On the big screen, Chamberlain played Julie Christie’s brutal husband in Richard Lester’s Petulia (1968), the woman-loving Aramis in a trio of Three Musketeers films and the fortune hunter Allan Quatermain opposite Sharon Stone in King Solomon’s Mines (1985) and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1986). Chamberlain started off his miniseries career by starring as trapper Alexander McKeag in James Michener’s 16 1/2 hour, 12-episode saga Centennial, which aired on NBC in 1978-79, and he was the first actor to portray Jason Bourne on the screen when he starred as the Robert Ludlum character in an ABC miniseries in 1988.
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.”
He was best known for his leading role in the NBC medical drama series “Dr. Kildare,” which ran for nearly 200 episodes from 1961 to 1966. Reflecting on the show in an interview with TV Insider last year, Chamberlain said, “I was aware this was the answer to all my dreams. Then the show became a huge success, and that was just mesmerizing.” Come the 1980s, Chamberlain became known as the “King of the Miniseries” with his roles in “Shogun,” “The Thorn Birds” and “Centennial.” “Shogun” was adapted from James Clavell’s 1975 novel and remade last year into another miniseries that won a record-breaking 18 Emmy Awards. In “The Thorn Birds,” Chamberlain played a priest who has an affair with a gorgeous woman. He also starred in the sequel miniseries, “The Thorn Birds: The Missing Year,” which came out in 1996.
