The Richard Burton Diaries

by Richard Burton, Chris Williams (Editor)

Irresistibly magnetic on stage, mesmerizing in movies, seven times an Academy Award nominee, Richard Burton rose from humble beginnings in Wales to become Hollywood's most highly paid actor and one of England's most admired Shakespearean performers. His epic romance with Elizabeth Taylor, his legendary drinking and story-telling, his dazzling purchases (enormous diamonds, a jet, homes on several continents), and his enormous talent kept him constantly in the public eye. Yet the man behind the celebrity façade carried a surprising burden of insecurity and struggled with the peculiar challenges of a life lived largely in the spotlight.

This volume publishes Burton's extensive personal diaries in their entirety for the first time. His writings encompass many years—from 1939, when he was still a teenager, to 1983, the year before his death—and they reveal him in his most private moments, pondering his triumphs and demons, his loves and his heartbreaks. The diary entries appear in their original sequence, with annotations to clarify people, places, books, and events Burton mentions.

From these hand-written pages emerges a multi-dimensional man, no mere flashy celebrity. While Burton touched shoulders with shining lights—among them Olivia de Havilland, John Gielgud, Claire Bloom, Laurence Olivier, John Huston, Dylan Thomas, and Edward Albee—he also played the real-life roles of supportive family man, father, husband, and highly intelligent observer. His diaries offer a rare and fresh perspective on his own life and career, and on the glamorous decades of the mid-twentieth century.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, Autobiography, Diary, Film, Biography Memoir

693 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 2012

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Do not confuse with Richard Francis Burton
Richard Burton, CBE (10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award – for My Cousin Rachel (1952), The Robe (1953), Becket (1964), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and Equus (1977) – six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role, without ever winning. He was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.
He remains closely associated in the public consciousness with his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor. The couple's turbulent relationship was rarely out of the news.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

A confession - I listened to an abridged version of this book. It was so fantastic that I've ordered the hardcover. But I ask myself was it fantastic because it was a brilliantly-written and assembled book of Richard Burton, the actor or because it gave me such hiraeth.

As Burton, I have a 'posh' English voice, as Burton I cannot help but construct sentences in a Welsh, specifically Valleys, way and as Burton, I too regain the Welsh inflexion when I'm speaking of home or with passion. So I'm reading too not just about Burton, but an ex-pat who doesn't want to go home but whose roots in it are so close to the surface they tangle with so much of who we are and they are perfectly articulated in this book.

Burton was so much more than the sum of his parts. A brilliant actor, with a velvet voice, an exceptionally generous man who lived like a billionaire he was also always happy in the company of the miners he grew up with. And he shared so much with his hero, Dylan Thomas. Drunken sots in love with words and Wales both. I think his finest performance was Under Milk Wood. You can listen to Burton here.

[nastya]

The only reason I opened this book is because I was promised that Burton was a great reader. And what I got was a lot of:
"Woke up, had bacon, yesterday got drunk, was mean to Liz, she has her health problems, Franco Zeffirelli is a weak man who can't say anything to your face and the French are bastards"

I checked out somewhere around page 150, and by that point haven't met any interesting book observation yet. (Only that Liz got who the murderer was in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd after chapter 2 and he didn't). Really, the most interesting part of the book was the introduction about his family history in Wales. Also Liz loved to tease him with Welsh words, she sounds so fun!

The Sunday Times says in the blurb on the front cover: 'As compulsively page-turning as a novel' and maybe there was a gas leak in the office around the time of reviewing this?..

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to put down. Had no idea what a voracious reader he was, a lifelong autodidact. He read 2, 3, or 4 books per day. On every possible subject. Including Rimbaud in French. Loved poetry passionately since a boy. Wherever he went for shoots (Mexico, France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary) he made serious attempts to learn to speak & read the language. He always hoped to write a book but could never decide on the form. Kept a diary intermittently since childhood. Passionate about books and his library. Fiercely intelligent. Complex & contradictory. Deeply thoughtful. Dry humor. His writing very honest & totally without cant. No sentimentality or self pity. His struggle with alcohol was life-long and even when on the wagon I suspect he was probably a "dry drunk", had a nasty habit of saying cruel things to people he loved, repentant afterwards - something he hated in himself but apparently could neither explain nor control. There are marvelous passages on wide range of topics incl the art of acting, his assessment of himself and others. Fascinating & fun. He did not subscribe to the view that he had not lived up to his potential. With a few exceptions he says he chose his vehicles/movies based on whether he thought they would be good. And he was not a snob about movies vs "the theater", he thought both valid. Re ET, it seems he truly loved her body & soul. I had previously assumed the break up(s) were due to his drinking, but after reading this I think perhaps it was hers. They both had their demons. I really enjoyed his writing and I missed his "voice" when I finished the book.

