Liz'n'Dick (The Burtons...)

I was once accused of being enamoured of celebrities and I guess there's some truth to that -- although as I responded I still think that virtually anyone talked or written of is a "celebrity" of sorts.

Well I was given for my recent birthday a volume titled "Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century" by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, a trade paperback version from "itbooks," from the HarperCollins 2010 hardcover.

I'm almost half through it; it's obviously (for me at least) a fascinating read about two "stars" who for a time were "more famous than Jesus" as well eh. (I always thought the MOVIE "Cleopatra" was anti climactic to the "Liz'n'Dick" scandal which would have made a much better film with the "originals" hmm.)

What one gleans from "the story" other than the "inside" view of not so "private lives" is the result of what may be called "wretched excess" considering the huge amounts of money "the Burtons" made -- and for the movie folks who paid them such because like professional athletes they made even more for them eh.

Their entourage was huge too and they moved it seemed from posh hotel to posh hotel all over the world with kids, flunkies, relatives and all sorts of animals. By the end of the decade, the swingin' sixties as they say, Liz'n'Dick had garnered some 88 million bucks, the equivalent of over $600 mil today, and were spending about three fourths of it every year.

In the politically charged 1960s, especially on the left, I think there was both a kind of appalled sense of "the Burtons" but then they made, together and individually, some rather fine films including "Becket" (Burton), "The Night of the Iguana" (Burton), "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" (Burton), "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (Liz'n'Dick), "Reflections in a Golden Eye" (Taylor) and "The Comedians" (Liz'n'Dick).

Burton himself was nominated for best actor three times in the '60s while Taylor won her second Oscar for "Virginia Woolf." (Burton was "robbed" -- he REALLY ought to have won as the put upon and put off "George" for "Who's Afraid.")

So while "the left" may have been repelled by the massive spending, particularly on huge diamonds and whatever jewelry for Taylor, there was admiration for the professional results and then the money angle was almost a parody of concentrated wealth and after all the Burtons seemed intent on spending it as fast as they earned it, not amassing it for its own sake.

I guess "they" remain iconic figures of sorts -- she the most beautiful movie star of all time perhaps and he as a great actor eventually "gone to seed," the would be successor to Olivier and Gielgud (who by the way made THEIR share of movies, "good" and "bad") who sacrificed his career for movie star fame with the greatest movie star of them all.

Personally I believe BOTH were fine actors and that movie acting has a limited "shelf life" for most (even John Wayne was making less regarded films in his last decade although some were pretty damn good at that) so EVERY actor has his "time" and if it lasts over two decades one IS a "STAR" no doubt!

The other thing that strikes me is how difficult is "marriage" and "family" and how often overrated these "institutions" are but then I myself was singularly unsuccessful in those "realms" too...

Oh as per movies of "Liz'n'Dick" of quality I ought to add "The Taming of the Shrew," the Shakespeare play filmed and directed by Franco Zeffirelli and produced by "the Burtons." Taylor, never a stage actress or "classically" trained as Burton was, is very good as is of course Burton who is certainly in "his" element...

I once had an office in the building that served as the home of the Martha and George.

>3 theoria: Did you ever get guests?

Thought this was going to be about the Cheney's.

both humiliate the host and bringing up baby would work in their ways

>4 RickHarsch: Yes but not from the math department.

History?...

I'd rather drink bourbon with Sandy Dennis than be in the MATH department.

Oh who wouldn't!...

Has anyone ever seen "Boom!" which is the movie the Burtons made with Joseph Losey directing, with Noel Coward in the cast, based upon Tennessee Williams' play "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore"?

If so is it any good in your opinion?...

I believe you are making this up, sir.

ETA: clumsy attempt, if I may say so.

Making what up? The movie? The play? The title? Losey? (I once lived on "his" street by the way.) Noel Coward? "The Burtons"? Or that the movie could EVER be made?

Well then I ought to get a Pulitzer! Or "at least" an Academy Award!!!!...

Michael, really, yes you lived on Losey Boulevard in the town Nick Ray was from, but Boom!? From the 'Milk Train'? You think we're all fools?

No the movie's titled "Boom!" Honest. Really. You betcha...

Albee's description of Martha ("a large, boisterous woman, fifty-two, looking somewhat younger. Ample, but not fleshy") and Honey ("Twenty-six, a petite blond girl, rather plain"). The Collected Plays of Edward Albee, volume 1

When the film came out in 1966, Taylor was 34 and Dennis 29.

Hence the Oscar. Not to suggest I'm hip happy.

Burton however was "robbed" as they say by the choice of Lee Marvin in "Cat Ballou." I'm a Marvin fan but Burton was great in "WAOVW?" Then Burton was "robbed" later when he didn't win for "Equus," the last time "they" had a chance to give him one.

Not that I'm "Burton happy" now...

Why don't you just have another little nipper of brandy and forget about it?

Baby we ALL peel labels?...