The beautiful first man Richard Chamberlain, who became important in the medical series of the 1960s “Dr Kildare”, then became king of mini-series with superproductions of notes such as “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds”, died. He was 90 years old.
Chamberlain’s death was confirmed to Variety by the publicist Harlan Boll. The actor died on Saturday March 29 at 11:15 p.m. Hawai’i time in Waimanalo, Hawai’i, complications after a stroke, according to Boll.
“Our beloved Richard is now with the angels,” said Martin Rabbett, a longtime partner of Chamberlain, in a press release. “He is free and soaring for these relatives in front of us. What was the chance to have had such an incredible and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him at his next great adventure. ”
The looks in the morning All-American de Chamberlain sometimes stood on her acting career until he was made on himself in a very rented production of “Hamlet” and other Shakespearian turns. It was not enough, however, to propel it to an important career on the big screen. He played in several notable films, including “Petulia”, “The Three Musketeers”, “The Music Lovers” and “The Last Wave” by Peter Weir. But his strong point continued to be the small screen, where he played everyone from the Edward VIII of England and the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald at the hero of the Second World War Raoul Wallenberg.
During his years as Dr Kildare, Chamberlain has also had a brief success as a recording artist, mainly romantic walks. He also used his vocal capacities on television varieties and on stage programs, notably in the revival of Broadway in 1993 of “My Fair Lady”.
But he is best known as the ambitious Australian priest in the adaptation of the TV mini-series with a high assessment of the Roman novel by Colleen McCullough “The Thorn Birds”.
“Shogun”, based on James Clavell’s novel, was also a solid mini-series vehicle for Chamberlain in 1980. Following these successes, he ordered the best dollar for his television services until 1996 at “The Thorn Birds”, entitled “The Missing Years”. The latter was both a critical and public disappointment.
MGM put young Chamberlain under contract in the early 1960s and attributed the role of Dr Kildare, based on the popular film series that had played Lew Ayres. The one-hour medical drama, Co-Avet Raymond Massey, made his debut in the fall of 1961 and was an immediate success in 1966.
The beautiful appearance and the easy way to Chamberlain and in an easy way have made him an instant idol. He used his status to transform himself into a minor recording career with the 1962 release of “Richard Chamberlain Sings” and later “The theme of Dr Kildare”. He also appeared on the soundtracks of “Twilight of Honor” and “Joy in the Morning”, two characteristics of MGM soap opera in which he played in the early 1960s.
Shortly after “Dr. Kildare” finished his race, Chamberlain struck in different directions. He resumed his acting studies and won a main role in the Broadway musical drama “Holly Golightly”, based on “Breakfast of Truman Capot at Tiffany”. Despite a valiant work outside the city, tortured production, with Mary Tyler Moore in the title role, closed before her opening. He tried other stage roles in actions such as “The Philadelphia Story” and “Private Lives”.
For a certain time, he moved to England and continued his studies, making his debut in the title role of “Hamlet” in 1970 at the Birmingham representative in surprisingly good opinions; He was the first American to try the Danish disturbed on British soil since John Barrymore four decades before. Chamberlain then transferred performance to television. He also took up other theatrical challenges such as Richard II, Cyrano de Bergerac, “The Night of the Iguana” by Tennessee Williams “and” Fathers et fils “by Thomas Babe, drawing theater appointments for these last two. In the late 1960s, he also played in an adaptation of the BBC of “The Portrait of a Lady” and for director Richard Lester in the classic of the film “Petulia” with Julie Christie and George C. Scott.
Still in England, he played Tchaikovsky in the overheated biography of Ken Russell “The Music Lovers”. In 1973, he won the role of Lord Byron in a production of poorly received feature films of “Lady Caroline Lamb”, and Lester interpreted him as Aramis in “The Three Musketeers”; Chamberlain would later appear in the two suites of the film.
Also in the mid-1970s, Peter Weir sank Chamberlain in his hallucination and apocalyptic “The Last Wave”, and the actor was part of the All-Star range of the Epic catastrophe “The Dotting Inferno”. He also appeared in the disaster film “The Swarm” and the Cinderella tale “The Slipper and the Rose”.
Thanks to his continuous appeal to the television public, he conducted the main role in “The Woman I Love” (playing King Edward VIII in front of Wallis Simpson by Faye Dunaway). This 1972 bioddrama, which was broadcast on ABC only a few months after Edward’s death, was so controversial that it was prohibited in the United Kingdom in the mid-1970s, “F. Scott Fitzgerald and the last name of Belle”.
In 1978, he played in a PBS adaptation of the Tchhovian comedy of Neil Simon “The Good Doctor” and was one of the tracks of the epic mini-series of NBC “Centennial”.
