The Richard Burton Diaries

by Richard Burton

  16 Burton and Taylor stayed at the Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, London, while Burton worked on the London filming of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

  17 Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), English diarist. ‘And so to bed’ was a phrase Pepys commonly used.

  18 Louis Alexandre de Raimon (1922–2008) was a renowned Parisian hairdresser, known as Alexandre de Paris. Taylor was one of his regular and most celebrated clients.

  19 Bermans was a professional costumiers (owned by Monty Berman, 1912–2002), supplying film, television and theatre companies located on Shaftesbury Avenue. Wardour Street, off Oxford Street, central London. Martin or Marty Ritt (1914–90) was producing and directing The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

  20 Oskar Werner (1922–84) played Fiedler in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Werner was older than Burton by three years!

  21 Isow's restaurant, Brewer Street, Soho. Claire Bloom (1931—) played Nan Perry in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. She and Burton had played opposite each other in the stage play The Lady's Not for Burning (1949, 1950), in the Old Vic productions in 1953–54 of Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Coriolanus and The Tempest, and in the films Alexander the Great (1956) and Look Back in Anger (1959). They had been lovers during the 1950s.

  22 Sausages and mashed potato.

  23 Battersea Park, on the south bank of the River Thames, opposite the Chelsea Embankment. Michael Hordern (1911–95) played the part of Ashe in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. He had played with both Burton and Taylor in The VIPs (1963), would do so again in The Taming of the Shrew (1967), and alongside Burton alone in Where Eagles Dare (1968), Anne of the Thousand Days (1970) and The Medusa Touch (1978). He and Burton had appeared on stage together in the Old Vic productions of Hamlet, King John, Twelfth Night and The Tempest.

  24 John Springer (1916–2001) was a publicist who headed the East Coast branch of the Arthur P. Jacobs public relations company, and worked as a press agent for Burton and Taylor. Hugh French was Burton's London agent who also became Taylor's agent, and who later moved to Hollywood.

  25 Raymond E. Palmer of the Associated Press's London office.

  26 The Six Bells was at 195–7, King's Road, Chelsea. Peter Sellers (1925–80), actor. Burton was to make a fleeting appearance in the Sellers film What's New Pussycat?

  27 Paddington station is the terminal for railway lines entering London from Wales and the west of England.

  28 Taylor underwent minor surgery of an undisclosed nature. From the evidence of her note on 6 May it might have been something gynaecological.

  29 Mansion House tube station is on the District and Circle lines, located on Cannon Street. Telegraph buildings were the offices of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, then on Fleet Street.

  30 Mirror Building was the offices of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror.

  31 South Kensington tube station.

  32 Mirabelle, Curzon Street, Piccadilly, London.

  33 Peter Glenville (1913–96), stage and film director. He had directed Burton in Becket and would direct him again in The Comedians. Hardy William (‘Bill’) Smith (d. 2001) was a theatrical producer, and Glenville's lover. Glenville had also sacked Richard from Adventure Story in 1949.

  34 Reflections in a Golden Eye was to be made in 1967, starring Taylor and Marlon Brando (1924–2004), directed by John Huston (1906–87), based on the novel by Carson McCullers (1917–67).

  35 La Méditerranée Place de l'Odéon, Paris.

  36 Rolls-Royce.

  37 Bangs: a hairstyle involving fringes across the forehead.

  38 Baron Elie de Rothschild (1917–2007), financier.

  39 Hôtellerie du Bas Breau, Barbizon, Fontainebleau, France.

  40 Hôtellerie de la Poste, Avallon, Yonne, France.

  41 Chateau de la Rochepot, south of Breaune, Côte d'Or.

  42 The Man Who Would Be King, based on the short story by Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), which would eventually appear in 1975 starring Sean Connery (1930—) and Michael Caine (1933—).

  43 Ray Stark (1915–2004), producer, 7 Arts films. He was to produce Reflections in a Golden Eye.

  44 The Emperor Napoleon (1769–1821), on escaping from exile on Elba, stayed at the Hôtel de la Poste, Saulieu, before his confrontation with Marshal Ney (1769–1815) at Auxerre, some 90km to the north-west, on 14 March 1815.

  45 La Côte d'Or, Saulieu.

  46 Literally, ‘honeymoon’.

  47 Hôtel de France, Chalon-sur-Saône. The Copperhouse is a pub in Cwmafan. The Savoy Hotel, the Strand, London, is a five-star establishment.

