Milestone Moments: All The Celebrity Vitals

[BetterButter]

Bruce Glover, the Villainous Mr. Wint in ‘Diamonds Are Forever,’ Dies at 92

[Spartan Girl]

Richard Chamberlain dies at 90

Goodbye to another legend. But you can’t do better than making it to 90.

(Sorry you had to wake up to this @GHScorpiosRule.)

[Wiendish Fitch]

33 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Richard Chamberlain dies at 90

Goodbye to another legend. But you can’t do better than making it to 90.

(Sorry you had to wake up to this @GHScorpiosRule.)

Such a charming, handsome actor. From making young Boomers' hearts flutter as Dr. Kildare to becoming king of the miniseries, Chamberlain could do it all. I never felt people appreciated how talented he really was. He was not only a darn good actor, but was  (I think) a heckuva singer, too.

We'll miss you, Mr. Chamberlain.

 

 

Edited March 30 by Wiendish Fitch

[Browncoat]

15 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Richard Chamberlain dies at 90

Goodbye to another legend. But you can’t do better than making it to 90.

(Sorry you had to wake up to this @GHScorpiosRule.)

90 is a good run, but damn.  He was an icon of the 80s -- so many miniseries.  perfect as Father Ralph, and so good as John Blackthorn.  He was an excellent Musketeer, too, in one of the best (if not the best) adaptation of The Three Musketeers.  Oh, and so many other roles!  He will be missed.

RIP, Mr. Chamberlain.  I'm sorry you felt it necessary to hide your true self from the public for so long.

[Spartan Girl]

I did like his version of The Count of Monte Cristo (in spite of that whiny bitch Mercedes). 

[Lugal]

I loved him as Archie, master thief and Parker's mentor on Leverage.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

making young Boomers' hearts flutter as Dr. Kildare

Probably my first crush, before I even knew what a crush was, which seems to be in line with Richard Chamberlain's understanding of what love is, in a quote at the end of this (free-gift-linked) NY Times obit: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/arts/television/richard-chamberlain-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.704.PRbg.Kk4qrDWbC952&smid=url-share

I managed to find one Dr. Kildare episode on The Wayback Machine (a.k.a. The Internet Archive). Hopefully MeTV or a similar network will air reruns in tribute.

[Fool to cry]

Love how he played William Holden's scumbag son-in-law in The Towering Inferno. Who knew electricians could be so evil?

 

Edited March 30 by Fool to cry

[Wiendish Fitch]

22 minutes ago, Fool to cry said:

Love how he played William Holden's scumbag son-in-law in The Towering Inferno. Who knew electricians could be so evil?

 

I need to check that one out! It has a bunch of actors I love in it!

I also really loved Chamberlain as the Prince in The Slipper and the Rose. I realize this movie isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I did adore that Chamberlain's Edward had more personality than most princes in other versions of Cinderella... not to mention he gets to deliver some wonderfully snarky lines ("Our police couldn't find a haystack, much less a needle!").

[GHScorpiosRule]

Ah nooo! Not Richard Chamberlain!😭😭😭

But 90 is a good run and his Monte Cristo was THE BEST. And Father Ralph (“But I love God More”), Kildare, BlackThorn…

Now I needs must find all the movies…

[Blergh]

I wonder if Wesley Eure (formerly of Days of Our Lives and Land of the Lost) will weigh in about his evident  onetime friend Mr. Chamberlain's passing.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

It has a bunch of actors I love in it!

And one I’m sure you don’t 

[tearknee]

Ana Gasteyer?

[Fool to cry]

25 minutes ago, tearknee said:

Ana Gasteyer?

That's Kathryn Hahn but I understand the confusion. 

Here's the Towering Inferno poster with the main cast list:

[Dimity]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

And one I’m sure you don’t 

Well it can't be Fred Astaire!  So I'm going to guess that killer football player guy?

[tearknee]

"Fred Astaire"

There are three gingers in the world i have no good to say for and I'm Mister Rogers's daughter in spirit. The least worst is shipwrecked on an island, the middle one lives with Jason and Maggie and the worst one was in Astaire movies.

 

[MissAlmond]

I, too loved Richard Chamberlain in The Three Musketeers. It's true, for a time he was the King of the Miniseries. May Mr. Chamberlain rest in peace. 

 

Edited April 1 by MissAlmond

[Mindthinkr]

About 2 months ago we had a stretch of bad weather and decided to do a rewatch of Shōgun starring Richard Chamberlain. A neighbor had it on CD and a few of us would watch an episode or two each night. We chatted about how his performance still held up. I also saw him in many other shows from Dr Kildare (which I was probably too young to be viewing) and The Thorn Birds. So handsome and he made every role count. A sad loss, but a good run. 

[BetterButter]

Richard Norton, Actor, Martial Arts Expert, Trainer and Stuntman, Dies at 75

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, Fool to cry said:

Love how he played William Holden's scumbag son-in-law in The Towering Inferno. Who knew electricians could be so evil?

