RICHARD GERE - GERE URGES MEDIA TO HELP FIGHT AIDS

Oscar winner RICHARD GERE yesterday (14AUG06) told an AIDS conference that the international media should lead the fight to conquer the disease. The PRETTY WOMAN actor, a long-standing AIDS activist, was speaking to media moguls from South Africa, India, Russia and the Caribbean. Gere believes the media, from Bollywood through to each country's TV shows, can help filter the anti-AIDS message into homes around the world. He told the conference he was inspired by ROCK HUDSON, who died of the disease in 1985, and ELIZABETH TAYLOR, one of the first A-list stars to campaign against AIDS. Speaking about Taylor, Gere said, "There was another cultural icon, who just cut to the centre of the culture very quickly, very directly. "And I think it was in many ways an inspiration to me. What I would do later on is work with people who had that ability to cut through very quickly and very deeply into the heart of a culture."