Richard Burton, CBE (November 10 1925 – August 5 1984) was a Welsh actor. He was at one time the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. Known for his distinctive voice, he was nominated seven times for Academy Awards for acting, yet never won.
He was born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr. in the village of Pontrhydyfen, Wales, near Port Talbot and grew up in a poor, Welsh-speaking household, the twelfth of thirteen children.[1] His father was a coalminer, and his mother died after the last birth, before he was two years old; thenceforth a sister in Port Talbot took him into her family[2][3] where he was raised a Presbyterian.
He showed a talent for English literature at grammar school, though his consuming interest was sport.[4] With the assistance of his inspirational schoolmaster, Philip H. Burton (who mentored him), he excelled in school productions. Philip could not legally adopt Burton because their ages were too close together. It was at this time that he began to develop the...
Created by dipity on Feb 7, 2008
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 03:50 PM
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Nineteen Eighty-Four (sometimes 1984) is a British film based upon the 1949 novel of the same name by George Orwell; the film was made in the year imagined by the author.The film was shot in and around London between April and June 1984. Some scenes were shot on the actual days noted in Winston Smith's diary (for example: April 4, 1984). Nineteen Eighty-Four stars John Hurt as Winston Smith and Richard Burton as O'Brien, and was directed by Michael Radford. English actress Suzanna Hamilton was cast as Julia, the late Irish actor Cyril Cusack appeared as Mr. Charrington, and the Scottish comedian, Gregor Fisher, appeared as Parsons. O'Brien was Burton's last movie role and the film is dedicated to his memory.Michael Radford and cinematographer Roger Deakins originally wanted to shoot the film in black and white, but the financial backers of the production, Virgin Films, opposed this idea. Instead Deakins used a little-known film processing technique called Bleach bypass to create the...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087803
Richard Burton died
Sally Hay & Richard Burton divorced
Sally Hay & Richard Burton married
Suzy Hunt & Richard Burton divorced
Exorcist II: The Heretic is a 1977 American horror film and the sequel to the 1973 film The Exorcist. It was directed by John Boorman who also co-wrote the screenplay with William Goodhart from an original story by Rospo Pallenberg. The author of the original, William Peter Blatty, was not involved in the production, and received credit only for creation of the characters.
Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton), who is struggling with his faith, is assigned by the Cardinal (Paul Henreid) to investigate the death of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow), who had been killed in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu from Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair). While Lamont, who's had some experience at exorcism, thinks of Merrin as a saint, he is actually up on posthumous heresy charges. Some Church authorities are not sure the exorcism should have been performed (even though it was officially approved by the local Bishop). Merrin’s writings are considered very controversial. Apparently, Church...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076009
Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton divorced
Suzy Hunt & Richard Burton married
Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton married in Chobe National Park
For the book that inspired The Birth of a Nation (1915), see The Clansman.The Klansman is a 1974 American motion picture drama based on the book of the same name by William Bradford Huie. It recounts what happens to an African American man in a small town in the U.S. south after a young white woman (Linda Evans) is sexually assaulted and beaten. Events spiral out of control when a sniper shoots a Klan member at a funeral.For his 1967 book, William Huie had received death threats and the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on his front lawn.Despite the casting of major stars, the film was not well received with considerable rumormongering that Marvin and Burton were both continuously drunk on the set. Burton's accent also wavers noticeably. It is notable for featuring O.J. Simpson in the role of a black militant....,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071721
Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton divorced
Where Eagles Dare (1968) is a war adventure film directed by Brian G. Hutton, featuring Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, and Mary Ure. Its screenplay and eponymous 1967 best-selling novel were written almost simultaneously by Alistair MacLean; this was his first screenplay; both the film and the novel are considered classics of their genres.
The driving force behind the film was Richard Burton's son, who wanted to see his father in a good, old-fashioned adventure war movie. Burton approached producer Elliott Kastner for ideas, who consulted with MacLean. At that time, most of MacLean's novels had either been made into films, or were in the process of being filmed, nevertheless, Kastner persuaded MacLean to write a new story; six weeks later, MacLean delivered the script of Where Eagles Dare..
The title derives from Act I, Scene III in William Shakespeare's Richard III: The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.
