Richard Chamberlain on his busy life at 76: “All of a sudden, I am getting all of these phone calls”

It was so nice to open my copy of the LA Times this morning and to see a story on Richard Chamberlain, the TV and film star who came out seven years ago.

Although best known for his television work on the series Dr. Kildare and the miniseries Shogan and The Thorn Birds, it is Mr. Chamberlain’s film career that is the focus of a two-day tribute this weekend at the Aero Theater.

I love this anecdote he shares about working with Katharine Hepburn in the 1969 film The Madwoman of Chaillot:

“I had to fly to France for her to OK me for the part,” says Chamberlain, still “Shogun” handsome at 76. “She loved to fool around. We did a scene in this park where I had just tried to drown myself. I was lying with my head in her lap on this park bench. They were lighting the scene and she started fooling around with my hair.”

And his ears. Conjuring up the spirit of the late, great Kate, Chamberlain mimics her, saying in her distinctive patrician style, “Oh, little pig ears. Close to your head. Just like mine. It means you are very selfish.’ ”

The actor is reportedly newly single but the article does not mention that. It does mention, however, that he recently moved to West Hollywood after 25 years of calling Hawaii home.

He reflects on coming out in his book Shattered Love: A Memoir and why it took him so long: “When you grew up gay in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, it was a terrible thing,” he says. “You absorb all of this negative stuff and it becomes a part of you. It wasn’t until I was writing my book …. I remember the moment, actually. It was almost like an angel came into the room and put her hand on my head and said, ‘Enough of this nonsense.’ It’s the most benign, meaningless fact being gay. What does that tell you about a person?”

Though he feared what everyone would think, says Chamberlain, “Everybody was so wonderful. It didn’t change a thing.” In fact, it’s given him a “great freedom. It’s really wonderful.”