RIP to the original John Blackthorne.

Bummer... John Blackthorne is the roll I will always remember him for.

Richard Chamberlain

Aw dang. 90 is a good run. I just caught him in an entertaining old episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents called "Road Hog" where he played one of Raymond Massey's sons.

I've never seen Dr. Kildare but my parents would always mention that. My earliest memories of him aside from Shogun was from the mini-series The Thorn Birds which was a huge smash at the time. I remember Allan Quatermain getting a lot of attention when it was released following the success of Indiana Jones.

RIP though it sounds bad but I thought he died years ago.

My mom loved The Thorn Birds. She didn't follow Chamberlain outside of that mini-series - but I think she watched this a few times.
The other mini-series she loved was Rich Man, Poor Man - from the late 70s.

Also the first Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity

Yea I remember the original Bourne Identity TV miniseries from back in the late 80s when I was in high school. It was him and Jaclyn Smith. And I know not everyone paid attention to Cannon Films, but he played Allan Quartermain in King Solomon’s Mines and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold. They were basically Indiana Jones ripoffs, but he was good in them.

I was only 10 when the Thorne Birds came out. I know he got a lot of notoriety from that miniseries. So I never paid attention to it as a kid and haven’t really visited it again as an adult.

I liked this guy because he was openly gay for a long time and finally came out to the public 20 years ago. If that seems irrelevant it's only because he helped pave the way for so many people to be openly gay their entire lives and never need to come out. It wasn't that long ago this was considered taboo and a career killer and still is for actors who want mainstream appeal.

Richard Chamberlain was incredibly talented playing a wide range of characters and proof that a gay man can pull off 'acting' like he is in love with a woman in a completely believable way. (It doesn't hurt when that woman happens to be Rachel Ward in her prime)

Most will remember him for The Thorn Birds or Shogun but for me it will be for Centennial where he played 18th century fur trapper McKeeg, a favorite of my Dads who watched the DVDs a million times. A manly man if there ever was one!

RIP Mr. Chamberlain! You were a class act!

RIP King of the Miniseries

I watched The Thorn Birds and Shogun. I’ve told the story here before, but I was in high school marching band and missed the last episode of Shogun because of a Friday football game. I didn’t see it till the home-video era 20 years later.

If you did not know his place of birth you might think he was British with that name.

As a kid I really liked the Quatermain movies and bought the blu-ray a couple of years ago. They didn't hold up, but I still thought they were entertaining. Shogun I didn't watch in the 80s or 90, but when I watched it, I liked it a lot. It's a really good miniseries.

I remember him mostly from the Shogun miniseries. That then made me ponder the whole concept of the miniseries and down that rabbit hole I went researching the history of same and being reminded of the daddy of all them.....Roots. That's a subject for another thread. RIP

He died just days short of his 91st birthday, which is today.

I just saw him during my re-watch of Leverage. Rest in power.