Friday, October 15, 2010

Richard Chamberlain Listes Hawaiian Hideaway

SELLER: Richard Chamberlain
LOCATION: Kihei, HI
PRICE: $19,000,000
SIZE: 6,150 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: This bit of bizness was first reported back in May of 2010, which means Your Mama is far from the first to arrive at this particular celebrity real estate soiree. However, since we recently received a query about this posh property from Wahini Wantstoknow and since we so rarely get to discuss dwellings owned by famous folks in Hawaii, we're going to turn back time and discuss the ocean front Hawaiian kauhale of actor Richard Chamberlain and his longtime man-friend, actor/writer/producer/director Martin Rabbett. The couple currently have their Maui manse the market with an asking price of $19,000,000.

Mister Chamberlain, a noted thespian and an actor who first found fame as the young and humpy all-American blond heartthrob Dr. (James) Kildare on the 1960s tee-vee medical drama Dr. Kildare, is perhaps best known as 'Mister Mini-Series' for his many roles in a long list of mini-series, including Centennial, Shogun, The Bourne Identity (with Jaclyn Smith!) and the feh-naw-mih-nuhl and tragic saga The Thorn Birds in which he worked his sexy stuff as a foxy priest torn between his raging ambition to rise within the church hierarchy and his ardor and concupiscence towards a young woman named Meggie.

Mister Chamberlain, a man who made both women and men sweat with desire and other lewd feelings, was outed as a homosexual in 1989 by a naughty French publication but did not officially walk himself out of the proverbial closet until 2003 in his autobiography Shattered Love. Mister Chamberlain, a long time resident of the Aloha State who has been coupled with Mister Rabbett for more than 25 years, recently left his home in Hawaii and returned to the glittering lights of Tinseltown to pursue a reignited career. His recent boob-toob appearances include Desperate Housewives, Chuck, and Leverage and the still handsome 76-year old just signed on to appear on that sappy and sometimes smarmy family melodrama Brothers & Sisters.

Property records reveal that Mister Chamberlain and Mister Rabbett purchased their ocean front spread in quiet Kihei on the western shore of Maui through a trust in October of 1999 for $3,500,000. Records also indicate that at the time of the purchase the existing residence was far smaller and less polished than the existing residence, completed after four years of design and construction in 2005. Listing information indicates the residence designed by The Wiseman Group in San Francisco and oversaw by Mason Architects in Honolulu.

Property records show that the existing two-story gated residence sits on a .57 acre parcel with more than 100 feet of beachfront overlooking Keawakapu Beach and measures a sizable 6,179 square feet. Listing information shows there are a total of 6 bedrooms and 5.5. poopers on the property divided between the main house and the carriage house. The main house, according to listing information, contains two master suites–his and his, perhaps?–two additional bedrooms with private poopers plus a powder room. The 1,980 square foot carriage house includes 2 additional bedrooms, 2 poopers, a living room, art studio and laundry facilities.

The palm tree shaded motor court opens into an impress the guests style double height entry with limestone floors, a dee-voon floating staircase composed of chunky wood blocks and a simple, barely there bronze handrail. Your Mama is totally down with the large but light as air black and red Alexander Calder mobile that hangs in the entry, and we love a Bird of Paradise, but the round table with the sextet of curvy legs and the fish shaped wood bowl/vase/planter thing make us feel squeamish. We realize everyone needs a place to drop their keys and purse on the way into their home, but Your Mama would have simply tossed an exquisite solid colored silk-woven rug on the floor and called it a decorative day in the foyer.

Opposite the front door, the limestone floors and a glimpsed view of the ocean draws a person into the large "formal" living room divided into two areas: One end of the room has game/dining table–on top of which sit a bowl full of lurid red calla lillies–and the other end acts as a sitting area all done up in a somewhat cliché and vaguely Asian/Polynesian day-core with matching freestanding cabinets that flank the clean lined fireplace. Five fab bronze-framed French doors open to the terrace and loggia that run along the backside of the house.

Just off the entry, through a spectacular pair of gleaming wood doors, a media/screening room is courageously furnished with blood red furniture and large screen tee-vee built into a smooth wall of well oiled wood. Upstairs, a library with built in bookshelves, wood ceiling, Brazilian cherry wood floors and Calder sculpture opens to a deck with panoramic views across the verdant backyard and the pristine beach to the turqwaze and azure brilliance of the Pacific Ocean. The dining room, which opens to the back yard through a pair of bronze framed French doors, sits adjacent to the gourmet kitchen kitted-out with fancy Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Meile brand appliances.

At least one of the upstairs master suites, both of which have views of the ocean though the tops of the many palm trees that dot the back yard, includes a large dressing room with custom built cedar lined walnut clothing cabinets and center island with sink topped by a greenish-colored marble counter top. We're puzzled and perplexed by that ebony disk on the counter top that we hope is not but looks to Your Mama like it might be a crazy cloisonné Lazy Susan for displaying man-perfume.

The wide terrace and loggia at the back of the house transitions the airy indoor spaces to the backyard that includes a black-bottomed spa sunk into the flat lawn that stretches towards the shrubbery line that divides the private yard from the white sands of the more public Keawakapu Beach.

