Richard Burton
Acting • Born 1925-11-10 – Died 1984-08-05
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
117 credits
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Movie • 1966
George
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Movie • 1988
Self (archive footage)
To Be Hamlet
Movie • 1985
Self
What's New Pussycat?
Movie • 1965
Man In Strip Club
The Assassination of Trotsky
Movie • 1972
Leon Trotsky
Breakthrough
Movie • 1979
Sergeant Steiner
Villain
Movie • 1971
Vic Dakin
Anne of the Thousand Days
Movie • 1969
King Henry VIII
The Medusa Touch
Movie • 1978
John Morlar
Julie Andrews Forever
Movie • 2019
Self (archive footage)
The Taming of the Shrew
Movie • 1967
Petruchio
The Longest Day
Movie • 1962
Flying Officer David Campbell
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Movie • 1984
O'Brien
Bluebeard
Movie • 1972
Baron von Sepper
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
Movie • 1965
Alec Leamas
The Desert Rats
Movie • 1953
Captain "Tammy" MacRoberts
The Night of the Iguana
Movie • 1964
Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon
Alexander the Great
Movie • 1956
Alexander
Equus
Movie • 1977
Martin Dysart
The V.I.P.s
Movie • 1963
Paul Andros
Massacre in Rome
Movie • 1973
SS-Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler
Under Milk Wood
Movie • 1972
First Man
Becket
Movie • 1964
Thomas Becket
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds: Live
Movie • 2006
George Herbert, The Journalist (archive sound)
Candy
Movie • 1968
MacPhisto
Ice Palace
Movie • 1960
Zeb Kennedy
The Rains of Ranchipur
Movie • 1955
Dr. Major Rama Safti
Bitter Victory
Movie • 1957
Capt. Leith
Look Back in Anger
Movie • 1959
Jimmy Porter
Raid on Rommel
Movie • 1971
Capt. Alex Foster
Boom!
Movie • 1968
Chris Flanders
Hammersmith Is Out
Movie • 1972
Hammersmith
My Cousin Rachel
Movie • 1952
Philip Ashley
Absolution
Movie • 1978
Father Goddard
The Comedians
Movie • 1967
Brown
The Klansman
Movie • 1974
Breck Stancill
Doctor Faustus
Movie • 1967
Doctor Faustus
The Sandpiper
Movie • 1965
Edward Hewitt
Staircase
Movie • 1969
Harry Leeds
Sea Wife
Movie • 1957
Biscuit
Circle of Two
Movie • 1981
Ashley St. Clair
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
Movie • 1999
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Waterfront
Movie • 1950
Ben Satterthwaite
Hamlet from the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
Movie • 1964
Hamlet
Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
Movie • 2001
Self (archive footage)
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
Movie • 1988
Self (archive footage)
Lovespell
Movie • 1981
King Mark of Cornwall
The Gathering Storm
Movie • 1974
Winston Churchill
The Battle of Sutjeska
Movie • 1973
Josip Broz Tito
The Tempest
Movie • 1960
Caliban
The Voyage
Movie • 1974
Cesare Braggi
Brief Encounter
Movie • 1976
Alec Harvey
The Last Days of Dolwyn
Movie • 1949
Gareth
Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry
Movie • 1976
Malcolm Lowry (voice)
Now Barabbas
Movie • 1949
Paddy
The Woman with No Name
Movie • 1950
Nick Chamerd
Green Grow the Rushes
Movie • 1951
Robert 'Bob' Hammond
The Bramble Bush
Movie • 1960
Dr. Guy Montford
The Fifth Column
Movie • 1960
Prince of Players
Movie • 1955
Edwin Booth
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Movie • 1977
Father Philip Lamont
Cleopatra
Movie • 1963
Marcus Antonius
Where Eagles Dare
Movie • 1968
Maj. Smith
A Tribute to Dylan Thomas
Movie • 1962
Self
A Subject of Scandal and Concern
Movie • 1960
George Holyoake
Thursday's Children
Movie • 1954
Narrator (voice)
Alice in Wonderland
Movie • 1983
White Knight
CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years
Movie • 1976
Self
The Robe
Movie • 1953
Marcellus Gallio
The Wild Geese
Movie • 1978
Col. Allen Faulkner
All-Star Party for Frank Sinatra
Movie • 1983
Self
To the Ends of the Earth
Movie • 1983
Narrator
A Wall in Jerusalem
Movie • 1968
Narrator (English version) (voice)
The Man with No Name
Movie • 1977
Self
Zulu
Movie • 1964
Narration spoken (voice)
Under Milk Wood
Movie • 1992
First Voice (voice) (archive sound)
Acting in the 60's: Richard Burton
Movie • 1967
Self - Interviewee
The Big Sur
Movie • 1965
Self / Narrator
The Comedians in Africa
Movie • 1967
Self (uncredited)
On the Trail of the Iguana
Movie • 1964
Self
A Statue for 'The Sandpiper'
Movie • 1965
Self
For Florence
Movie • 1966
Self - Narrator
The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe
Movie • 1962
Self / Arthur
March to Aldermaston
Movie • 1959
Narrator (voice)
Wuthering Heights
Movie • 1958
Heathcliff
Stars' War: The Flight of the Wild Geese
Movie • 1978
Self
On Location: Where Eagles Dare
Movie • 1968
Self
Mooch Goes to Hollywood
Movie • 1971
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Borrowed Pasture
Movie • 1960
Self - Narrator
The Violent Universe
Movie • 1969
Narrator - Verse Spoken
In from the Cold? A Portrait of Richard Burton
Movie • 1988
Self (Archive Footage)
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
I, Leonardo: A Journey of the Mind
Movie • 1983
Self - Narrator (voice)
Lionpower from MGM
Movie • 1967
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Guilty Rebel
Movie • 2024
Narrator (archive footage)
Mystery of the Sacred Shroud
Movie • 1978
Self - Narrator
Richard Burton: Wild Genius
Movie • 2025
Self (archive footage)
Robert Kennedy Remembered
Movie • 1968
Narrator
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes
Movie • 2024
Self (archive footage)
Here's Lucy
TV • 1968
Richard Burton
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Caliban
Wagner
TV • 1983
Richard Wagner
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
TV • 1973
Self
Talking Pictures
TV • 2013
Self (archive footage)
Sphinx – Secrets of the History
TV • 1994
Marc Antony (archive footage)
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
Ellis Island
TV • 1984
Sen. Phipps Ogden
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Alec Harvey
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Winston Churchill
Spécial cinéma
TV • 1974
Self (archive footage)
Bambi
TV • 1948
Self
Entertainment Tonight
TV • 1981
Self
Divorce His, Divorce Hers
TV • 1973
Martin Reynolds
Great Performances
TV • 1971
White Knight
Dinah!
TV • 1974
Self
Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years
TV
Winston Churchill
Film '72
TV • 1971
Self