Richard Chamberlain, the handsome hero of the 1960s television series Dr Kildare who found a second career as an award-winning “king of the miniseries,” has died at the age of 90.
Chamberlain died on Saturday night in Waimanalo, Hawaii, of complications following a stroke, according to his publicist Harlan Boll.
Chamberlain became an instant favourite with teenage girls as the compassionate physician Dr James Kildare on the TV series that aired from 1961 to 1966.
The breakout role was the start of a six decade-career that spanned theater, films and television.
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Photoplay magazine named him most popular male star for three years in a row, from 1963-65.
Not until 2003, in his autobiography Shattered Love, did he acknowledge publicly what Hollywood insiders had long known that he was gay.
The actor became known as “king of the TV miniseries” in 1978 when he landed the starring role in Centennial, an epic production 24 hours long and based on James Michener’s sprawling novel.
He followed that in 1980 with Shogun, another costly, epic miniseries based on James Clavell’s period piece about an American visitor to Japan.
He also was the original Jason Bourne in the 1988 miniseries The Bourne Identity.
“What’s fascinating about Richard is that his range is enormous. His ability to be different each time out is what makes him such a valuable property,” producer Susan Baerwald told the New York Times in 1988.
The versatile actor was nominated for four Emmys – as an English navigator in 17th century Japan in Shogun, a love-torn priest in The Thorn Birds (1983), Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg in Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story (1985) and for the title role in the 1975 TV movie The Count of Monte-Cristo.– Reuters/AP