[Paul Wilner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sample quote: "E {]Taylor] anxious that I write about her so here goes. She is a nice fat girl who loves mosquitos and hates pustular carbuncular Welshmen, loathes boats and loves planes, has tiny blackcurrant eyes and minute breasts and has no sense of humour. She is prudish, priggish and painfully self-conscious."

Delicious. Burton would have crashed Good Reads if it had been around during his stormy life, since he seems to have been constantly reading (love his bashing of Edmund Wilson) in between the boozing and appearances in so-so movies, along with some great ones.

[F.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

To review this, I’ve dipped into the vast resource that is the F.R. Jameson diaries. They’ll probably be available to buy sometime around 2050.

December 26th, 2016
I received a brand new paperback edition of THE RICHARD BURTON DIARIES from my lovely wife yesterday. I’m greatly looking forward to them. Obviously. I’ll dip in and out as the mood takes me, but I’m sure I’ll get through it fairly quickly.

January 20th, 2017
The only reason the 1940 diary, which opens the book. is there because is clearly because it’s available. Its tone is little more than “Played rugby. Went to cinema to see ‘The Oklahoma Kid’ – it was good.” It has no literary value whatsoever and can be skipped easily.
If you’re planning to read this book, go straight to the 1965 section which finds Burton lost in thrall to Taylor. Certainly, there’s a ‘Whicker’s World’ outsider peering into opulence quality to it, but it’s a fascinating insight into THE tabloid romance of the Twentieth Century.

March 29th, 2017
I'm making slow progress on this as I'm still only at 1968, but when I am getting chance to dip into it I'm enjoying it immensely.
I found myself at a loose end looking around at articles about Rich and Liz online and there is a strange disconnect between articles and the diaries I'm reading. This article for instance portrays a glamorous over-sexed couple, with Burton having bisexual affairs while married to Taylor, including one with her ex-husband, Eddie Fisher. The diary portrays a somewhat sad couple, one locked in a routine of drinking too much, arguing, apologising in the morning and starting the whole routine again. There doesn't seem any hint of an affair, just too much booze. The scenery around them may be spectacular, but the lives in front of that scenery seem desperately commonplace.

June 28th, 2017
Mrs Jameson is getting annoyed at seeing Richard Burton’s face on the book’s cover. About three or four times a month, I tuck into the diaries and the good lady wife has now told me that she’s bored of seeing this particular book in my hands and wishes I would read it faster. I wish I was reading it faster too, but there’s just so much good stuff here. That’s with me realising that there’s so much potentially good stuff missing (making of ‘Where Eagles Dare’, for instance).

Sept 3rd, 2017
I spoke to my friend, James, who hasn’t read the diaries, but has read the Melvyn Bragg biography of Burton which quotes extensively from them. He said he went completely off Elizabeth Taylor when he read the quoted entry about Richard Burton discovering her in the bathroom bleeding out of her posterior. As chance would have it, I’ve just read that entry myself and what struck me about it was how tender Burton is, how racked with worry, how much he loves her. James’s sole takeaway from it is that it’s forever ruined Elizabeth Taylor to him as a sex goddess. James has issues.

Sept 17th, 2017
My new short story collection, CONFINED SPACES is out today and incredibly features a story – ‘The Movie Star in her Ivory Tower’ which is based on my reading of these diaries. So even though I haven’t finished it yet, I have managed to write, edit, have edited, proof and publish a work of fiction based on it. Hmm, maybe Mrs Jameson has a point.

Oct 30th, 2017
Still reading the diaries and still annoying Mrs Jameson. Tonight, she called it ‘Richard bloody Burton’s bloody diaries.”

Dec 8th, 2017
The flaw of these diaries as opposed to a proper biography is that there are no entries for the stuff you’d really like to read about. So, we pick up after Taylor and Burton are together, and as such there’s nothing from what it was like in the midst of that scandal. The pages tail off again before they get divorced, pick up around the time of the second marriage but disappear before the end of it and are then only intermittent from that point on. I can appreciate that at those stressful times, Burton may not have had the focus or time to put pen to paper, but it’s really frustrating for a reader.

Jan 2nd, 2018
Just found a couple of weeks of entries where every day has the same one-word recap – “Booze”. I think we can call that a cry for help.

Jan 28th, 2018
Mrs Jameson danced a jig of joy today as I have finally finished THE RICHARD BURTON DIARIES. She won’t have to look on his face on the cover anymore.
I’m a lot more reflective on finishing, as I think I’m going to miss Rich. Yes, the diaries are patchy and sometimes frustrating, but at their best are brilliantly written and insightful. I must try and get hold of a biography of him.
I see on Amazon that Donald Spoto’s biography of Taylor is cheap. Now if I want scandal that seems the place to go. Maybe ‘The Movie Star in her Ivory Tower will have a sequel yet…

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the gift was the first impulse but it began a habit Richard Burton kept up with varying regularity the rest of his life. That first beginning in December 1939 was in a diary given to him. He recorded the family and school and church activities of his home in Port Talbot, Wales faithfully all the next year. That first diary reveals what you'd expect, a boyish enthusiasm about sports and the war. He ended it after a year and didn't record his days again until 1960. By that time he'd begun his acting career and was already quite successful. He was also married with two daughters.