At least one previous report indicate that Mister Rabbett may–or may have already–moved to the gay gay gay San Francisco while Mister Chamberlain settles in Los Angeles in order to spend his dotage on the big and small screen. Listen chickens, setting aside why these two men don't seem to want to live in the same city anymore, Your Mama can't understand why a man Mister Chamberlain's age would even want to work anymore iffin he didn't have to. We're happy to have him back in the limelight but iffin we were him we'd just marinate in our past accolades and learn to knit while sitting on the back terrace watching all the barely covered beach goers stroll by. But, c'est la vie, right?

19 comments:

humanseed said...

He was SO sexy back in the day!

Anonymous said...

humanseed: really? I always thought he looked a bit swish around the edges from the beginning. Chaque a son gout, of course.

StPaulSnowman said...

Mama don't fool me..........with your obvious work ethic you will be churning out the goods here with a voice recognition program well past age 76. I can imagine your arthritic little digits fondling the well-worn jewels........of your abacus.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful house. Love it!
The Aussie

lil' gay boy said...

Snowman; naughty boy.

;-)

Dr. Kildare was one of my very first mancrushes; little did I know I & mine would be celebrating our 25th this week (I'm old, not dead.)

A lovely home, sophisticated, quietly elegant, and the calla lilies, zzz...

...sorry, but I must say I'm a bit disappointed; it is an incredibly beautiful, lovingly crafted home, but it seems just a tad soulless to me. Not so much sterile as artlessly staged. It doesn't appear to be the home that someone is leaving retirement for (or one where you'd play, "Quick; hide the pictures/porno..." in).

But given the penchant of some Hawaiian homes for leaning toward Polynesian kitsch, there are definitely good bones, great materials, and a lot of thoughtful restraint in this home.

The houses on this stretch of beach are close together, but not too close, nor as tightly as in Malibu; I wonder what the asking price would be if this house were there? Higher? Lower? Anyone?

As for Chamberlain & Rabbett embarking on a "commuter" relationship after all this time, well, I think I can see the allure...

Anonymous said...

What would be the allure at that point? They have split, folks. No?

Anonymous said...

Richard Chamberlain not only owns an interesting house, but is a diverse actor and a fascinating personality.
www.richardchamberlain.net

Anonymous said...

And by the way I think a couple of years of non-stop togetherness in Hawaii could break the back of even the most solid old relationship. My partner and I have managed to stay together fifteen years; major contributing factor (in my opinion) being that we maintain separate apartments in NYC. Those separate spaces and thus, to a certain extent, separate lives gave us the ability to get through the craziness of being what we were and out the other side to our early fifties.
Whether or not we'll still be together at Chamberlain and his partner's age, who knows. But I hope so. I am absolutely certain we would not be together now if we had lived together. And I think we are better for still being together. That's just us. However, I do believe that gay male couples are different than hetero couples (obviously) and it is even more difficult for many of them to stay together than hetero couples during the years of high sexual desire/shenanigans. Especially in New York, where there are so many opportunities for getting into trouble. . .

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if Richard still owns his original mans in Honolulu? It's on that curvey road that leads to a state park overlooking the city, with views of the ocean as far as Diamond Head. I'm sure Richard must have loved the same views, but his neighbors hated him. He erected a huge fence to maintain his 'privacy', but it blocked their views of what had to be one of the best on the island. None would be sorry that he's gone.

Hot Sauce said...

my husband and i have lived in separate places for the last four years....me in Texas, him in Federal!
At least I know where he is every night!

Anonymous said...

Interesting example of what it costs to have a high-end place on a desirable beach on Maui - although this area is fairly busy and there is a lot of activity from all directions. Amusing to think that I've driven by the anonymous street-front of this place many times during annual visits.

I happen to have seen him up very close in person a few times in the mid-60s, when he was just coming off his dreamy role in Kildare. I didn't meet him; he was doing some press conferences and public-relations stuff. But OMG he was just absolutely STUNNINGLY handsome in person, almost inhumanly good-looking, and I've rarely seen anyone better-looking in all the years since - he made quite an impression. I can't think of any young actor today with similar looks; possibly Chris Evans but not quite. Here are a few examples of what set hearts aflutter in the 60s; the pictures do not do him justice -

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Anonymous said...

re. 8:19 PM: lol.

Anonymous said...

I met him once about 15 years ago ( sold him some stuff for his nephews I think it was) and he was so handsome and so nice! It was my mothers 50th birthday and she was crazy about him so I took a chance... He signed a note for her- something funny I can't remember exactly what and he even tried to call her to say Happy Birthday. Really a decent guy.

Anonymous said...

Loved Dr Kildare and his style in decorating is Exquisite..Love the blue tones..

Anonymous said...

He is a class act. damn what a cool pad.

lil' gay boy said...

MarkyMark, I remember those beefcake shots from long ago, especially "Exhibit A".

Boy, do I remember...

Anonymous said...

to LGB - the real estate prices here in Hawaii continue to AMAZE. I can only guess that this 'hale' in Malibu would be priced less though my only points of reference to California real estate is Mama's blog.

BTW - that nut case Genshiro Kawamoto just spent another $40 mil on beachfront Kahala real estate.

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2010/10/18/story4.html

Anonymous said...

I rememebr loving slipper & the rose when I was a Kid. Use to sing those songs for hrs...how did I end up straight???

Jeannified said...

Hmmm...wonder if he and his partner broke up or are just living seperately and still commuting.

Love the house!