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Richard was born George Richard Chamberlain on the 31 March 1934 (not 1935 as stated in a lot of articles) in Beverly Hills, to parents Charles and Elsa Chamberlain. He was their second child, their first son was Bill aged 6 at the time of Richard`s birth. His father Charles was a salesman for a company which made fittings for chain stores, which made the family reasonably well off.
Meanwhile, back at MGM, the studio was preparing a television version of "Dr. Kildare", one of the studio`s most successful movie properties, and having already decided upon Raymond Massey to play the role of Dr. Gillespie, was on the lookout for a promising young star for the title role. Richard Chamberlain was called in, he was the 36th actor to try out for the part, and shortly thereafter, both he and the "Dr. Kildare" series became an overnight sensation. Richard became the man who would make millions of girls swoon over his performance as Dr. Kildare, and whose face would be known all over the world. He was soon getting 12,000 fan letters a week -more than Clarke Gable in his heyday.
When he was 45-years old, history repeated itself when a new generation discovered Richard Chamberlain when he starred as the macho but very gentle Pilot-Major John Blackthorne in "Shogun." This time he was third choice after Sean Connery and Albert Finney. The series was a smash hit all over the world and a Dr. Kildare-like fever broke out all over again.
Years later he gave a memorable performance as a priest in TV`s "The Thorn Birds," starring opposite Rachel Ward. He became the king of the TV mini-series, with other mini-series such as "Wallenberg: A Hero`s Story" and "The Bourne Identity."
In the 1990`s he has starred in two very successful theatre productions of "My Fair Lady" and "The Sound Of Music."
Currently he lives at his Hawaiian island home on Oahu, a thirty minute drive from downtown Waikiki, where he has settled permanently. Richard`s second home was atop of a mountain 2,000 feet above Honolulu and had breathtaking views of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head. The house was originally a one-story five-bedroom home built in 1955 until Richard had it rebuilt into an $8.5 million two-story compound. It has an outside pool with a waterfall which bubbles over into an half-mooned shaped jet spa, and the compound also houses a two-bedroom guesthouse, and is surrounded by jungle vegetation
Biography Credit: fp.culttv.plus.com/richardchamberlain/website.htm
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When I grew up, being gay, being a sissy or anything like that was verboten. I disliked myself intensely and feared this part of myself intensely and had to hide it and became `Perfect Richard, All-American Boy` as a place to hide.
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