  48 Auberge Bressanne, Chalon-sur-Saône.

  49 The town of Nantua, west of Geneva.

  50 This refers to Taylor's house, the Chalet Ariel, at Gstaad. Sold in 2001 ‘Chateau De C’ may mean Chateau D'Oex.

  51 Michael Wilding (1953—) and Christopher Wilding (1955—): Elizabeth's two sons by her marriage to Michael Wilding Sr (1912–79). Liza Todd (1957—), Elizabeth's daughter by her marriage to Mike Todd (1907–58).

  52 'Woolf’ refers to the script of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? that Burton and Taylor were to film (later that year). Initially, in 1964, Taylor had been approached to act the part of Martha. Subsequently it was agreed that Burton would also play the part of George.

  53 Hotel Olden, Gstaad.

  54 The Hotel Alte Post, Weissenburg, near Darstetten. Weissenburg is 30 km from Gstaad.

  55 A dice game, this version using poker dice.

  56 The Côte d'Azur, or French Riviera, on the Mediterranean coast of south-east France.

  57 Gstaad is 1,100 m above sea level.

  58 St Tropez, Provence, France.

  59 Yahtzee, a dice game, first released in 1965.

  60 Elie de Rothschild.

  61 Paul Neshamkin was the children's tutor.

  62 L'Abbaye is in Talloires, on the eastern shore of Lac d'Annecy, Haute Savoie, France. Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali (1942—), knocked out Sonny Liston (1932–71) in controversial circumstances in a world heavyweight championship bout in Lewiston, Maine, USA, on 25 May 1965.

  63 L'Auberge du Père Bise at Talloires.

  64 Poularde de bresse is a celebrated chicken dish.

  65 The Penguin Book of Contemporary Verse, selected with an introduction and notes by Kenneth Allott (1912–73), published in 1950.

  66 Postcards.

  67 Villa La Reine Jeanne, Les Baux de Provence, Provence. South of Avignon.

  68 Probably L'Oustau de Baumanière, Les Baux.

  69 Commandant Paul-Louis Weiller (1893–1993), aviator, engineer, industrialist and philanthropist. Owner of the Villa La Reine Jeanne, built for him in 1928.

  70 'Burt’: one of Burton's many nicknames for Taylor.

  71 Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), actor; other famous family members and actors include Sydney (1885–1965), Charles's older brother; Sydney Earl (1926–2009) Charles's son; and Geraldine (1944—) his daughter. Merle Oberon (1911–79), actor; Margot Fonteyn (1919–91), ballerina.

  72 Le Lavandou, east of Toulon.

  73 Possibly the liqueur Poire William.

  74 The Ile de Porquerolles is an island just off the French coast, south of Hyères.

  75 The novel A Clergyman's Daughter (1935) by George Orwell (1903–50).

  76 Bathing costume.

  77 Richard Grenier (1923–2002), newspaper correspondent, screenwriter, and novelist. Yes and Back Again, novel, (1966).

  78 Probably Bormes-les-Mimosas, inland from Le Lavandou.

  79 Richard (often ‘Dick’) Hanley (1909–71) was Taylor's secretary, who became press secretary for both Burton and Taylor. He had been Mike Todd's secretary's assistant. He performed a wide variety of tasks for the Burton/Taylor household, including helping to look after the children.

  80 A Yiddish expression conveying shock or amazement. Often written ‘oy gevalt’.

  81 Hôtel Les Roches Fleuries at Aiguebelle, east along the coast from Le Lavandou.

  82 Kleenex: tissues.

/>   83 This refers to the second manned spaceflight by the US spacecraft Gemini 4. The astronauts were James Alton McDivitt (1929—) and Edward Higgins White (1930–67). White was the first American to walk in space.

  84 Alexander the Great.

  85 Rex Harrison (1908–90) had played Julius Caesar in Cleopatra and would play alongside Richard Burton in Staircase (1969).

  86 Moules marinières: mussels.

  87 Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes, on the Cap d'Antibes, west of Nice.

  88 Richard's former wife Sybil married the musician Jordan Christopher (born Jordan Zankoff, Youngstown, Ohio, 1942–96), lead singer of The Wild Ones.

  89 'Tidy’ is a South Walian colloquialism (in this context) for ‘decent’, ‘good’.

  90 The mistral is a strong wind associated with the Provence region.

  91 Michel Jazy (1936—), silver medallist in the 1500m at the Rome Olympics in 1960, set a new world record for the mile of 3 min. 53.6 sec. on 9 June 1965. Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper.

