Richard Chamberlain, 'Shogun' star, dead at 90
Richard Chamberlain, star of film, theater and television, died on March 29 in Waimanalo, Hawaii, Fox News Digital confirmed. He was 90.
Chamberlain died of complications following a stroke two days before his 91st birthday, his representative confirmed.
Born George Richard Chamberlain, the beloved actor was known as the "king of the miniseries," and starred in "Shogun," "The Thorn Birds," "Wallenberg," and the original 1988 screenplay of "The Bourne Identity."
"Our beloved Richard is with the angels now," his longtime partner, Martin Rabbet, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
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"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."
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After graduating from college with a bachelor's degree in arts, he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served for 16 months in Korea and rose to the rank of sergeant.
Upon returning to Los Angeles, Chamberlain pursued acting and co-founded Company of Angels, a Los Angeles theater group. His first television appearance was for a guest spot on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1959.
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He then began appearing in popular American television series, including "Gunsmoke," "Mr. Lucky," and "Riverboat," before landing the role of "Dr. Kildare," which earned him his first Golden Globe Award in 1963.
Along with the rise of his acting career, he became a successful singer, and scored a top 10 hit with a vocal version of the theme song for Kildare, "Three Stars Will Shine Tonight."
Chamberlain previously told Fox News Digital that the success of "Dr. Kildare" was swift. The show chronicled the adventures of a young medical intern and his surgeon mentor.
"It happened kind of fast," he said. "We started getting fan mail at an enormous rate. Something like 12,000 letters a week, which [the network] had never really experienced before. Even Clark Gable wasn’t getting that much fan mail. And the studio, of course, answered it all. I didn’t have the time or energy. But that made me realize something was happening that might be overwhelming."
"And then if we ever had any breaks in the shooting schedule — I was under contract at MGM at the time — the studio would send me to do publicity or work," Chamberlain continued. "Sometimes we would encounter rather enthusiastic crowds of people… People lined up for miles just to get my autograph. I thought, ‘This is wonderful. I’m very pleased they want this.’ But I didn’t quite know why they wanted it. It made me realize that ‘Dr. Kildare’ caused quite a stir."
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"Shogun" earned Chamberlain accolades, and another Golden Globe Award in 1981. He won another Globe in 1984 for Best Actor in a Mini-series or Motion Picture for TV in "The Thorn Birds."
Chamberlain previously told Fox News Digital that as a romantic leading man, it would have been "a disaster" and "awful" for his career if the public had known the truth about his sexuality.
The screen icon didn't come out as a gay man until he was nearly 70 years old.
"I had to be very careful and very circumspect," he said. "Magazines did lots and lots of interviews, and they sort of suspected. They would ask me questions like, ‘When are you going to get married and have children?’ I would say, ‘Well, not quite yet. I’m awfully busy.’ I had to be careful for a long time."
He added, "It was inhibiting, but I got so used to it that it was just habitual to be sort of careful and on guard in certain situations. Yes, I would’ve been a happier person to be out and free and all that. But I already had so much to be happy about. I was a working actor, and that’s the main thing I wanted out of this lifetime."
Fox News Digital's Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.