Richard Chamberlain dying: Dr Kildare and Shogun actor dies, aged 90
Richard Chamberlain, the actor who appeared in Dr Kildare and Shogun, has died, aged 90.
The screen and stage star died in Waimanalo, Hawaii on Saturday, March 29 of complications following a stroke, his publicist Harlan Boll confirmed to Variety.
Chamberlain’s long term partner, Martin Rabbett, said in a statement: “Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. 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 starred in several notable films , including Richard Lester’s 1968 drama Petulia as well as his 1973 action film The Three Musketeers. The actor also appared in Ken Russell’s The Music Lovers, as well as Peter Weir’s The Last Wave .
However, Chamberlain found his greatest success on the small screen, where he played notable figures, including Edward VIII in The Woman I Love, F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Last of the Belles and World War II hero Raoul Wallenberg in Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story.
During his time starring in Dr. Kildare, Chamberlain also achieved musical success singing love songs, including “Love Me Tender” and “All I Have to Do is Dream”.
He further displayed his musical talents in onstage roles, such as the 1993 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady, in which he starred as Henry Higgins and later featured in productions of The Sound of Music, Scrooge: The Musical , as well as Monty Python’s Spamalot.
The star won a Golden Globe for best actor in the 1980 series Shogun, which was one of the highest-rated programmes in NBC’s history. This success led to other weightier roles, including Cook and Peary: The Race to the Pole, Night of the Hunter, Casanova, and Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story, which earned him an Emmy nomination.
However, Chamberlain is best known for starring as the Australian priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart, in the TV series adaptation of Colleen McCullough’s novel The Thorn Birds and its sequel The Missing Years.
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Chamberlain moved to Hawaii in the late Eighties, returning to America for work. Throughout the 2000s he guest starred in a variety of shows, including Will and Grace, Desperate Housewives and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. He also featured in the horror film Nightmare Cinema in 2018, Finding Julia in 2019 and Echoes of the Past in 2021.
Born George Richard Chamberlain in Los Angeles on March 31, 1934, the actor attended Beverly Hills High before Pomona College, where he graduated with a degree in art.
After two years in the army, stationed in Korea in the Fifties, Chamberlain returned to Lose Angeles where he guest starred in a host of TV series before landing his MGM contract for Dr. Kildare in 1961.
The actor was in a relationship with Rabbett for decades, who Boll described as Chamberlain’s “lifelong partner and best friend”.
Chamberlain wrote in his 2003 autobiography Shattered Love: A Memoir that it had been a huge relief after he acknowledged his sexuality.
“I had no fear left,” he said in an interview in 2019. “It was a wonderful experience. People were open, friendly and sweet.”
Fans were quick to share tributes to the actor online, with one person writing on X/Twitter: “RIP Richard Chamberlain. Had the hugest crush on you after [The]Thorn Birds (no, not into priests) may you soar up in heaven with all the other greats we have lost.”
Meanwhile, another person added: “Mr Chamberlain had many great roles, and is probably best remembered for The Thorn Birds or Shogun …but he’ll always be Dr Kildare to me.”
