Richard Burton For other people named Richard Burton, see Richard Burton (disambiguation). Richard Burton, CBE (/ˈbɜrtən/; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh stage and cinema actor[1] noted for his mellifluous baritone voice and his great act- ing talent.[2][3] Establishing himself as a formidable Shakespearean ac- tor in the 1950s, with a memorable performance of Hamlet in 1964, Burton was called “the natural suc- cessor to Olivier" by critic and dramaturg Kenneth Ty- nan. An alcoholic,[3] Burton’s failure to live up to those expectations[4] disappointed critics and colleagues and fu- [3][5] eled his legend as a great thespian wastrel. Burton was born in Pontrhydyfen, where his father and some of Burton was nominated seven times for an Academy his brothers were coal miners Award without ever winning. He was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Ac- ing with Cecilia, Burton attended nearby Eastern Primary tor. In the mid-1960s Burton ascended into the ranks of School on Incline Row.[13] Burton said later that his sister the top box office stars,[6] and by the late 1960s was one became “more mother to me than any mother could have of the highest-paid actors in the world, receiving fees of ever been ... I was immensely proud of her ... she felt all $1 million or more plus a share of the gross receipts.[7] tragedies except her own”. Burton’s father would occa- Burton remains closely associated in the public con- sionally visit the homes of his grown daughters but was sciousness with his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor. otherwise absent.[15]:7, 10 Also important in young Bur- The couple’s turbulent relationship was rarely out of the ton’s life was Ifor (Ivor), his brother, 19 years his senior. news.[8] A miner and rugby player, Ifor “ruled the household with the proverbial firm hand”.[16]:7 Whilst attending Port Talbot Grammar School (now Dyf- 1 Childhood and education fryn Lower Comprehensive School) Burton showed a tal- ent for English and Welsh literature, demonstrating an ex- Richard Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins in cellent memory, though his consuming interest was sports the village of Pontrhydyfen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales. – rugby (in fact famous Welsh centre Bleddyn Williams He grew up in a working class, Welsh-speaking house- said in his autobiography that Burton could have gone far hold, the 12th of 13 children.[9] His father, also named as a player[17]), cricket, and table tennis[18] He later said, Richard Walter Jenkins, was a short, robust coal miner, “I would rather have played for Wales at Cardiff Arms a “twelve-pints-a-day man” who sometimes went off on Park than Hamlet at the Old Vic.”[15]:17 He earned pocket drinking and gambling sprees for weeks. Burton later money by running messages, hauling horse manure, and claimed, by family telling, that “He looked very much delivering newspapers. He started to smoke at the age of like me ... That is, he was pockmarked, devious, and 8 and drink regularly at 12.[10]:25–26 smiled a great deal when he was in trouble. He was, also, Inspired by his schoolmaster, Philip H. Burton, he ex- a man of extraordinary eloquence, tremendous passion, [10]:23 celled in school productions, his first being The Apple great violence.” Cart.[10]:29 Philip Burton could not legally adopt young Burton was less than two years old in 1927 when his Richard due to their age difference; Burton was one mother, Edith Maude (née Thomas), died on 31 October year short of the minimum twenty years required.[19]:47 1927 at age 44[11] after giving birth to her 13th child.[12] Richard Jenkins (as the young man was still known) dis- His sister Cecilia and her husband Elfed took him into played early-on an excellent speaking and singing voice, their Presbyterian mining family at their terraced house winning an Eisteddfod prize as a boy soprano. He left on Caradoc Street in Taibach,[13] in the town of Port Tal- school at age 16 for full-time work. He worked for the bot (an English-speaking steel town).[9][14] Whilst stay- local wartime Co-operative committee, handing out sup- 1 2 3 HOLLYWOOD AND LATER CAREER plies in exchange for coupons, but then considered other Williams, on the set, and they married in February 1949. professions for his future, including boxing, religion and They had two daughters, but divorced in 1963 after Bur- singing.