(Images via NBC, ABC & by Matthew Rettenmund)

Richard Chamberlain, who had over 80 TV and movie credits from 1959-2019 — and who came out as gay in his late 60s after a lot of hard work on himself — has died at 90.

Just two days shy of his birthday, the three-time Golden Globe-winning actor suffered a stroke.

His longtime friend and partner Martin Rabbett said in a statement:

Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.

Chamberlain was a lovely man. I was fortunate enough to meet him at one of my favorite excursions to Burbank's The Hollywood Show in 2013. He was most gracious, exclaiming of a shirtless photo I asked him to sign, “What a cute picture. What a cute guy!”

When I thanked him for coming out, which he did via his 2003 memoir, and asked if he ever regretted it, he was emphatic: “Oh, no! Oh, no way!”

In 2010, he'd controversially told The Advocate:

It's complicated. There's still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It's regrettable, it's stupid, it's heartless, and it's immoral, but there it is. For an actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren't, so it's just silly for a working actor to say, “Oh, I don't care if anybody knows I'm gay” — especially if you're a leading man. Personally, I wouldn't advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out.

But if you watch his interview for the Television Academy, conducted not long after his coming out, Chamberlain spoke eloquently of how torn he was his whole career about being gay, and how relieved he was when, at 68, he realized all the “self-dislike” was no longer necessary:

He said, in part:

I was about 68 ... Finally, that area of self-dislike vanished completely ... It was as if an angel had put her hand on my head and said, “It's over ... All that negative stuff is over ...” It's very taxing to live your life as somebody else, which I did for a long, long time, partly.

That included a secret relationship with Land of the Lost actor Wesley Eure in the '70s. Eure has spoken about being heartbroken when Chamberlain ended things, and about being terrified in the '80s when a French tabloid outed Chamberlain.

Richard Chamberlain was born March 31, 1934, growing up in Beverly Hills. He served in the U.S. Army, stationed in Korea after the war, before returning to L.A. and founding an acting troupe.

He made his TV debut on a 1959 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. After a few guest spots, he was cast as the lead on Dr. Kildare (1961-1966). The Max Brand character had been popular in movies and books since the '30s, but the reboot with teen-mag-ready Chamberlain in the lead became a phenomenon.

With Gary Clarke (still with us) & Suzanne Pleshette at the 1963 Photoplay Awards (Image via video still)

The series and Chamberlain were so popular, it kick-started a Top 10 singing career and allowed him to knock down a couple of lead roles in films, Twilight of Honor (1963) and Joy in the Morning (1965) just a few years after making his movie debut in 1960's The Secret of the Purple Reef.

Post-Dr. Kildare, Chamberlain had an enviably diverse career, often doing his most fulfilling work on the stage. Aside from the famous flop that was the Breakfast at Tiffany's musical (1966), he did Shakespeare and toured with My Fair Lady (1993-1994).

Important films in the early part of his career included The Music Lovers (1971) for Ken Russell and the series The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989).

He was in two Irwin Allen disaster flicks, most successfully as the nasty villain of The Towering Inferno (1974), and also the killer-bee epic The Swarm (1978).

His last stabs at movie-stardom were his Golan-Globus Indiana Jones rip-offs King Solomon's Mines (1985) and Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold (1986).

Shōgun was so nice, they made it twice. (Image via NBC)

But what cemented Chamberlain's legacy as a TV legend was his ability to carry a miniseries, which he did in the massive hits Centennial (1978-1979), Shōgun (1980) — the production of which he was proudest — and The Thorn Birds (1983).

The Thorn Birds remains one of the most-watched TV events in history, tantalizing viewers with its story of a priest battling temptations.

He was in many other TV shows and movies after that, enjoying a career rebound when he came out in 2003. Not long after, he had a clever Will & Grace (2005) appearance and played an HIV-positive love interest to Ron Rifkin's character on Brothers & Sisters (2010-2011).

Along with all his performances, Chamberlain was a booster of nature conservancy. His surviving parter Martin Rabbett urges that in lieu of flowers, fans consider supporting the Hawaiian Humane Society or NPR.

Watch Richard's complete, unedited Pioneers of Television interview from perhaps 15 years or so ago: