Background

Richard Burton was born on November 10, 1925, in Pontrhydyfen, Neath Port Talbot, United Kingdom. He was the 12th of 13 children of Richard Walter Jenkins Sr., an impoverished coal miner, and Edith Jenkins. The Jenkins clan lived in the mining village of Pontrhydyfen, set high in the valley of the River Afan in South Wales. It was a tight community, forged together on the heaving copper works and shallow coal mines.

Edith, Richard's mother died at the age of 44 after she gave birth to her last child. The cause was puerperal fever. From two years old, Richard was reared by his sister Cecilia Jenkins or "Cis", and taken to live with her and her husband, Elfed, and their two daughters - Marian and Rhianon, in Port Talbort. Richard remained forever grateful to Cis throughout his varied and colourful life.

While Cis more than filled Richard's need for a mother, he idolized Ifor, his brother who was 19 years senior. As the third Jenkins child, Ifor could turn his hand to anything: coal mining, building, plumbing, mechanics and poetry. Ifor became Richard's rock and protector throughout his life, leaving the Welsh valleys behind to join Richard as his personal assistant.

Education

In 1930-1937, Richard studied at the Eastern Primary School, where he made good progress. From 1933 to 1937, he attended the Boys' segment of the same school. Then, in March 1937, he passed a scholarship exam to Port Talbot Secondary School. While Richard had an inclination to learn and later would find great pleasure in writing, it was the sports field, that got his undivided attention at school. Rugby football and cricket were his obsessions.

At the time, when Richard should have been studying for his School Certificate, he left the educational establishment to work as a haberdasher's assistant and hated it. At the age of 15, he was an independent boy, who liked smoking, drinking and girls - not folding shirts and selling socks. He exhausted his frustrations at a local youth centre, founded by Meredith Jones - Richard's schoolmaster - and came face to face with the trade, that took him away from the edge of poverty.

It's worth saying, that in those years, Richard played the role of a Count and was in a radio documentary about the Air Training Corps (ATC) of which he was a member. During this period, Meredith Jones persuaded the Glamorgan Education Committee to readmit Richard to grammar school. Eighteen months after leaving school, he was back with the new teacher, Philip Burton, to keep an eye on him.

Philip, who was also Richard's commanding officer in the ATC, saw the energetic promise, that Jones had seen. Richard was a thirsty reader, particularly of poetry. Throughout his life, he would quote and write in his Notebooks chunks of John Donne, Edward Jones, John Betjeman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Dunbar, Shakespeare and his greatest read Dylan Thomas. Dylan became his hero. Sweetly, their paths would later cross and a good friendship would grow.

It was Philip Burton, who drilled schooling into Richard: Richard rewarded him by gaining his school certificate despite missing 18 months of term time. Richard was even given every chance to act before an audience at school and the local Young Men's Christian Association.

At the age of 17, Richard was tired of family tension at home and, on Philip's suggestion, thought about leaving. He eventually moved into 6 Connaught Street, Port Talbot, on 1 March 1943. Cis, his sister, let him go, but said, "Nobody knows how much I cried".

Philip worked on Richard, in particular his voice. He took Richard to the top of Welsh mountains and made him speak parts of Henry V. Then, Philip walked further away, insisting, that Richard did not shout, but make his voice heard. Richard realized, that distinctness mattered, not volume. The practise paid off - he had one of the most distinctive and memorable voices of all time.

In 1943, 6 months before joining the Royal Air Force, Richard gained admittance to Exeter College, Oxford. For him to become an undergraduate after he was demobilized, Philip was advised, that Richard was more likely to be accepted if he adopted the teenager. When it was deemed legally impossible, Richard became Philip's legal ward and Richard's surname was changed by deed poll to Burton.

It's worth noting, that, while at Oxford, Burton played Angelo in "Measure for Measure". It was his first big Shakespeare role, and was to be performed in front of important people, such as John Gielgud, Terence Rattigan and Binkie Beamount. After the play, Richard received his first professional offer from Binkie, who asked him to look him up after the war if he wanted to be an actor.

