They began their tempestuous affair playing Anthony and Cleopatra, two of the most famous lovers in history.
The film which brought together Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor was to become the most expensive movie ever made and fuelled the start of what Burton always referred to as le scandale.
And although Taylor maintained her reign as Queen of Hollywood, her relationship and subsequent marriage to Burton ruined his prospects of becoming a great actor, according to his friend and film critic Barry Norman.
Stormy: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in
their 1965 film The Sandpiper. Film critic Barry Norman says their
relationship stopped Burton from becoming a great actor
Writing in the Radio Times, Mr Norman said: ‘In a way Elizabeth Taylor was both the making and, through no fault of her own, the breaking of Richard Burton.
‘At the time of what he referred to as “le scandale,” the sensational affair that erupted between him and Taylor while filming Cleopatra in Rome in 1962, she was already an Oscar winner, the biggest female star in movies. He, though twice Oscar-nominated, was not in the same league.
‘For a while I knew him well and liked him a lot. It’s as a friend that I reflect on what might have been and mourn the loss of the great actor he never quite became.’
Burton was 37 and married to Sybil Williams with whom he had two daughters. Taylor was 30 and on her fourth marriage.
Film critic Barry Norman makes the claims in the latest Radio Times
When le scandale broke in 1962, England’s foremost actor Laurence Olivier sent a cable to Burton stating: ‘Make up your mind, dear heart. Do you want to be a great actor or a household name?’
Burton sent a one-word reply: ‘Both!’
Sadly, according to Mr Norman it was never to be as Burton’s love for Taylor saw theatre fade into the background and with it his claim to be a great actor.
He said: ‘Married to Taylor and hence internationally famous, he was, I believe, seduced by the celebrity and adulation and the easy money to be made from undemanding movies. Why bother with the hard graft of classic roles in the theatre when films offered a far more comfortable and lucrative existence?
Certainly seven Oscar nominations (though no wins), along with excellent performances in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Look Back in Anger, Becket and especially Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? show that he was a fine actor with enormous presence.
‘But he came, I feel, within touching distance of greatness without actually reaching it. I think he felt that, too, which is why he drank so much.’
Burton and Taylor married for the first time in 1964 before separating in 1973. They tied the knot for a second time in 1975 but parted company less than 10 months later.
Life imitating art: Burton and Taylor began
their tempestuous affair playing Anthony and Cleopatra, two of the most
famous lovers in history
The couple pictured in Paris in 1965: Barry
Norman says Burton¿s love for Taylor saw theatre fade into the
background and with it his claim to be a great actor
Taylor and Burton at the 1970 Academy Awards
ceremonies in Los Angeles: Burton and Taylor married for the first time
in 1964 before separating in 1973, then remarrying for only ten months
two years later
Mr Norman made his comments ahead of a screening of Burton and Taylor, a BBC 4 one-off 90-minute drama about the Hollywood couple which will be shown Monday July 22.
Starring Helena Bonham Carter as Taylor and Dominic West as Burton, the film sees the pair as they were in 1983, reunited for a US production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives.
Miss Bonham Carter, 47, has told how she got a saucy insight when she consulted an astrologer to help her play Taylor.
Biopic: Mr Norman made his comments ahead of a
screening of Burton and Taylor, a BBC 4 one-off 90-minute drama about
the Hollywood couple starring Helena Bonham Carter as Taylor and Dominic
West as Burton
'She (the astrologer) was really insightful. She told me Elizabeth was a water person.
'Water is sexual and sensual and that’s the place she operated from,' she told the Radio Times.
The Hour star West admitted that he declined the opportunity to talk to the astrologer before filming the drama, Burton And Taylor.
'Helena gave me the number but somehow I never got around to it,' the 43-year-old said.
He told the magazine of trying to perfect Burton’s 'mellifluous voice', adding: 'When I drank and smoked all night, it worked pretty well but I didn’t have the stamina to keep it up.'
Drama: The film sees the pair as they were in 1983, reunited for a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives
Bonham Carter added of her alter-ego: 'She was a good eater. Unlike actresses these days, she liked her food.'
West is also set to play a gay activist during the miners’ strike.
The Wire star was quoted as telling the Radio Times that he would have to lose weight because his character, in the film called Pride, was the second person in Britain to be diagnosed with Aids.
He also revealed he was planning a charity expedition to the South Pole, saying: 'The problem is I am walking to the South Pole after that (the film) and I really need a spare tyre for the journey.'
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