Richard Chamberlain, who soared to fame as Dr. Kildare on TV and gained acclaim in 'Shogun,' dies
Richard Chamberlain, who soared to fame as the handsome young Dr.Kildare on television in the early 1960s and two decades later reignited his TV stardom as a seasoned leading man in the highly rated miniseries “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds,” has died.
He was 90.A Los Angeles native, Chamberlain died Saturday night in Waimanalo, Hawaii, of complications from a stroke, according to his publicist, Harlan Boll.“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 reported by Associated Press.
“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.”In a six-decade career that spanned television, movies and theater, Chamberlain played a wide variety of roles — including Hamlet and Professor Henry Higgins on stage and a swashbuckling French musketeer and a frontier America trapper on screen.“I need to do theater.If I don’t, I feel something is missing,” Chamberlain told The Times in 1984.
“But I love doing television and movies too.And I think I’ve shown that an actor can do all three.
“As I’ve said before, the fun in acting is playing different roles.If you’re just going to play one role all your life, you might as well be selling insurance.”Chamberlain was a virtual unknown with a limited number of TV guest shots and a low-budget movie to his credit when he was cast by MGM as Dr.
Kildare in the hour-long medical drama.As Dr.
James Kildare, an idealistic young intern at Blair General Hospital, Chamberlain starred opposite Raymond Massey as his wise medical mentor, Dr.Leonard Gillespie.“The series may be among the solid hits of the season,” predicted Cecil Smith, The Times’ late TV columnist, shortly after “Dr.
Kildare” made its debut in 1961.“Chamberlain is an agreeable, attractive young actor with great warmth; he...