The American actor Richard Chamberlain, best known for his starring roles in the series Dr Kildare and the miniseries Shōgun (1980) and The Thorn Birds, has died at the age of 90.
Chamberlain's publicist Harlan Boll told US entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter that the star died in Waimanalo, Hawai'i on Saturday night of complications following a stroke.
He was due to turn 91 on Monday 31 March.
In a statement, Chamberlain's longtime partner Martin Rabbett said: "Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. 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."
We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Born George Richard Chamberlain in Beverly Hills, California in 1934, Chamberlain's screen career spanned almost 60 years.
The actor originally studied at Pomona College to be a painter, but after returning from the army, where he had served as an infantry clerk in the Korean War, Chamberlain decided to try acting.
With Dr Kildare, Chamberlain became an instant heartthrob as the compassionate physician on the TV series that aired from 1961 to 1966.
Photoplay magazine named him Most Popular Male Star for three years in a row, from 1963 to 1965.
Not until 2003 did Chamberlain acknowledge publicly what Hollywood insiders had long known - that he was gay. He made the revelation in his autobiography, Shattered Love.
Chamberlain became known as "King of the TV Miniseries" in 1978 when he landed the starring role in Centennial, an epic production 24 hours long and based on James Michener's sprawling novel.
He followed that in 1980 with Shōgun, another costly, epic miniseries based on James Clavell's period piece about an American visitor to Japan.
He scored his greatest miniseries success in 1983 with another long-form drama, The Thorn Birds, based on Colleen McCullough's bestseller. He played Father Ralph de Bricassart, a Roman Catholic priest in Australia who falls in love with Meggie Cleary (Rachel Ward).
The ABC production, which also starred Barbara Stanwyck, reportedly attracted 100 million viewers.
His many film credits included the drama Petulia, the swashbuckling adventure The Three Musketeers, the disaster movie The Towering Inferno, the mystery The Last Wave, the action movie King Solomon's Mines and its sequel Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, and the Irish sports drama Strength and Honour.
On television, he also starred in the movies The Count of Monte Cristo, The Man in the Iron Mask, and Wallenberg: A Hero's Story.
His many other TV credits included the miniseries The Bourne Identity and The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years and the series Island Son, Will & Grace, Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, and Twin Peaks (2017).
When the public began to lose interest in miniseries, Chamberlain turned to the theatre, where he displayed a fine singing voice. He appeared as Henry Higgins in a 1994 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady and as Captain von Trapp in a 1999 revival of The Sound of Music.
In his memoir, Chamberlain recounted how he was forced to hide his sexuality. He would escort actresses to movie premieres and other public events at the request of studio executives and dodge reporters' questions about why he had never married with a stock reply: "Getting married would be great, but I'm awfully busy now."
The book also described a troubled childhood and an alcoholic father, and Chamberlain said writing it lifted a heavy emotional burden. He also expressed relief that he was no longer hiding his sexuality.
In 2014, he told The New York Times: "When you grow up in the '30s, '40s, and '50s being gay, it not only ain't easy, it's just impossible."
Chamberlain was a four-time Emmy nominee (The Count of Monte Cristo, Shōgun, The Thorn Birds, Wallenberg: A Hero's Story) and three-time Golden Globe winner (Dr Kildare, Shōgun, The Thorn Birds).
Additional Reporting: Associated Press/Press Association