The main diary began in 1965 after "the scandal" of romance with Elizabeth Taylor while filming Cleopatra and the breakup of their respective marriages. It's pretty much a record of their relationship from that point on. His interests were literary. He read widely and often recorded what he read. I think the fact of the diary indicates an impulse to write himself, and he often expressed a desire to write, but he never did other than a few commissioned magazine articles.

He wrote much less introspectively than I'd expected of one we're told read voraciously and sometimes deeply. Often it's a catalog of items which were a measure of their luxurious lifestyle. He and Elizabeth lived on a yacht and traveled the Mediterranean. As Burton recorded, they'd often go to their homes in Switzerland or Puerto Vallarta on the coast of Mexico. They were frequently the guests of people like the Rothschilds or Prince Rainier and Grace of Monaco. Their life was busy with the arrivals and departures of family and members of the high society they swam in, with the occasional bits of gossip Burton couldn't resist. His observations of people are usually interesting: the likes of Maria Callas, Lucille Ball, Rex Harrison, and others. Disappointingly he wrote less frequently about authors and what he thought of them. He did write more than once about Dylan Thomas, though, who he knew and admired. The writing of some others--Hemingway, for instance--he despised. Politics interested him, and always sports, all kinds of sports.

While there is little profound reflection and little poetic writing, he did, as you might expect, have a lot to say about acting and making movies. His prose was a little stodgy perhaps and sprinkled with cute phrases he adopted--"as twere"--but he was a good actor and knew it. His own professional activity and that of Elizabeth's was almost an everyday subject. Reviews of this book emphasized Burton hated acting, but I didn't get that impression at all. He did baldly write that once, but he didn't complain. He did record the drudgery and the daily grind of filming in all kinds of weather. I do think he loved the money and the celebrity.

And he loved his family. That characteristic of Burton stands out. He loved Elizabeth intensely, if not forever. He loved his children and constantly wrote about them, bragging on their accomplishments and beauty. Whatever he was in the public eye--actor, husband of Elizabeth Taylor and bestower on her of lavish gifts, celebrity--he was a loving gentle man concerned with family above all else. You have to like that in the man and you have to like his desire to express it as he did.

[J. Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a rip-roaring good time! He is so brilliant, and he is my favorite film actor of my lifetime. He's blunt and funny, and witty, and well-read, well-spoken, and in his diary as honest and forthright as you can be.
Between Dick and Liz, they knew everybody, and anybody who wanted to be someone wanted to know them in return.

I laugh out loud constantly; when I take it with me to read while eating dinner out, I have to explain and apologize to people at the adjoining tables because I CAN'T HELP MYSELF!

One word of warning - it's an insider's diary, and even though every person mentioned is footnoted (minimally), you have to have some idea of culture, film, theatre and books of the time to really get a sense of everyone he's talking about. One example I use to explain this to people - you have to know the difference between Peter Ustinov and Peter O'Toole, to get at least most of the references.
It's delightful, delicious, and if film and theatre is your thing
IT'S NOT TO BE MISSED!

[Karyn]

From NYT:

"Come to this volume for the love story, stay for the lit talk. Burton often read as many as three books a day and hated anything or anyone getting in his way. “Maria Callas arrived,” he jots in November 1968, “and since I was in a reading mood she was not welcome.”

Burton read everything, high and low, and his running commentary is mostly a joy to behold. Edmund Wilson is “wrong about everything” and “a bore.” A Kingsley Amis novel is “expertly written but has ‘don’ written all over it.” He notes the “excruciating banality” of Ian Fleming and writes about him, hilariously: “He has the cordon-bleu nerve to attack one of my favorite discoveries: American short-order cooking.”

The love of language and the love of Liz. Oh, and snarky comments galore. What could be more fun?

[Kc · Rating 2 out of 5]

These diaries were obviously not meant to be published and it shows. Frankly it seems like a gross invasion of privacy to print them. For the most part they are tedious and repetitious: Here's what I drank today, here's what I ate today, here's where I went, who I saw. He lists the books he read. One day he absolutely quits drinking and then has a couple martinis or "just some wine with dinner."
He obviously really loved Elizabeth Taylor and they clearly fought like cats and dogs much of the time. But the making up was apparently worth it. He hated acting, wished he was a writer. He was indifferent to his own and Elizabeth's children.
A slog to get through.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer re the 5 stars: Clearly biased because I consider Burton the finest actor and sexiest man of the 20th century, so I was hardly surprised to learn that he was brilliant on paper as well as on stage and screen.

