Richard Chamberlain graduated from Beverly Hills High School and almost immediately began acting in plays and television. In 1961 he was cast as the title character in the new television show Dr. Kildare and was thrust into the role of teen idol as a result.
In an effort to capitalize on Richard’s sudden fame, MGM rushed him into a recording studio and produced a record album, Richard Chamberlain Sings.
The theme song for his television show was an instrumental composed by Jerry Goldsmith and played over the closing credits. One of the songs on his album had Richard singing his own version of the theme song using music and lyrics written by Jerry Goldsmith, Pete Rugolo and Hal Winn. The single was released in 1962 and reached the top ten.
Later that year the follow-up single from his album reached #21 when he covered an old Elvis tune, Love Me Tender.
The album also contained another cover that got released in 1963. All I Have To Do Is Dream was a number one hit for the Everly Brothers in 1958 and Richard’s version got as high as #14.
While Richard never had another top forty hit, in 1963 he recorded a second album that was nearly half-filled with theme songs. The first single from that album was Blue Guitar, which peaked at #42. More interesting was the flip side of that single. The b-side was a song that later became the Carpenters first #1 hit: Close To You.
While his music career may have stalled, his acting career took off and Richard became the leading man of choice for television mini-series and movies. He was still appearing in movies as recently as 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Chamberlain
