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Richard Chamberlain, TV’s Dr. Kildare, ‘Shogun,’ ‘Thorn Birds’ Star,
Dies at 90
By Richard Natale
Handsome leading man Richard Chamberlain, who came to prominence in the
1960s medical series “Dr. Kildare” and then became king of the
miniseries with such ratings blockbusters as “Shogun” and “The Thorn
Birds,” has died. He was 90.
Chamberlain’s death was confirmed to Variety by publicist Harlan Boll.
The actor died Saturday, March 29 in Waimanalo, Hawai’i, of
complications following a stroke, according to Boll.
“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now,” Martin Rabbett,
Chamberlain’s longtime partner, said in a statement. “He is free and
soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known
such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under
his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.”
Chamberlain’s All-American matinee idol looks stood in the way of his
acting career at times until he proved himself onstage in a highly
lauded production of “Hamlet” and other Shakespearean turns. It was not
enough, however, to propel him to a major big-screen career. He starred
in several notable films including “Petulia,” “The Three Musketeers,”
“The Music Lovers” and Peter Weir’s “The Last Wave.” But his forte
continued to be the small screen, where he played everyone from
England’s Edward VIII and novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald to World War II
hero Raoul Wallenberg.
During his years as Dr. Kildare, Chamberlain also enjoyed brief success
as a recording artist, mostly romantic ballads. He also used his vocal
abilities on TV variety shows and onstage, most notably in the 1993
Broadway revival of “My Fair Lady.”
But he is best remembered as the ambitious Australian priest in the
high-rated TV miniseries adaptation of Colleen McCullough’s weighty
romance novel “The Thorn Birds.”
“Shogun,” based on James Clavell’s novel, was also a strong miniseries
vehicle for Chamberlain in 1980. In the wake of these successes, he
commanded top dollar for his television services through to 1996’s
sequel to “The Thorn Birds,” titled “The Missing Years.”
MGM put the young Chamberlain under contract in the early 1960s and
assigned him the role of Dr. Kildare, based on the popular film series
that had starred Lew Ayres. The hourlong medical drama, co-starring
Raymond Massey, debuted in fall 1961 and was an immediate hit, running
through 1966.
Chamberlain’s tall, clean-cut good looks and easy manner made him an
instant idol. He used his status to segue into a minor recording career
with the 1962 release of “Richard Chamberlain Sings” and later “The
Theme From Dr. Kildare.” He also appeared on the soundtracks of
“Twilight of Honor” and “Joy in the Morning,” two MGM soap opera
features in which he starred during the early ’60s.
Soon after “Dr. Kildare” ended its run, Chamberlain struck out in
different directions. He resumed his acting studies and landed a lead
role in the Broadway musical drama “Holly Golightly,” based on Truman
Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” but it closed before it opened.
For a time he moved to England and continued his studies, making his
debut in the title role of “Hamlet” in 1970 at the Birmingham Rep to
surprisingly good notices; he was the first American to attempt the
troubled Dane on British soil since John Barrymore four decades
previous. Chamberlain later transferred the performance to television.
He also tackled other theatrical challenges such as Richard II, Cyrano
de Bergerac, Tennessee Williams’ “The Night of the Iguana” and Thomas
Babe’s “Fathers and Sons,” drawing Drama Desk nominations for the latter
two. During the late ’60s he also starred in a BBC adaptation of “The
Portrait of a Lady” and for director Richard Lester in the film classic
“Petulia” with Julie Christie and George C. Scott.
Also in England he played Tchaikovsky in Ken Russell’s overheated
feature biography “The Music Lovers.” In 1973 he landed the role of Lord
Byron in a feature production of “Lady Caroline Lamb,” and Lester cast
him as Aramis in “The Three Musketeers”; Chamberlain would later appear
in the film’s two sequels.
Also in the mid-’70s, Peter Weir cast Chamberlain in his hallucinatory
and apocalyptic “The Last Wave,” and the actor was among the all-star
lineup of hit disaster epic “The Towering Inferno.” He also appeared in
disaster film “The Swarm” and Cinderella tale “The Slipper and the
Rose.”
Thanks to his continuing appeal to TV audiences, he copped the starring
role in “The Woman I Love” (playing King Edward VIII opposite Faye
Dunaway’s Wallis Simpson). This 1972 biodrama, which aired on ABC just a
few months after Edward’s death, was so controversial that it was banned
in the U.K. In the mid-’70s Chamberlain toplined a series of popular
television movies: “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “F. Scott Fitzgerald and
the Last of the Belles” and “The Man in the Iron Mask,” scoring his
first Emmy nomination for “Monte Cristo.”
In 1978 he starred in a PBS adaptation of Neil Simon’s Chekhovian comedy
“The Good Doctor” and was one of the leads in NBC’s epic miniseries
“Centennial.”
