Editing Richard Burton (section)

== Personal life ==
=== Marriages and relationships ===
Burton was married five times, twice consecutively to Taylor.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-21638950 | title=Richard Burton star unveiled on Hollywood Walk of Fame | publisher=BBC | date=2 March 2013 | access-date=8 January 2017 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20170108104407/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-21638950 | archive-date=8 January 2017 | url-status=live | df=dmy-all }}</ref>

From 1949 until 1963, he was married to [[Sybil Christopher|Sybil Williams]], with whom he had two daughters, [[Kate Burton (actress)|Kate]] (born 1957) and Jessica Burton (born 1959).{{Sfn|Bragg|1988|pp=128–129}} During the marriage Burton had a long affair with actress [[Claire Bloom]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Claire Bloom reveals her passion for the 'hypnotic' Richard Burton |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/claire-bloom-reveals-passion-hypnotic-2503334 |website=www.walesonline.co.uk |publisher=Wales Online |access-date=29 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Jeffries |first1=Stuart |title=Screen gods, guilt and glamour: actor Claire Bloom on her life in the limelight |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/23/screen-gods-guilt-and-glamour-actor-claire-bloom-on-her-life-in-the-limelight |access-date=29 March 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=23 Dec 2016}}</ref> Burton told biographer [[Michael Munn]] "'I only ever loved two women before [[Elizabeth Taylor|Elizabeth]],' Sybil was one, Claire Bloom the other."<ref name="Munn">{{cite book|last=Munn|first=Michael|title=Richard Burton: Prince of Players|publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]]|year=2008|isbn=978-1602393554|url=https://archive.org/details/richardburtonpri00munn}}</ref>{{rp|52, 85}}

Burton's marriages to Taylor lasted from 15 March 1964 to 26 June 1974 and from 10 October 1975 to 29 July 1976. Their first wedding was at the [[Ritz-Carlton Montreal|Ritz-Carlton Hotel]] in Montreal.{{Sfn|Alpert|1986|p=139}} Of their marriage, Taylor proclaimed, "I'm so happy you can't believe it. This marriage will last forever."{{Sfn|Alpert|1986|p=140}} Their second wedding took place 16 months after their divorce, in [[Chobe National Park]] in Botswana. Taylor and Eddie Fisher adopted a daughter from Germany, Maria McKeown (born 1961), who was re-adopted by Burton after he and Taylor married. Burton also re-adopted Taylor and producer [[Mike Todd]]'s daughter, Elizabeth Frances "Liza" Todd (born 1957), who had been first adopted by Fisher.<ref name="Daytona" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/qampa-an-update-on-elizabeth-taylors-four-children/1064792|title=Q&A: An update on Elizabeth Taylor's four children|access-date=20 April 2011|date=12 January 2010|work=[[Tampa Bay Times]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170108110630/http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/qampa-an-update-on-elizabeth-taylors-four-children/1064792|archive-date=8 January 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The relationship Burton and Taylor portrayed in the film ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' was popularly likened to their real-life marriage.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} Burton disagreed with others about Taylor's famed beauty, saying that calling her "the most beautiful woman in the world is absolute nonsense. She has wonderful eyes, but she has a [[double chin]] and an overdeveloped chest, and she's rather short in the leg."<ref name="gussow20110323">{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/movies/elizabeth-taylor-obituary.html?_r=2&hp|title=Elizabeth Taylor, Lifelong Screen Star, Dies at 79|access-date=23 March 2011|author=Gussow, Mel|date=23 March 2011|work=The New York Times}}</ref> In August 1976, a month after his second divorce from Taylor, Burton married model [[Suzy Miller]], the former wife of Formula 1 Champion [[James Hunt]];<ref name="The Modesto Bee-22 August 1976">{{cite news|title=Richard Burton married model Susan Hunt in Arlington, Va.|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gEYhAAAAIBAJ&pg=5246%2C1864680|agency=AP|newspaper=The Modesto Bee|location=Modesto, California|date=22 August 1976|page=C-9|access-date=5 March 2011}}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> the marriage ended in divorce in 1982. From 1983 until his death in 1984, Burton was married to a freelance production assistant [[Sally Burton|Sally Hay]].

In 1974, between his divorce from and remarriage to Taylor, he was briefly engaged to [[Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Weinraub|first=Judith|date=12 July 1991|title=The Princess's Awakening|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/07/12/the-princesss-awakening/863696cb-2983-499c-b330-3a4661f520cb/|access-date=3 May 2021}}</ref>

