Festival in 2007.