30-03-2025
Richard Chamberlain, The Thorn Birds and Shogun Actor, Dead at 90
Actor Richard Chamberlain, whose TV credits include Shogun and The Thorn Birds, has died. He was 90.
The news of Chamberlain's death was confirmed to TVLine by his publicist Harlan Boll, who said Chamberlain died Saturday of complications following a stroke.
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'Our beloved Richard is with the angels now,' Chamberlain's longtime partner Martin Rabbett said in a statement. 'He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.'
Chamberlain is perhaps best known for playing Father Ralph de Bricassart in the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds. The Emmy-winning series, which was adapted from Colleen McCullough's romance novel of the same name, followed the forbidden love story between Chamberlain's priest and Meggie Cleary (played by Rachel Ward) in the Australian outback.
The actor also starred in the 1980 miniseries Shogun, an adaptation of James Clavell's novel, as John Blackthorne, and played the titular character in Dr. Kildare, the medical drama based on the popular film series that had starred Lew Ayres. The show, which also starred Raymond Massey, ran from 1961 to 1966.
Chamberlain's other TV credits include Centennial, The Portrait of a Lady, Dream West, Island Sun, Blackbeard, Chuck, Brothers & Sisters and Leverage. On the film side, his credits include The Four Musketeers: Milday's Revenge, The Towering Inferno, The Last Wave, Petulia and The Music Lover.
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