On March 30, I woke to learn that one of my favorite actors had passed away. Richard Chamberlain was two days shy of 91. He died of complications from a stroke.
More than one friend texted me to express condolences. Not that I’ve followed Chamberlain in recent years, but there was a time when I was quite the fan.
Tammy Wilson
He was one of those actors who commanded admiration. After serving in Korea with the U.S. Army, he achieved the rank of sergeant. He then followed his dream to study acting, where, at 27, he landed the title role of a new TV series, “Dr. Kildare.â€
As he would say tearfully during an interview several years ago, he was one of those few people who was able to achieve all he’d dreamed of as a child. For that, he was eternally grateful.
Such unabashed gratitude is all too rare these days.
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If you were a child during the Kennedy years, you know how big a star Chamberlain was when he played the title role in NBC’s first medical series, “Dr. Kildare.†Premiering in 1961, Chamberlain’s good looks had girls of all ages swooning. He recorded “Three Stars Will Shine Tonight,†a vocal version of the show’s theme song that aired on Thursday nights. The song shot up to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Indeed, Chamberlain was an idol of his day, and as those of you who’ve followed me very long know, I’ve examined teen idols in depth. In fact, I co-edited the book “Idol Talk: Women Writers on the Teenage Infatuations That Changed Their Lives.†Sure enough, a writer friend, novelist Katharine Davis, wrote her essay about Richard Chamberlain.
Running alongside Kildare was the ABC network medical series, “Ben Casey, MD,†staring Vince Edwards. Edwards did an admirable job in his medical TV role, but he was never the star that Chamberlain was. Sadly, after a lengthy film and TV career, Edwards died of pancreatic cancer in 1996.
If you were around in 1962, you probably remember the rivalry between Casey and Kildare fans. I remember it well. Both boys and girls came to school wearing white doctor shirts. Some left the top button open as a nod to Ben Casey.
We third graders debated who was dreamiest among the TV doctors, just as we compared Little Joe Cartwright to Ricky Nelson.
As things turned out, Richard Chamberlain was far more than a TV doctor. He appeared in two disaster movies, “Towering Inferno†and “The Swarm,†then shifted to portray John Blackthorne in the “Shogun†miniseries. Others followed: “Centennial,†“The Bourne Identity†and eventually, “The Thorn Birds,†in which he played a tormented Catholic priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart. It’s regarded as one of Chamberlain’s most famous roles.
Other credits include playing England’s Edward VIII and novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald to World War II hero Raoul Wallenberg. He appeared on Broadway and around the world in dramatic productions. Along the way, he achieved a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and several Emmys and Golden Globes.
In the mid-’80s, a group of my girlfriends got together for dinner and to view Chamberlain videos borrowed from the public library. We served Japanese food for “Shogun†night and baked Alaska for “Cook & Peary: The Race to the Pole.â€
As a gag, two of these friends signed my name to a fan letter and mailed it to the Richard Chamberlain Fan Club. Weeks later a note appeared in my mailbox. It was signed by the actor himself — a surprise for us all.
Over the years, Chamberlain escorted various starlets and actresses to film premieres and other Hollywood galas. He dodged the question about his bachelorhood, claiming he was too busy to marry.
Perhaps the toughest role he ever played was that of a heterosexual man. It wasn’t until 2003 that he published his memoir “Shattered Love,†in which he publicly admitted that he was gay.