This is a v-e-r-y long book, 655 dense pages covering Burton's life from his early teens, when he was obsessed with soccer, schoolwork, and earning odd bits of money, until near his death, although unfortunately with large gaps, notably omitting the time of the great scandal, during the filming of Cleopatra, of his grand passion for Elizabeth Taylor and hers for him. Oh, well. His love and lust for her continue unabated for years, and he expresses it often and beautifully. He also includes some memories of the scandal.

His writing is sometimes slapdash and confusing when merely recording events or visitors, mostly because he doesn't put commas into his lists or other places they would be useful. But when musing on history or politics or philosophy or analysis of people, their vices and virtues, certainly including his own and E's (Elizabeth's), he is grammatical, insightful, and often lyrical.

The editing is hugely intrusive and annoying, though. Most pages have 6 or 8 or 12 footnotes, nearly all of them superfluous. If, like me, you have a hard time resisting looking at the notes at the bottom of the page, you may also find them enormously distracting. The editor has decided to identify every person, place, or object the first time he/she/it is mentioned, but the note number appears not next to the name to which it refers, but only at the end of the sentence. This includes such bits of knowledge in the notes as that Picasso and Van Gogh were painters, that Madison Square Garden is a large performance arena, and that World War II ended in 1945, and also including explanations of all of Burton's many quotations or allusions to Shakespeare, the Bible, or other classics.

Burton was a compulsive reader, never comfortable without a stack of books near at hand, and often visited a bookshop as his first stop on arriving in a new city. His capsule reviews were among my favorite parts of the diaries, and I agree with most of his opinions (but not on Catch-22 or M*A*S*H, which he disliked). The footnote invariably repeated (or sometimes corrected) the author's name and book title Burton had just mentioned, and added the year of publication, which was only occasionally interesting.

A cast of major (and even not-so-major) characters, and a list of people by first names, would have been very helpful, but are not included.

[M.R. Dowsing · Rating 5 out of 5]

The early sections of this nearly put me off as the young Burton mainly wrote short entries about what he had for dinner each night. However, these don't last too long and by the time we reach 1966 (page 91), Burton's begun to hit his stride and proves himself a witty and insightful writer with an impressive vocabulary and considerable style. As the diaries were never intended for publication (at least not in this form), we get some fascinatingly unvarnished portraits of the rich and famous, many of whom Burton considers either fools or bores (or both), although he sometimes revises these opinions and can often be generous as well.

It's interesting to note how, when making terrible films such as 'The Assassination of Trotsky' and 'Hammersmith is Out', Burton actually thought he was working on worthwhile projects (although in the case of 'Trotsky' he notices that Joseph Losey is doing a slack job). In fact, there are only a couple of cases (notably 'Raid on Rommel') when he is clearly taking a job just for the money. He's often been criticised for chasing the dollar, but he was obviously supporting a lot of people and he also continued to work in theatre until the end, which a lot of big stars don't as it's much harder work for much less pay than making movies. By the time I finished this, I was a bigger Burton fan than when I started.

The book has the most copious footnotes I've ever seen, most of which seemed unnecessary. In fact, I was a little surprised the footnotes didn't have footnotes. Even the paperback version weighs a ton, so if that's an issue, you might want to consider the e-book version.

