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Richard Burton with Maggie McNamara in Prince of Players (1955). Photo by The Indiana Gazette –

Top 10 Surprising Facts about Richard Burton

Richard Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins on November 10, 1925, in Pontrhydfen, South Wales. Jenkins was the twelfth child of an impoverished coal miner, he lost his mother when he was two years old.

His sister and husband later raise him before he was taken under the wing of Philip Burton, a teacher who became the boy’s guardian and introduced him to the world of theatre.

He made his London acting debut as a Welsh youngster in the play The Druid’s Rest. Burton earned a scholarship to attend Oxford University and later joined the British air force during wartime.

Here are  the top 10 surprising facts about Richard Burton

1. He got his name Burton from his teacher

Richard took up the professional name Burton after his teacher Philip burton who was very influential at the beginning of his career.

He studied acting under him and Philip became his mentor and helped him obtain a scholarship to the University of Oxford.

2. He was the first person in his family to go to secondary school

Boys in a classroom. Photo by Sam Balye on

In his earlier days as a child, Richard displayed an excellent speaking and singing voice. 

At one point, he even won an EISTEFFORD prize as a boy soprano during his tenure at Port Talbot Secondary School. Moreover.  Richard showed immense interest in reading poetry as well as English and Welsh literature.

He earned pocket money by running messages, hauling horse manure, and delivering newspapers

3. He was in the royal air force and fought through the war

 Richard enrolled at the Port Talbot Squadron 499 of the Air Training Corps section of the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a cadet. It was here that he again met with Philip, who was the squadron commander.

He also joined the Taibach Youth Center, a youth drama group founded by Meredith Jones and led by Leo Lloyd, His first stage appearance was in 1943.

4. Richard burton had a very resonant voice and commanding presence

Burton with Olivia de Havilland in My Cousin Rachel (1952). Image sourced from

This caught the attention of Hollywood, and in 1952 he made his first American film, my cousin Rachel (1952), for which he received an academy award nomination.

Throughout the remainder of the 1950s, he specialized in historical roles in motion pictures, including the leading role in the first widescreen cinemascope production.

The Robe (1953), for which he received his second Oscar nomination; Edwin booth in Prince of Players (1955); and the title role in Robert Rosen  Alexander the Great (1956).

 5. Burton rose to superstar status after being cast as Mark Antony in Cleopatra (1963)

Richard Burton with Claire Bloom in Alexander the Great (1956). Photo courtesy of Public Library Inc. United Artists –

During the filming of the epic drama, he and his American costar Elizabeth Taylor became lovers—though both were married to other people at the time—igniting a media frenzy.   

They subsequently received divorces from their spouses, and the high-profile couple was married twice (1964–74, 1975–76), both unions ending in divorce.                                 

 Burton made 11 films with Taylor, notably who’s afraid of Virginia wolf (1966), which was based on Edward Albee’s play and earned Burton his fifth Oscar nod, and The Taming of the shrew (1967), an adaptation of the Shakespeare play

6. Burton was a heavy smoker

 In a December 1977 interview with Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Burton admitted he was smoking 60–100 cigarettes per day.                                                                                                            According to his younger brother, as stated in Graham Jenkins’s 1988 book Richard Burton: My Brother, he smoked at least a hundred cigarettes a day.                                      His father, also a heavy drinker, refused to acknowledge his son’s talents, achievements and acclaim.                                                                                                                                In turn, Burton declined to attend his father’s funeral after the elder Burton died from a cerebral haemorrhage in January 1957 at age 81.

7. He was disqualified for pilot training due to his eyesight being below par and was classified as a navigator trainee

He served the RAF as a navigator for three years, during which he performed an assignment as Aircraftman 1st class in a Wiltshire based RAF Hospital and was posted to the RAF base in Carberry Manitoba Canada to work as an instructor.

Burton’s habits of drinking and smoking increased during this period; he was involved in a brief casual affair with actress Eleanor Summerfield.

8. Richard Burton married five times

His most influential marriage was to Elizabeth Taylor who at the time they met was married to another man though each was married at the time. The two embarked on a relationship that was met with scorn from traditional institutions including the Vatican.

Their romantic predicaments and luxury-item escapades would be covered in tabloid news for years to come. After Burton and Taylor divorced their respective spouses, the couple wed on March 15, 1964.

They went on to work in 11 films together, including screen adaptations of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and The Taming of the Shrew (1967). Woolf earned both actors Oscar nominations, for which Taylor won. The couple earned millions for their film roles.

9. Richard Burton was nominated many times for his exemplary performance in both theatre and acting

Richard Burton with Maggie McNamara in Prince of Players (1955). Photo by The Indiana Gazette –

 He 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 relations.

10.  Burton’s final film was 1984, an adaptation of the George Orwell classic

Richard Burton as Mark Antony in Cleopatra (1963), with Elizabeth Taylor as the titular character. Photo by Courier-Gazette, McKinney TX –

Burton died on August 5, 1984, at the age of 58, from a brain haemorrhage in his Céligny, Switzerland home.

He was survived by Sally Hay Burton, his fourth wife, who has continued to manage the estate. Burton also had four children.

 He had two daughters Kate and Jessica, from his marriage to Sybil Christopher. Burton later adopted Taylor’s daughter Elizabeth “Liza” Todd, and he and Taylor adopted another daughter, Maria, together.