Richard Chamberlain, the veteran actor who charmed audiences in “Dr. Kildare” and several successful miniseries, died Saturday night. He was 90.
Chamberlain died of complications following a stroke, according to his publicist, Harlan Boll. He was at home in Waimanalo, Hawaii.
“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us,” Martin Rabbett, his lifelong partner, said in a statement. “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 first endeared himself to audiences as the titular physician in “Dr. Kildare,” which debuted in 1961 and aired on ABC until 1966. With his dashing good looks, Chamberlain and the network were soon flooded with fan mail.
By the mid-1980s, Chamberlain made a name for himself as the king of the miniseries — the New York Times dubbed him the “Robert Redford of the living room. He starred in acclaimed productions such as “Centennial,” “Shogun,” “The Thorn Birds” and “Dream West.”
“It’s such a funny medium,” he told the Times in 1988. “An arrogant or intellectual person can’t work as the leading character, although arrogance can work wonderfully for a number of parts.”
In 2003, Chamberlain came out as gay in his autobiography, “Shattered Love.” He said people in the film and TV industry had known for years, but he never revealed his sexuality publicly.
Chamberlain and Rabbett were romantic partners from 1977 until 2010, and they remained good friends afterward.
“We don’t live together anymore, and we’re much better friends than we’ve ever been,” he told the Times in 2014.
Richard Chamberlain (right) with Toshiro Mifune in the 1980 TV miniseries ‘Shogun’. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
In the book, Chamberlain said he struggled for years with his sexuality, which was verboten in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. He was constantly asked marriage questions by the press and often gave a stock response: “Getting married would be great, but I’m awfully busy now.”
“When you grow up in the 30s, 40s and 50s being gay, it not only ain’t easy, it’s just impossible,” he told the Times in 2014. “I assumed there was something terribly wrong with me. And even becoming famous and all that, it was still there.”
The Hawaii residence where he enjoyed his final days was one of Chamberlain’s dreams, even though he grew up and often worked in Southern California. Even when he was still on top of the miniseries genre, about to be the first place to play Jason Bourne on screen, he was thinking of Hawaii.
”I don’t handle complexity very well,” he told the Times in 1988. ”I’m very simple-minded. It’s so simple in Hawaii, watching the sunset is the big event of the day.”
With News Wire Services