Career

Richard's first stage appearance was in 1943, but subsequent service as a Royal Air Force navigator delayed his career. Training as a navigator in Canada, he was discharged in 1947 and then he accepted a $30 weekly salary with a London theater company, resuming his stage performances in 1948.

It was in 1949, that Burton made his film debut in "The Last Days of Dolwyn" and scored his first real stage triumph in Christopher Fry's "The Lady's Not for Burning". In it, he worked alongside some of the best stage actors of the time. In 1950, Burton made his Broadway debut in the latter production. Burton's other Broadway credits included Jean Anouilh's "Time Remembered" (1957), the musical "Camelot" (1960-1963 and 1980) and Noël Coward's "Private Lives" (1983), in which he appeared opposite Elizabeth Taylor.

It's worth saying, that English stage and screen roles in the late 1940's and early 1950's led Burton to plum Shakespearean parts with the Old Vic, most notably Hamlet in 1953, and a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox, for whom Richard played the brooding hero of Daphne du Maurier's "My Cousin Rachel" (1952), his American film debut, for which he was honored with the Academy Award nomination; the Roman officer Marcellus in "The Robe" (1953), the first CinemaScope film, for which he received his second Oscar nomination; actor Edwin Booth in "Prince of Players" (1955); and, forever changing his life and career, Mark Antony, opposite Elizabeth Taylor, in "Cleopatra" (1963). Other movies from this period included Tony Richardson's "Look Back in Anger" (1959), based on a play by John Osborne, and the World War II drama "The Longest Day" (1962).

A major turning point in his career came, when he played the lead role in the play "The Boy with a Cart". Anthony Quayle, a leading actor and director, saw Richard in the role. He was so impressed, that he cast him as Prince Hal in "Henry IV" and the King in "Henry V" in the 1951 Shakespeare season in Stratford-upon-Avon as part of the Festival of Britain.

Burton's role as Mark Antony in "Cleopatra" (1963) brought him the status of a superstar. During filming of the epic drama, he and his American costar Elizabeth Taylor became lovers - though both were married to other people at the time. They subsequently received divorces from their spouses, and the high-profile couple was married twice (in 1964-1974 and 1975-1976), both unions ending in divorce. Burton made 11 films with Taylor, notably "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966), which was based on Edward Albee's play and earned Burton his fifth Oscar nod, and "The Taming of the Shrew" (1967), an adaptation of the Shakespeare play.

It's also worth noting, that, Richard was honored with the Academy Award nominations for his work in "Becket" (1964), "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965), "Anne of the Thousand Days" (1969), in which he portrayed Henry VIII, and "Equus" (1977). Other well-known movies Richard had a role in included John Huston's "The Night of the Iguana" (1964), "Where Eagles Dare" (1968), "The Wild Geese" (1978) and "1984" (1984), the latter of which was his final feature film.

During his career, Burton also occasionally appeared on television, notably playing Winston Churchill in the TV movie "The Gathering Storm" (1974) and Richard Wagner in the miniseries "Wagner", which first aired in the early 1980's and later was released as a movie. He was also known as the voice of Sir Winston Churchill in the television series "The Valiant Years".

Moreover, Richard's love for words and language was obvious through his work with BBC radio. Burton began narrating for radio in the early days of his career and would continue to do so for the rest of his life. His radio recordings included poetry, plays and school programmes - all for a fraction of the fees he could command in his film work.

Besides, during his career, Richard wrote articles for The Observer, The New York Times and Vogue, among others, and even authored poems and autobiographical story, titled "A Christmas Story" (1965). He also kept a personal diary and notebooks.

Despite the fact, that Richard was a highly successful actor, his career was erratic and often overshadowed by his personal life, notably his numerous marriages and excessive drinking. It was in 1984, that his career was cut short as he died suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Achievements

• Richard Burton was a highly regarded Welsh actor of stage and screen. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950's and he gave a memorable performance of Hamlet in 1964. The best-known movies Richard had a part in include "Cleopatra", "Where Eagles Dare", and "Raid on Rommel".
  
  In the mid-1960's, Burton ranked among the top box office stars. By the late 1960's, the actor was one of the highest-paid actors in the world, receiving fees of $1 million or more plus a share of the gross receipts.
  