The revolutionary historical mini-series of NBC “Shogun”, in which Chamberlain played in 1980, was one of the best rated programs in the history of the network. The show won an EMMY for an exceptional limited series and an appointment for the actor; Chamberlain won a Golden Globe for the best actor in a television drama for “Shogun”.
His success with “Shogun” led to play roles in more weight prices, notably “Cook and Peary: The Race To The Pole”, “Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story” (another name by Emmy), “Night of the Hunter” and “Casanova”. There was also an ABC Miniseries 1988 version of “The Bourne Identity” in which Chamberlain played Jason Bourne. But none of these efforts could compete with the scandalous of 1983 “The Thorn Birds”, in which Chamberlain played a priest who has a liaison with a beautiful woman. Despite or because of the controversy, “The Thorn Birds” became what was then the second best rated mini-series in history after “Roots”, and Chamberlain collected another name from Emmy and won a Golden Globe for the best actor of a mini-series or a film for television.
The mini-series briefly revived Chamberlain’s film career: he played in a remake of “King Solomon’s Mines” and the suite “Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold”. But above all, he worked on television thereafter with such brilliant productions such as “The Lost Daughter”, “test of the Arctic”, “all the winters that were” and “Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke” of 1999, in which he played with Lauren Bacall. There was also the bad suite of “Thorn Birds” from 1996 “The Missing Years”.
Chamberlain also worked frequently on stage, returning to Broadway for a revival in 1987 of “Blithe Spirit” by Noel Coward; Shot in “My Fair Lady” as Henry Higgins and landed on Broadway with this 1993 revival; And was a substitute as Captain Von Trapp in a revival of Rialto of “The Sound of Music”, with the musical afterwards. In addition, he toured in 2005 in the title role of “Scrooge: The Musical” and in 2008 and 2009 as King Arthur in “Monty Python’s Spamalot”.
At the end of the 1980s, he moved to Hawai’i and, except to return to the continent for work, lived there mainly and painted. He played again as a doctor in “Island Son”, a brief 1989-90 series that was shot in Hawai’i and was his idea.
During the 2000s, the actor encouraged a variety of television shows, notably “touched by an angel”, “The Drew Carey Show”, “Will and Grace”, “Nip / Tuck” and “Desperate Housewives”. He also played a recurring role in ABC’s “brothers and sisters”. The actor appeared in support roles in several films during the period, including “I now pronounce Chuck and Larry”.
In the spring of 2012, Chamberlain appeared as Dr. Sloper in the play “The Heiress” at the Pasadena Playhouse, and this summer, he played with Brooke Shields in an adaptation on stage of “The Exorcist” to the Geffen Playhouse. In 2014, it appeared off Broadway in a revival of the 1971 play by David Rabe “Sticks and Bones”. The New York Times said that Chamberlain “has only about 20 minutes of stage time, but it is long enough to have a strong impact – in its New York Times review, Ben Brantley noted the” wonderfully creamy performance “by Mr. Chamberlain”.
In 2017, Chamberlain appeared in an episode of the renewal of David Lynch of “Twin Peaks” as Bill Kennedy. He portrayed Dr. Leener in the horror film “Nightmare Cinema” (2018) and made a role in the 2019 film “Finding Julia”. He was also presented in a scene of the 2021 drama “Echoes of the Past”, which he filmed in Patmos, Greece, alongside Max von Sydow.
Born George Richard Chamberlain in Los Angeles on March 31, 1934, he attended Beverly Hills High and later the Pomona College, where he obtained an art diploma. After a two -year passage in the army, stationed in Korea in the mid -1950s, Chamberlain returned to Los Angeles, where he studied theater and the guest played in television series such as “Bourbon Street”, “M. Lucky “,” Thriller “,” Alfred Hitchcock presents “and” Gunsmoke “.
He made his debut in a cheap 1960 horror, “Secret of the Purple Reef”. His first major studio film was “A Thunder of Drums” by MGM. Thanks to a former secondary classmate, George Le Maire, he was tested for a MGM television series, “The Paradise Kid”. He obtained the role but the idea of the series was abandoned. Soon, however, came an MGM and “Dr Kildare” contract.
The autobiography of Chamberlain, “Shattered Love: A Memoir”, was published in 2003. In addition to his game, singing and painting, Chamberlain defended the ecological causes, including lobbying in Sacramento, California and Washington, DC, to save the Tuolumne river, which comes from Yosemite National Park in California. His efforts have helped put the river under the protection of the national and picturesque rivers of the United States.
Chamberlain spent decades in a relationship with the producer-chief editor Martin Rabbett, with whom he appeared in “Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold”, but it was not clear if they remained together after Chamberlain returned to Los Angeles in 2010. According to Boll, Rabbett was the “partner of the old and the best friend of Chamberlain”.
The funeral services for Chamberlain have not been announced. Instead of flowers, donations in his name are invited to NPR or to Hawaiian human society.
