Richard Chamberlain, TV's 'Dr. Kildare' & Star of 'Shōgun' & 'Thorn Birds,' Dies at 90

Richard Chamberlain, a TV icon from his days on "Dr. Kildare" through his reign as king of the miniseries that included "Shōgun" and "The Thorn Birds," died late Saturday in Hawaii, where he lived. He was two days shy of 91.

His spokesman Harlan Boll confirmed on Facebook that the cause was complications following a stroke.

Chamberlain's longtime partner and best friend, Martin Rabbett, said in a statement, "Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. 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."

Chamberlain worked from 1959-2019, his storied 60-year career encompassing the stage, TV, feature films, and music.

Born March 31, 1934, he grew up in Beverly Hills, where he aspired to be a fine artist before excelling on the stage in college. After a stint in the U.S. Army, he co-founded Company of Angels, an acting troupe in L.A., at just 23.

"Ever since I was a kid, I had big self-esteem problems," he said in a long "Pioneers of Television" interview in his 70s. "I wanted to be an actor so badly, and I wanted to be famous so badly... I wanted applause, I don't know, I wanted anything that would help me feel better about myself."

He made his TV debut on a 1959 episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," following it with several other guest spots, most notably on "Gunsmoke" (1960).

During that time, Chamberlain made his film debut in the Caribbean mystery "The Secret of the Purple Reef" (1960), and also appeared in "A Thunder of Drums" (1961).

In 1961, he became an overnight household name and a Golden Globe winner as young Dr. James Kildare on "Dr. Kildare." The show, along with "Ben Casey," became the prototype for medical dramas to follow.

Though Max Brand's creation had been a successful series of books and films from the 1930s on, Chamberlain's version made it a pop cultural phenomenon. It ran for 191 episodes, from 1961-1966.

While riding high with the series, he found time to star in the features "Twilight of Honor" (1963), and "Joy in the Morning" (1965).

A bona fide teen heartthrob, he parlayed that status into an impressive singing career, which included a Top 10 hit with his "Dr. Kildare" theme song, "Three Stars Will Shine Tonight" (1962) and a Top 15 hit with "All I Have to Do Is Dream" (1962). His cover of Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" (1962) was another success on the charts.

After the heady success of "Dr. Kildare" and his pop run, Chamberlain experienced a legendary flop on Broadway with the ill-fated "Breakfast at Tiffany's" musical (1966), which did little to blunt his career or that of his leading lady — Mary Tyler Moore. He bounced back with the film "Petulia" (1968), acted opposite Katharine Hepburn in "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (1969), and tackled Shakespeare on TV and in the 1970 film "Julius Caesar."

He had a varied career in film in the 1970s, including the Ken Russell drama "The Music Lovers" (1971) and the swashbucklers "The Three Musketeers" (1973), "The Four Musketeers (1974), and — many years later — "The Return of the Musketeers" (1989).

Playing against type, Chamberlain was delightfully slimy as the doomed villain in Irwin Allen's disaster epic "The Towering Inferno" (1974), and winked at his "Dr. Kildare" past as a no-longer-young doctor in Allen's star-studded killer bee nightmare "The Swarm" (1978).

On TV, he was Emmy-nominated for "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1975), which made use of his continuing charm as a romantic lead.

With a quick succession of culture-driving hits, Chamberlain became known as the go-to impeccable lead when it came to miniseries, appearing in "Centennial" (1978-1979), the original "Shōgun" (1980), and — most successfully of all — playing Ralph de Bricassart in "The Thorn Birds" (1983). The torrid drama, about a family priest's forbidden love for a rancher's daughter (Rachel Ward), also featured Hollywood legend Barbara Stanwyck, whose aged, lovestruck character famously demanded of Chamberlain's, "Kiss me on my mouth, as if we were lovers!"

Adapted from Colleen McCullough's best-selling 1977 novel, "The Thorn Birds" became the second-most-watched miniseries of all time, falling behind only "Roots." It spawned a 1996 sequel, which also featured Chamberlain.

Chamberlain headed up the 1986 miniseries "Dream West," and starred as an Indiana Jones-style hero in the Golan-Globus features "King Solomon's Mines" (1985) and "Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold" (1986) with Sharon Stone.

Highlights of Chamberlain's later career include playing Henry Higgins on Broadway and on a tour of "My Fair Lady" (1993-1994), the miniseries "The Lost Daughter" (1997), working opposite Lauren Bacall in the TV movie "Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke" (1999), a tour of "Spamalot" (2008-2009), and TV guest spots on "The Drew Carey Show" (2002), "Nip/Tuck" (2006), "Desperate Housewives" (2007), and "Twin Peaks" (2017).

Outed as gay earlier in his career, Chamberlain did not confirm the open secret until the publication of his 2003 book "Shattered Love: A Memoir." After that, playing off the publicity, he gave a well-received performance on an episode of "Will & Grace" (2005), on which everyone thought his character was gay, even though he was not. He also played an HIV-positive love interest for Ron Rifkin's character on "Brothers & Sisters" (2010-2011), a recurring role.

In 2010, he told "The Advocate" of coming out, "There's still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It's regrettable, it's stupid, it's heartless, and it's immoral, but there it is. For an actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren't, so it's just silly for a working actor to say, 'Oh, I don't care if anybody knows I'm gay' — especially if you're a leading man. Personally, I wouldn't advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out."

Still, he has spoken positively about coming out after many years of "self-dislike," and in 2013 said, when asked if he ever regretted coming out, "Oh, no! No way!"

Along with his career as a performer, Chamberlain prided himself on his advocacy for preserving nature, narrating specials for Audubon and the 1987 doc "River Song: A Natural History of the Colorado History in Grand Canyon."

Chamberlain had an under-the-radar relationship with actor Wesley Eure ("Land of the Lost") in the '70s. Eure remembered him on Sunday with the words, "R.I.P. Richard Chamberlain One of the dearest men I have ever known..."

He is survived by Rabbett, who urges that in lieu of flowers, fans donate to NPR or the Hawaiian Humane Society.