In 1957, Burton had earned a total of £82,000 from ''Prince of Players'', ''The Rains of Ranchipur'' and ''Alexander the Great'', but only managed to keep £6,000 for personal expenses due to taxation imposed by the then-ruling Conservative government. As a result, he consulted his lawyer, Aaron Frosch, who suggested he move to [[Switzerland]] where the tax payment was comparatively less. Burton acceded to Frosch's suggestion and moved with Sybil in January 1957 to [[Céligny]], Switzerland, where he purchased a villa.{{Sfnm|1a1=Alpert|1y=1986|1pp=75, 77|2a1=Bragg|2y=1988|2pp=106, 112}} In response to criticism from the British government, Burton remarked: "I believe that everyone should pay them — except actors."{{Sfn|Alpert|1986|p=78}} Burton lived there until his death.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/ce7834d3-1e40-3389-855a-02392d9c0549 | title=The death of Richard Burton | last=Carradice | first=Phil | date=5 August 2014 | access-date=8 January 2017 | publisher=BBC | archive-url=https://archive.today/20170108094648/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/ce7834d3-1e40-3389-855a-02392d9c0549 | archive-date=8 January 2017 | url-status=live | df=dmy-all }}</ref> In 1968, Burton's elder brother, Ifor, slipped and fell, breaking his neck, after a lengthy drinking session with Burton in Céligny. The injury left him paralysed from the neck down. His younger brother Graham Jenkins speculated that guilt over this may have caused Burton to start drinking very heavily, particularly after Ifor died in 1972.{{Sfn|Bragg|1988|pp=257–258, 411}}

In a February 1975 interview with his friend David Lewin, he said he "tried" homosexuality. He also suggested that perhaps all actors were latent homosexuals, and "we cover it up with drink".{{Sfnm|1a1=Ferris|1y=1981|1pp=249–250|2a1=Bragg|2y=1988|2p=258}} In 2000, [[Ellis Amburn]]'s biography of Elizabeth Taylor suggested that Burton had an affair with Olivier and tried to seduce Eddie Fisher, although this was strongly denied by Burton's younger brother Graham Jenkins.<ref>{{cite news|title=Anger at claim Burton was gay|publisher=BBC|date=10 April 2000|access-date=31 August 2009|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/708074.stm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170108115743/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/708074.stm|archive-date=8 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Burton admired and was inspired by the actor and dramatist [[Emlyn Williams]]. He employed his son, [[Brook Williams]], as his personal assistant and adviser, and he was given small roles in some of the films in which Burton starred.<ref>{{Cite web|date=18 July 2013|title=Brook Williams - Actor son of Emlyn and friend of the Burtons|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/brook-williams-225331.html|access-date=12 August 2021|website=[[The Independent]]|language=en}}</ref>

=== Personal views ===
Politically, Burton was a lifelong [[socialist]], although he was never as heavily involved in politics as his close friend Stanley Baker. He admired Democratic Senator [[Robert F. Kennedy]]{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} and once got into a sonnet-quoting contest with him.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Hawthorne|first1=Mary|title=All True Love Must Die: Richard Burton's Diaries|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/all-true-love-must-die-richard-burtons-diaries|magazine=The New Yorker|publisher=Condé Nast|access-date=21 August 2014}}</ref>

In 1972, Burton played [[Leon Trotsky]] in ''[[The Assassination of Trotsky]].'' The next year, he agreed to play [[Josip Broz Tito]] in a [[Battle of Sutjeska (film)|film biography]], since he admired the Yugoslav leader. While filming in [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] he publicly proclaimed that he was a [[communist]], saying he felt no contradiction between earning vast sums of money for films and holding left-wing views since "unlike capitalists, I don't exploit other people".<ref>Ferris, Paul ''Richard Burton'' (1981).{{page needed|date=November 2012}}</ref>

In November 1974, Burton was banned permanently from BBC productions for writing two newspaper articles questioning the sanity of [[Winston Churchill]] and others in power during World War II. Burton reported hating them "virulently" for the alleged promise to wipe out all Japanese people on the planet.<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Munn|authorlink=Michael Munn|title=Richard Burton: Prince of Players|publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]]|location=New York City|date=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=es2M93mjpb8C&q=churchill|page=214|chapter=Burton's diatribe and Winston Churchill|isbn=978-1602393554}}</ref> The publication of these articles coincided with what would have been the 100th year since Churchill's birth and came after Burton had played him in a favourable light in ''[[The Gathering Storm (1974 film)|A Walk with Destiny]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/24/archives/to-play-churchill-is-to-hate-him-to-play-churchill-is-to-hate-him.html|title= To Play Churchill Is to Hate Him|website= [[The New York Times]]|accessdate= June 13, 2024}}</ref>

On his religious views, Burton was an atheist, stating: "I wish I could believe in a God of some kind but I simply cannot."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R56fvt7AiAAC&q=9780300192315 |title=The Richard Burton Diaries|year=2012|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-19231-5|page=252|author=Richard Burton|editor=Chris Williams |access-date=30 September 2013|quote=I wish I could believe in a God of some kind but I simply cannot.}}</ref>

