Richard Chamberlain Biography

Actor

Photos ( See all 12 )

Name at birth: George Richard Chamberlain

Chamberlain was a blue-eyed young heartthrob in the mid-1960s when he starred as Dr. Kildare, a sensitive internist learning the medical ropes. After gaining serious acting chops on the British stage, Chamberlain returned to TV as a mature heartthrob in TV miniseries like Shogun (1980, with Toshiro Mifune) and The Thorn Birds (1983, with Rachel Ward and Barbara Stanwyck). He played World War II figure Raoul Wallenberg in the 1985 TV movie Wallenberg: A Hero's Story. In 1988 he played amnesiac secret agent Jason Bourne in the TV movie The Bourne Identity. Chamberlain published a 2003 autobiography, Shattered Love, which included the revelation that he was gay.

Extra credit: Before starting his acting career, Chamberlain was a sergeant in the U.S. Army... The role of Jason Bourne was played by Matt Damon in a series of feature films, beginning with The Bourne Identity in 2002.

Chamberlain joins George Clooney in our loop on TV's Hunky Docs.