| Richard Burton
Iconography Biog. Death & Marriages Trivia Gallery Dvd/CD Reviews Posters Viewing Search April 2017: Added details and photos of the book Richard Burton So Much, So Little (1995) July 13: Added a Trivia section with more fascinating facts on Richard Burton than you will find on any other page! Just added details of his daughter's lifetime illness, of the making Cleopatra, 1984, his relationship with Dylan Thomas and what he thought of Liz Taylor's breasts. More to come...Read more here. He was born on the 10th November 1925 at Pontrhydyfen in Wales. A Welsh miner's son who never forgot his roots, Richard Burton gained a reputation as one of the world's finest actors, and then was criticized for placing fame and money above art and dedication to his craft. Through the help of his schoolmaster, Philip Burton, young Richard Jenkins received a scholarship to Oxford University (later taking Burton's name as his own), and studied acting; along the way he developed a distinctive and beautiful speaking voice. He made his first stage appearance in 1943, but his career did not begin in earnest until after he left the British Navy in 1947. The Last Days of Dolwyn (1948) provided young Burton his film debut, and he made a striking impression in a stage revival of The Lady's Not for Burning in 1949. When Burton came with the play to Broadway the following year, he registered solidly with American producers, and was chosen to play the male lead in My Cousin Rachel (1952), a Daphne du Maurier mystery. His success in that film led to a flurry of Hollywood activity in such pictures as The Robe (1953), The Rains of Ranchipur and Prince of Players (both 1955), but he did not set the box office on fire and subsequently spent much of his time on the stage both in Britain and in the U.S...(scroll down). Burton starred in several respectable British films in the late 1950s, including Look Back in Anger (1959), but his elevation to superstardom began with his casting as King Arthur in the Broadway musical Camelot in 1960 (which won him a Tony Award), and his role as Marc Antony in the 1963 film version of Cleopatra. A star-crossed production, it was begun and halted several times in several different countries with several different directors. During the making of the film, Burton and his co-star Elizabeth Taylor carried on an affair, which led both to divorce their current mates-and become headline fodder around the world. The Burton-Taylor team became hot box office, and although he played Hamlet on stage (which was also photographed for showing in movie theaters) and Becket in the movies (both 1964), he commanded the most audience attention in slick entertainments with his wife, such as The V.I.P.s (1963) and The Sandpiper (1965). Art and commerce found a common ground in the couple's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and The Taming of the Shrew (1967), but audiences grew restive with both his on-again, off-again relationship with Taylor, and the later films they did together: The Comedians (1967), Dr. Faustus, Boom! (both 1968), Hammersmith Is Out (1972), and the TV movie Divorce His-Divorce Hers (1973). In fact, Burton became notorious for appearing in films-always for the money, which he never denied-that wasted his considerable talents, including Bluebeard (1972), The Voyage (1973), The Klansman (1974), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Medusa Touch (1978), Lovespell (1979), Absolution (1981, filmed in 1978), and Wagner (1983). Burton was honored seven times with Oscar nominations, as Best Supporting Actor for My Cousin Rachel (odd, since he was the male lead) and as Best Actor for The Robe, Becket, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), and Equus (1977), but he never won the gold statue. His final work was in a well-received 1984 miniseries, Ellis Island (which featured his daughter, actress Kate Burton) and the impressive remake of 1984 (1984). He wrote of his relationship with Taylor in the slim but charming volume Meeting Mrs. Jenkins (1966). OTHER FILMS INCLUDE: 1951: Green Grow the Rushes 1956: Alexander the Great 1959: Bitter Victory 1962: The Longest Day 1964: The Night of the Iguana 1968: Candy 1969: Where Eagles Dare 1971: Raid on Rommel 1973:Massacre in Rome 1978: The Wild Geese 1980: Circle of Two. Richard Burton Dvds @ amazon.co.uk This Site: War of the Worlds Dvd © - Paul Page (2011) He was 5' 9½" (1.77 m) tall He was married five times: Died of cerebral hemorrhage shortly after the filming of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) was completed, on the 5th August 1984 in Céligny, Geneva, Switzerland. Burton died less than a week before he was due to begin shooting Wild Geese II, a sequel to his successful mercenary thriller The Wild Geese, made in 1978. He was the only actor returning for the film and, as Colonel Allen Faulkner, would have led a team of crack mercenaries to spring aged Nazi Rudolf Hess from Spandau Prison in Berlin. Burton's death caused huge problems for producer Euan Lloyd, the man behind the original Wild Geese and its follow-up. With the rest of the cast - Scott Glenn, Barbara Carrera and Laurence Olivier, playing Hess - in place, Lloyd had just a handful of days to find a replacement for Burton. He selected British actor Edward Fox, who joined the cast as Alex Faulkner, Burton's brother. Burton's no-show in the film was explained by one character telling Fox that they'd heard his famous warrior brother had died. The film was dedicated to Burton's memory. Richard Burton Dvds @ amazon.co.uk This Site: © - Paul Page (2011)
Clint Eastwood was reluctant to take secondbilling after Burton, but an$800,000 fee changed his mind. As such a valuable part ofthe production, and becausemuch of the action was quitedangerous, Eastwood wasn'tallowed to do his own stunts;frustrated, he dubbed thefilm Where Doubles Dare. Richard Burton and his troop of elitecommandos parachute behindenemy lines to infiltrate aBavarian castle. Clint Eastwood'slaconic assassin, the obligatorytraitor in their midst, a deviousfinal twist and a load of Naziswho can't shoot straight are thewinning ingredients in this WorldWar II Boy's Own adventure,scripted by Alistair MacLean. Where Eagles Dare in full
All the Richard Burton facts you will need! Trivia has been sourced from the definitive book Richard Burton: Prince of Players In 1979, on the set of Clash of the Titans, Claire told the author: 'I met Rich for the first time when we both auditioned for The Lady's Not for Burning. I thought how beautiful he was with those green eyes...' Burton hadn't been first choice to replace Boyd. The director Joseph L. Mankiewicz wanted Marlon Brando but he was making Mutiny on the Boounty so wasn't available. The film was costly from the outset, the budget having risen from $10 million to $14 million with only seven minutes of film shot, none of it usable. He did his first shot on Cleopatra on 2nd January 1962. Burton told the author when talking about Elizabeth Taylor naked in the bath scene: 'Oh, her body. It was ... intoxicating. You could not look at Elizabeth nude and not want her. So, yes, of course as soon as I saw her nude I wanted her... That's just lust, and I have plenty of that'. 1984 was made at Shepperton Studios. He kept forgetting his lines. There were 29 takes of his first set-up and 35 takes of his second set-up. £200 was a lot of money in 1953 and Richard simply didn't ave that much cash on him. Then Thomas told Rich that he had written a play, Under Milk Wood, which he would sell to him for £200, but Rich still had to explain he didn't have the money. Shortly after, Thomas went to America where he died. Burton did Under Milk Wood on BBC radio - the play's first ever performance. His wife Sybil was also in it. They donated their fees to Dylan's widow, Caitlin, and their children. In early 1971 he made the film version of Under Milk Wood. Budget was just £300,000 and was made in just 40 days. The stars, Burton, O'Toole an Elizabeth Taylor (a real coup getting her name on board and was really O'Toole's persuasion) agreed to small fees but large profits. The film never made much money. It was shot in the Gwaun Valley in Wales with many of the locals appearing as extras and in small roles.
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Richard Burton Playing The Krays & The Richardsons In One Go!!