[Michael Llewellyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The private musings of one of the last century's most public figures reveal an ongoing search for identity and purpose. Many forget that Burton had a stunning theatrical track record before marriage to Elizabeth Taylor brought stratospheric fame and fortune. Their well-documented liaison is one of staggering excess but beyond the diamonds, yachts and jet-setting was a man of great generosity and with a consuming passion for books and a quiet place to read them. As with most diaries, there are tedious, mundane passages to be skipped (and absurdly excessive footnotes), but it's a rich story richly told with all the poignance, humility, pain, insight and devilish humor one might expect from this immensely talented, deeply troubled soul. Burton's journey from obscure Welsh mining village to the international stage is one of life lived to the fullest...and then some.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sigh. This is one of those books you don't want to end because you have become so enamored of the characters or in this case, person the book is about. I adore Richard Burton, always have. Elizabeth Taylor is one of my favorite film stars and people ever. Of course I was going to read this, especially after watching the superb film about a section of their lives that was recently on the BBC and starred the divine Helena Bonham Carter.
Even with all the love I have for Richard Burton I was rather swept away. This book comprises his diaries from his childhood up until the last few years of his life. They are sporadic and have lots of gaps but still give an amazing picture of a fascinating man. Of course there is the Elizabeth Taylor stuff within but there is so much more. I have never read anyone's diaries that are so incredibly literary. Most people know Burton's grasp of Shakespeare but his grasp of literature and poetry as well is truly astonishing. Somehow despite his incredible mind, he's still a no bullshit Welshman who admits his own foibles (for the most part) and mocks himself and his lifestyle frequently. He is also astonishingly normal at times--watching rugby, raiding the fridge, being impatient with his kids and enjoying pretty simple pleasures--a cozy room, a good cup of tea and books, books, books. He is the first person I have ever read about that reads as much as I do and as desperately--his entries on packing for various trips and how his biggest concern is usually making sure he does not run out of books made me envision my own habit of packing 15 books to travel for a week or two (who knows what your mood will be?). One of the most engaging parts of his diary is his so obviously memorized and off the cuff quoting of poetry by everyone from Dylan Thomas (his personal friend) to Shelley and Keats etc. It's not pretentious, you can tell this is how his mind works.
Then there is Elizabeth. His love for her shines through constantly, even during the periods he is briefly married to other women. The time they spent together when he is writing shows that she was his true mate and equal in his eyes. They read together, eat together,act together, travel together and laugh together. While it's clear that he does not include every private thought he has (he had a habit of allowing his wives to read his diaries) it's also clear, especially when she is ill that there is a reason why theirs is one of the great love stories of all time. Despite protestations from his widow (whom he was with for very little time) that their love story was bunk, he was still in touch with Elizabeth until his death and in fact had written her a letter that was buried with her in which he told her "home is where Elizabeth is and I want to come home". His nicknames for her are so copious, I kept a list of them--Snapshot, Lumpy, E, Cantank (for cantankerous) etc--so many that I could not list them all here. He never stops writing about her and his concern for her and the fact that he considers her his family is every where. It's also obvious that the death of his beloved brother Ifor is probably one of the biggest reasons for their separation and his decline--his alcoholism took over in the extreme after this earthshaking event for him and he admits himself that he is unbearable when he is drinking. It's clear that he struggled daily to keep demon drink away in his life but never more than after his separation from Elizabeth. The wives and girlfriends he had after her are clearly caretakers--including his last wife, Sally Hay who was so insistent on minimizing Elizabeth's presence in his life that she had his burial plot set up in such a way that there was no possibility of Elizabeth being buried next to him. The final parts of the diary are heartbreaking as they often contain entries that say only "booze".
The other thing that rivals his love for Elizabeth Taylor is his love of words. Poetry most especially but also everything from great literature to detective novels--despite his great mind and incredible grasp of everything written, he was no book snob! He also did not love acting--ironic considering his legacy--it clearly bored him. He enjoyed his poetry readings far more than acting and acting was clearly a job for him--he often mentions having to take a job so that he can then enjoy his time off with his family and books.
There are also many, many hilarious sections of the book where he speaks of the many famous people around him, including royalty, film stars, literary figures etc and he looks at them the same as he would anyone else--he is clearly not impressed by mere fame or notoriety...and that includes himself and Elizabeth--he jokes about himself as much as he does anyone else. The overall impression of him is one of an incredibly intelligent, funny, flawed, and emotional man who had much tragedy in his life and yet never stopped taking it all in, in great gulps. It's that much more heartbreaking when the end comes, knowing that he wanted to live to be old, to experience as much as he could and to continue to fill his mind. The only solace I suppose is that he passed in his sleep so he probably never knew that it was over for him.
Now, for my one quibble--and it is not with Mr. Burton. It is with the editor of the diaries--I have NEVER seen footnotes so abused in my life. I felt like screaming at him more than once as he footnoted things like "Albert Einstein", "Rock Hudson", "James Joyce" etc. It was ridiculous to the point of being ludicrous and completely unnecessary. Some footnoting would obviously be necessary but this was just completely obnoxious.
Despite that I loved this book dearly--I would definitely love to own this and be able to pick it up whenever I feel like it--I fell more in love with him with every page and love the idea of being able to revisit him any time I would like.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yay, I finished! It has been a tough year for me in terms of getting time to read. All in all, I am glad I persevered with this book which I found on one of my mother's book shelves!!! Burton worked through four wives, children, an amazing stage and movie career, loads of travel and houses in different parts of the world. This was a fascinating, albeit at times boring, read. These were his diary entries after all. He started the diary as a teenager in Wales and kept it up on and off, through four wives and a fascinating career. Burton would sometimes read three books in one day. He died in 1983 after a well lived life. He was at times plagued by alcoholism, smoking and recurring boredom with work, but he kept going until the end.

[Dominica · Rating 3 out of 5]

For readers interested in the life of the late great actor Richard Burton, these diaries cover the early years while he was still the young Richard Jenkins, growing up in a poor Welsh mining town during the Second World War, and of course, the tempestuous Burton and Taylor years following the stars' meeting during the making of the movie Cleopatra. A portrait of two passionately connected, talented yet volatile actors emerges. Burton himself comes across as a man comfortable with his talent, yet preferring the company of books to his public life as the natural heir to Olivier and Gielgud, and of course, the husband (twice) of the unforgettable Liz Taylor.

[Cindy Knoke · Rating 1 out of 5]

In a word. BOOORING!
This book needed major editing but was published as written by Burton. The reader must wade through pages and pages of something akin to: “Woke up after frightful row with E. Both drank too much. Dined at Segrevs.” Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
I know Richard Burton was a brilliant actor. His diary makes him seem trite and inconsequential.
A good editor could have changed this.
Pass. Pass. Pass.