  During his lifetime, Burton received numerous awards, including the Theatre World Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award, BAFTA Award, David di Donatello Award, Laurel Award, Golden Globe Award, among many others. Moreover, in 1970, he was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
  
  In addition, Burton was nominated for the Academy Award seven times, among other nominations for numerous awards.
  
  It's worth saying, that, for his contributions to cinema, Burton was inducted posthumously into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. Besides, for his contributions to theater, he was also inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A Christmas Story

    (A touching memoir of Christmas past by the renowned late ...)

    1964

• movie

  • The Wild Geese

    (A team of aging mercenaries hired by a wealthy industrial...)

    1978
  • Prince of Players

    (A tragic and sentimental story, that depicts the early ca...)

    1955
  • Becket

    (King Henry II of England (Peter O'Toole) comes to terms w...)

    1964
  • Absolution

    (At a Catholic public school, Benjamin "Benjie" Stanfield ...)

    1978
  • Raid on Rommel

    (In 1942 Libya, a German-speaking British Intelligence off...)

    1971
  • Where Eagles Dare

    (Allied Agents stage a daring raid on a castle, where the ...)

    1968
  • The Desert Rats

    (Richard Burton stars in this exciting film, directed by R...)

    1953
  • The Sandpiper

    (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton star in this romantic...)

    1965
  • The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

    (British Agent Alec Leamas (Richard Burton) refuses to com...)

    1965
  • The Night of the Iguana

    (A defrocked Episcopal clergyman leads a bus-load of middl...)

    1964
  • Alexander the Great

    (Richard Burton, Frederic March and Claire Bloom star in t...)

    1956
  • Anne of the Thousand Days

    (King Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Catharine o...)

    1969
  • 1984

    (The classic George Orwell story set in a world, where abs...)

    1984
  • Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

    (A burned-out professor and his volatile yet seductive wif...)

    1965
  • The Robe

    (A physically and emotionally deteriorated Roman tribune i...)

    1953
  • The Comedians

    (A cynical Welsh hotel owner secretly romances a diplomat'...)

    1967
  • Cleopatra

    (Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt experiences both triumph and...)

    1963
  • Look Back in Anger

    (A disillusioned, angry university graduate comes to terms...)

    1959
  • The Taming Of The Shrew

    (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton sparkle and amuse in ...)

    1967
  • The Medusa Touch

    (Psychological thriller about a telekinetic novelist, who ...)

    1978
  • The Longest Day

    (Allied forces prepare for a massive D-Day assault upon th...)

    1962
  • The Assassination of Trotsky

    (After having been forced to leave the Soviet Union in 192...)

    1972
  • Equus

    (A psychiatrist attempts to uncover a troubled stable boy'...)

    1977
  • The V.I.P.s

    (Inclement weather forces a group of wealthy passengers to...)

    1963
  • Exorcist II: The Heretic

    (A teenage girl, once possessed by a demon, finds, that it...)

    1977
  • Bluebeard

    (A World War I pilot, whom everybody envies as a "ladykill...)

    1972
  • Doctor Faustus

    (A man sells his soul to the devil in order to have the wo...)

    1967

• play

  • Hamlet

    (The highly successful 1964 Richard Burton Broadway produc...)

    1964

Religion

Burton was an atheist, stating, "I wish I could believe in a God of some kind, but I simply cannot."

Politics

Politically, Burton was a lifelong socialist, although he was never as heavily involved in politics, as his close friend Stanley Baker. He respected Democratic Senator Robert F. Kennedy and once got into a sonnet-quoting contest with him. Richard also admired Josip Broz Tito, a Yugoslav leader, and even agreed to play him in a biographical film. While filming in Yugoslavia, he publicly declared, that he was a communist, saying, that he felt no contradiction between earning vast sums of money for films and holding left-wing views.

Besides, Burton authored articles, in which he reported, that he "virulently" hated Winston Churchill and others in power during World War II for the alleged promise to wipe out all Japanese people on the planet. He also questioned Churchill's sanity in his writings, for which he was even banned permanently from BBC productions.

