Bio
Chamberlain is an American actor who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare (1961-1966).
Coinciding with his rise to fame on Kildare, Chamberlain also had a brief but moderately successful career as a pop singer.
Chamberlain subsequently became disenchanted with Hollywood and turned to the theatre, finding success in England among British audiences.
In 1966, Chamberlain was cast opposite Mary Tyler Moore in the ill-fated Broadway musical Breakfast at Tiffany's which, after a torturous out-of-town tryout period, closed after only four previews. It is considered one of the most notorious flops in theatre history. Decades later he returned to Broadway in a revival of The Sound of Music.
During the first half of the 1970s Chamberlain enjoyed some success in films with The Towering Inferno, The Last Wave, The Three Musketeers and sequels and The Count of Monte Cristo, though was never regarded as an out-and-out leading man.
In The Slipper and the Rose, a musical version of the Cinderella story, co-starring Gemma Craven, he displayed his vocal talents, which had already resulted in a hit single during his days as Dr. Kildare.
Chamberlain later appeared in several popular television miniseries, including Centennial, The Man in the Iron Mask, Shogun and The Thorn Birds.
In the late 1980s he experienced a belated breakthrough as a leading man with King Solomon's Mines, and also played Jason Bourne in the original 1988 version of The Bourne Identity.
He eventually "retired" to Hawaii where he owns land with his partner, agent-producer-director Martin Rabbett, but he never has stopped working.
Since the 1990s Chamberlain has mostly appeared in television movies and as a guest star on series, including The Drew Carey Show and Will & Grace.
In 2005, Chamberlain appeared in the title role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Broadway National Tour of Scrooge: The Musical alongside Larry Adams, Roberta Duchak, Todd Gross, George Keating, and Ben Ratskoff as Tiny Tim.
In 2006, Chamberlain guest starred in an episode of the BBC drama series Hustle.