DREAM WEST (1986)

STARS: Richard Chamberlain, Alice Krige, Rip Torn, Anthony Zerbe, Cameron Mitchell, Fritz Weaver, F. Murray Abraham.

DIRECTOR: Dick Lowry. DURATION: 7 hours.

SYNOPSIS: Epic adventure based on the true story of little known but important US pioneer John Charles Fremont.

RC PLAYS: John Charles Fremont.

Chamberlain's long stretch of TV success had made him a sought after commodity. Here though, he took the role as a favour to his old friend, producer Chuck McLain.

Based on David Nevin's best-selling novel, the plot focuses on real-life pioneering hero John Charles Fremont, who despite his many achievements and exploits remains virtually unknown.

Even the man set to play him admitted he knew little about the hero - but he soon picked up the facts. "America was a little Eastern country when he started his push West," explained Chamberlain. "He made the first really scientific maps and showed people how to get from Connecticut to Oregon safely. Fremont changed his country - it's a wonderful thing to feel."

Alice Krige co-starred as Fremont's wife Jessie - reuniting her with Chamberlain and once again playing his love interest following her appearance with him in Wallenberg. Again the sparks flew between them - contributing to rumours that they were having an affair.

No matter how much enthusiasm Richard had for the project, he still felt under a heap of pressure when it came to portraying a man who had altered the course of history.

"I have mixed feelings about this kind of fictional history," revealed the actor. "None of us has the same personality as another human being, and if I'm portraying another human being there's already distortion. This isn't Fremont - it's facts about Fremont. I can't be exactly like him. That would just be futile, and I know the audience knows that."

The shoot itself proved to a rather arduous busines, but Richard never seemed to tire - even when those around him had had enough. "I worked on the first day of the mini-series, then I left," says co-star Anthony Zerbe. "I went away and did another mini-series, I did a play. I went through the Christmas holidays. Four months later I returned for the final week of filming. Everybody's lost 20 pounds. The only person who was totally unchanged was Richard Chamberlain."

Oscar-winning make-up artist Michele Burke was in charge of transforming the cast from LA-based actors into scruffy pioneers - a change that Chamberlain relished: "I like being dirty and hairy and rotten. It helps me become a different person." What may also surprise some fans is that Richard himself is a bit of a dab hand when it comes to applying the old greasepaint.

"We were all sitting half asleep in the make-up room drinking coffee," recalled Fritz Weaver, "and he's leaning forward, looking into the mirror, chatting away, but doing his own makeup - he's an expert at it."

Despite all the hard work of the cast and crew, Dream West proved to be rather shallow disappointment - with most of the blame laid at the door of scriptwriter Evan Hunter and director Dick Lowry. Aired on three successive nights in April 1986 in the US, it bombed despite Richard's supposed drawing power - but the critical mauling it received certainly didn't help matters. It's something of a shame that the show failed because it certainly had all the ingredients to be a big success.

Dream West was also Richard Chamberlain's first mini-series flop in some time - was the king's crown beginning to slip?

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