Views

Quotations: "The more I study religions, the more I am convinced, that man never worshipped anything, but himself."

"If you're going to make rubbish, be the best rubbish in it."

"A man, that hoards up riches and enjoys them not, is like an ass, that carries gold and eats thistles."

"I have to think hard to name an interesting man, who does not drink."

"One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy."

"False friendship, like the ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports."

"How strange are the tricks of memory, which, often hazy as a dream about the most important events of a man's life, religiously preserve the merest trifle."

"When I played drunks I had to remain sober because I didn't know how to play them when I was drunk."

"Little islands are all large prisons: one cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow."

"I've done the most awful rubbish in order to have somewhere to go in the morning."

"This diamond has so many carats it's almost a turnip."

"You may be as vicious about me as you please. You will only do me justice."

"I am as dispassionate as it is possible for a human being to be and not be a machine."

"The Welsh are all actors. It's only the bad ones, who become professional."

Membership

While at Oxford in 1943-1944, Richard was a member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society.

• 

  honorary fellow

  St Peter's College, Oxford , United Kingdom

  1975

Personality

Richard was a man of high intelligence and an incredibly well-read person. He loved to do crossword puzzles and was dismayed, that American newspapers' crosswords were more geared towards encyclopedic information, rather than puns and wordplay.

Richard had bad habits, that remained unbroken for the rest of his life - heavy drinking and heavy smoking. In a December 1977 interview with Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Burton admitted he was smoking 60-100 cigarettes per day.

According to David Lewin, Burton's friend, he "tried" homosexuality. He also suggested, that perhaps all actors were latent homosexuals. In 2000, Ellis Amburn's biography of Elizabeth Taylor suggested, that Burton had an affair with Laurence Olivier and tried to seduce Eddie Fisher, although this was strongly denied by Burton's younger brother Graham Jenkins.

Physical Characteristics: In his youth, Burton was a star athlete and well known for his athletic abilities and strength. However, by the age of 41, his health deterioriated significantly. By his own admission, his arms were thin and weak. He suffered from bursitis, possibly aggravated by faulty treatment, arthritis, dermatitis, cirrhosis of the liver and kidney disease, as well as developing, by his mid-forties, a pronounced limp.

According to Melvyn Bragg, it's impossible to ascertain how many of these health problems were due to his intake of alcohol, because Richard refused to be treated for alcohol addiction. In 1974, he spent six weeks in a clinic to recuperate from a period, during which he had drunk three bottles of vodka a day. He was a heavy smoker, with an intake of between three and five packs a day for most of his adult life. Health issues continued to plague Richard until his death at the age of 58.

Burton also suffered from constant and severe neck pain.

Quotes from others about the person

• A brimming pool, running disturbingly deep… Burton's voice is urgent and keen... He turned interested speculation into awe as soon as he started to speak." - Kenneth Tynan, a noted critic of British theatre
  
  "The actor doesn't merely command the stage, he seems to own it by divine right." - Frank Rich, the New York Times drama critic

Interests

• Writers

  Emlyn Williams

• Sport & Clubs

  rugby football and cricket

Connections

Throughout his life, Richard was married five times - twice consecutively to Elizabeth Taylor. During the period from 1949 until 1963, he was married to Sybil Williams. The couple gave birth to two daughters, Kate Burton and Jessica Burton.

As for his relationship with Taylor, they were married between March 15, 1964 and June 26, 1974, as well as from October 10, 1975 to July 29, 1976. Their first wedding took place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal. The second was held in Chobe National Park in Botswana. It's worth noting, that Richard re-adopted a girl from Germany, Maria Burton, which had been previously adopted by Taylor and Eddie Fisher, her ex-husband. Besides, Burton also re-adopted Taylor and producer Mike Todd's daughter, Elizabeth Frances "Liza" Todd, who had been first adopted by Fisher.

It was in August 1976, that Burton married his third wife - Suzy Miller - a model and actress. However, the couple dicorced in 1982. From 1983 until his death in 1984, Burton was married to Sally (Hay) Burton, an author and theatre producer.

