Richard Chamberlain (continued)

AOS.com: In your autobiography, you said that you hid your sexuality in order to have a career.

Do you still think that’s still necessary in the entertainment business?

RC: That’s a tough question. I think that if a young actor with a leading role or at a major point in his career asked me if he should come out, I’d have to say “no.” Because it’s too hard for audiences to understand. They just don’t get it.

AOS.com: You mean the general public understanding and accepting a gay actor playing a straight leading man?

RC: Right. It worked well for me (to be in the closet). It was


	(book cover courtesy Harper Collins)

wonderful to make love to Rachel Ward in The Thornbirds - she was so beautiful, and just a wonderful person.

AOS.com: What would be a benchmark moment to change that public perception?

RC: If people would finally grow up. Humans are not very smart, and social change is glacial. That’s why I went to England. Over there, they are not hung up on those things.

It’s like the Pythons - they are not hung up on gender. That’s what a lot of their comedy is about. The British thinks it’s funny, you know. The men over there are not

hung up on being macho.

AOS.com: Of all your roles, which was your favorite?

RC: That’s hard to say. I did a show with Dixie Carter called Fathers and Sons. I was Wild Bill Hickok and she was Calamity Jane. It was a really fun show and a great time.

I really enjoyed playing Cyrano (on stage). And Blackthorne in Shogun - that was probably my most powerful role, and the whole show was just so beautiful.


	(Poster © 2002. Okihei Enterprise, Ltd)

AOS.com:. And what role have you always wanted to play that is still on your wish list?

RC: I don’t know - I think Prospero is a role that I’d really like to play!

Monty Python’s Spamalot - starring Richard Chamberlain - plays the Bass Concert Hall from March 10th through 15th. Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $19.50 and are available at the Texas Box Office Outlets, including HEB, at (512) 477-6060 or online at www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com.