Free Republic

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Richard Chamberlain, the Emmy-nominated actor and 1960s heartthrob who rocketed to fame in the TV medical drama "Dr. Kildare" and starred in the mini-series "Shogun" and "The Thorn Birds" has died at the age of 90, publicist Harlan Boll said.

...In a wide-ranging career across stage and screen, Finlay starred as Porthos in the Three Musketeer films of the 1970s, alongside Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain and Michael York, and opposite Susan Penhaligon in the taboo-challenging television series Bouquet Of Barbed Wire. He also took the lead role in Dennis Potter's serial, Casanova, and starred in Shaft In Africa, the follow-up to the famous black private detective film starring Richard Roundtree. It was in a supporting role to Laurence Olivier in Othello back in 1965, for which he was nominated for an Oscar in 1965...

"When I grew up, being gay, being a sissy or anything like that, was verboten," Chamberlain tells NBC. "I disliked myself intensely and feared this part of myself intensely and had to hide it." It is not pleasant being homosexual. Ok. The debate is on. Those who say a person is born gay. Those who say a person chooses gay. So the room heats up with every emotion possible as the two go at it. Which is it? Some biblically religious state that God would not make a homosexual. Therefore, the homosexual chooses to be one; therefore, he is at...

Schools will be encouraged to hold lessons exploring the achievements of gay men and women throughout history as part of the first gay history month. The project, to be held in February, will highlight the hidden history of household names who would probably today identity as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, such as William Shakespeare, who was rumoured to be bisexual, and Florence Nightingale, who few people know was a lesbian. Other events covered during the month will include talks on the early years of gays and lesbians in British television and discussions of the history of the British LGBT...