By Patricia Reaney
NEW YORK – Richard Chamberlain, the Emmy-nominated actor and 1960s heartthrob who rocketed to fame in the TV medical drama “Dr. Kildare” and starred in the mini-series “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds” has died at the age of 90, publicist Harlan Boll said.
Chamberlain died late on Saturday in Hawaii from complications from a stroke, he said in a statement on Sunday.
Chamberlain was an instant hit, and became a teen idol, as the handsome Dr. James Kildare in the series that ran from 1961-1966. The Guardian newspaper said the then 27-year-old 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 theater, films and television.
Chamberlain was dubbed the “king of the mini-series” 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” and Captain von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” to Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Richard II.
He also was the original Jason Bourne in the 1988 mini-series “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.
The versatile actor was nominated for four Emmys — as 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 for 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 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 ’30s, ’40s and ’50s being gay, it’s 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.”
Born George Richard Chamberlain on March 31, 1934, in Los Angeles, he was the youngest of two sons.
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.