[David Sheward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across Richard Burton's Diaries at the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library months ago and ran through the index, eagerly searching for quips and quotes on the likes of Lucille Ball ("A machine of enormous energy, which driven by a stupid driver who has forgotten that a machine runs on oil as well as gasoline and who has neglected the former, is creaking badly towards a final convulsive seize-up"); Andy Warhol ("He looked like a cadaver when still and a failure of plastic surgery when he moved which was seldom"), and other fascinating figures ranging from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to James Baldwin to Tito to Rex Harrison and his then-wife, an abrasive Rachel Roberts. I always meant to read this volume, but its 650-plus pages daunted me. The COVID crisis gave me lots of free time, so I bought a hardback copy at the Strand (once it was opened for business, it was like a ghost town when I finally went) for $12.50.

Burton is a tragic figure. These diaries (published in 2012) reveal him to be witty, superbly intelligent, incredibly literate (he reads voluminously), but he's also erratic, easily bored in his work and relationships, ultimately succumbing to booze and the pressure to maintain an opulent lifestyle at the cost of his art. As a young man, he was thought to be the natural successor to Gielgud and Olivier as the world's greatest classical actor with the potential to also be that rarest of creatures--a gorgeous movie star who was also a master interpreter of any role put before him. But his career ended in alcoholism and an abundance of shoddy projects. Born Richard Jenkins, Burton yearned to escape the crushing poverty of his childhood as the son of a Welsh coal miner. He took the name of a mentoring teacher and discovered his facility for learning, language and literature. His stunning good looks, personal magnetism, and sonorous voice led him to the stage and eventually Hollywood.

Perhaps it was his impoverished background, but Burton had to have the biggest salary, the most beautiful woman in the world and the most expensive jewels with which to adorn her (he describes a bidding war with Aristotle Onassis over a famous diamond; he was not about to be outdone by a
vulgar Greek businessman whose wife was not nearly as glamorous as his own). His two marriages to Elizabeth Taylor made the couple the most famous human beings on earth for a time. For about ten years, they had the Midas touch--whatever they touched, whether brilliant or dull, turned to box office gold. In addition to the public fascination with their scandalous affair on the set of Cleopatra, their physical attributes combined with their acting talent produced a string of hits and the means to live like royalty. The diaries are most detailed for the years 1966 to 1972. Unfortunately, this period covers only some of Burton's best work--the Zefferelli adaptation of Taming of the Shrew (second only to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as the couple's greatest picture) and Anne of the Thousand Days (he thought it was a superficial period drama, but he netted an Oscar nomination and should have won over John Wayne for True Grit.)

Around 1970, the Midas touch faded, the hits became flops starting with the abysmal Boom! (starring both) and The Only Game in Town (Taylor with Warren Beatty, a snoozefest). Boom! is available on YouTube and is now something of a camp classic, relished by John Waters for its miscasting and bizarre costume and set design, but it's a tremendously pretentious bore. The Burtons were scrambling to earn enough to keep themselves in yachts, helicopters, limousines, diamonds, and servants. There is much accounting with box office figures, salaries, percentages, and taxes but relatively little on the quality of the films. The majority of the films chronicled here are forgettable slapdash products such as Boom!, Raid on Rommel, The Battle of Sutjeska, The Assassination of Trotsky, and Bluebeard. At least they were filmed on interesting locations such as Mexico, Yugoslavia, Paris, and Hungary and Burton offers fascinating description of the people, food, and culture.

There are multiple heartbreaking tragedies of unrealized potential. Burton could have been a decent writer, having penned articles and autobiographical sketches. He has a way with a phrase (on having a hangover: "My eyes are slits that only a locksmith could open." On Shakespeare: "What a stupendous God he was, he is. What chance combination of genes went to the making of that towering imagination...that joy in words and the later agony.") Even drinking a cocktail becomes evocative of pleasure and guilt: "A double ice cold martini, the glass fogged with condensation, straight up and then straight down and the warm flood, the pain-killer hitting the stomach and then the brain and an hour of sweetly melancholy euphoria. I shall have a Tab instead. Disgusting." But he lacked the drive and motivation to pursue writing despite his love of books.

In addition, Burton regarded film and stage acting as drudgery. Unlike Olivier, Gielgud, and Richardson who actually enjoyed their work, Burton would have much rather been reading a book or teaching at Oxford than standing in front of a camera. It seemed that a guest shot on Lucille Ball's silly sitcom, a horror film co-starring with Raquel Welch and Joey Heatherton, a brilliant study of marriage by Edward Albee, or an imaginative film of the Bard's greatest comedy were all the same to him. They were all jobs to be done and endured to get to the paycheck.

