About the time that I was 11 or 12 I started collecting magazine pictures on my bedroom wall. Most of them were Purina Dog Chow commericials with photos of Irish setters and labs. My wall had only two humans.
Richard Chamberlain was the star of Dr. Kildare and I was in love. He was moral and kind and could save your life. The other human on wall was Warren Beatty. I can’t say the same for him.
Fast-forward to 1988 and my husband and I moved to Honolulu. I knew that Richard Chamberlain lived in the city and I told myself, based on the small town feel, that some day I might meet him.
Around 1990 both my husband and I were working at the University of Hawaii and sharing a car. I wanted to go home and my husband still had unfinished business. He asked that I go to Safeway and “get in a shop.”
At the time I was reading a novel by Peter Lefcourt. One of things mentioned in the book were the various classifications of Mercedes. As I pulled into the Manoa Safeway, I noticed a Mercedes with a very up market number. Then I looked at the driver. IT WAS RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN.
Richard and his partner got out of their car. I got a shopping cart and Richard got the one after me. I refused—being from L.A.- to acknowledge him. Though my heart was beating faster than a speeding bullet, I realized that my lifetime crush was gay. I later saw him at a PBS fundraiser where a colleague took photos of me with him. By this time, I was over the crush and aware of the plastic surgery.
This year, by a wonderful confluence of things, I attended the Academy Awards. I was on the wrong side of the velvet rope when Warren Beatty and Annette Benning walked passed me. I think that I was more excited about seeing her. But now, in retrospect, I realize that I have fulfilled the dreams of my Angus Street wall.
I’m pretty proud to say that YES—I have been in the presences of Warren Beatty and Richard Chamberlain.. They were my pin ups. But I am most proud of being married to a man who was not on my wall.
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