Richard Chamberlain, ‘King of the Mini-Series,’ dies at 90
FILE – Actor Richard Chamberlain waves during a news conference in Berlin, Oct. 10, 1995. (AP Photo/ Jan Bauer, file)
LOS ANGELES – Actor Richard Chamberlain, who starred in two of the biggest TV shows of the 1980s in the mini-series “Shogun” (1980) and “The Thorn Birds” (1983), has died in Hawaii following a stroke.
Chamberlain, who would have turned 91 on Monday, died on Saturday, his publicist Harlan Boll announced Sunday.
Born in Beverly Hills, Chamberlain graduated from Beverly Hills High School and also attended Pomona College. After a stint in the Army, he co-founded a theater group in Los Angeles and began getting television parts, leading to his big break, the starring role in the NBC medical drama “Dr. Kildare,” which ran from 1961-66.
He was also a talented singer with a few hit singles in the 1960s.
The 1970s saw Chamberlain make the leap to the big screen, with roles in The Music Lovers (1970), “The Three Musketeers” (1973), “The Four Musketeers,” “The Towering Inferno” (1974) and “The Count of Monte Cristo,” among others.
In 1980 he starred as English navigator William Adams in the television adaptation of James Clavell’s 1975 novel “Shogun,” which aired over five nights on NBC and was an enormous ratings success. The story was remade in 2024 and became a smash hit and awards darling for FX.
Chamberlain parlayed that success into an even bigger one with 1983’s “The Thorn Birds” for ABC. Chamberlain starred alongside Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck and Christopher Plummer in a sweeping story about a New Zealand family’s adventures in the Australian outback, based on a 1977 novel by Colleen McCullough.
At the time it was the second most watched television mini-series in history, behind 1977’s “Roots.”
Other major big-screen roles followed in the 1980s, namely “King Solomon’s Mines” (1985) and its sequel, “Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold” (1986).
Chamberlain continued acting on stage and television into his later years, including an appearance in 2017’s “Twin Peaks: The Return.”
“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now,” his longtime partner Martin Rabbett 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.” (CNS)
