ADVOCATE: You were a wildly successful closeted actor during a period of time when coming out was unheard of, but the climate of acceptance has significantly changed in recent years. How do you feel about gay actors who still remain closeted as we near 2011?
RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN: It’s complicated. There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It’s regrettable, it’s stupid, it’s heartless, and it’s immoral, but there it is. For an actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren’t, so it’s just silly for a working actor to say, “Oh, I don’t care if anybody knows I’m gay” — especially if you’re a leading man. Personally, I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out.
On his rumored break up from his partner of more than 30 years:
ADVOCATE: It was widely reported in April that you had split from Martin Rabbett, your partner of more than 30 years, and had moved to Los Angeles from your shared home in Hawaii . How are you doing?
RC: Well, we haven’t really split. In other words, we’re still very, very close. The essence of our relationship has remained the same; we just don’t happen to be living together. I went home for Thanksgiving and had the most wonderful time, and we’ll be spending Christmas together with friends in New York . So we’re not split, really. I just moved to L.A. because I wanted to work more. Martin, unfortunately, doesn’t like L.A. at all, but he’s thinking of moving to San Francisco .
On Alleged Plastic Surgery:
ADVOCATE: Back in the ’90s, in response to rumors that you’ve had several facelifts, you publicly said you’d give $10,000 to any plastic surgeon who could find the surgical scars to prove it. Has anyone ever taken you up on that bet?
RC: No, no one has. Because the other side of it is that if you don’t find anything, then you have to give me $10,000. I think it would be fun to go on a talk show and have some famous plastic surgeon come examine the backs of my ears. The offer is still on the table.
RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN: It’s complicated. There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It’s regrettable, it’s stupid, it’s heartless, and it’s immoral, but there it is. For an actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren’t, so it’s just silly for a working actor to say, “Oh, I don’t care if anybody knows I’m gay” — especially if you’re a leading man. Personally, I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out.
On his rumored break up from his partner of more than 30 years:
ADVOCATE: It was widely reported in April that you had split from Martin Rabbett, your partner of more than 30 years, and had moved to Los Angeles from your shared home in Hawaii . How are you doing?
RC: Well, we haven’t really split. In other words, we’re still very, very close. The essence of our relationship has remained the same; we just don’t happen to be living together. I went home for Thanksgiving and had the most wonderful time, and we’ll be spending Christmas together with friends in New York . So we’re not split, really. I just moved to L.A. because I wanted to work more. Martin, unfortunately, doesn’t like L.A. at all, but he’s thinking of moving to San Francisco .
On Alleged Plastic Surgery:
ADVOCATE: Back in the ’90s, in response to rumors that you’ve had several facelifts, you publicly said you’d give $10,000 to any plastic surgeon who could find the surgical scars to prove it. Has anyone ever taken you up on that bet?
RC: No, no one has. Because the other side of it is that if you don’t find anything, then you have to give me $10,000. I think it would be fun to go on a talk show and have some famous plastic surgeon come examine the backs of my ears. The offer is still on the table.
http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Television/Sibling_Revelry/
.
George Richard Chamberlain (born March 31, 1934) is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare (1961-1966).
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήHe appeared in several popular television miniseries (earning him a nickname of "King of the Miniseries"), including "Centennial", William Bast's "The Man in the Iron Mask", "Shogun", and "The Thorn Birds" playing Father Ralph de Bricassart opposite Rachel Ward. In the late 1980s he experienced a belated breakthrough as a leading man with "King Solomon's Mines" opposite newcomer Sharon Stone, and also played Jason Bourne in the 1988 version of "The Bourne Identity".
Chamberlain resided in Hawaii with his partner, actor-writer-producer Martin Rabbett, from the mid-1970s to 2010. Rabbett and Chamberlain starred together in "Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold", in which they played brothers Allan and Robeson Quatermain.
Chamberlain was outed by the French women's magazine Nous Deux in December 1989 but it was not until 2003, at the age of 69, that he came out in his autobiography, "Shattered Love".
In the spring of 2010 Chamberlain moved from Maui to Los Angeles because of work possibilities, leaving Rabbett in Hawaii, at least temporarily.