I'm the oddball who doesn't like his '80s TV movies/miniseries, but I'm a sucker for '70s disaster movies, so that's the role that immediately sprang to my mind.

[roamyn]

Shogun, Dr. Kildare, Thornbirds, 3 Musketeers, Towering Inferno, Count of Monte Cristo, Man in the Iron Mask, Centennial...

Outside of Roots or Rich Man, Poor Man, I don't think there was a late 70s early 80s mini series that Mr. Chamberlain wasn't a part of.  (j/k)  He was the King of the Miniseries and such a draw as an actor and face.  He knew how to sell a serialized story.  And he made such an AH inTowering Inferno that was different from his normal characters. 

RIP sir.  You lived a long, productive life and deserve your rest.

[ProudMary]

A clip from this 2+ hour interview by the Television Academy with Richard Chamberlain from 2010 came across my BlueSky feed this afternoon. I've listened to a few chapters. It's very interesting. I'm linking the page that has chapter headings so you can easily navigate according to your interests.

https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/richard-chamberlain?clip=61687#interview-clips

[ebk57]

Richard Chamberlain came through my theatre for the pre-Broadway production run of My Fair Lady...whenever that was.  He was very pleasant, but I really don't remember much about him.  The thing everyone remembers about that production was the giant head prop.  

I did quite enjoy Shogun and Thorn Birds.  And The Towering Inferno.  RIP

[voiceover]

I read The Thorn Birds a couple of years before the miniseries came out, cried my eyes out when Ralph died in Meggie’s arms, put down the book & said: Richard Chamberlain *must play Ralph.  And when the news came out that he’d been cast, I lost my mind.

Rest in peace, sir.  Thanks for all those smart, swoon-y heroes through the years.

[Blergh]

Mr.William Daniels is having a milestone today-his 98th Birthday!

Let's hope he and his spouse of 73 years Bonnie Bartlett are celebrating it with their loved ones!

Happy Birthday  ,Mr. Daniels !

[ABay]

Bill!

Time to listen to 1776 again.

Has St. Elsewhere ever been on the syndication wheel or does Law & Order still have a headlock?

[roamyn]

2 hours ago, ABay said:

Bill!

Time to listen to 1776 again.

Has St. Elsewhere ever been on the syndication wheel or does Law & Order still have a headlock?

OrKnight Rider. LOL

Was he in 1776?. That was my first grown up mini series I was allowed to watch.  I just remember Ken Howard as a hot young Thomas Jefferson.

Happy Birthday Mr. Daniels.  

Edited March 31 by roamyn

[Notabug]

1 hour ago, roamyn said:

 

Was he in 1776?. That was my first grown up mini series I was allowed to watch.  I just remember Ken Howard as a hot young Thomas Jefferson.

Yep, he played John Adams.

[ABay]

He was the lead...and it was a musical and a movie, not a miniseries. Are you perhaps conflating it with The Bastard, which was a miniseries set during the Revolution?

Edited March 31 by ABay

[roamyn]

31 minutes ago, ABay said:

He was the lead...and it was a musical and a movie, not a miniseries. Are you perhaps conflating it with The Bastard, which was a miniseries set during the Revolution?

Yeah, I thought after I posted that it might've been a movie.  I was a tween who found her second character crush (after Speed Racer) so I really only remember Ken Howard. LOL, so the memory isn't the best.  

[MissAlmond]

3 hours ago, roamyn said:

Was he in 1776?.

 

2 hours ago, Notabug said:

Yep, he played John Adams.

[CountryGirl]

RIP, Richard.

He was, indeed, the King of the Miniseries, in the all the very best ways where his presence alone made it worth the watch.

My pre-teen heart (I saw him first in The Thorn Birds) is broken. My mom's is as well as she watched him from his Dr. Kildare days on.

I despised Father Ralph de Bricassart in the book but Richard changed my mind.

It likely had something to do with this scene:

It's a scene that will be forever seared in my memory and remains my standard for finding a partner: find the one who looks at you like Ralph looks at Meggie coming down the stairs in her Ashes of Roses gown.

[BetterButter]

Clive Revill, Who Voiced Emperor Palpatine in ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ Dies at 94

[Snow Apple]

Sad to hear about Richard Chamberlain. I was obsessed with The Slipper and the Rose as a child, and swooned over The Thorn Birds as a teen. I also love his version of The Man in the Iron Mask. After he took over the identity of King Louis XIV, that last scene with "his" wife the queen on the dance floor was a riot. 

Edited April 1 by Snow Apple

[MissAlmond]

Actor Sian Barbara Allen who appeared in such films as You'll Like My Mother, Billy Two Hats, and Scream, Pretty Peggy and was John-Boy's love interest Jenny Pendleton on The Waltons has died, age 78.        

