Long ago we missed the 95th anniversary of the birth of Richard Burton, who died in 1984. Acclaimed as an outstanding actor on stage and screen he had 79 screen credits and at one time jointly held the record with Peter O’Toole for the number of Best Actor Oscar nominations without winning, which the latter still holds. Burton was nominated for My Cousin Rachel 1952 (won Golden Globe), The Robe 1953, Becket 1964, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold 1965 (won BATFA), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf 1966 (won BAFTA), Anne of the Thousand Days 1969, Equus 1977 (won Golden Globe), had an Emmy nomination for Ellis Island 1984, and also BAFTA nominations for Look Back in Anger 1959 & The Taming of the Shrew 1967, with six other Golden Globe nominations amongst the foregoing; also known for Alexander the Great 1956, The Longest Day 1962, Cleopatra 1963, Hamlet 1964, Where Eagles Dare 1968, The Wild Geese 1978 & 1984 in 1984. He is of course also renowned for his two marriages and divorces with Elizabeth Taylor, the top celebrity couple of their time. Born in Pontrhydyfen, Afan Valley, Neath Port Talbot as Richard Jenkins, he grew up Taibach, Glamorgan, Wales and brought up by his eldest sister; educated Port Talbot Secondary School, teacher Philip Burton became his mentor, whose name he took as he started out. Was a staunch rugby fan and in his early years a promising wing-forward, and with that distinctive voice often showed his love for poetry; he gained a scholarship to Oxford University for a 6-month wartime short course at Exeter College, but did not return on demob instead began acting, in early career coming to London and lived in South Kensington, then Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead from 1949-57 during first marriage, having great critical successes in Shakespeare roles at the Old Vic, being remembered too onstage as part of the “British New Wave” and in 1961 won a Tony for King Arthur in Camelot. He was made a CBE in 1970; was the Narrator for Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War of the Worlds 1976; he had two homes at different times in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico but from 1957 his home was in Céligny, Geneva, Switzerland, where he passed aged 58 and he is interred at the Protestant churchyard there. We hope you accept a match and if the numbers or ratings do not suit, then please make contact.
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