An actor such as Richard Chamberlain deserves to have a novel written or a feature film made about his life and work. However, we restrict ourselves to a small article. We will try to briefly cover the biography of this famous American actor and singer, a three-time winner of the Golden Globe Award. During his long career, he starred in numerous films. His face has become recognizable since 1959, and for more than half a century, viewers around the world have been enjoying his stage performance. The general public is also interested in the personal life of Richard Chamberlain. The actor never made secrets from his non-traditional sexual orientation and was openly married to Martin Rabbett, writer, actor and producer. But the last five years, the couple has been living separately. Is this a complete gap or temporary difficulties in a relationship? But let's take it in order ...
A family
The future actor was born on the last day of March 1934 in Los Angeles (USA). At baptism, the boy was given the name George Richard Chamberlain. He was the second child in the family. The first-born of a pair of Elsa and Charles Chamberlains was Bill. He was six years older than his brother. The actor’s father worked as an agent in a trading company that supplied goods to a chain of stores. Therefore, the famous crisis did not affect the material well-being of the family. Although there is no need to talk about excessive luxury either. In 1936, the Chamberlains moved from Los Angeles to Beverly Hills, near Hollywood, where they bought a seven-room house. Charles Chamberlain was also committed to persuading people in the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous to stop drinking. His oratory helped many begin a new life.
Study
When Richard was six years old, he was sent to Beverly Vista Grammar School Elementary School. He also received a certificate of maturity in Beverly Hills. This happened in 1952. His classmates mention that Richard Chamberlain always had good manners. The proximity of Hollywood at first did not affect the choice of the profession of a young man. He dreamed of becoming an artist, and for this purpose he entered the "Pomona College" in the town of Claremont, which is 40 km from Hollywood. Richard studied applied painting, but gradually became increasingly involved in the activities of the student theater group. He nevertheless completed his education, but, having received a diploma in 1956, he was firmly convinced that he would become an actor. Conscription for the time pushed back his ambitious plans. The young man served two years in Korea and returned home with the rank of sergeant.
Richard Chamberlain: biography, the beginning of an acting career
Returning to America, the young man decided to try his luck in Los Angeles. He began to go around agencies and studios, go through auditions. Realizing that he did not have a special education, Richard took private acting lessons in his spare time from finding work. We can say that his career began in 1959. The twenty-five-year-old actor had episodic roles (Pete in “Haze from the trunk” and Clay Payne in “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”). But it was all wrong. Chamberlain struck the finest hour in 1961, when the MGM film studio decided to shoot the television series Doctor Kildare and was looking for an actor for the lead role. Chamberlain successfully passed the test, and this decided his fate. From the very first episodes, the actor became a sensation. And fame has not left him since. The series was shot from 1961 to 1966. This tape was extremely popular. In 1963, the actor received his first Golden Globe for the main role in this series.
Singer career
In the very beginning of the sixties, the already famous actor Richard Chamberlain decided to try himself in the music field and began to take vocal lessons. And he also succeeded! His albums became hits of the first half of the sixties. Naturally, it would be a sin not to take advantage of acting fame. One of the albums - “Three Stars Will Shine This Night” - was directly related to the series “Doctor Kildare”. The hit entered the top ten Billboard Hot 100 Charts. But, despite successes in his singing career, Richard Chamberlain was attracted to the stage. In 1968, he became the first American actor to play Hamlet on the British stage after a forty-year hiatus. This role brought him fame and overseas in Europe. Moreover, what rarely happens, his play aroused delight both in theater critics and in the audience.
Famous roles of Richard Chamberlain
When the actor was forty-five, he starred in the title role (skipper John Blackton) in the small series Shogun. This tape became a hit, and Richard Chamberlain in the ranking of the most famous and popular actors took third place after Sean Connery and A. Finney. It would seem that his star will no longer rise. But the roles in the feature films, where he was embodied in the musketeer Aramis, Anton Chekhov, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Edmond Dantes, Octavian Augustus, Casanova and Louis the Fourteenth, did not bring him such fame as the work in “Singing in the Blackthorn”. After he appeared on the screens in 1983 in the guise of a priest Ralph de Brikassar together with Rachel Ward, having told the audience a touching story of forbidden love, the actor for a long time went out into the street only with black glasses covering half his face. He was afraid that fans would literally tear him to pieces. In 1981 and 1984, the actor was awarded the Golden Globe Award.
Films, TV shows, and theatrical productions with Richard Chamberlain
For the role of the priest in the film “Singing in the Blackthorn”, the actor was called “the king of small television series”. But this is a superficial definition. The actor worked hard and incessantly on the set in feature films. Yes, it was television that brought him fame. Work in such films as “The Secret of the Bourne”, “Casanova”, “Dream West” (in the Russian box office “Road to the West”), “Centennial” and “Wallenberg - Hero's Story” created his name. But we should not forget about the roles in feature films. He was remembered by the viewer in the films “The Man in the Iron Mask” and several stories about Allan Quatermain (“Mines of King Solomon”, “In Search of the Lost City”). Now the actor has traded the ninth dozen. Is Richard Chamberlain filming anywhere else? Films with his participation are quite famous. True, he plays only episodic roles in them. These are Virtuosos, Parts of the Body, Desperate Housewives, Chuck, and Impact. In recent years, the actor has been involved in Broadway musicals. This is “My Fair Lady”, “Sounds of Music”, “Scrooge: The Musical”.
Richard Chamberlain: personal life
As already mentioned, the actor never made secrets from his homosexual orientation. He has no children, even illegitimate. The only - known to the general public - his love was writer, producer and actor Martin Rabbett. Chamberlain entered into a civil marriage with him in the mid-1970s. The couple settled in Hawaii. Gradually, the actor became involved in charity work to help the indigenous people of the archipelago, as well as protect animals. It was rumored that Richard Chamberlain and his “wife” were more interested in the welfare of the Oahu natives than in filming. However, the active spirit of the actor made itself felt. In early 2010, Chamberlain left Martin and moved to Los Angeles. He has found a new producer to replace Rabbett, and is currently starring in the series “Leverage”.
Chamberlain as a writer
In 2003, the actor published the book Broken Love, which is essentially an autobiography. In it, he talks about his experiences and psychological problems associated with homosexuality. He describes the stages of his spiritual formation. In recent years, the actor again engaged in painting. In the paintings “Age and Wisdom” and “Somewhere Inside Us,” he expressed his philosophical view of human existence.