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