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Richard Chamberlain, Star of ‘Dr. Kildare’ and King of the Melodramatic Miniseries, Dies at 90
The leading man who thrilled as a young star then centered the epic, melodramatic miniseries ‘Shogun’ and ‘The Thorn Birds.’
On the Australian-set The Thorn Birds, which aired on ABC over four nights in March 1983, Chamberlain portrayed Father Ralph, a Catholic priest who is involved in a tortured romance with the ravishing young Meggie (Rachel Ward), who seeks solace from a ranch hand (Bryan Brown, her future real-life husband). Chamberlain worked on Petulia, then ventured to England in 1968 to learn how to become “a serious actor.” He won acclaim as Ralph Touchett in a BBC adaptation of Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady and played Hamlet at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre — the first American to do so since John Barrymore in the late 1920s. More recently, Chamberlain guest-starred on Nip/Tuck, playing a gay millionaire who forces his younger lover to have plastic surgery so as to resemble himself; recurred on Brothers & Sisters as a former love interest of Ron Rifkin’s character; hilariously portrayed Craig Ferguson’s mom, Maggie Wick, on The Drew Carey Show; and appeared on the Twin Peaks reboot.
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