On This Day

Birthday of Richard Burton

November 10th 1925

07:55 10 November 2024

Welsh actor Richard Burton was born on this day in 1925. Burton’s illustrious career began when he received a scholarship to study acting at Oxford University. After making his stage debut in 1944, he appeared in several routine British films before a transition to Hollywood and roles in such movies as ‘The Robe’ (1953) and ‘Alexander the Great’ (1956). During this period, he also spent time in stage productions in both the UK and US as well as becoming part of the “British New Wave” for his performance in ‘Look Back in Anger’ (1959).

The 1960s brought a high profile first marriage to Elizabeth Taylor and international stardom with roles in among others ‘The Longest Day’ (1962), ‘Cleopatra’ (1963), ‘The Night of the Iguana’ (1964), ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ (1965), ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ (1966) and ‘Where Eagles Dare’ (1968).

Burton’s status began to decline in the 1970’s, largely in part due to health issues brought on by years of heavy drinking but there were some highlights including an Oscar nominated performance in ‘Equus’ (1977). It was a seventh and final Academy Award nomination with the actor remarkably never picking up a single Oscar.

Other later film credits include ‘Exorcist II: The Heretic’ (1977), ‘The Wild Geese’ (1978) and his final movie role as O’Brien in ‘1984’ (1984). Richard Burton passed away from a cerebral haemorrhage at his home in Switzerland aged just 58 on August 5th 1984. He will be forever remembered as one of the greatest actors of his generation.