We get a picture of his love for Taylor and her constant neediness. She seems to be perpetually ill or clingy or both, resulting in a void that can never be filled. There is not much introspection on the dissolution of their marriages or Burton's subsequent two unions with non-actresses. After 1975, the entries are shorter and more fragmentary, some are only one word (Booze). We find out very little about his post-Taylor wives and girlfriends. There are only a few acting works of distinction--the Broadway and film versions of Equus (losing his final chance at an Oscar to Richard Dreyfuss for The Goodbye Girl) and the intriguing, bleak 1984 opposite John Hurt. He turned in a charming cameo as the White Knight with his daughter Kate in a PBS version of her stage Alice in Wonderland, a sort of bittersweet farewell to acting. He does describe the Broadway and touring revival of Camelot and the rigors of stage work as well as the difficulties of reuniting with Taylor for a misguided revival of Private Lives. (Nothing about Equus)

Despite their hiatuses, these journals offer a rare glimpse into the private life of a world figure. They are unlike a biography or even a memoir since Burton never really intended these for the public. For an intense relatively brief period we are living his life, experiencing the excitement and tedium of moving from yacht to villa to hotel. Premieres, rehearsals, legal battles, the day-to-day existence are all there on an intimate level you would not experience in a formal bio. Perhaps I will read one of those on Burton next or perhaps one on Taylor.

[Susan Liston · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 So I took my time reading this, just a bit here and there, but it was quite fascinating. I suppose it helps if you are old enough to remember a lot of what he's talking about as far as world events go; much of the most detailed entries come from the 60s and early 70s, and although I was a child then and had a decidedly different viewpoint than a rich adult celebrity it still added extra interest. His opinions about other actors, his experiences working and his relationship with Elizabeth Taylor*, to whom he was married during that time are just incredible to read. (we get a lot of TMI about her health woes) Being incredibly famous himself he is completely unimpressed by anyone else's fame and is casually dismissive of hobnobbing with world leaders and royalty. There is a lot about books in here as well, (he was clearly very bright) and was an avid reader.
*a favorite tidbit about her is when she decided to quit drinking for a week, which he encouraged her to do, and he was so proud of her time "On the wagon" in his words, that he made her a big martini as reward. He said he was so proud of her, she drank nothing the whole week except one glass of wine, ten beers and one vodka and orange juice. Not a joke, to him that WAS "being on the wagon".

[Robert Collette · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wife would ask what I was reading and then say in astonishment, "you're still reading that?". The truth is, I didn't want it to finish. It was like getting to talk to a friend everyday, who you know, is going to be taken away from you much too soon. I am happy now to go on to read something else, but at the same time left wishing there was more.

[Constance · Rating 5 out of 5]

"She will be awake in a few minutes so that is something to look forward to." Quote by Richard Burton while watching Elizabeth sleep.

After reading this tome, I feel like a just spent a month with Mr. Burton. Every page was a delight & I will cherish this book forever.

[Nasser Hashmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bitter, compelling story of a man trapped in a giant, golden handshake.

Sad, garish and beautiful.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the curate's egg, this was good in parts... Too much of his time as a child in Wales & not enough about the divorces & other fascinating parts of Burton's life. As these are his complete diaries though, mine is a poor criticism. Fascinating certainly, but glad I've finished it!

[Sarah Nicoloff · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I loved most about reading Burton's diaries is how he was such a voracious reader. I was very impressed to learn that he read 3 or 4 books in a day! I also loved when he would include his thoughts on the books he was reading in his entries.

[Adam Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frightfully honest, full of fantastic, vivid detail.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but it certainly took me very much by surprise.
I think the first thing I would say is that I felt very much that I was intruding on the private thoughts of an often troubled man, whose celebrity status sat uneasily with him.
The second thing I would say is that the copious and tedious footnotes became immensely irritating and tended to distract from the enjoyment. Did we really need to be informed, for example, that Tolstoy was a novelist or that Princess Anne is Queen Elizabeth II's daughter?
He was clearly a very well read man and a deep thinker. He professed to hate acting but relished the wealth and the doors it opened for him. But he seemed also to be a perfectionist and took great pride in the work he produced, whilst carefully avoiding the critics whose possible harsh words would be a certain banana skin for him.
Nominated for an Oscar seven times, he never did win this coveted award - more fodder for the insecurities which dogged him and possibly led him to be ever more outspoken in his criticims of, for example, public figures like Churchill. Maybe ensuring a self-fulfilling prophecy?

It seems to me that the accident which befell his elder brother, Ivor, who slipped and broke his neck whilst on a heavy drinking session with Richard at his home in Switzerland, had a profound impact on him.

Ivor's inevitable death, five years later, compounded the guilt he felt and the diary catalogues how his drinking became noticebly heavier and irreversible from that moment on.
He comes over as a tortured soul who felt profound love for Elizabeth Taylor and much self disgust as he see sawed with alcohol and dark moods.

At times, this diary is difficult to read, but do persevere with it. I, for one, am very pleased I continued to the end and feel maybe I just got to know a little more about one of our greatest acting legends. And guess what? He turned out to be as vulnerable as the rest of us, despite his enormous wealth and privilege.