=== Health problems ===
Burton was a heavy smoker. In a December 1977 interview with Sir [[Ludovic Kennedy]], Burton said he was smoking 60–100 cigarettes per day.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFC_xPOkhXY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/NFC_xPOkhXY| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Richard Burton 1977 Interview. |publisher=YouTube |date=5 November 2013 |access-date=3 July 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> According to his younger brother, as stated in Graham Jenkins's 1988 book ''Richard Burton: My Brother'', he smoked at least 100 cigarettes a day.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jenkins |first1=Graham |title=Richard Burton, my brother |date=1988 |publisher=Joseph |isbn=0718130103 |page=197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELsdAAAAMAAJ|access-date=24 October 2018}}</ref> After his father died from a cerebral haemorrhage in March 1957,<ref name="richardburtonmuseum.weebly.com"/> Burton declined to attend his funeral.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.welshwales.co.uk/burton.htm|title=Richard Burton|work=welshwales.co.uk|access-date=12 January 2007|archive-date=16 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216104332/http://www.welshwales.co.uk/burton.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Richard%20Burton|title=Richard Burton|work=everything2.com}}</ref> Burton was also an [[alcoholic]] most of his adult life. According to biographer Robert Sellers, "At the height of his boozing in the mid-70s he was knocking back three to four bottles of hard liquor a day."<ref name="Raising Hell">{{cite web|last=Reiner|first=Jon|title=Raising 'Hell' In Dramatic Richard Burton Style|website=NPR |date=29 June 2011 |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/137149219/raising-hell-in-dramatic-richard-burton-style|publisher=National Public Radio|access-date=29 September 2013}}</ref>

After nearly drinking himself to death during the shooting of ''The Klansman'' (1974), Burton [[Alcohol detoxification|dried out]] at [[Saint John's Health Center]] in [[Santa Monica, California]]. Burton was allegedly inebriated while making the movie, and many of his scenes had to be filmed with him sitting or lying down due to his inability to stand upright. In some scenes, he appears to slur his words or speak incoherently.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert J.|last=Lentz| title=Lee Marvin: His Films and Career| publisher=McFarland| year = 2000|page=148 | isbn= 0-7864-2606-3}}</ref> Burton later said that he could not remember making the film. Co-star [[O. J. Simpson]] said "There would be times when he couldn't move".<ref name="cahill19770908">{{Cite magazine |last=Cahill |first=Tim |date=8 September 1977 |title=O.J. Simpson: A Man for Offseason |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/features/a-man-for-off-season-19770908 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref>

According to his diaries, Burton used [[Disulfiram|Antabuse]] to try to stop his excessive consumption of alcohol, which he blamed for wrecking his marriage to Taylor. Burton himself said of the time leading up to his near loss of life, "I was fairly sloshed for five years. I was up there with [[John Barrymore]] and [[Robert Newton]]. The ghosts of them were looking over my shoulder."<ref name=Hellraisers/> He said that he turned to the bottle for solace "to burn up the flatness, the stale, empty, dull deadness that one feels when one goes offstage".<ref name="Raising Hell" /> The 1988 biography by Melvyn Bragg provides a detailed description of the many health issues that plagued Burton throughout his life. In his youth, Burton was known for being exceptionally strong and athletic.{{Sfn|Bragg|1988|p=Front cover of book}}

By the age of 41, he had declined so far in health that by his own admission, his arms were thin and weak. He suffered from [[bursitis]], possibly aggravated by faulty treatment, [[arthritis]], [[dermatitis]], [[cirrhosis]] of the liver, and kidney disease, as well as developing, by his mid-forties, a pronounced limp. How much of this was due to his intake of alcohol is impossible to ascertain, according to Bragg, because of Burton's reluctance to be treated for alcoholism. In 1974, Burton spent six weeks in a clinic to recuperate from a period during which he had drunk three bottles of [[vodka]] a day. Health issues continued to plague him until his death.

=== Declining health and death ===
[[File:Grave-RichardBurton-VieuxCimetiereDeCeligny RomanDeckert27062021.jpg|thumb|Burton's grave, just a few paces away from the tomb of [[Alistair MacLean]]]]
Burton died from [[intracerebral haemorrhage]] on 5 August 1984 at his home in Céligny, Switzerland, at the age of 58.<ref name="NYTDowd" /> Although his death was sudden, his health had been declining for several years, and he suffered from constant and severe neck pain. As early as March 1970, he had been warned that his liver was enlarged, and he was diagnosed with [[cirrhosis]] and [[kidney disease]] in April 1981.

Burton was buried at the Old Cemetery ("Vieux Cimetière") of [[Céligny]] with a copy of Dylan Thomas's poems.<ref>
{{cite news
   | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1984/08/10/burton-buried/0ced5257-aab3-4847-993f-97b6de4928e9/?noredirect=on
   | title = Burton Buried
   | newspaper = [[Washington Post]]
   | access-date =26 November 2018
| quote = The casket was adorned with red and white flowers in the shape of a dragon, the national symbol of Wales. Burton's godson Brook Williams, son of Welsh playwright Emlyn Williams, recited poems by Thomas and placed a book of the poet's works on the casket.
}}</ref>

Burton left an estate worth US$4.58 million ({{Inflation|US|4580000|1984|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}). The bulk of his estate consisted of real estate, investments in three countries and works of art. Most of his estate was bequeathed to his widow.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/19/world/richard-burton-left-a-4.5-million-estate.html|title = Richard Burton Left A $4.5 Million Estate|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 19 November 1984}}</ref>