MOVIES - June 9, 1987

Richard Gere joined Buddhist monks and members of the nation’s tiny Tibetan community in Bloomington, Ind., to dedicate a shrine in memory of the more than 1 million Tibetans who have died since China’s takeover of their homeland. Gere told the crowd--which included hundreds of curious Bloomington residents--that his interest in Tibet dates from a trek in the mountains of Nepal in 1978, during which he came across a group of desperately poor Tibetan refugees selling their belongings for food. He said his contact with Tibetans has been inspirational. “As an American . . . one finds one’s heart being opened when one is around these people who are so continually open,” Gere said.