[10]:27 ton’s widely reported affair with Elizabeth Taylor. In the When he joined the Port Talbot Squadron of the Air years of his marriage to Sybil, Burton appeared in the Training Corps as a cadet, he re-encountered Burton, his West End in a highly successful production of The Lady’s former teacher, who was the commander. He joined a Not for Burning, alongside Sir John Gielgud and Claire youth drama group led by Leo Lloyd, a steel worker and Bloom, in both the London and New York productions. avid amateur thespian, who taught him the fundamentals He had small parts in various British films: Now Barabbas Was A Robber; Waterfront (1950) with Robert Newton; of acting. Burton, who recognised the youth’s talent, then adopted him as his ward and Richard returned to school. The Woman with No Name (1951); and a bigger part as a smuggler in Green Grow the Rushes, a B-movie.[15]:70–71 Being older than most of the other boys, he was very at- tractive to some of the girls.[10]:30–31 Philip Burton later Reviewers took notice of Burton: “He has all the qualifi- said, “Richard was my son to all intents and purposes. cations of a leading man that the British film industry so I was committed to him.”[10]:34 Philip Burton tutored his badly needs at this juncture: youth, good looks, a pho- charge intensely in school subjects, and also worked at de- togenic face, obviously alert intelligence, and a trick of veloping the youth’s acting voice, including outdoor voice getting the maximum of attention with a minimum of drills which improved his projection.[15]:38 fuss.”[10]:51 In the 1951 season at Stratford, he gave a In 1943, at age 18, Richard Burton (who had taken his critically acclaimed performance and achieved stardom teacher’s surname but would not change it by deed poll for as Prince Hal in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 oppo- several years[16]:41), was allowed into Exeter College, Ox- site Anthony Quayle's Falstaff. Philip Burton arrived at ford, for a special term of six months study, made possible Stratford to help coach his former charge, noting in his because he was an air force cadet obligated to later mili- memoir that Quayle and Richard Burton had their dif- tary service. He subsequently served in the RAF (1944– ferences about the interpretation of the Prince Hal role. 1947) as a navigator. Burton’s eyesight was too poor for Richard Burton was already demonstrating the same in- him to be considered pilot-material.[18] dependence and competitiveness as an actor that he dis- played off-stage in drinking, sport, or story-telling.[15]:73 Kenneth Tynan said of Burton’s performance, “His play- ing of Prince Hal turned interested speculation to awe al- 2 Early acting career most as soon as he started to speak; in the first intermis- sion local critics stood agape in the lobbies.”[10]:51 Sud- In the 1940s and early 1950s Burton worked on stage and denly, Richard Burton had fulfilled his guardian’s wildest in cinema in the United Kingdom. Before his war service hopes and was admitted to the post-War British acting with the Royal Air Force, he starred as Professor Hig- circle which included Anthony Quayle, John Gielgud, gins in a YMCA production of Pygmalion. He earned Michael Redgrave, Hugh Griffith and Paul Scofield. He his first professional acting fees with radio parts for the even met Humphrey Bogart, a fellow hard drinker, who BBC.[10]:35 He had made his professional acting debut in sang his praises back in Hollywood.[10]:56 Lauren Bacall Liverpool and London, appearing in Druid’s Rest, a play recalled, “Bogie loved him. We all did. You had no al- by Emlyn Williams (who also became a guru), but his ca- ternative.” Burton bought the first of many cars and cele- reer was interrupted by conscription in 1944.[15]:44 Early brated by increasing his drinking.[15]:73–74 The following on as an actor, he developed the habit of carrying around year, Burton signed a five-year contract with Alexander a book-bag filled with novels, dictionaries, a complete Korda at £100 a week, launching his Hollywood career. Shakespeare, and books of quotations, history, and biog- raphy, and he enjoyed solving crossword puzzles. Burton could, given any line from Shakespeare’s works, recite from memory the next several minutes of lines.[20] His 3 Hollywood and later career love of language was paramount, as he famously stated years later, with a tearful Elizabeth Taylor at his side, In 1952, Burton successfully made the transition to a Hol- “The only thing in life is language. Not love. Not any- lywood star; on the recommendation of Daphne du Mau- thing else.”[15]:43 rier, he was given the leading role in My Cousin Rachel opposite Olivia de Havilland.[10]:59 Burton arrived on the In 1947, after his discharge from the RAF, Burton went Hollywood scene at a time when the studios were strug- to London to seek his fortune.