Richard Chamberlain born 31 March 1935Born in Los Angeles, Richard Chamberlain originally intended to study art, but an interest in drama took over and on graduation, decided to pursue acting as a career. However, he was drafted into the army for two years, but enrolled in acting classes on his release, where he met his first love - but fearing the attitudes of the time, the late 1950s, the pair kept their year-long affair secret.
He appeared in his first film in 1960, and the following year won the title role in TV drama Dr Kildare, which ran for five successful years and made Chamberlain a household name and a romantic idol.When Dr Kildare ended, he declined other TV offers and chose to work in theatre and film. He moved to England, which broadened his career and he made a number of successful and critically acclaimed movies in the 1970s - Ken Russell's The Music Lovers (1971), proto disaster epic The Towering Inferno (1974), The Swarm (1974) and The Three Musketeers (1974). In the late-70s and 1980s Chamberlain returned to TV and his career thrived in the then-new mini-series genre - Centennial (1978), Shogun (1980) and his best known role as Father Ralph de Bricassart in Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds (1983) - a TV phenonemon at the time. When the mini-series fell out of favour, he returned to the theatre where he continues to work.
Although it was an open secret that he was gay, Richard Chamberlain never publicly acknowledged the fact until his autobiography Shattered Love in 2003. In it he acknowledged his lack of self-acceptance for many years and his fear that the truth would destroy his career - still something of an issue for actors today.He has been in a relationship with producer-director Martin Rabbett since the mid 1970s. They live in Rabbett's home state of Hawaii, and often work together on theatre projects.
Since his coming out Chamberlain has made occasional guest appearances on TV shows such as Will & Grace, Nip/Tuck and Desperate Housewives, usually bringing a new knowingness or just playing gay as he was unable to do for so many years.
In an interview with The Advocate in 2010 promoting his role in ABC’s Brothers & Sisters Chamberlain controversially said he 'wouldn’t advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out'.
'For an actor to be working [at all] is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren’t, so it’s just silly for a working actor to say, "Oh, I don’t care if anybody knows I’m gay" – especially if you’re a leading man.
'Personally, I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out.'