On the death of Richard Chamberlain: seven facts about the cult hit “Die Dornenvögel”

With the charismatic actor Richard Chamberlain (1934-2025), a real Hollywood legend died on Saturday. Especially at the beginning of the 1980s, the mime celebrated great success in the “Shogun” and “The Dorses” – and was therefore also known as an unofficial “King of Miniseries”, as mentioned in an obituary.

Chamberlain was probably the best -known role was that of the priest Ralph de Bricassart in the romantic melodrama “Die Dornenvögel”. Seven facts about the TV world success at the time.

“The birds of thorn” acted from the forbidden love of Ralph de Bricassarts to Australian Meggie (Rachel Ward, 67). The spiritual device in a veritable binding: he fully relies on his shiny career in the Catholic Church – or he follows his heart.

The spectators all over the world were rumored by this dilemma. Richard Chamberlain’s representation of a man who struggles with a socially frowned upon love, in retrospect, gains weight because the mime – a classic romantic leading man Hollywoods – made his homosexuality only in 2003.

Chamberlain was embodied by the then 25-year-old actress Rachel Ward. In the story of “Die Dornenvögel” she combined with the Australian actor Bryan Brown (77), who played her husband Luke O’Neill, an unfortunate love. The marriage of the two figures broke.

But privately it sparked between Brown and Ward. They married in 1983. Three children emerged from the marriage. To this day they should be a couple. A clear case of how life imitates art.

“The thorn birds” was broadcast in a television era, which is now difficult to imagine today. Long before there was Netflix and similar global streaming services, the four -part mini series became a global phenomenon.

Incredible 110 million people saw some of the show, reported. Over 30 million viewers are said to have switched on in the USA per episode. The mini series was broadcast in over 60 countries worldwide. Only the TV phenomenon “Roots” came up with even more spectators in the United States in 1977.

In a decade in which action heroes such as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone dominated on the cinema screen in front of testosterone, the delicate Richard Chamberlain played the role of his life in “Die Dornenvögel”.

Large and blessed with a classic look, Chamberlain formed the emotional heart of the mini series, was sometimes compassionate and romantic, then bursting with passion again. Without the expressive mime, “the birds of thorn” could have tipped ridiculous, with it the series became a melodramatic world success.

For its complex and emotional performance, the mime then also won its third Golden Globe. Overall, the mini series was honored with two of the coveted awards – in addition to the Globe for leading actor Chamberlain, there was also a prize for the best mini series.

No great success is said to have been “the birds of thorns” in Australia, the country where the TV four-part player plays. “Die Dornenvögel” was a high-budgeted production that was elaborate for the then television, but the shooting took place in California and Hawaii. Only actors Bryan Brown are said to have been from the Cast Washer Australian.

Numerous local inaccuracies, non -matching accents and mistakes have sneaked into production. For example, a bus that has the door on the false side, or landscapes that don’t look like the areas in western New South Wales, in which the series actually plays. However, whether this or other things were responsible for failure in Australia is not undoubtedly proven.

What is a thorn bird? The title of the legendary TV four-person takes up an Irish legend. This is about a bird who is looking for the perfect thorn tree throughout his life – and then starts the most beautiful and only singing of his life. No less melodramatic than the series “The Dorns Birds”.