Richard Chamberlain to Headline the 2006 On Golden Pond Tour

Richard Chamberlain will star in a national tour of Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond. The tour will feature the same creative team, headed up by director Leonard Foglia, utilized in the recent Broadway revival.

On Golden Pond tells the story of the lovable curmudgeon Norman Thayer Jr., Chamberlain and his spirited wife, Ethel--a couple whose final summer at their lakeside cottage in Maine is interrupted by the arrival of their estranged daughter and her fiancé's young son.

The recent Broadway revival of On Golden Pond starred James Earl Jones as Norman Thayer Jr. and Leslie Uggams as Ethel Thayer. Jones received a Tony nomination for his performance and the show itself was nominated for Best Revival. On Golden Pond ended its Broadway production on June 26 after 19 previews and 93 regular performances at the Cort Theatre. The closing was blamed on the absence of Jones, the show's primary box office draw, who missed the last couple of weeks of performances because of pneumonia.

Chamberlain has appeared on Broadway in Breakfast at Tiffany's which never officially opened, The Night of the Iguana, Blithe Spirit, My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music. He became famous in the early 1960s for playing the title character in Dr. Kildare, for which he received a Golden Globe for Best Male TV Star. Since then, he has appeared in some of television's most successful programs, including The Thorn Birds, Shogun, Wallenberg: A Hero's Story, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Bourne Identity. Over the course of his career, he has received four Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Awards. Chamberlain most recently appeared onstage as Ebenezer Scrooge in a tour of the musical Scrooge.

"We are thrilled to welcome legendary star Richard Chamberlain into the On Golden Pond family," producer Jeffrey Finn said in a statement. "This national tour will extend the life of the new Broadway production, and audiences across the country will be able to rediscover this American family classic."

The On Golden Pond tour is scheduled to begin in September 2006.