Legendary TV star Richard Chamberlain, known as the “king of the miniseries,” has died at the age of 90. Chamberlain burst on the scene at 27 as the star of “Dr. Kildare,” which was an instant success and ran from 1960 to 1966. Late on Saturday night, jus two days shy of his 91st birthday, Chamberlain succumbed to complications from a stroke near his home in Hawaii, according to his publicist Harlan Boll.
After his breakout success starring the heartthrob Dr. Kildare, Chamberlain stayed busy with a number of roles in theater and film throughout the ‘70s, including an uncharacteristic turn as the villain of hit disaster film “The Towering Inferno” in 1974. He earned his moniker as he found success in the then-novel format of the television miniseries, starting with 1980’s “Shogun,” where he portrayed the shipwrecked English navigator John Blackthorne. He would follow that up with “The Thorn Birds,” where he worked alongside Rachel Ward, portraying a priest torn between his spiritual calling and romantic passion. Three of the “Thorn Birds’” four episodes remain among the ten most watched TV episodes of all time.
Chamberlain was gay, a fact which he concealed for most of his career, coming out in 2003 at the age of 68. “I had to do some clever footwork,” he told TV Insider in an interview last year, recalling the difficulties of protecting his private life. “But I had some really great [female] friends, and we would appear at events and that sort of thing.” Chamberlain remained acutely aware of the professional consequences of being gay, especially early on in his career. “I had to be very guarded about all that during my career as a romantic leading man.” He recounted his experiences in his memoir, Shattered Love.
Chamberlain is immortalized with the impressive variety of roles he took on in his decades-spanning career, but in his twilight years, he did not cling to them as the core of his identity as a person. “That’s really none of my business,” he said when asked what he would like to be remembered for last year. “If people want to remember some of the things I’ve done, that would be nice. But the big stuff was some time ago. I’d just like to be remembered as a reasonably nice guy with a sense of humor.”
