Richard Burton
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Richard Burton (10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor who had an extensive career primarily on stage and in film. He was known for his powerful presence and mellifluous baritone voice.
- Who Was Richard Burton?
- A Coalminer's Son
- Early Career
- Meeting Elizabeth Taylor
- Divorce, Remarriage and Later Work
Richard Burton was an acclaimed actor of stage and screen. He earned seven Oscar nominations for work like The Robe, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Becket and Equus. He wed Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor in 1964, and the two maintained a volatile relationship for years to come that included remarriage and two divorces. Burton died in Céligny, Sw...
Richard Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins on November 10, 1925, in Pontrhydfen, South Wales. Jenkins, the twelfth child of an impoverished coal miner, lost his mother when he was two years old. He would be taken under the wing of Philip Burton, a teacher who became the boy’s guardian and introduced him to the world of theater. Jenkins took the...
After leaving the military in 1947, he continued his stage work and became known for his remarkable voice and oration, appearing in The Lady’s Not for Burning with Sir John Gielgud. Burton then made his film debut in 1949 with the production The Last Days of Dolwyn. The same year he wed actress Sybil Williams; the couple would eventually have two d...
In the early 1960s, Burton met actress Elizabeth Taylor on the set of the multimillion-dollar epic Cleopatra (1963), for which he was hired to replace actor Stephen Boyd. Taylor said that Burton was recovering from a hangover and because he was unable to steady his trembling hands, she held his coffee to his lips and their eyes locked. Though each ...
Burton continued to drink heavily. His marriage to Taylor was noted for its volatility and storminess, with both performers battling substance addictions. The two were estranged in 1970 and divorced in 1974. They then reconciled and remarried in the fall of 1975 in Botswana, only to divorce again the following year. Burton would marry model Suzy Hu...
- Start young. Within the village the Jenkinses were renowned for having beautiful voices. Burton himself said, "Our voices were born with coal dust and rain."
- Take me to church. Every Sunday the young Burton would spend all day listening to the preachers in chapel. This was a performance culture, and anyone who had any talent would be in the pulpit singing or reciting.
- Moving pictures. As a child, Burton loved going to the cinema where he was exposed to some of the most characterful and idiosyncratic voices of the time: actors like James Mason, Marilyn Monroe, James Stewart and Cary Grant.
- All change. To go to secondary school, he moved to Port Talbot to live with his sister and met frustrated actor and BBC producer Philip Burton, who became his producer, mentor and guardian.
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A renowned star of stage and screen, Richard Burton was born into a large family in Wales in 1925, the son of a coal miner. In grade school he had an aptitude for literature and sports, and he began to act in school plays.
Sep 2, 2009 · Last updated: 01 September 2009. Richard Burton was perhaps Wales' best-known actor in the 20th century. He was famously twice married to Elizabeth Taylor. He was born Richard Walter Jenkins in...
Richard Burton’s captivating voice became as famous as his face. It was at its finest when recorded for radio. In January 1954 Richard’s voice became part of broadcasting history when he played the part of First Voice in Dylan Thomas’ ‘Play for Voices’, Under Milk Wood.
Jul 13, 2016 · Burton became “First Voice” for Under Milk Wood in its original BBC radio broadcast in 1954, a role he famously reprised in the 1972 film adaptation. Yes, he became a star of stage and screen, at one time the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, with seven Oscar nominations from 1952 to 1977.
