The Richard Burton Diaries by Richard Burton

Irresistibly magnetic on level, spell binding in videos, seven occasions an Academy Award nominee, Richard Burton rose from humble beginnings in Wales to turn into Hollywood's such a lot hugely paid actor and considered one of England's such a lot fashionable Shakespearean performers. His epic romance with Elizabeth Taylor, his mythical consuming and story-telling, his wonderful purchases (enormous diamonds, a jet, houses on numerous continents), and his huge, immense expertise saved him always within the public eye. but the fellow at the back of the fame façade carried a shocking burden of lack of confidence and struggled with the abnormal demanding situations of a existence lived mostly within the spotlight.

This quantity publishes Burton's huge own diaries of their entirety for the 1st time. His writings surround many years—from 1939, while he used to be nonetheless undefined, to 1983, the yr ahead of his death—and they demonstrate him in his so much inner most moments, thinking about his triumphs and demons, his loves and his heartbreaks. The diary entries look of their unique series, with annotations to elucidate humans, locations, books, and occasions Burton mentions.

From those hand-written pages emerges a multi-dimensional guy, no mere flashy famous person. whereas 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 additionally performed the real-life roles of supportive relatives guy, father, husband, and very smart observer. His diaries supply a unprecedented and clean point of view on his personal existence and occupation, and at the glamorous a long time of the mid-twentieth century.

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Jasmine Donahaye and Diane Green carried out some critical early work on the diaries, and Dr Louise Miskell and Dr Martin Johnes, friends in the Department of History and Classics, have said and done the right things at the right times to keep the whole show on the road. I am also very grateful to Dr Elaine Canning, Helen Baldwin and Sara Robb of the Research Institute for Arts and Humanities with whom I have worked closely in the final stages. It is difficult to overstate the vital part that has been played and will continue to be played in the entire Richard Burton enterprise at Swansea by colleagues in the university's library and archives.

Her labours represent the solid foundation on which so much else rests. I also thank Lee Fisher and Emyr Lewis of the university's solicitors Morgan Cole for their legal expertise, Gordon Andrews and Emma Wilcox of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, Bethan Jones and Judith Winnan of BBC Cymru Wales, and Catrin Brace of the Department of the First Minister of the Welsh Government in New York. Plenty of people have responded to my enquiries for assistance and advice on various aspects of Richard Burton's life and times, or have volunteered valuable information.

H. 1961, in the Richard Burton Archives, Swansea University. By courtesy of the T. H. White Estate. 8 Burton and Taylor on a yacht, 1962. Sipa Press/Rex Features. 9 Burton and Taylor on a balcony of Casa Kimberley, 1965. Mirrorpix. 10 Burton, Taylor, Liza and Maria, 1968. Associated Newspapers/Rex Features. 11 Burton and Ivor. By courtesy of Graham Jenkins. 12 Burton in Hamlet, 1964. Photograph by George Silk/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images. 13 Burton and Taylor linking arms for a drink, 1967. Associated Press.

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