Where Eagles Dare (and MacLean's work...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065207
Candy is a 1968 film directed by Christian Marquand. Based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, it starred Ringo Starr, Ewa Aulin, Charles Aznavour, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, James Coburn, John Huston, Walter Matthau, and Sugar Ray Robinson. Anita Pallenberg and Florinda Bolkan also appear in small parts.The opening sequence shows Candy (Ewa Aulin) descending to Earth from outer space. In the next scene, she is in school, where her father (John Astin) is also her teacher. She attends a poetry recital by eccentric poet MacPhisto (Richard Burton), who offers her a ride home in his limousine. At her home, MacPhisto gets increasingly drunk and continues to recite poems, inspiring Candy and the Mexican gardener Emanuel (Ringo Starr) to have sex. After this scandal, the family decides to send her off to a private school, and she embarks on a psychedelic journey during which she meets a number of strange people, including a sex starved military general (Walter...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062776
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick. It was directed by Alan Schneider. Subsequent cast members included Henderson Forsythe, Eileen Fulton, and Mercedes McCambridge.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962-63 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. It was also selected for the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Drama by that award's committee. However, the committee's selection was overruled by the award's advisory board, the trustees of Columbia University, because of the play's then-controversial use of profanity and sexual themes.
In the play, George and Martha invite a new professor and his wife to their house after a party. Martha is the daughter of the president of a university where George is a history professor....
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061184
The Night of the Iguana is a stageplay written by American author Tennessee Williams. It premiered in Broadway in 1961, and was based on a 1948 short story by Williams. There have been two film adaptations made, including the Academy Award-winning 1964 film of the same name. Set in 1940s Mexico, the main character is an ex-minister turned tour guide, Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon, who has been accused of statutory rape of a seductive sixteen-year-old in his party.
As leader of a tour party of church women, Shannon takes the group to a cheap hotel on the coast of Mexico run by an old friend of his named Fred. He soon finds out Fred has died and the hotel is now run by Fred's promiscuous widow, Maxine Faulk. Shannon, in the middle of a nervous breakdown, trying to manage both his tour party (who hate him) and Maxine (who is interested in him for purely carnal reasons), is struck by the appearance of the strangely virginal spinster, Hannah Jelkes, a painter who travels with her elderly...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058404
Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton married
Cleopatra is a 1963 film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Mario Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall and Martin Landau. It was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Leon Shamroy and Jack Hildyard.
Cleopatra chronicles the struggles of Cleopatra, the young Queen of Egypt, to resist the imperialist ambitions of Rome.
The film is infamous for nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox . Originally budgeted at $2 million, it was made at a cost of $44 million — the equivalent of more than $295 million in 2007 dollars (see list of most expensive films to produce), making the movie still the second-most costly ever produced worldwide and the most expensive in America. This was partly due to the fact that the film's elaborate, complicated sets, costumes and props had to be constructed twice, once during a botched shoot in London...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056937
Sybil Williams & Richard Burton divorced
The Desert Rats is a 1953 war film starring Richard Burton and Robert Douglas directed by Robert Wise. It features a cameo appearance by James Mason as General Erwin Rommel.
In mid-Apr 1941, during World War II, Germany's Afrika Korps, led by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, has repeatedly beaten the Allies in the struggle for control of North Africa. Desperate to prevent Rommel from gaining control of the Suez Canal, the British Army, in retreat and trying to rebuild its strength, establishes one last stronghold in Tobruk. The British headquarters in Cairo orders the 9th Australian Division to hold Tobruk for two months, at which time they will be relieved.
The general meets with artillery colonel Barney White and other officers to explain that the division will have three perimeters of defense: the outlying perimeter of infantry, the second perimeter of White's artillery, and the inner line of fortifications. The general, needing an experienced field officer to oversee the green...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045679
The Robe is a 1942 historical novel about the Crucifixion written by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book was one of the best-selling titles of the 1940s.
It entered the New York Times Best Seller list in October 1942, and four weeks later rose to No. 1. It held the position for nearly a year.
The Robe remained on the list for another two years, returning several other times over the next several years including when the movie version was released in 1953.
The book explores the aftermath of the crucifixion of Jesus through the experiences of the Roman tribune who commanded the unit in charge of the crucifixion. The man goes on a journey, following the path Jesus took and meets many people whose lives Jesus had affected. Through this journey, both the tribune and the reader are challenged to explore their faith and question various norms they have embraced all their life.
Despite its impressive run in publication, The Robe is more familiar today as a 1953 Biblical epic film that tells the...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046247
Sybil Williams & Richard Burton married
Richard Burton was born
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