Gary Stretch: biography and filmography

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

Gary Stretch is an English professional boxer, actor, producer, screenwriter, director and model. In the nineties of the last century, he was one of the brightest athletes in the UK, after completing his sports career, he began a successful career as an actor, was nominated for the prestigious BIFA award. Worked three times with Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone.

Childhood and youth

Gary Stretch was born on November 4, 1965 in St. Helens, Lancashire. Father worked as a plumber. At a young age, he became interested in boxing and won many youth competitions.

Sports career

In 1985, Gary Stretch began his career as a professional boxer. In 1988 he won the British junior middleweight championship. After that, he won the international title, the WBC champion belt. The fight for the title with Ramon Angel Allegre took place on February 14, 1990 and was later dubbed by the press as the Valentine's Day Massacre in honor of the famous film.

In 1991, he fought for the WBO world title with boxer Chris Eubank. The fight wasstopped by the referee, and the victory was awarded to Gary Stretch's opponent, however, at the time of the stoppage, he was the leader in points according to all three judges.

Stretch had one more fight and ended his professional career. For all the time he got 29 wins and suffered one defeat.

Throughout his sports career, Gary Stretch was considered one of the most media boxers in the world, as a model he collaborated with the world famous brands Versace and Calvin Klein.

Acting work

After the end of his career as a boxer, Gary began acting in various British TV series and feature films. A real breakthrough for him was the role of the main villain in the low-budget thriller Dead Man's Shoes. Filmed in three weeks, the film became an independent film hit and a critical darling. It performed poorly at the box office, but subsequently gained a cult status and even entered the rating of the best films in history according to the authoritative British magazine Empire. Gary Stretch himself received a British Independent Film Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2004, the actor starred in a minor role in the historical epic of the famous director Oliver Stone "Alexander", where Hollywood stars Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie became his on-screen partners. After that, Gary took part in two more films directed by the director - "Twin Towers" and "Savages". Also among the feature films with Gary Stretch you cannote the comedy "Free Bird" and the horror film "Dead Water".

Also, Stretch has produced, directed and written several documentaries. In recent years, he increasingly prefers to work behind the scenes, even acted as a cameraman several times, practically stopped working as an actor.

Private life

In the nineties, Gary Stretch's personal life was the subject of close attention of the British media. His most notable romance of those times was his relationship with actress Raquel Welch, a sex symbol of the sixties, whose children were older than Gary.

From 1998 to 2001 he was married to Puerto Rican-born actress Rosalyn Sanchez, best known for her role in the TV series Devious Maids. No children.