Richard Chamberlain: the original star of Shogun, The Thorn Birds & Alan Quartermain, dies at 90

The 1980s were the heyday of the miniseries, and of all the people who starred in them, the undisputed king of the format was Richard Chamberlain, who, Variety reports, has died at age 90 following a stroke. Chamberlain had already been a leading man for decades by the time he made his first miniseries, having starred on TV’s Dr. Kildare, as well as in a slew of movies during the 1970s, which included Richard Lester’s classic duo, The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers (he played Aramis), and Peter Weir’s apocalyptic drama, The Last Wave, plus roles in the disaster films The Towering Inferno and The Swarm (where his demise caused by killer bees triggers a nuclear meltdown).However, his greatest fame came in the 1980s when he headlined a host of epic miniseries. His first, Shogun, is widely regarded as a classic adaptation of the James Clavell novel (with the recent remake a smash on Hulu). It was a smash hit, and Chamberlain followed it up with an even bigger hit, The Thorn Birds...