Is richard chamberlain gay

Nobody came out on top. The show aired for five seasons, from September until August On the Australian-set The Thorn Birds , which aired on ABC over four nights in March , Chamberlain portrayed Father Ralph, a Catholic priest who is involved in a tortured romance with the ravishing young Meggie Rachel Ward , who seeks solace from a ranch hand Bryan Brown, her future real-life husband.

Film and television actor Richard Chamberlain circa It wouldn't be until decades later that the star came out as a gay man. According to Chamberlain, his public image was centered on being a heterosexual heartthrob, even though many friends and industry peers had long known he was gay.

In his liberating autobiography Shattered Love , Chamberlain, then 69, came out as gay. Reps from Paramount came calling, and while he was talking to them about a contract, he was drafted into the U. He spent 16 months in Korea, attaining the rank of sergeant. That was extraordinarily fortunate, because the veteran actor was going to have to sign off on him to play James Kildaire.

MGM had thought of Chamberlain for the role after he had starred in a failed pilot for a Western, Paradise Kid , and after Massey approved, he was signed him to a seven-year contract, one of the last in the studio era. This originally aired on TODAY on June 5, By Mike Barnes.

Senior Editor. He spent six months shooting the miniseries in Japan, and it aired for 12 hours over five nights in His father, Charles, was a salesman for a company that sold fixtures to supermarkets, and his mother, Elsa, was a housewife who played the piano.

He was He was two days shy of his 91st birthday. After Dr. Chamberlain then landed high-profile telefilm work in the U. He was the first person ever interviewed on Entertainment Tonight. The "life long partner" of beloved gay actor Richard Chamberlain, Martin Rabbett, has paid tribute to him following his death aged Actor Richard Chamberlain sits down with Katie Couric to discuss his autobiography "Shattered Love" where he reveals he is gay.

And even becoming famous and all that, it was still there. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. I assumed there was something terribly wrong with me. (Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). When he could do it, the network cast Chamberlain, who had read the book and pushed for the part.

Back home, he studied with blacklisted actor turned teacher Jeff Corey and signed with influential MCA agent Monique James, and one of his first paying jobs came on a episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents as a son of Massey. Richard Chamberlain, the handsome leading man who thrilled women as the young star of Dr.

Kildare and then centered the epic, melodramatic miniseries Shogun and The Thorn Birds , has died. William Shatner wrote in his autobiography that he turned down the role. Even as Dr. Kildaire was a hit, Chamberlain said he was not comfortable. I was really set up to be an actor, because that was when I was happiest, essentially being someone else.

Love never dies. Raised in Beverly Hills, Chamberlain was a rather inexperienced actor when he was hired to play James Kildare, an earnest intern with terrific bedside manner — and the mentee of Dr. Leonard Gillespie Raymond Massey — on Dr. Female viewers quickly fell for Chamberlain, and he received upward of 12, fan letters a week, more than anyone had ever received at MGM, even Clark Gable.

And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.