NBC’s taboo-breaking historical miniseries “Shogun,” in which
Chamberlain starred in 1980, was one of the highest-rated programs in
the network’s history. The show won an Emmy for outstanding limited
series and a nomination for the actor; Chamberlain won a Golden Globe
for best actor in a television drama for “Shogun.”
His success with “Shogun” led to starring roles in weightier fare
including “Cook and Peary: The Race to the Pole,” “Wallenberg: A Hero’s
Story” (another Emmy nom), “Night of the Hunter” and “Casanova.” There
was also a 1988 ABC miniseries version of “The Bourne Identity” in which
Chamberlain played Jason Bourne. But none of these efforts could compete
with 1983’s scandalous “The Thorn Birds,” in which Chamberlain played a
priest who has an affair with a beautiful woman. Despite or because of
the controversy, “The Thorn Birds” became what was then the second
highest rated miniseries in history after “Roots,” and Chamberlain
collected another Emmy nom and won a Golden Globe for best actor in a
miniseries or motion picture for TV.
The miniseries briefly revived Chamberlain’s movie career: He starred in
a remake of “King Solomon’s Mines” and sequel “Allan Quatermain and the
Lost City of Gold.” But mostly he worked in TV thereafter with such
high-gloss productions as “The Lost Daughter,” “Ordeal of the Arctic,”
“All the Winters That Have Been” and 1999’s “Too Rich: The Secret Life
of Doris Duke,” in which he starred with Lauren Bacall. There was also
the ill-advised 1996 “Thorn Birds” sequel “The Missing Years.”
Chamberlain also worked frequently onstage, returning to Broadway for a
1987 revival of Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit”; toured in “My Fair Lady”
as Henry Higgins and landed on Broadway with that 1993 revival; and was
a substitute as Captain Von Trapp in a Rialto revival of “The Sound of
Music,” with the musical subsequently touring. 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.”
In the late ’80s he moved to Hawai’i and, except to return to the
mainland for work, mostly lived there and painted. He starred as a
doctor again in “Island Son,” a brief 1989-90 series that was shot in
Hawai’i and was his idea.
During the 2000s the actor guested on a variety of TV shows, including
“Touched by an Angel,” “The Drew Carey Show,” “Will and Grace,”
“Nip/Tuck” and “Desperate Housewives.” He also had a recurring role on
ABC’s “Brothers and Sisters.” The actor appeared in supporting roles in
several films during the period including “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and
Larry.”
In the spring of 2012 Chamberlain appeared as Dr. Sloper in the play
“The Heiress” at the Pasadena Playhouse, and that summer he starred with
Brooke Shields in a stage adaptation of “The Exorcist” at the Geffen
Playhouse. In 2014 he appeared Off Broadway in a revival of David Rabe’s
1971 play “Sticks and Bones.” The New York Times said Chamberlain “has
only about 20 minutes of stage time, but it’s long enough to make a
strong impact — in his New York Times review, Ben Brantley noted Mr.
Chamberlain’s ‘wonderfully unctuous performance.’”
In 2017, Chamberlain appeared in an episode of David Lynch’s revival of
“Twin Peaks” as Bill Kennedy. He portrayed Dr. Leener in horror film
“Nightmare Cinema” (2018) and had a part in 2019 film “Finding Julia.”
He was also featured in one scene in 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 Pomona College, where he graduated
with a degree in art. After a two-year stint in the Army, stationed in
Korea in the mid-’50s, Chamberlain returned to Los Angeles, where he
studied acting and guest starred on such TV series as “Bourbon Street,”
“Mr. Lucky,” “Thriller,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “Gunsmoke.”
He made his feature debut in a 1960 horror cheapie, “Secret of the
Purple Reef.” His first major studio film was MGM’s “A Thunder of
Drums.” Through a former high school classmate, George Le Maire, he was
tested for an MGM TV series, “The Paradise Kid.” He got the part but the
series idea was scrapped. Soon, however, came an MGM contract and “Dr.
Kildare.”
Chamberlain’s autobiography, “Shattered Love: A Memoir,” was published
in 2003. In addition to his acting, singing and painting, Chamberlain
championed ecological causes including lobbying in Sacramento,
California, and Washington, D.C., to save the Tuolumne River, which
originates in Yosemite National Park in California. His efforts helped
put the river under the protection of the U.S.’s National Wild and
Scenic Rivers System.
Chamberlain spent decades in a relationship with actor-writer-producer
Martin Rabbett, with whom he appeared in “Allan Quatermain and the Lost
City of Gold,” but it was unclear whether they remained together after
Chamberlain had returned to Los Angeles in 2010. According to Boll,
Rabbett was Chamberlain’s “lifelong partner and best friend.”
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