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sian-barbara-allen-dead-youll-like-my-mother-waltons-1236177342/

https://deadline.com/2025/03/sian-barbara-allen-dead-the-waltons-actress-1236355421/

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/sian-barbara-allen-dead-scream-pretty-peggy-1236352951/

Edited April 1 by MissAlmond

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

I despised Father Ralph de Bricassart in the book but Richard changed my mind.

It likely had something to do with this scene:

It's a scene that will be forever seared in my memory and remains my standard for finding a partner: find the one who looks at you like Ralph looks at Meggie coming down the stairs in her Ashes of Roses gown.

You took the words right out of my head! I also read the book- TWICE! Before and AFTER- second time picturing Richard as Ralph! Must get it on Kindle!!!!

[roseha]

Happy Birthday to Mr. William Daniels.  I will now date myself, I saw him on Broadway in 1776 when I was 16.  I remember that he was great.

I guess I haven't seen the film but I thought there was a TV version in which Blythe Danner played Martha Jefferson?  Or was that the film?

[Anduin]

2 hours ago, roseha said:

Happy Birthday to Mr. William Daniels.  I will now date myself, I saw him on Broadway in 1776 when I was 16.  I remember that he was great.

I guess I haven't seen the film but I thought there was a TV version in which Blythe Danner played Martha Jefferson?  Or was that the film?

So you were born in 1760?

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, Anduin said:

So you were born in 1760?

And somehow saw Mr.Daniels onstage 151 years before his own birth?I

Impressive.

P.S. No Foolin'! LOL

Edited April 1 by Blergh

[AheadofStraight]

On 3/31/2025 at 8:23 AM, ABay said:

Bill!

Time to listen to 1776 again.

Has St. Elsewhere ever been on the syndication wheel or does Law & Order still have a headlock?

FYI, St. Elsewhere is available on Hulu!

[Dimity]

Sian Barbara Allen, Former Actress and Star of The Waltons, Dies at 78

Sian Barbara Allen, the beloved star of The Waltons, has died. She was 78.

The actress died of Alzheimer's in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Monday, March 31, an online obituary announced.

[ABay]

Blythe Danner was Martha Jefferson in the movie.

[Vermicious Knid]

Patty Maloney, ‘Far Out Space Nuts’ and ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’ Actress, Dies at 89

Quote

 

Patty Maloney, the 3-foot-11 actress who played the alien Honk on the Sid & Marty Krofft family show Far Out Space Nuts and Chewbacca’s son, Lumpy, on the long-lamented Star Wars Holiday Special, has died. She was 89...

Maloney did lots of work alongside the 3-foot-10 Billy Barty. The two appeared together in the Wizard of Oz feature Under the Rainbow (1981), starring Chevy Chase, and on episodes of Little House on the Prairie, Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, Trapper John, M.D. and more.

 

And I did not know this.

Quote

She also did voice work and operated the Crypt Keeper puppet on HBO’s Tales From the Crypt.

[Blergh]

5 hours ago, Dimity said:

Sian Barbara Allen, Former Actress and Star of The Waltons, Dies at 78

Sian Barbara Allen, the beloved star of The Waltons, has died. She was 78.

The actress died of Alzheimer's in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Monday, March 31, an online obituary announced.

Miss Allen guested on The Waltons for two episodes playing John-Boy's first serious love-interest Jenny Pendleton. What was interesting was that Miss Allen and Mr. Thomas were themselves an item during that time and she was able to convey someone in love with another person. .. who had very different ideals for the future while both were blinded by love to reality. Of course, circumstances beyond both of these teen characters' control parted them. However, it was a testament to the writing  (and both performers' acting) that the teen viewers rooted for these young would-be lovers to live happily ever after while [most of] the adult viewers could see that the bond wouldn't have lasted due to differing goals.

It's not my biz why Miss Allen and Mr. Thomas wound up breaking up themselves and marrying others but it was good seeing them believably playing their characters in love.

 

How sad that she (and her family) had to have her twilight so cruelly dimmed before its time due to the horrific Alzheimer's.

I just hope that she was able to find happiness with the family she made and they were able to make her last days as pleasant as possible (and that she still had some knowledge of who they were to her at the end).

RIP, Miss Allen.

[ebk57]

Val Kilmer has died.  He'd been ill for so long, but this still makes me sad.

 

 

[Domestic Assassin]

Oh no! Val Kilmer has died of pneumonia. 😭

 

Edited April 2 by Domestic Assassin

[WritinMan]

"I'm your huckleberry."

RIP, Val.

[Annber03]

Oh, wow. 

Aw. Sad to hear that. 

[roamyn]

He suffered for so long, and was gossiped abt so much before he made his throat cancer diagnosis public, that he deserves and probably needs his rest.

I will always be awed by his portrayal of Jim Morrison, but he was great in pretty much everything. 

[voiceover]

Val was terrific in a number of movies, but for me, that performance in Tombstone was one for the ages.  His Doc Holliday was witty, loyal, *extraordinary with a gun, and the smartest man in every room.

Thanks for the joy you brought us, Val.   I’m so glad the pain you suffered is gone.