Richard Burton

Born: 1925-11-10 in Pontrhydyfen, Wales, UK

Died: 1984-08-05

Known For: Acting

Biography

Richard Burton CBE (born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable performance of Hamlet in 1964. He was called "the natural successor to Olivier" by critic Kenneth Tynan. A heavy drinker, Burton's perceived failure to live up to those expectations disappointed some critics and colleagues and added to his image as a great performer who had wasted his talent. Nevertheless, he is widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. Burton was nominated for an Academy Award seven times, but never won an Oscar. He was a recipient of BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Tony Awards for Best Actor. In the mid-1960s, Burton ascended into the ranks of the top box office stars. By the late 1960s, Burton was one of the highest-paid actors in the world, receiving fees of $1 million or more plus a share of the gross receipts. Burton remained closely associated in the public consciousness with his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor. The couple's turbulent relationship, in which they were married twice and divorced twice, was rarely out of the news.

Filmography

2025

Richard Burton: Wild Genius as Self (archive footage)
Sketch For Dawn as Narrator (voice) (Archive footage)

2024

Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes as Self (archive footage)
Guilty Rebel as Narrator (archive footage)

2019

Julie Andrews Forever as Self (archive footage)

2013

Talking Pictures as Self (archive footage)

1999

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1 as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

1994

Sphinx – Secrets of the History as Marc Antony (archive footage)

1992

Under Milk Wood as First Voice (voice) (archive sound)

1991

Richard Burton's Christmas Story ... (Novel)

1988

John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick as Self (archive footage)
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC as Self (archive footage)
In from the Cold? A Portrait of Richard Burton as Self (Archive Footage)

1985

To Be Hamlet as Self

1984

Nineteen Eighty-Four as O'Brien
Ellis Island as Sen. Phipps Ogden

1983

Wagner as Richard Wagner
All-Star Party for Frank Sinatra as Self
Alice in Wonderland as White Knight
To the Ends of the Earth as Narrator
I, Leonardo: A Journey of the Mind as Self - Narrator (voice)

1981

Entertainment Tonight as Self
Circle of Two as Ashley St. Clair
Lovespell as King Mark of Cornwall

1979

Breakthrough as Sergeant Steiner

1978

The Wild Geese as Col. Allen Faulkner
The Medusa Touch as John Morlar
Absolution as Father Goddard
Stars' War: The Flight of the Wild Geese as Self
Mystery of the Sacred Shroud as Self - Narrator

1977

Exorcist II: The Heretic as Father Philip Lamont
Equus as Martin Dysart
The Man with No Name as Self

1976

Brief Encounter as Alec Harvey
CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years as Self
Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry as Malcolm Lowry (voice)

1974

Spécial cinéma as Self (archive footage)
Dinah! as Self
The Voyage as Cesare Braggi
The Klansman as Breck Stancill
The Gathering Storm as Winston Churchill

1973

The American Film Institute Salute to ... as Self
The Battle of Sutjeska as Josip Broz Tito
Massacre in Rome as SS-Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler
Divorce His, Divorce Hers as Martin Reynolds

1972

Bluebeard as Baron von Sepper
The Assassination of Trotsky as Leon Trotsky
Hammersmith Is Out as Hammersmith
Under Milk Wood as First Man

1971

Great Performances as White Knight
Film '72 as Self
Raid on Rommel as Capt. Alex Foster
Villain as Vic Dakin
Mooch Goes to Hollywood as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

1969

Anne of the Thousand Days as King Henry VIII
Staircase as Harry Leeds
The Violent Universe as Narrator - Verse Spoken

1968

Here's Lucy as Richard Burton
Where Eagles Dare as Maj. Smith
Candy as MacPhisto
Boom! as Chris Flanders
A Wall in Jerusalem as Narrator (English version) (voice)
On Location: Where Eagles Dare as Self
Robert Kennedy Remembered as Narrator

1967

The Taming of the Shrew as Petruchio
Acting in the 60's: Richard Burton as Self - Interviewee
The Comedians as Brown
Doctor Faustus as Doctor Faustus
The Comedians in Africa as Self (uncredited)
Lionpower from MGM as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

1966

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as George
For Florence as Self - Narrator

1965

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold as Alec Leamas
What's New Pussycat? as Man In Strip Club
The Sandpiper as Edward Hewitt
A Statue for "The Sandpiper" as Self
The Big Sur as Self / Narrator

1964

Zulu as Narration spoken (voice)
Becket as Thomas Becket
The Night of the Iguana as Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon
The Caretaker ... (Associate Producer)
Hamlet as Hamlet
On the Trail of the Iguana as Self

1963

Cleopatra as Marcus Antonius
The V.I.P.s as Paul Andros

1962

The Longest Day as Flight Officer David Campbell
The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe as Self / Arthur
A Tribute to Dylan Thomas as Self

1960

The Bramble Bush as Dr. Guy Montford
Ice Palace as Zeb Kennedy
The Tempest as Caliban
The Fifth Column
A Subject of Scandal and Concern as George Holyoake
Borrowed Pasture as Self - Narrator

1959

Look Back in Anger as Jimmy Porter
March to Aldermaston as Narrator (voice)

1958

Wuthering Heights as Heathcliff

1957

Bitter Victory as Capt. Leith
Sea Wife as Biscuit

1956

Tony Awards as Self - Host
Alexander the Great as Alexander

1955

The Rains of Ranchipur as Dr. Major Rama Safti
Prince of Players as Edwin Booth

1954

Thursday's Children as Narrator (voice)

1953

The Robe as Marcellus Gallio
The Desert Rats as Captain "Tammy" MacRoberts

1952

My Cousin Rachel as Philip Ashley

1951

Hallmark Hall of Fame as Caliban
Green Grow the Rushes as Robert 'Bob' Hammond

1950

Waterfront as Ben Satterthwaite
The Woman with No Name as Nick Chamerd

1949

The Last Days of Dolwyn as Gareth
Now Barabbas as Paddy

1948

The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
Bambi as Self