SCIFI.Radio regrets to confirm the death of award-winning actor Richard Chamberlain. George Richard Chamberlain was born March 31, 1934 in Beverly Hills, California. He died March 29, 2025 in Waim?nalo, Hawaii, on the island of O’ahu, just days before his 91st birthday, from complications suffered following a stroke.
He was known as the King of the Mini-Series, back in the 1970s and 1980s, starring in The Thorn Birds, Centennial, and the original Shogun. In the 1960s he starred in the popular medical drama Dr. Kildare.
It might surprise you to learn that Chamberlain was also very invested in fantasy roles. He was Jason Bourne in the 1988 mini-series The Bourne Identity. He portrayed Aramis in three different Three Musketeers movies. He starred as Prince Edward in the magical musical: The Slipper and the Rose (1976). He appeared in the horror film Nightmare Cinema (2018). He played the H. Rider Haggard hero Allan Quatermain. Chamberlain was Dr. Hubbard in the horror movie The Swarm (1978). He appeared in one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and one episode of the quirky Twin Peaks. He was Nat Bridger in the scifi horror film Murder by Phone.
Alan Quatermain was also played by Sir Sean Connery in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), and by John Colicos (Count Baltar in the original Battlestar Galactica) in King Solomon’s Treasure (1979).
Richard Chamberlain attended Beverly Hills High School and Pomona College in Clairemont, CA. He earned a bachelor’s degree in art historyin 1956. After graduation he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Sgt. Chamberlain served in Korea agter the war ended. Despite being gay, he served in the US Army and received an honorable discharge in 1959. He neither asked nor told. We thank him for his service. (At the time, gays were forbidden from wearing their country’s uniform.) After serving his country, Chamberlain xo-founded a Los Angeles-basedtheater group, the Company of Angels. In the late ’60’s he went to the UK where he honed his skills in repertory theatre and appeared in a few British TV shows and movies. His performance as Hamlet was widely praised: he reprised the role for American television and earned a Grammy nomination for the recording of it.
Major Roles
- Lt. Porter i A Thunder of Drums (1961)
- James Kildare, MD in Dr Kildare, 1961-`966
- David Mitchell in Twilight of Honor (1963)
- Roderick in The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)
- Tchaikovsky in The Music Lovers (1971)
- Lord Byron in Lady Caroline Lamb )1972)
- Aramis in The Three Musketeers (1973);, The Four Musketeers (1974); The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
- Roger Simmons in The Towering Inferno (1974)
- Prince Edward in The Slipper and the Rose
- David Burton in The Last Wave (1977)
- Nat Bridger in Murder by Phone (1982)
In a statement celebrating Chamberlain’s life, Rabbett, a writer and producer, 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.”
He added, “Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.”
Susan Macdonald is the author of the children's book "R is for Renaissance Faire", as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in "Alternative Truths", "Swords and Sorceress #30", Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, "Cat Tails" "Under Western Stars", and "Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid". Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio's web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows. Her nonfiction book THEY ENDURED will be published by B Cubed Press in 2025 or 2026.