  92 Aaron Frosch (1925–89), Richard's lawyer.

  93 Roddy McDowall (1928–98), actor, friend of Richard, Sybil and Elizabeth. He had played alongside Burton in an adaptation of The Tempest for NBC television in 1960, also in the New York production of Camelot (1960–1), had shared a villa with Richard and Sybil in Rome during the making of Cleopatra, and had had a part in The Longest Day.

  94 Helen Greenford (b. 1941): Sybil's niece, daughter of her half-sister Linda, who had married Bernard Greenford.

  95 Philip Burton had moved to the USA in 1954.

  96 La Paillotte, Avenue Gavine, Hyères.

  97 Leï Mouscardins, 1 Rue de Portalet, St Tropez, east along the coast from Le Lavandou.

  98 Carlton Hotel, Cannes, just west of Antibes.

  99 The editor of the Sunday Mirror at the time was Michael Christiansen (1926–84).

  100 Hôtel du Cap Eden Roc, Antibes.

  101 'Bea’ interlined. Bea was the children's governess. Nice is a short distance east of Antibes.

  102 Juan les Pins, between Antibes and Cannes.

  103 Christian Dior the fashion house.

  104 Dick being Dick Hanley.

  105 The SS Michelangelo, a liner built for the North Atlantic crossing in 1962.

  106 Burton had previously travelled on the Cunard Lines’ Queen Mary.

  107 Quogue, Long Island. Home of Aaron Frosch.

  108 Irv ‘Kup’ Kupcinet (1912–2003), newspaper columnist and television talk show host, married to Esther ‘Essee’ Solomon (d. 2001). The Pump Room, restaurant, in the Ambassador East Hotel, Chicago.

  109 Hermes Pan (1910–90), American choreographer and dancer, who worked closely with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and who had been the choreographer for Cleopatra.

  110 Constantine Fitzgibbon, The Life of Dylan Thomas (1965). Burton, who had been a friend of Thomas, would write a review of this volume for the New York Herald Tribune.

  111 Pomona, Los Angeles.

  112 A pet.

  113 Scandia restaurant, Sunset Boulevard.

  114 Mike Nichols (1931—), at this point renowned as a theatre director. He was to make his directorial debut on film with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Rosemary Forsyth (sometimes Forsythe, Forsyth-Yuro) (1944–), actor.

  115 Their Yorkshire Terrier.

  116 John Lee, Dick Hanley's secretary.

  117 A district to the immediate west of Beverly Hills.

  118 'Their father’: Michael Wilding Sr, actor and agent. ‘Maggie’: Dame Margaret Leighton (1922–76), by this time married to Michael Wilding Sr, and who would appear with Taylor in X, Y and Zee.

  119 Dr Rexford Kennamer, a doctor at the Hollywood Presbyterian hospital, often treated Taylor and Burton when they were in California. He had met Taylor at the time of Montgomery Clift's car accident in 1956, and had become part of Taylor's wider entourage, occasionally accompanying her on trips abroad, including to Rome during the filming of Cleopatra. He was physician to many famous Hollywood stars.

  120 Valerie Douglas, at this time Burton's publicist in Beverly Hills.

  1966

  1 In this diary Burton enters where he is writing from on most days. Here only the initial change of location will be entered.

  2 Franco Zeffirelli, director of The Taming of the Shrew. Irene Sharaff (1910–93), Elizabeth Taylor's costume designer for the film, who had also been costume designer for Cleopatra and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Richard F. McWhorter, executive producer for the film, had been assistant to the producer on both The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Becket.

  3 The Taming of the Shrew.

  4 Vittorio De Sica (1901–74), director. De Sica would direct Burton in The Voyage.

  5 Edward Albee (1928—), playwright, author of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

  6 Hotel Ranieri, Via Venti Settembre. Albee's partner at this time was William Pennington.

  7 Albee's A Delicate Balance would win the Pulitzer Prize in 1966.

  8 Tiny Alice; play by Albee, premiered 1964.

  9 Paparazzi – press photographers.

  10 Ugo Betti (1892–1953), The Queen and the Rebels (1951).

  11 Umberto D.; film by Vittorio De Sica, 1952.

  12 A glass shot is the shooting of a scene through glass which may have been painted to represent, for example, scenery.

  13 Robert Haggiag (1913–2009), film producer, who would make Candy with Burton in 1968.

  14 Via Vittorio Veneto.

  15 The Trial of Stephen Ward (1964).

  16 Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions (vol. 1, 1955); Years of Trial and Hope (vol. 2, 1956).

  17 Harold Wilson (1916–95) called a general election in order to secure a larger Labour majority.

  18 'Tory press’ meaning those supporting the Conservative Party. The Daily Mirror supported the Labour Party.

