RICHARD BURTON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Richard Burton was born on November 10th, 1925 in Pontrhydyfen, Wales, UK with the birth name Richard Walter Jenkins.  His father was a coal miner and his family was Welsh.  He was the 12th of 13 children born into an impoverished family.  His mother passed away when he was only two years old and he was raised by his sister, Cis and her husband.   
 
After High School he received a scholarship to study acting  at Oxford University and by the early 1940's he was working as a stage actor.  Making his stage debut at Maesteg Town Hall in Wales.
 
Soon he was making appearances on such films as, "Women of Dolwyn" (1949), "Waterfront Women" (1950) and "Green Grow the Rushes" (1951).  As his career began to progress he began to get some attention from producers with his starring roles on such films as, "My Cousin Rachel" (1952), "The Robe" (1953) and "Alexander the Great" (1956).    

Burton was traveling back and forth between the United States and the United Kingdom working on films as well as on the stage.  When he was cast in he film, "Look Back in Anger" (1959) he gained a huge jump in popularity.  Some amazing film roles followed throughout the 60's in features such as, "The Longest Day" (1962), "The V.I.P's" (1963), "The Sandpiper" (1965), "The Taming of the Shrew" (1967) and "Where Eagles Dare" (1968) with fellow star Clint Eastwood.
 
As his career began to enter into the 1970's he was still being cast in a number of films but his popularity with audiences was slowly declining.  He did however, still put on an amazing performance in the films, "Anne of the Thousand Days" (1969), "Raid on Rommel" (1971) and "The Assassination of Trotsky" (1972).  Sadly, better films were choosing to cast younger stars and Burton had to take whatever roles were offered to him in order to continue to financially support himself.  He worked on, "The Medusa Touch" (1978) and "The Wild Geese" (1978) with his final roles being in the films, "Nineteen-Eighty-Four" (1984) and "Ellis Island" (1984).  

Never fully retiring from the acting industry, Burton passed away on August 5th, 1984 in  Céligny, Geneva, Switzerland from cerebral hemorrhage.  Richard had been suffering for many years from bad health due to alcohol addiction and being a heavy smoker.  Along with his professional career having a number of ups and downs his personal life was much the same.  He had a hard time holding together a marriage and as a result, he was married a total of five times.     

His first marriage was to Sybil Williams from 1949 through 1963 having two children together.  Marriage number two was to the famous fellow actress, Elizabeth Taylor from 1964 through 1974 and another child came from this marriage.  His third marriage was getting back together with Elizabeth Taylor in 1975 but that only lasted one year.  His fourth time to marry was to Susan Hunt in 1976 through 1982.  Finally, his fifth and final time to marry was to Sally Hay in 1983 and the couple stayed together until he passed away.  

Burton was honored in a variety of ways during his career as an actor.  He won a Tony Award for playing King Arthur in the musical, "Camelot" (1961) and was nominated for a Tony Award in 1958 for Best Actor in the play, "Time Remembered".  Another Tony Award nomination followed in 1964 for his role in, "Hamlet".  He also won a Grammy in the, "Best Recording for Children" category for, "The Little Prince" in 1975.  

Filmography

1984 Ellis Island
1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four 
1983 Wagner  
1981 Lovespell 
1981 Circle of Two 
1979 Breakthrough 
1978 Absolution 
1978 The Wild Geese 
1978 The Medusa Touch 
1977 Equus 
1977 Exorcist II: The Heretic 
1960-1974 Hallmark Hall of Fame
1974 Brief Encounter 
1974 The Klansman
1974 The Voyage 
1973 Massacre in Rome
1973 The Battle of Sutjeska 
1973 Divorce His - Divorce Hers 
1972 Bluebeard
1972 Hammersmith Is Out
1972 The Assassination of Trotsky 
1972 Under Milk Wood 
1971 Villain 
1971 Raid on Rommel 
1971 Mooch Goes to Hollywood 
1969 Anne of the Thousand Days 
1969 Staircase 
1968 Candy 
1968 Where Eagles Dare 
1968 Boom! 
1967 The Comedians 
1967 Doctor Faustus 
1967 The Taming of the Shrew
1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 
1965 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold 
1965 The Sandpiper 
1965 What's New Pussycat
1964 Hamlet
1964 The Night of the Iguana
1964 Becket
1964 Zulu 
1963 The V.I.P.s
1963 Cleopatra 
1962 The Longest Day 
1960 BBC Sunday-Night Play
1960 The Bramble Bush 
1960 The Tempest 
1960 The Fifth Column
1960 Ice Palace 
1959 A Midsummer Night's Dream 
1959 Look Back in Anger
1958 The DuPont Show of the Month
1957 Bitter Victory 
1957 Sea Wife 
1956 The James Mason Show 
1956 Alexander the Great
1955 The Rains of Ranchipur 
1955 Prince of Players 
1953 The Robe
1953 The Desert Rats 
1952 My Cousin Rachel
1952 Celanese Theatre 
1951 Green Grow the Rushes 
1950 Her Panelled Door 
1950 Waterfront Women 
1950 BBC Sunday-Night Theatre  
1949 Now Barabbas 
1949 Women of Dolwyn