Shattered Love: A Memoir [Hardcover]

In his much-anticipated memoir Shattered Love, TV actor Richard Chamberlain reveals he is gay and for decades lived a fictitious public life. "I was terrified that this news would alienate fans and topple my cherished career, robbing me of the work I loved and my only source of income," Chamberlain writes. But he pointedly adds, "I had to admit to myself that I was as homophobic as the public I sought to please." He reflects on his career with similar disarming ease, spinning tales about his many Tinseltown colleagues such as Paul Newman, Julie Christie, Raquel Welch, Sir John Geilgud, Steve McQueen, and the legendary Barbara Stanwyck, his co-star from the blockbuster TV mini-series The Thorn Birds. Stanwyck, he writes, flubbed her lines just once--when he stripped off his clothes on-camera. "After a stunned pause she murmured, 'Well, it's been a very long time since I've stood next to a naked man.'" Chapters about growing up in post-war California with his alcoholic father are written with the same breezy candour. Chamberlain also assesses his acting ability (he's "a character actor in leading-man clothing") and frankly deals with his onetime obsession with youth ("I was secretly certain that my success was almost entirely due to my youthful good looks"). Many of the later chapters explore Chamberlain's deep spirituality and lifelong quest for inner peace--Chamberlain's way of dealing with his double life all those years. "The important lesson in all this is not about revealing secrets," he says. "The real challenge is in daring to brave the silence." And in so doing Chamberlain has given readers a book that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. --Richard Burnett

Despite its fevered title, this is a courtly, ruminative life's accounting by the TV miniseries star and 1960s heartthrob. It relates Chamberlain's journey toward self-awareness and growoing capacity for love, through the scrim of an actor's career. Although the author, who's now 69, discusses his main television, movie and stage efforts, he dishes no dirt about his colleagues or directors. Raymond Massey, Chamberlain's Dr. Kildare co-star, was like a second father to him. The Thorn Birds' co-star Barbara Stanwyck was prepared down to her gestures when she hit the set. The Three Musketeers's bombshell Raquel Welch was beloved by all. As Chamberlain revisits his acting credits, he concentrates on what he gained from them as an artist, such as how he fought for the lead in Shogun or broke through the constraints of Rex Harrison's performance to carve his own characterization of Henry Higgins in a stage revival of My Fair Lady. Throughout, he centers his account on how he evolved as a spiritual being. He writes of his spiritual counselors, who showed him how to gain strength through dissociation and open his heart to forgive and love others, particularly his alcoholic father. He speaks intermittently about his homosexuality, but considers it a nonissue, rather than a political passion. His pantheistic theology is heartfelt, but might seem unfounded to orthodox believers. The book is most valuable as a portrait of a man who has made peace with his past. B&w photo insert not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From his breakout role in Dr. Kildare, through more than four decades of unforgettable performances on television and in film, Richard Chamberlain has epitomized the ideal leading man. Strong and handsome, sophisticated yet kindly, his public persona has drawn fans of all ages. But despite his worldwide acclaim in The Thorn Birds and Shogun -- two of the most successful miniseries of all time -- the actor himself has never led a life of easy confidence. Even at the height of his fame he lived in constant fear that the "real" Richard would one day be discovered -- and that the love he had gained from fans, family, and friends would be ripped away.

In Shattered Love, Richard Chamberlain recounts his fascinating journey as an impressionable boy growing up in postwar California who stumbled into the Hollywood of big studios, big money, and big personas. Through long days on the set and glittering evenings on the town with Joan Crawford, Princess Margaret, Elizabeth Taylor, and a cast of other colorful characters, Chamberlain gamely and tirelessly played his Golden Boy role. As time passed, however, he longed to reconcile his deepest self with his public persona -- including his sexual orientation, a secret he has guarded until now. With candor, honesty, and wit, Shattered Love captures Chamberlain's poignant struggle to come to terms with the truths in his life -- from his tumultuous relationship with his troubled father to his lifelong quest to find spiritual truth in everyday life.

Warm, touching, and brave, Shattered Love draws on a lifetime of stories and on lessons learned from some of the most inspiring spiritual teachers of our time -- sharing with readers the author's own journey from desperate suppression to a life lived with an open heart.

Richard Chamberlain has starred in such classics as Dr. Kildare, The Thorn Birds, and Shogun and has received rave reviews for his theatrical turns in Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac, and My Fair Lady, as well as numerous other plays and films. Chamberlain lives in Hawaii, where he continues to act and pursue his passion for painting.