It's also known, that, while being married to Sybil Williams, Richard had a love affair with Claire Bloom, film and stage actress.

Father:

Richard Walter Jenkins Sr.

Richard Walter Jenkins Sr., called Daddy Ni by the family, was a coal miner.

Mother:

Edith Maude (Thomas) Jenkins

Edith, Richard's mother, worked as a barmaid at a pub, called the Miner's Arms, which was also the place, where she met and married her husband. Richard described his mother to be "a very strong woman" and "a religious soul with fair hair and a beautiful face". Richard was barely two years old, when his mother died, six days after the birth of Graham, the family's thirteenth child.

ex-wife:

Suzy Miller

Suzy Miller is a British model, actress, dancer and choreographer.

adopted daughter:

Maria Burton

Maria Burton is an adopted daughter of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Sister:

Cecilia "Cis" (Jenkins) James

Cecilia, Richard's elder sister, and her husband Elfed James, a miner, took him under their care, when Richard's mother passed away.

Brother:

Ifor Jenkins

A miner and rugby union player, Ifor, Richard's elder brother, was responsible for nurturing a passion for rugby in young Richard.

Brother:

Graham Jenkins

Graham Jenkins was Richard's youngest brother. Jenkins had worked as a market inspector in Port Talbot, manager of Afan Lido and latterly as a sports organiser for the BBC in London. He had also lived in Guernsey before moving back to south Wales. He passed away in 2015.

ex-wife:

Sybil Williams

Sybil Christopher was a Welsh actress, theatre director and founder of popular celebrity New York nightclub "Arthur". She first came into the public eye as the first wife of Richard Burton.

ex-wife:

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor was a British-American actress, businesswoman and humanitarian. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940's and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950's.

Wife:

Sally (Hay) Burton

Sally (Hay) Burton is an author and theatre producer. She is the fourth wife and widow of Richard Burton.

Daughter:

Kate Burton

Katherine Burton, a Welsh-born American actress, is a daughter of Richard Burton and Sybil Burton. On television, Burton received critical acclaim as Ellis Grey in Shonda Rhimes' drama series "Grey's Anatomy", and as Vice President Sally Langston on "Scandal". She has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Tony Awards.

Daughter:

Jessica Burton

Jessica Burton is a daughter of Sybil Williams and Richard Burton.

adopted daughter:

Elizabeth Frances "Liza" Todd

Elizabeth Frances "Liza" Todd, an American actress, is the daughter of movie superstar Elizabeth Taylor and the theatrical impresario/movie producer Mike Todd, their only child and the last child born to Taylor. Liza's stepfathers were the pop singer Eddie Fisher, the movie actor Richard Burton, the United States Senator John Warner and Larry Fortensky.

Partner:

Claire Bloom

Richard had love affair with Claire, a British actress, while he was married to Sybil Williams. After Richard's death, Claire mentioned him as "the biggest love of her life".

Friend:

Stanley Baker

Sir William Stanley Baker was a Welsh actor and film producer.

References

• Rich: The life of Richard Burton A biography of Richard Burton, containing his own words, through the co-operation of members of his family, who made available to Bragg, the author of this work, various diaries and letters. There are also fresh insights from Burton's peers, in an attempt to provide a frank and intimate account of his life.
  1988
• A Portrait of Richard Burton A pictorial biography of Richard Burton, written by Paul Ferris.
  1984
• Richard Burton This incisive and penetrating account details the complex and often contradictory life and career of actor Richard Burton from his childhood in Wales to his most recent successes.
  1981
• Burton: The Man Behind the Myth This work explores Richard Burton's life and career, from his brilliant performance as Hamlet to his five marriages - twice to Elizabeth Taylor - to his final recovery from alcoholism just prior to his sudden death in 1984.
  1985
• And God Created Burton A sweeping family saga, spanning 1898 to 1984, stretching from the mining fields of South Wales to the film sets of Hollywood and from the playhouses of Cardiff to the grand theatres of Broadway - this far-reaching biography examines every detail and facet of the life of one of Britain's greatest-ever actors, Richard Burton.
  2011
• The Official website of Richard Burton