WALLENBERG: A HERO'S STORY (1985)

STARS: Richard Chamberlain, Alice Krige, Bibi Andersson.

DIRECTOR: N/A. DURATION: 240 mins.

SYNOPSIS: Drama based on the true story of World War Two hero Raoul Wallenberg, who helped Jews escape from the Holocaust until disappearing in 1945 after being arrested by the Russians.

RC PLAYS: Raoul Wallenberg.

When Schindler's List was still a twinkle in Steven Spielberg's eye, Richard Chamberlain played Raoul Wallenberg.

"Wallenberg was a fascinating guy," explained the actor. "As a Swedish diplomat assigned to the embassy in Budapest, he became acquinted with the Jewish tragedy. Because of his position, Wallenberg could save Jews in the daytime and dine with (Nazi henchman) Adolf Eichmann at night. He could have been shot and yet continued his activities until he was arrested by the Russians on January 17th, 1945. He disappeared into the Soviet Gulag and was never seen again. The Russians claim he died in 1947, and yet someone reported spotting him in 1978. The family is still hopeful he's alive."

The inspiring story of a man who saved 100,000 Hungarian Jews by issuing them with fake protective passports was ripe to be filmed, so it's something of a surprise that it took a long time for it to be developed.

"I heard about it three and a half years ago and I knew I wanted to play Wallenberg," recalled Richard at the time of the series' broadcast. "At the time it looked like another actor was going to get it, but then NBC picked it up and that's when I became involved."

NBC had certainly been good to Chamberlain - both Dr. Kildare and Shogun were their projects and had been smash hits, so they had no qualms about emplaying him again. And their faith certainly paid off.

Fritz Weaver, who had appeared in Kildare and worked with Chamberlain on his next project Dream West, was very impressed by his colleague's efforts here.

"One of the finest performances of recent years was his in Wallenberg," said Weaver, after filming Dream West. "I was just knocked out by what Richard did, and I told him, 'Jesus, that was my favourite performance of last year.' He was very pleased because for some reason it was overlooked when the Emmys were being handed out. I couldn't believe it."

After all that praise, there's no wonder that Wallenberg is Chamberlain's personal favourite of all his projects. However, that may also have been due to the partnership he formed with Alice Krige, who played Wallenberg's lover, Baroness Elizabeth Kemeny.

"I fell somewhat in love with Alice Krige when I saw her in Chariots of Fire," revealed Richard. "I would be happy working with her if I had to play love scenes with her for the rest of my life."

And Krige pretty much felt the same way: "There is a foundation of trust and confidence between us that makes working with him a joy."

Ironically, despite the chemistry between the two stars, the series' main flaw was the rather contrived on-screen love affair between their characters. Nevertheless, it was generally thought that Chamberlain's lack of Emmy acknowledgement (he wasn't even nominated) was something of an outrage.

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