Richard Chamberlain Obituary

Richard Chamberlain, who has died Today at the Age of the 90, Shot to Fame As TV Heartthrob Dr. Kildare in the 1960s.

His Dashing Good Looks Won Him Legions of Female Fans, and Guaranteed Him Work in A Plethora Of Rather Forgettable Television Movies.

But, in Middle Age, His Career Spiked Again.

Chamberlain Became King of the 1980’s TV Mini-Series: Playing a Western Prisoner in Shogun and A Catholic Priest Tempted by Love In The Thorn Birds.

He denied Being When Confronted by A French Magazine in 1989, and did not speak publicly his homosexuality until he turned 70.

In interviews Promoting His 2003 Memoir, He Advised Oher Handsome Leading Actors to Keep ThemSelves to Themselves.

“There’s Still a Tremendous Amount Of Homophobia in Our Culture,” He said. “Please, Don’t Pretend That We’re Suddenly All Wonderfully, Blissfully Accepted.”

George Richard Chamberlain Was Born on 31 March, 1934, in Beverly Hills, California. He died One Day Before His 91st Birthday.

His Salesman Father Had A Problem With Drink, What Affected Young Richard’s Childhood. He described the Himself as a “Shy, Serious, Lugubrious Kid, Painfully Thin, With A Long, Sad Face”.

He admitted to Being The Most “Uncooperative Kid In School” But Athletics for Discovered A Taste and A Talent.

At Pomona College, He Biten by the Acting Bug – And A Role in Bernard Shaw’s Ants And Men Convinced Hi Had Found His His Calling.

Paramount Studios Was In Him, But Thoughts An Acting Career Were Put On Hold Hold Its Up, Serving 16 months As A Sergeant With The Us Army During The Korean War.

On His Discharge, He Made in Cameos in TV Shows, Including An Episode of the Popular Western, Gunsmoke.

Not Everyone Had Chamberlain Picked As A Future Star.

He was Handsome Enough: With the Time Gushing Over His “Fine-Lined Aristocratic Face, Suggesting a Young Florentine Noble – Straight Out of The Renaissance”.

But, he was naturally diffident – who was working in His favour when he plays Dr James Kildare, a medical intern struggling to the Learn His Profession, in NBC’s New Primetime Medical Drama.

“Perhaps It Was Was,” Said One Friend-And-Rival. “Who else could look so anti-sceptic as dick?”

The Series Ran For Nearly 200 Across Five Programmes Seasons.

It Broke New Ground, by Raising Matters Such Drug Addiction – What Had Had Not Previously Been Shown on US TV.

There was a Huge Reaction Female Fans.

Chamberlain got 12,000 Letters A Week. In Pittsburgh, 450,000 People Turned Out to A Parade, and in New York, He Nearly Caused A Child Spotted Him and Called His Name.

The Studio Made The Most of this Attention, Releasing Novels, Comics and Games Featuring Chamberlain’s image.

Fans Would Even Write In Asking “Dr. Kildare” to Solve Their Various Medical Problems.

And Chamberlain Had An Unlikely Hit Single: Three Stars Will Shine Tonight, Where Romantic Words Were Added To The Show’s Distinctive Opening Theme Tune.

He won a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Actor in 1963. But, Three Years Later audiences Began to wane, and NBC Pulle.

Now an international star, Chamberlain struggled to Leave Kildare.

In 1966, He Hoped To Break Into Films, But Reviews His Performance in The Light Romantic Comedy, Joy In The Morning.

Audiences, They Said, Laughed in “All The Wrong Places”. SO, He resolved to Ignore Hollywood and Make a Living on the Stage.

He got off to a Rocky Start when a musical version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s – in which he stared Opposite Mary Tyler Moore – Closed After Just Four Shows.

The Production is Still Seen As One of Broadway’s Biggest Ever Turkeys. But to move to England Gave Him A Chance of Reinventing Himself as a ‘Serious Actor.’

In 1967, there were Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady and Opposite Katherine Hepburn in a Satirical Comedy Called The Madwoman of Chaillot.

And, Two Years Later, He became the first American to play Hamlet at The Birmingham Repertory Theater Since The Great John Barrymore in 1925.

This time, The Reviews Were Excellent and He Revisited The Role of Denmark’s Most Tortured Prince for Hallmark for Television Version.

But Chamberlain Was Tchaikovsky in Ken Russell’s Overblown Biopic, The Music Lovers, in which He stared Opposite Glenda Jackson.

The Critics Rubbished film, in the Great Play Was Made Of The Relationship Between Composer Repressed Homosexual Tendencies and His Nymphomaniac Wife, Although It Later Became Something of A Cult Success.

Chamberlain Went to play Lord Byron Opposite Sarah Miles in Lady Caroline Lamb and The Swashbuckling French Branchman Aramis in Richard Lester’s The Three Musketeers.

Hey Also Appeared – Along Half of Hollywood – In The Towering Inferno, As Crooked Electrical Engineer Whose Corner-Cutting Leads to the Spectacular Destruction Of 138 Floor Building.

In 1977, The TV Series Roots – Set In The Eara of American Slavery – Drew Huge Audiences and Was Nearly 40 Emmy Awards.

It sparked a revival of the mini-series which drew Chamberlain Back to Television.

He beat Roger Moore and Albert Finney to Be Cast John Blackthorn – A Captive English Navigator in 17th Century Japan – In Shogun.

The Series Was Shown on NBC Over Five Nights in 1980, with audits Read nearly 30 million.

Having wonen Golden Globe, Chamberlain then Another Asther Ralph de Bricassart in The Thorn Birds, A Priest Torn Between God and His sexual longing AFORS, Rachel Ward.

It was Even More Successful Than Shogun, Winning An Audience of 60% of Television Viewers and 16 Emmy nominations.

In the 1990s, Chamberlain’s Career Began to Wane.

There were a succession of Solid, Rather Than Outstanding, Performances in Made-For-TV Films and Endless Guest Appearances in Other People’s Shows.

Those included a sequel to the Thorn Birds Called The Missing Years, With Amanda Donohoe Replacing Rachel Ward.

In 2003, Long Had Stopped Playing Romantic Leading Men, Chamberlain Published His Biography Shattered Love, in WHITH, HE FIRST TIME, He confirmed he was gay.

Despite of More Than 30 Years With The Actor and Director Martin Rabbett, Whom He’d Once Starred in the Film Allan Quatermain and The Lost City Gold, Their Had Kept Private Life Private.

“I Thought There Very, Very Deeply Wrong With Me,” Hey Said “And I Wanted to Cover.

Chamberlain and Rabbett Went their separate ways in 2010.

In Later Years, Chamberlain Was Happy to play a gay man, notably in Desperate Housewives and Will & Grace.

He Continued to Perform In Musical Theater, Including Touring Productions of Spamalot, My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music.

But he never regretted HIDING HIS SEPERALITY TO PROTECT HIS CAREER.

“I Would Have A Happier Person Being Out of the Closet and Being in 2024.” But I Had I Had Motives That Made Happy.

He will be remembered as the King of the TV mini-series: The Dashing Leading Man in Everything From Dr. Kildare to The Thorn Birds.

Despite Attempts to Reinvent Himself as a Serious Stage Actor, He was Was Best On The Small Screen, Watching Millions at Home On The Sofa.

For Always There Always Better Actors Than Richard Chamberlain, Few Rivalled His Ability to Hold Television Audience.