Richard Burton
|
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in
The Robe
(1953)
|
Born
| Richard Walter Jenkins
(
1925-11-10
)
10 November 1925
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Died
| 5 August 1984
(1984-08-05)
(aged 58)
|
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Cause of death
| Cerebral haemorrhage
|
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Nationality
| Welsh
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Citizenship
| United Kingdom
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Occupation
| Actor
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Years active
| 1944?1984
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Spouse(s)
| Sybil Williams (1949?1963, divorced)
Elizabeth Taylor
(1964?1974, 1975?1976, divorced)
Suzy Hunt (1976?1982, divorced)
Sally Hay (1983?1984; his death)
|
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Children
| Kate Burton
Jessica Burton
Liza Todd Burton
Maria Burton
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Richard Walter Burton
CBE
(10 November 1925 ? 5 August 1984) was a
Welsh
stage and cinema actor.
He appeared in more than 40 movies and received 7
Academy Award
nominations. He was a recipient of BAFTA,
Golden Globe
and
Tony Awards
for Best Actor. In the mid-1960s, Burton went up into the ranks of the top box office stars
[1]
and by the late 1960s, was the highest-paid actor in the world. Burton received fees of $1 million or more plus a share of the gross receipts.
[2]
Burton remains closely associated in the public consciousness with his second wife, actress
Elizabeth Taylor
. The couple's relationship was
rarely
out of the news.
[3]
Burton was born
Richard Walter Jenkins
in the village of Pontrhydyfen, Neath Port Talbot,
Wales
. He grew up in a working class and
Welsh-speaking
household.
[4]
He was the twelfth of thirteen children of a Welsh coal miner. His mother died before he was two years old. He was raised by his much older sister and her husband. He took his surname from his guardian Philip Burton, a teacher who coached him until he won a
scholarship
to
Oxford University
at the age of eighteen.
Burton was a youngster when he made his London acting debut in the play
The Druid's Rest
. After leaving military service in the air force in 1947, he established himself as a stage actor. He appeared with
John Gielgud
in
The Lady's Not for Burning
. His movie career began in 1949 with
The Last Days of Dolwyn
.
In 1962, he replaced
Stephen Boyd
as Mark Anthony in the movie
Cleopatra
opposite Elizabeth Taylor. Their off-screen romance made tabloid headlines around the world. After divorcing their respective spouses, they married in 1964. They then appeared in 11 movies together. The two divorced in 1974. They then reconciled and remarried in 1975. They divorced again the following year.
Burton also appeared on
Broadway
in the musical
Camelot
and the play
Hamlet
directed by John Gielgud. He appeared on
television
in 1960 as Caliban in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of
The Tempest
with Claire Bloom and Maurice Evans. He also appeared on
The Ed Sullivan Show
with
Julie Andrews
to sing "What Do the Simple Folk Do?" from
Camelot
. This appearance boosted ticket sales for the stalled musical.
Burton married Sybil Williams in 1949, with whom he had two daughters. After his divorce from Elizabeth Taylor, he married Suzy Hunt in 1976. This marriage also ended in divorce. He then married Sally Hay in 1983.
He was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by
Elizabeth II
in 1970.
He died at his home in Celigny,
Switzerland
, on 5 August 1984, from a
cerebral haemorrhage
.
- The Last Days of Dolwyn
(1949, first movie)
- My Cousin Rachel
(1952, 1st Oscar nomination)
- The Robe
(1953, 2nd Oscar nomination)
- Alexander the Great
(1956)
- A Midsummer Nights Dream
(1959)
- Cleopatra
(1963)
- Becket
(1964, 3rd Oscar nomination)
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
(1966, 4th Oscar nomination)
- The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
(1966, 5th Oscar nomination)
- The Taming of the Shrew
(1967)
- Where Eagles Dare
(1968)
- Anne of the Thousand Days
(1969, 6th Oscar nomination)
- Raid on Rommel
(1971)
- Exorcist II: The Heretic
(1977)
- Equus
(1977, 7th and last Oscar nomination)
- Nineteen-Eighty-Four
(1984, last movie)