Richard Burton
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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.
Known for
Credits
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
as O'Brien
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
as Maj. Smith
The Longest Day (1962)
as Flight Officer David Campbell
Cleopatra (1963)
as Marcus Antonius
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
as Father Philip Lamont
Candy (1968)
as MacPhisto
The Wild Geese (1978)
as Col. Allen Faulkner
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
as George
The Taming of the Shrew (1967)
as Petruchio
Alexander the Great (1956)
as Alexander
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)
as Alec Leamas
Zulu (1964)
as Narration spoken (voice)
The Robe (1953)
as Marcellus Gallio
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
as King Henry VIII
What's New Pussycat? (1965)
as Man In Strip Club
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
as Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon
The Sandpiper (1965)
as Edward Hewitt
The V.I.P.s (1963)
as Paul Andros
The Medusa Touch (1978)
as John Morlar
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes (2024)
as Self (archive footage)
The Desert Rats (1953)
as Captain "Tammy" MacRoberts
Hamlet (1964)
as Hamlet
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
A Wall in Jerusalem (1968)
as Narrator (English version) (voice)
Becket (1964)
as Thomas Becket
The Assassination of Trotsky (1972)
as Leon Trotsky
Breakthrough (1979)
as Sergeant Steiner
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1 (1999)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Look Back in Anger (1959)
as Jimmy Porter
Richard Burton: Wild Genius (2025)
as Self (archive footage)
Massacre in Rome (1973)
as SS-Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC (1988)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Julie Andrews Forever (2019)
as Self (archive footage)
Raid on Rommel (1971)
as Capt. Alex Foster
This Is Joan Collins (2022)
as Self (Archive Footage)
Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (2001)
as Self (archive footage)
Divorce His - Divorce Hers (1973)
as Martin Reynolds
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1988)
as Self (archive footage)
The Comedians in Africa (1967)
as Self (uncredited)
On the Trail of the Iguana (1964)
as Self
The Rains of Ranchipur (1955)
as Dr. Major Rama Safti
The Klansman (1974)
as Breck Stancill
Mooch Goes to Hollywood (1971)
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Dylan Thomas (1962)
as Self
Boom! (1968)
as Chris Flanders
My Cousin Rachel (1952)
as Philip Ashley
Equus (1977)
as Martin Dysart
The Comedians (1967)
as Brown
CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years (1976)
as Self
Bitter Victory (1957)
as Capt. Leith
Bluebeard (1972)
as Baron von Sepper
Absolution (1978)
as Father Goddard
Green Grow the Rushes (1951)
as Robert 'Bob' Hammond
Lionpower from MGM (1967)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
All-Star Party for Frank Sinatra (1983)
as Self
In from the Cold? A Portrait of Richard Burton (1988)
as Self (Archive Footage)
Villain (1971)
as Vic Dakin
Brief Encounter (1976)
as Alec Harvey
The Voyage (1974)
as Cesare Braggi
The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949)
as Gareth
To Be Hamlet (1985)
as Self
On Location: Where Eagles Dare (1968)
as Self
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds: Live (2006)
as George Herbert, The Journalist (archive sound)
The Woman with No Name (1950)
as Nick Chamerd
Staircase (1969)
as Harry Leeds
Hammersmith Is Out (1972)
as Hammersmith
The Bramble Bush (1960)
as Dr. Guy Montford
The Battle of Sutjeska (1973)
as Josip Broz Tito
The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe (1962)
as Self / Arthur
Stars' War: The Flight of the Wild Geese (1978)
as Self
Wuthering Heights (1958)
as Heathcliff
Borrowed Pasture (1960)
as Self - Narrator
Ice Palace (1960)
as Zeb Kennedy
Under Milk Wood (1992)
as First Voice (voice) (archive sound)
Under Milk Wood (1972)
as First Man
Lovespell (1981)
as King Mark of Cornwall
Alice in Wonderland (1983)
as White Knight
A Subject of Scandal and Concern (1960)
as George Holyoake
To the Ends of the Earth (1983)
as Narrator
Sea Wife (1957)
as Biscuit
Circle of Two (1981)
as Ashley St. Clair
Guilty Rebel (2024)
as Narrator (archive footage)
The Man with No Name (1977)
as Self
The Gathering Storm (1974)
as Winston Churchill
Doctor Faustus (1967)
as Doctor Faustus
Waterfront (1950)
as Ben Satterthwaite
I, Leonardo: A Journey of the Mind (1983)
as Self - Narrator (voice)
A Statue for "The Sandpiper" (1965)
as Self
The Big Sur (1965)
as Self / Narrator
The Tempest (1960)
as Caliban
Mystery of the Sacred Shroud (1978)
as Self - Narrator
The Violent Universe (1969)
as Narrator - Verse Spoken
Prince of Players (1955)
as Edwin Booth
Now Barabbas (1949)
as Paddy
The Fifth Column (1960)
Actor
Thursday's Children (1954)
as Narrator (voice)
Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry (1976)
as Malcolm Lowry (voice)
Robert Kennedy Remembered (1968)
as Narrator
Acting in the 60's: Richard Burton (1967)
as Self - Interviewee
March to Aldermaston (1959)
as Narrator (voice)
For Florence (1966)
as Self - Narrator