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Richard Burton
FactsOccupation: Actor Birthname: Richard Walter Jenkins, Jr. Birthdate: November 10, 1925 Birthplace: Pontrhydfen, South Wales Education: Oxford Died: August 5, 1984(Celigny, Switzerland) Character: Major John Smith Biography In his early career Richard Burton was dogged by the label "promising actor". His brilliant performances, particularly in British stage productions of Shakespeare, never confirmed that promise. During his career critics complained the promise went unfulfilled. But they all agreed, anyway, that his voice was of an extraordinary quality. Burton was the son of a miner and the 12th and 13 children. We he started school he came under influence from a teacher named Philip Burton, who helped him lose his Welch accent and get in into Oxford at 16. At this time he also made his stage debut, in Druid's Rest. He had now taken his mentor's surname. A serious of minor films followed, which the first on, The Last Days of the Dolwyn, was the best. Richard Burton's big breakthrough came 1952 with his first Hollywood movie: My Cousin Rachel. It earned him his first of seven Oscar nominations (though he newer won Academy Awards). After a few less successful movies he made a successful return to the stage in the Broadway hit Camelot. While playing in this musical he agreed to take a part in 20th Century-Fox's production of Cleopatra. This movie made him worldfamous, but he also met Elizabeth Taylor. Burton divorced his first wife, to marry Taylor in 1963. The couple were divorced, remarried and divorced for a second time in 1970s. When Burton's film career hit another low ebb, he returned to Broadway as Dr Dysart in Equus 1976. He was Oscar nominated for the screen version, but it was not a box-office hit. He appeared with Taylor in a stage production of Private Lives, but it was soundly trounced by the critics. His last film role was as O'Brien in a remake of George Orwell's 1984. Selected Films Last Days of Dolwyn, The - 1949 My Cousin Rachel - 1952 Desert Rats, The - 1953 Robe, The - 1953 Alexander the Great - 1956 Sea Wife - 1957 Look Back in Anger - 1958 Bramble Bush, The - 1960 Longest Day, The - 1962 Cleopatra - 1963 Becket - 1964 Sandpiper, The - 1965 Spy Who Came in From the Cold, The - 1965 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - 1966 Comedians, The - 1967 Taming of the Shrew, The - 1967 Boom - 1968 Dr Faustus - 1968 Anne of the Thousand Days - 1969 Where Eagles Dare - 1969 Assassination of Trotsky, The - 1972 Massacre in Rome - 1973 Volcano - 1976 Equus - 1977 Wild Geese - 1978 Circle of Two - 1980 Wagner (TV) - 1983 1984 - 1984 Curiosa
Web: Yahoo! Groups: Richard Burton Web: Richard Burton: The Boy From Pontrhydyfen Article: Richard Burton: The Boy From Pontrhydyfen User Comments: Robert Morgan (2003-10-22)
Hiya,
I've just been looking through your great film site. I run a yahoo group dedicated to Richard Burton at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RichardBurton/
Maybe you would like to put this link on your site?
Thanks
Robert Morgan
Trevor Moses (2005-05-16)
Just to add an interesting (well, I think it's interesting, anyway) bit of trivia to your site: Richard Burton's grave is almost diagonally opposite the grave of Alistair MacLean ~ yes, THAT Alistair MacLean.
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