June 01, 2003

The Chamberlain's Emergence

So Mrs. Chamberlain's little boy Richard has finally decided to admit he's not like other boys. That's sweet. Let's all send him some Zinfandel with a little rainbow flag umbrella to welcome him. This is truly brave and wonderful of him.

Or at least it would have been if he'd done it when he had a career.

Or if he hadn't lied about it as recently as last year.

Or if he hadn't sued that French newspaper ten years ago when it mentioned his companion since 1976.

Or if he didn't time the "revelation" to coincide with the release of an autobio.

Or if he hadn't supported politicians hostile to gay marriage.

Or if he hadn't been photographed with starlets on his arms at parties in the past few years.

But, who am I to say that he's only doing this to resurrect major interest in an old has been (it's been 20 years since he was queen of the mini-series) of the sort usually reserved for has beens who kill their wives? Maybe he's doing it so that all the younguns today will say "Gee! Dr. Kildare was gay... I can be gay too! Now who was Dr. Kildare again?"

Chamberlain is one of the richest men in Hollywood, incidentally, due to a multimillion dollar inheritance from his father, his acting monies, and good investments. He could easily have let the French revelation stand, though perhaps he didn't want to steal the thunder of sizzling hot superstar Dick Sargent who came out around that time.

(Pointless trivia: one of the few openly gay actors in the 1970s was Will "Grampa Walton" Geer, who had resigned from the Communist Party due to their homophobia. [Quite the bohemian, he was the husband of a fully informed wife with whom he had two children; he also launched the careers of Arlo Guthrie and Burl Ives and had a Ph.D. in Botany, but that's another story.] Gramma Walton was also queer in real life, but it's really disturbing to think of her having sensations beneath that apron.