On this day in 1925, a legend was born in the small coal-mining village of Pontrhydyfen, Wales. His name at birth was Richard Walter Jenkins Jr., but the world would come to know him as Richard Burton, a voice like thunder, a presence like fire.
Early Life
Burton’s life began in hardship. He was the twelfth of thirteen children in a working-class Welsh-speaking family. His mother died when he was just two. His father, a coal miner, was often absent. Richard was raised by his elder sister, Cis, and her husband in the gritty town of Port Talbot. It was a tough place, but it forged him.
From the start, Burton had a gift. His deep, resonant voice turned heads. A schoolteacher named Philip Burton recognized this raw talent and became Richard’s mentor and eventually his legal guardian. Richard ended up taking his mentor’s last name and, with it, a new identity. The transformation from Jenkins to Burton was more than symbolic; it marked the beginning of a meteoric rise.
His Rise to Fame
By 18, he was studying at Oxford. By 24, he was on Broadway. And by the 1950s, Burton had conquered both stage and screen. His 1964 portrayal of Hamlet in New York became legendary. Critics hailed him as the natural heir to Laurence Olivier. But Burton was no polished gentleman. He was magnetic, tempestuous, and deeply flawed. His performances blazed with intensity. So did his personal life.
In Hollywood, he earned seven Oscar nominations but never won. He starred in The Robe, Becket, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Equus, among others. His baritone was unmistakable. His eyes burned with soul.
Then Came Elizabeth Taylor
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor met on the set of Cleopatra in 1961, both married to other people. Their affair sparked a scandal so loud that even the Vatican condemned it. The couple married in 1964, divorced in 1974, remarried in 1975, and divorced again a year later. They loved hard, fought harder, and lived in the full glare of public obsession.
Burton and Taylor were no mere celebrities; they were a force. Yachts, jewels, global headlines. Their volatile bond was equal parts passion and poison. Still, Taylor stood by him fiercely, once exploding on live television when a journalist accused Burton of “selling out” the stage for Hollywood riches.
The Aftermath
Burton didn’t care what people thought. He once said, “I do it because I rather like being famous.” Behind the fame, though, was a man who wrestled with doubt, drink, and the pressure of brilliance. He once said he would’ve traded Hamlet at The Old Vic to play rugby for Wales. The miner’s son never lost touch with his roots.
Richard Burton died in 1984 at age 58, gone too soon.