Savage Messiah: Ken Russell > Savage Messiah: Ken Russell

Richard Chamberlayne passes away

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Jon Sorensen:
Hi, Iain,

Richard Chamberlain was an amazing acting talent.

Ken (Russell) made me a gift of many of his own films on DVD. A friend of mine, a visual effects supervisor who had just come off "Perfume" (2006), had never seen any of Ken's movies. I gave him a bunch of them. I told him "Dance Of The Seven Veils" was amongst the best things Ken ever done. It was Ken at his best. My friend went off and reported back that what he really dug was Ken's "The Music Lovers" with Chamberlain. He was hooked and converted, and my friend was due to make a documentary about Ken and I hanging out together. It did'nt happen. Then Ken died.

But all this reminds me of the incredible films and other film-makers we had. Seeing that Chamberlain had died I was prompted to go hunting for the now very rare "Lady Caroline Lamb" (1972), made by Robert Bolt and starring Chamberlain as Lord Byron. A film full of siginificant philosophies for me personally, I have a copy winging its' way to me as I write this. Boy, we had a golden age in which Ken, John Boorman, Stanley Kubrick and Robert Fuest and others were, to me, the bedrock. We have been lucky to have lived when we have lived.

Thanks for all your great work. Stay well, Iain. Keep flying the flag.

Jon
www.jonsorensencreative.com

Iain Fisher:
Richard Chamberlayne, who played Tchaikovsky in The Music Lovers, has passed away.

Chamberlayne achieved fame starring in all 191 episodes of the television series Dr Kildare. He then took challenging roles in cinema, including Petulia and of course The Music Lovers as well as playing Octavius in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

The Music Lovers was the first Ken Russell film I saw, so Chamberlayne introduced me to a new world.

"Richard Chamberlain, the hero of the 1960s television series Dr Kildare who found a second career as an award-winning 'king of the miniseries,' has died. He was 90 ... Chamberlain died on Saturday night in Waim?nalo, Hawaii of complications after a stroke, according to his publicist, Harlan Boll.
Martin Rabbett, his lifelong partner, said in a statement: “Our beloved Richard is with the angels now.... Photoplay magazine named him most popular male star for three years in a row, from 1963-65 (Associated Press, The Guardian, 30 Mar 2025, click here).
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/mar/30/richard-chamberlain-hero-of-dr-kildare-and-king-of-the-miniseries-dies-aged-90

Thanks to Alex for the link.

For more on The Music Lovers click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-the-music-lovers.html

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