Acting heart-throb Richard Chamberlain, star of 1980s version of Shogun, dies at age 90

NEW YORK – Richard Chamberlain, the Emmy-nominated actor and 1960s heart-throb who rocketed to fame in the TV medical drama Dr Kildare and starred in the miniseries Shogun and The Thorn Birds, has died at the age of 90, publicist Harlan Boll said.

The star died late on March 29 in Hawaii from complications from a stroke, Mr Boll said in a statement on March 30.

Chamberlain was an instant hit and became a teen idol as the handsome Dr James Kildare in the series that ran from 1961 to 1966. The Guardian newspaper said the then 27-year-old American actor “looked like he had been sculpted by a loving god out of butter, honey and grace”.

The breakout role was the start of a six-decade career that spanned theatre, film and television.

Chamberlain was dubbed the “king of the miniseries” after appearing in several TV dramas in the 1980s, and earned plaudits on stage in roles ranging from Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady to Captain von Trapp in The Sound Of Music to Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Richard II.

He was also the original Jason Bourne in the 1988 miniseries The Bourne Identity.

“What’s fascinating about Richard is that his range is enormous. His ability to be different each time out is what makes him such a valuable property,” producer Susan Baerwald told The New York Times in 1988.

Pretending to be someone else

The versatile actor was nominated for four Emmys – playing an English navigator in 17th-century Japan in Shogun (1981), a love-torn priest in The Thorn Birds (1983), Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg in Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story (1985) and the title role in the 1975 TV movie The Count Of Monte Cristo.

Most of his roles were as romantic leading men, which is why he did not publicly reveal that he was a homosexual until he was 68 years old. He feared it would ruin his career.

For much of his life, he said, he pretended to be someone else.

“When you grow up in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s being gay, it not only ain’t easy, it’s just impossible,” he told The New York Times in 2014. “I assumed there was something terribly wrong with me. And even becoming famous and all that, it was still there.”

Chamberlain said it was a tremendous relief after he acknowledged his sexuality in his 2003 autobiography Shattered Love: A Memoir.

“I had no fear left,” he said in a 2019 interview. “It was a wonderful experience. People were open, friendly and sweet.”

Honing his acting skills

Born George Richard Chamberlain on March 31, 1934, in Los Angeles, he was the younger of two sons. He had hoped to be an artist, but switched to acting after attending Pomona College in California.

His acting career was put on hold when he was drafted into the US Army in 1956 and served in Korea. After his discharge, he returned to Los Angeles, where he co-founded a theatre group and had small parts on TV before becoming Dr Kildare.

The success of the TV show led to a brief singing career and film roles opposite British actress Julie Christie in Petulia (1968) and The Madwoman Of Chaillot (1969) with American actress Katharine Hepburn. He had a brief run in the musical Breakfast At Tiffany’s with American actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show closed after four previews.

In the late 1960s, Chamberlain moved to England, where he honed his acting skills in the BBC series The Portrait Of A Lady and as Hamlet at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

“Dr Kildare was a huge hit in England, and I heard that all the London reviewers were coming to rip this interloper to pieces,” he said in an interview. “But we got very good reviews.”

He returned to the big screen as Lord Byron in the drama Lady Caroline Lamb (1972), The Three Musketeers (1973) and as a villain in the disaster film The Towering Inferno (1974).

Throughout his career, he mixed roles in Broadway plays, including Tennessee Williams’ The Night Of The Iguana, with musicals, TV and films.

After coming out publicly, he played both gay and straight characters in TV shows, including Brothers & Sisters (2006 to 2011), Will & Grace (1998 to 2020) and Desperate Housewives (2004 to 2012).

The actor released a book of haiku poetry in 2012 and narrated Audubon environmental television specials.

Chamberlain lived in Hawaii for many years and had a three-decade relationship with actor and writer Martin Rabbett, his co-star in the 1986 adventure film Allan Quatermain And The Lost City Of Gold. The couple parted in 2010 but remained close friends.

“He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul,” Rabbett said in a statement. REUTERS