[Sarah Cler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense reading, even for hardcore Richard Burton fans. I was alternately fascinated and bored with his entries, which really weren't edited at all, other than to have quite a few - often irritating and pointless - footnotes inserted. (I don't need to know the birth and death date of every individual mentioned, but would like to know a little background and/or context for Burton's reference of the person.) If you want to know what Richard Burton ate and drank and read (and weighed) every day, here's your go-to source. On one level, fascinating to watch the rollercoaster of alcoholism in print as it was happening. On the other hand, the details of anyone's daily existence (even Richard Burton's) can get a little laborious. What struck me the most about this thing? 1) Richard Burton was a shockingly talented writer. (His description of an Italian awards show he and Taylor attended: "for about 3/4 hour endless hard faced breastless models paraded before our bored eyes an extraordinary tasteless concourse of fashions.") 2) The journal format is as close as you'll get to historical accuracy. Unlike an autobiography, where the subject is "remembering" events from decades earlier, or a biography, where the writer in many cases has never even met the subject, there's nothing like a play-by-play of a star-studded party, transcribed by a key player the DAY after it occurred. 3) I cannot fathom having as much disposable time and income as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor had when they were together. So many entries went along these lines: slept until 11:30, read all afternoon, bought Cartier baubles. Drank all day. Decided to buy private jet. Read all day and napped. Ate 2 eggs. Went for a walk. No wonder the man was chronically depressed - he was bored out of his mind.

[Liz Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this down and became obsessed with Richard Burton, reading three biographies following the diaries. Richard Burton is an amazing writer with a broad vocabulary and deep knowledge of other languages. He was a voracious reader, never without a book on set while he was working and always traveling with a reference library and several books. He hated to be bored. He traveled the world during his career as an actor and was beloved by his fellow actors. The diaries reveal much about his life with Elizabeth Taylor. There are elegiac passages about how much in love they were. But there is a sadness that lingers over the fact that he abandoned his first wife and his two daughters to be with Elizabeth (whom he always calls Elizabeth or a pet name but never Liz.) For someone with so much talent, it is sad to know that he had some regrets -- one, that his older brother, whom he adored and worshipped, died from complications due to a fall when he was going ahead of Richard to open up his Switzerland home. Richard never forgave himself. I think Richard never forgave himself for leaving his first wife, even though he had passionate affairs with quite a few co-stars from stage and film. There are several places in the diaries where Richard doesn't report about what's happening, especially around his and Elizabeth's break-ups. It's also fascinating how aware he was of his addictions (cigarettes and booze, and sex) and sad how he seems unable to manage those effectively. His untimely death at 58 leaves some other things undone he had hoped to do: play Lear and write something significant (besides his Christmas story and rugby stories and diary)...but what an amazing life nonetheless!!!

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Burton..the working class boy with a head full of poetry and Rugby..married the world's most famous actress and bought her the biggest diamond..everything had to be more. He made it more than anyone else..was the highest paid movie star for a while, and got the most press attention. But his diaries reveal someone trapped in the wrong life. He was always slightly embarrassed about the profession that brought him world fame and riches beyond dreams. Never saw it as proper man's work. He wanted to be a writer. And there are entries in these years that prove he was. He lived for books and libraries and words and visions. He drank and became obsessed with his weight, fad dieting in an attempt to escape and shed another layer of skin. He learned the lines, turned up and hit the marks, but his head was always lost in verse and he was never happier than when he had his little typewriter. He rarely feels happy in these years apart from odd moments, but he adored his family. And the most beautiful thing is, you can hear his voice in these pages.

[Jordan Phizacklea-Cullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burton was clearly not just an actor of ferocious talent and mesmerising charisma, but as his diaries reveal he was also a Renaissance man who was incredbly well-read, spoke several languages and was a sumptuous master of the written word and the barbed bon mot. From perfunctory schoolboy scribblings in the valleys of Glamorgan to Hollywood superstar and Geneva-residing tax exile, Burton is lucid and eloquent when describing his frequent boredom with acting and filmmaking, friendships and rivalries with Olivier, Rex Harrison, Paul Scofield et al, travelling the world being entertained by world leaders Churchill, General Tito and 'Baby Doc' Duvalier, his voracious appetite for reading and learning and of course his passion, passion, PASSION for Elizabeth Taylor. Perfect holiday reading but eminently quotable and essential reading if you've any interest at all in the man.

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this. For anyone interested in fame, success, money, Elizabeth Taylor and the film/theatre world of the fifties, sixties and seventies, but there is loads more. I particularly loved the fact he constantly read and would name the books he had just bought or just finished. He would read anything at all which I found inspiring. It was also an interesting insight into the job of an actor from how he learned his lines to how he kept a performance fresh for himself. I finished it two days ago and have started another book since but find I am really missing Burton's voice and point of view!