Such an actor as Richard Chamberlain is quitedeserves to be written about his life and work, or a feature film is shot. However, we confine ourselves to a small article. We will try to briefly outline 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 over half a century, viewers around the world have enjoyed his stage play. Also interested in the public is the private life of Richard Chamberlain. The actor never made secrets from his unconventional sexual orientation and openly had a civil marriage with Martin Rabbett, writer, actor and producer. But the last five years the couple lives separately. Is this a complete break or temporary difficulties in a relationship? But let's start in order ...
A family
The future actor was born on the last day of March 1934year in Los Angeles (USA). At the christening, the boy was given the name George Richard Chamberlain. He was the second child in the family. The first-born of the pair Elsa and Charles Chamberlain was Bill. He was older than his brother by six years. 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 too much luxury. In 1936 the Chamberlains moved from Los Angeles to Beverly Hills, near Hollywood, where they bought a house for seven rooms. Charles Chamberlain also engaged in the fact that he urged people in the Alcoholics Anonymous Society to quit drinking. His oratorical skills helped many to start a new life.
Study
When Richard was six years old, he was givenprimary school "Beverly Vista Grammar School". He also received a matriculation certificate 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 a young man's profession. He dreamed of becoming an artist, and for this purpose entered the 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. He finished his education, but after receiving a diploma in 1956, he was firmly convinced that he would become an actor. The call to the army temporarily pushed aside 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 acting career
Returning to America, the young man decidedtry your luck in los angeles. He began to bypass the agency and 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 has occasional roles (Pete in The Haze from the Trunk and Clay Payne 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.
Singer career
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 Shine Today Tonight” - was directly connected to 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 has caused delight both among theater critics and viewers.
Richard Chamberlain's Famous Roles
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 the 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 of his face. He was afraid that the fans would literally tear him apart. In 1981 and 1984, the actor was awarded the Golden Globe Award.
Movies, TV shows and theatrical productions with Richard Chamberlain
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 has worked hard and incessantly on the set of feature 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 Story”, 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 shot 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”.
Richard Chamberlain: personal life
As already mentioned, the actor never made secretsfrom their homosexual orientation. He has no children, even extra-marital. The only - 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”.
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 took up painting. In the pictures “Age and Wisdom” and “Somewhere Within Us,” he expressed his philosophical view of human existence.
