Who was Richard Burton?
Actor.
Date and Place of Birth:
10th November 1925, Pontrhydfen, Wales.
Family Background:
Son of a coal miner Richard Walter Jenkins and
his wife Edith. 12th of 13 children. Christened Richard Walter Jenkins.
Education:
Local School. Took stage name in gratitude to
favourite teacher Phillip Burton. Oxford University. (Burton wanted
to adopt him but a full adoption was not legally possible so he
changed his name instead). Exeter College, Oxford with the R.A.F.
Chronology/Biography of Richard Burton:
1939: Beginning
of the Second World War.
1943: Becomes
a cadet in the Royal Air Force aged eighteen.
1944: Leaves
University as one of twelve prize winning cadets and becomes a navigator.
Prevented from becoming a pilot due to poor eyesight.
1948:
Film Debut in "The Last Days of Dolwyn".
1951: Had a triumphant
season at the Royal Shakesperare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
1952: Nominated
for Best supporting Actor at the Oscars in "My Cousin Rachel"
in his first Hollywood film.
1953: Nominated
for Best actor in "The Robe".
1954: Was the narrator
in Dylan Thomas's radio play "Under Milk Wood".
1963: Appeared in
"Cleopatra" alongside Elizabeth Taylor. The two fell in
love and eventually married (twice).
1964: Nominated
for Best actor in "Beckett".
1965: Nominated
for Best actor in "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold".
1966: Nominated
for Best actor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
1969: John Wayne
came to see him and offered him the Oscar he had won for "True
Grit" saying that Burton deserved it more than he. Appeared
in "Where Eagles Dare".
1970: nominated
for Best actor in "Anne of a Thousand Days".
1977: Nominated
for Best actor in "Equus". Although he was nominated for
seven Oscars he never a actually won one, some say because the Academy
disapproved of his life style.
1983: Went to live
in Switzerland with his new wife Sally.
Plays and films Performed
in:
- 1944: London
stage debut in "Druid's Rest."
- 1950: New York
stage debut in "The Lady's not for Burning."
- 1952: “My Cousin
Rachel”. (Film).
- 1954: Hamlet
at the Old Vic Theatre, London.
- 1956: “Othello”.
- 1960: King Arthur
in the Broadway Musical "Camelot"
- 1962: “Cleopatra”.
(Film).
- 1964: “Beckett”.
“The Night of the Iguana”.
- 1965:
“The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”.
- 1966:
“Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
- 1969: "Where
Eagle's Dare"
Marriage:
1. Sybil Williams 1948-63 (Divorced)
2 and 3. Elizabeth Taylor 15th March 1964- 1974 (Divorced) and 10th
October 1975 - 1st August 1976 (Divorced)
4. Sally Hay 1983 till his death.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
The National Film Theatre
NORTHUMBERLAND:
Filmed "Beckett" at Bamburgh Castle
WALES:
Pontrhydhen
Date and Place of Death:
5th August 1984, Geneva, Switzerland of a brain
hemorrhage.
Age at Death:
58.
Site of Grave:
Protestant Cemetery, Celigny, Switzerland.
