An actor like Richard Chamberlain is quitedeserves a novel or a feature film about his life and work. However, we restrict ourselves to a small article. We will try to briefly highlight the biography of this famous American actor and singer, 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 play. Also the general public is interested in Richard Chamberlain's personal life. The actor never made a secret of his gay sex and was openly in a civil marriage with Martin Rabbett, a writer, actor and producer. But for the last five years, the couple has been living separately. Is this a complete break or temporary relationship difficulties? But let's take it in order ...
The future actor was born on the last day of March 1934years in Los Angeles (USA). At baptism, the boy was given the name George Richard Chamberlain. He was the second child in the family. The firstborn of a pair of Elsa and Charles Chamberlain was Bill. He was six years older than his brother. The father of the actor worked as an agent in a trading company that supplied a chain of stores. Therefore, the famous crisis did not affect the material well-being of the family. Although it is not necessary to talk about excessive luxury either. In 1936, Chamberlain moved from Los Angeles to Beverly Hills, near Hollywood, where they bought a house for seven rooms. Charles Chamberlain was also engaged in persuading people from the Alcoholics Anonymous Society to stop drinking. His oratory helped many to start a new life.
When Richard was six years old, he was sent toBeverly Vista Grammar School School. He also received a diploma in Beverly Hills. This happened in 1952. His classmates mention that Richard Chamberlain has always been distinguished by good manners. The proximity of Hollywood initially did not affect the choice of a young man's profession. He dreamed of becoming an artist, and for this purpose he entered Pomona College in the town of Claremont, 40 km from Hollywood. Richard studied applied painting, but gradually became more involved in the activities of the student theater group. Education, he still completed, but, having received a diploma in 1956, he was firmly convinced that he would become an actor. A call to the army temporarily pushed his ambitious plans. The young man served two years in Korea and returned home with the rank of sergeant.
Возвратившись в Америку, молодой человек решил try your luck in los angeles. He began to bypass the agency and the studio, to pass the casting. Realizing that he does not have a special education, Richard, in his free time from searching for work, took private acting lessons. We can say that his career began in 1959. The twenty-five-year-old actor had occasional roles (Pete in The Haze from the Trunk and Clay Pine in Alfred Hitchcock Presents). But it was all wrong. The high point for Chamberlain struck in 1961, when the MGM film studio decided to shoot the television series Doctor Kildare and was looking for an actor for the main role. Chamberlain successfully passed the test, and this decided his fate. From the very first episode, the actor became a sensation. And fame since then has not left him. The series was filmed from 1961 to 1966. This tape was extremely popular. In 1963, the actor received his first Golden Globe for his starring role in this series.
At the very beginning of the sixties already receivedfame actor Richard Chamberlain decided to try himself in the music field and began taking vocal lessons. And he also achieved success! 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 Be Shining Today Night” - was directly connected with the Dr. Kildare TV series. Heath entered the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 Charts. But, despite successes in singing career, Richard Chamberlain attracted a scene. In 1968, he became the first American actor who, after a forty-year hiatus, played Hamlet on the British stage. This role brought him fame and overseas, in Europe. Moreover, what happens rarely, his play caused delight both among theater critics and viewers.
When the actor was forty-five, he starred in the mainrole (skipper John Blektorn) in the small series "The Shogun." This tape became a hit, and Richard Chamberlain ranked third after Sean Connery and A. Finney in the rating of the most famous and popular actors. It would seem that above his star will not rise. But the roles in full-length films, where he incarnated as the musketeer Aramis, Anton Chekhov, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Edmond Dantes, Octavian Augustus, Casanova and Louis XIV, did not bring him such fame as the work in The Thorn Birds. After he appeared on screens in the image of the priest Ralph de Brikassar along with Rachel Ward in 1983, telling the audience a touching story of forbidden love, the actor for a long time went out only in black glasses covering half his face. He was afraid that fans would literally tear him apart. In 1981 and 1984, the actor was awarded the Golden Globe Award.
For the role of the priest in the painting "Singing inthe actor's thorns ”were called the“ king of small television series ”. But this is a superficial definition. The actor worked hard and incessantly on the film set in full-length films. Yes, television brought him fame. Work in such tapes as “The Secret of the Name of Born”, “Casanova”, “Dream West” (in the Russian box office “The Road to the West”), “Centennial” and “Wallenberg - Hero's History”, created his name. But we should not forget about the roles in feature films. He was remembered to the national audience by the tapes “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 exchanged ninth ten. Is Richard Chamberlain filmed anywhere else? His films are quite famous. True, he plays in them only episodic roles. These are “Virtuosos”, “Parts of the Body”, “Desperate Housewives”, “Chuck” and “Impact”. In recent years, the actor is involved in Broadway musicals. These are “My Fair Lady”, “The Sound of Music”, “Scrooge: The Musical”.
As already mentioned, the actor never made secretsfrom their homosexual orientation. He has no children, even extramarital. The only one - known to the general public - his love was a writer, producer and actor Martin Rabbett. Chamberlain concluded a civil marriage with him in the mid-1970s. The couple settled in Hawaii. Gradually, the actor was involved in charity work to help the indigenous people of the archipelago, as well as the protection of animals. It was rumored that Richard Chamberlain and his “wife” were more interested in the welfare of the Oahu aborigines than in filming a movie. However, the active spirit of the actor made itself felt. In early 2010, Chamberlain left Martin and moved to Los Angeles. He found a new producer, in exchange for Rabbett, and now starred in the series “Leverage”.
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 took up painting. In the pictures “Age and Wisdom” and “Somewhere Within Us,” he expressed his philosophical view of human existence.
