RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN, R.I.P.

Even though actor Richard Chamberlain was ninety-years-old, (and about to be ninety-one in two days,) when he passed away last week, he’ll always be his gorgeous young self in my mind.

Richard Chamberlain as Dr. Kildare.

I was actually in love with him as Dr. Kildare when I was the youngest of youngsters. (Even though I saw the series in syndication, I have one of those memories where I remember much of my life, back to two-years-old.)  I never saw anyone more gorgeous than that man when I was little! (And actually, to this day!)

And he had that lovely deep voice with beautiful speech, to boot. My parents even bought me his record, which I’m sure I wore out! (It had the theme from the show, Three Stars Will Shine Tonight, on one side and Richard’s version of the classic song A Kiss to Build a Dream On on the other.) I’m proud of myself for having such great taste when I was so young!

Yvette Mimieux and Richard Chamberlain in the Tyger, Tyger episode of Dr. Kildare.

As a matter of fact, some of those Dr. Kildare episodes have stuck with me my whole life. And actually sort-of influenced some of my adult life. For example, there was the very famous Tyger, Tyger with beautiful guest star Yvette Mimieux. What a stunning duo those two were! Yvette played a surfer who developed epilepsy, so the doctor told her she could never risk surfing again. But, of course, she did, because, in her words, the “waves were as smooth as glass.” And, also of course, they fell in love. So when I had a couple of seizures in my early twenties, and wound-up in the hospital, and my doctor told me I had epilepsy, I thought that maybe he was really trying to tell me he loved me, ala Kildare! (If only he had looked like Richard Chamberlain, it would have been okay.)

Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds.

Another one was Hastings’ Farewell, where the character played by a superb Harry Guardino had aphasia, which is a language disorder that impairs a person’s ability to communicate. Until I just did research on the condition, (because of Mr. Chamberlain’s death bringing it front and center into my mind,) which can be caused by a stroke, I thought it was the same thing as a stroke. (Keep in mine, I was just a toddler when I saw the show.) I swear—I’ve remembered that episode for my entire life. And then, when I had a mini-stroke almost a decade ago, the only thing I could think of to equate my own experience to was this Dr. Kildare story! It made me feel somehow not so alone. (But no worries for me—I never lost my ability to speak, even though I’m sure several people wish I had it at least lessened a bit.) [Note: Ironically, it’s complications from a stroke that Richard just died from.]

And then seeing Richard Chamberlain as the most beautiful priest ever, in The Thorn Birds, almost made me want to turn Catholic! (Didn’t he do that for all of us?)

Richard Chamberlain and Karen Salkin. Photo by Libby Slate.

To my delight, I got to meet Richard a baker’s dozen years ago. I could not believe that it was really happening. He was starring as the emotionally abusive father in The Heiress at the Pasadena Playhouse, (which he was excellent in, of course,) and at the opening night after-party, the PR person was kind enough to introduce us. As I was telling Richard what he meant to my younger self, the photographers started taking pix, which mortified me because I was looking far from my best, so I cut the convo waaay too short. But he got the gist of my love. (As did everybody witnessing our meeting!)

I feel the world is a little dimmer without this exquisite man in it. But he’ll live on in our minds. And on classic television, of course.

R.I.P., Richard Chamberlain.