  19 Labour won 363 seats at the election, increasing its majority in the House of Commons from 4 to 96 seats.

  20 Lhasa Apso: a breed of dog.

  21 Rudolph Nureyev (1938–93), ballet dancer.

  22 Luigi Barzini, The Italians: A Full Length Portrait (1964).

  23 Erik Belton Evers Bruhn (1929–86), ballet dancer.

  24 Les Sylphides, the ballet.

  25 The Little Bar is just off the Via Sistina on Via Gregoriana.

  26 Ron Berkeley was Richard's make-up man on many films, including Taming of the Shrew. Vicky Tiel (1943—) was at this time a clothes and costume designer who had worked on What's New Pussycat?, and who would design clothes and costumes for other films involving Burton, including Candy and Bluebeard. Berkeley and Tiel would marry in 1971, and divorce in 1986. At this point Tiel was on the verge of establishing herself as a significant fashion designer, with a boutique in Paris.

  27 Switzerland.

  28 Lido di Ostia, 30 km west of Rome.

  29 E'en So: Burton and Taylor's Pekinese.

  30 The Silencers (1966), directed by Phil Karlson (1908–85), starring Dean Martin (1917–95).

  31 Wales beat France 9–8 at Cardiff.

  32 'Goodness Gracious Me!’ was the title of a single released by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren (1934—) in 1960; it reached no 4 in the charts. Loren would later co-star with Burton in The Voyage and Brief Encounter.

  33 Anglo, ridden by Tim Norman and trained by Fred Winter.

  34 Cardiff (1914–2009), cinematographer and director, had worked with Robert Haggiag on The Barefoot Contessa (1954).

  35 Sons and Lovers, (1960) remains his best known film as director. It won an Oscar for cinematography, and was nominated in six other categories, included Best Director.

  36 The ‘solarization’ process using a so-called ‘magic box’, was to be utilized in Cardiff's 1968 film, Girl on a Motorcycle.

  37 There is today a Ristorante Le Streghe, on the Via Tuscalona, about 2km from the Cinecitta studios in Rome.

  38 A prominent and historic Italian family.

  39 Larry: Laure
nce Olivier. John: Sir John Gielgud (1904–2000), actor and director, friend of Richard Burton, whom he had directed in The Lady's Not for Burning (1949, 1950), The Boy with a Cart (1950), Hamlet (1964) and with whom he had acted and would again act (Becket, Wagner). ‘always the pouffs’ is presumably a derogatory reference to male homosexuals.

  40 A version of the line spoken by Lady Macbeth of Duncan, in Macbeth Act V, scene i: ‘Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?’

  41 'Snapshot’: one of Richard's nicknames for Elizabeth.

  42 FZ: Franco Zeffirelli.

  43 'Shumdit’ was another nickname Richard had for Elizabeth.

  44 Mike Todd Jr (1929–2002), the son of Mike Todd by his marriage to Bertha Freeman (1927–46). Around the World of Mike Todd would screen in September 1968.

  45 The covering of the Spanish Steps or Piazza di Spagna with flowers is an annual ritual in spring.

  46 Possibly the Vineria Il Chianti, Via del Lavatore.

  47 Porto Santa Stefano is on the Promontorio dell'Argentario, some 125km from Rome. Burton and Taylor had spent a fraught weekend there in April 1962 during their affair. Burton returns to discuss that weekend's events in his diary for 13 August 1971.

  48 Charles Herbert Beal (1908–91), jazz pianist.

  49 Agnes Flanagan was Elizabeth's hairdresser on Taming of the Shrew and would repeat this role for Doctor Faustus. Frank Flanagan was her husband. Frank La Rue was Elizabeth's make-up man for Taming of the Shrew and for a number of other films.

  50 Ristorante L'Escargot, Via Appia Antica, Rome.

  51 Cyril Cusack (1910–93) was playing the part of Grumio. He had played alongside Richard in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and would do so again in Tristan and Isolde. Victor Spinetti (1933–2012), a Welsh actor, was playing the part of Hertensio.

  52 'Cantank’ is another nickname for Elizabeth Taylor.

  53 Mia Farrow (1945—), who was to act alongside Elizabeth Taylor in Secret Ceremony.

  54 Kenneth Tynan (1927–80), theatre critic, journalist, literary manager at the National Theatre (1963–73). Truman Capote (1924–84), author. Tynan had reviewed and known Burton since the beginnings of his stage career. Capote was a friend of Taylor.