But Chamberlain sought more for his acting career than an avid fan base. Chamberlain's good looks helped make him an overnight sensation and a heartthrob of the first order his pin-up status was further solidified by a string of pop singles he recorded between 19. Kildare," a medical drama about a young intern learning the ropes at a major hospital. In 1961, Chamberlain's career took off with his performance as the title role in "Dr.
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He began landing his first screen roles in the late '50s and early '60s on TV series such as "Gunsmoke" (CBS, 1955-1975) "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (CBS/NBC, 1955-62) and in several undistinguished theatrical features.
After his return to the States, Chamberlain studied under noted acting teacher Jeff Corey and co-founded the Los Angeles theater group Company of Angels.
The latter became his primary passion while attending Pomona College, and he might have signed with Paramount Pictures, had he not been required to serve in Korea for 16 months. Additionally, he triumphed in his personal life as well by, not only launching a successful second career as an artist, but by revealing his struggles as a gay man forced to conceal his sexuality in Hollywood for the past four decades.īorn George Richard Chamberlain in Beverly Hills, CA on March 31, 1934, Chamberlain excelled at both sports and art while a student. Kildare" (NBC, 1961-66) appearing in some of the most widely-seen projects in entertainment history, including the epic miniseries "Shogun," "Centennial," and most memorably, "The Thorn Birds." At the same time, he won the acceptance of the theater world with performances in acclaimed productions on both sides of the Atlantic. That included an aversion to monogamy and boasting in his book "Wilt: Larger Than Life" that he had slept with 20,000 women, an estimate that had people doing the math on that claim and, given the proximity of its release to Magic Johnson's AIDS diagnosis, he quickly came to regret.Īs sports journalist Jemele Hill notes, the discussion about Chamberlain's womanizing "put an overwhelming shadow in this tremendous basketball legacy," and made him a target for mockery at the time.A popular and versatile actor with a 40-year career spanning film, stage, pop music and television, Richard Chamberlain overcame the "handsome face" label that dogged him during his stint on TV's "Dr. That label came despite his enormous talent and treasure trove of seemingly unimaginable records, which included scoring 100 points in a game and averaging 50 points over the course of a season – seized on by critics as a sign of his emphasis on personal accomplishments as opposed to team victories.Ĭhamberlain invested wisely during his NBA career, amassing wealth while living a life as big as he was. The interviewees also include friends and family, including his sister Barbara Lewis, who recall how Chamberlain grew up being gawked at because of his height before attending college in Kansas, where a championship-game loss began the hard-to-shake meme that he was a "loser" in crunch time. Perhaps foremost, the project serves as an excellent companion to the recent Netflix documentary "Bill Russell: Legend," providing additional insight into the battle of titans that defined basketball during their era, with Russell cast as the championship-winning good guy and Chamberlain as the selfish foil, who, given his 7-foot-plus frame, was fond of telling people, "No one roots for Goliath." In its most buzzworthy device, the docuseries using an AI program to assemble Chamberlain's narration drawing from interviews and his autobiography, which possesses a somewhat stiff quality but generally gets the job done.
But the three-part Showtime documentary proves most notable for portraying the sensitive soul underneath the NBA great's brash exterior, as well as his trailblazing on behalf of athletes having a say in their careers and future. (CNN) - To anyone whose first thought hearing Wilt Chamberlain's name is the number of women he claimed to have slept with, rest assured, "Goliath" has you covered. ShowBiz Minute 7/14: Strikes, Spacey, Presley 00:48
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