Actor Richard Chamberlain, a handsome leading man who played in popular TV series from Dr. Kildare in the 1960s to miniseries like The Thorn Birds and the original Shogun, has died at age 90, news media said Sunday, March 30. The death on Saturday in Waimanalo, Hawaii, followed complications of a stroke, Variety reported.
"He was the original Shogun. He was the original Jason Bourne. He was the quintessential heartthrob of a generation," his friend and fellow actor David Havasi said on X.
With his boyish, clean-cut looks and ambition to be taken seriously, Chamberlain had a prodigious, far-ranging career. He played not just in popular series but in musical theater – he even had a brief stint as a recording artist – and took on classical stage roles, drawing surprisingly strong reviews while playing Hamlet in Birmingham, England.
His film credits included parts as Aramis in The Three Musketeers (1973), and as Allan Quatermain in King Solomon's Mine (1985). In 1988, he was the first Jason Bourne in a TV film The Bourne Identity.
Chamberlain was never far from the Hollywood acting world. California-born and a graduate of Beverly Hills High School, he joined a student theater group while in college. After a stint in the army, rising to the rank of sergeant, he co-founded a Los Angeles theater group, the Company of Angels.
His big breakthrough came with the role of Dr. James Kildare, a young hospital intern, in an NBC/MGM series. He was just 27 and almost instantly gained heartthrob status. Chamberlain won three Golden Globes during his career, for The Thorn Birds, Shogun and Dr. Kildare.
In the late 1960s, he played in repertory theater in England, helping establish his credentials as a serious actor.
He became a full-time resident of Hawaii in 1990. In a 2003 memoir, Chamberlain acknowledged that he was gay. He first met Martin Rabbett, his longtime partner, when they played brothers in The Lost City of Gold.