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1Michael_Welch
I've been reading "The Richard Burton Diaries," edited by Chris Williams, Yale University Press 2012 in association with Swansea (Wales) University and it's an interesting read because 1) Burton is very intelligent and an omnivorous reader and 2) he and You Know Who were THE celebrities par excellence of the 1960s into the '70s.
There's a lot about what they eat and especially what they drink and where they go and who they know which can at times be a bit banal and repetitive but often Burton is very interestingly opinionated about politics (e. g., he's a "Labour" guy who of course doesn't vote as he lives anywhere but Britain re tax privileges but he's also an American style liberal in his attitudes), about his fellow actors (NOT too appreciative of Olivier but more of Guinness say), about nationalities (tough on Germans, Italians AND the Irish) but he maintains the reader's interest even if you disagree or think he's TOO judgmental.
In 1971 he agreed to appear in a Yugoslav produced film "The Battle of Sutjeska" as none other than Tito, the "president for life" of the south Slavs, and he writes lengthy accounts of his "adventures" in and with.
Burton admires Tito and the Yugoslav resistance to the nazi armies but the impression one has of his many somewhat "formalized" meetings with The Great Man is that Tito had settled down to a kind of feudal arrangement in which he spent a great deal of time in hunting lodges and in receiving local accolades and "ran the country" as a "gentle" and forbearing "lord of the manor."
(This is not necessarily a criticism in that the country remained peaceful under Tito -- post Tito well we know all too "bloody" well eh -- and not nearly as "terrorized" as say Romania or as bored, finally, as the Soviet Union itself.)
Burton though does assume some matters that he finds out -- slowly but surely -- that he is wrong about, mainly that Tito never "executed" for political purposes any "enemies," even the Cetnik "fascist" leader Mikhailovic who had in fact been shot in 1946 and then there was a "purge" in which some 50,000 likely were bumped off.
Of course compared to STALIN eh -- some 20 to 30 or more MILLIONS over three decades! -- this is small stuff and Burton also learns of Milovan Djilas, a former Titoite who dissented and found himself in prison but however NOT shot as per Uncle Joe hmm.
Burton encounters some comic opera bureaucracy, a "Teutonic" actor named Hardy Kruger whose great ego earns him the sobriquet re Burton of "Heavy Luger," and there's an account of a really tense and scary flight among the mountain peaks in dense impenetrable fog.
Also RB goes from Yugo to Rome to be Leon Trotsky in "The Assassination of Trotsky" (by a Stalin paid henchman) directed by none other than Joseph Losey, formerly of La Crosse Wisconsin and I once resided on "Losey Boulevard" in said city, named however NOT for the movie director (blacklisted! in the 1940s and hence an "exile" to the UK) but for his lumber baron father. Burton wryly observes he, Burton, has gone from "Tit" to "Trot."
I must say as I approach the end of the diaries (they are concentrated from 1965 to 1972 although he wrote for about a year -- 1940 -- as a 14-15 year old; very interesting contrast -- and then only sporadically until his death in 1984) that I regret leaving "Burtonworld" as he's a very entertaining writer-observer and often perceptive though overly critical of himself as well as of others. He's a bit intimidating intellectually -- "sharp tongued" and he can reel off all that Shakespeare as well as scads of poetry -- yet someone you'd like to have an evening with or more...
There's a lot about what they eat and especially what they drink and where they go and who they know which can at times be a bit banal and repetitive but often Burton is very interestingly opinionated about politics (e. g., he's a "Labour" guy who of course doesn't vote as he lives anywhere but Britain re tax privileges but he's also an American style liberal in his attitudes), about his fellow actors (NOT too appreciative of Olivier but more of Guinness say), about nationalities (tough on Germans, Italians AND the Irish) but he maintains the reader's interest even if you disagree or think he's TOO judgmental.
In 1971 he agreed to appear in a Yugoslav produced film "The Battle of Sutjeska" as none other than Tito, the "president for life" of the south Slavs, and he writes lengthy accounts of his "adventures" in and with.
Burton admires Tito and the Yugoslav resistance to the nazi armies but the impression one has of his many somewhat "formalized" meetings with The Great Man is that Tito had settled down to a kind of feudal arrangement in which he spent a great deal of time in hunting lodges and in receiving local accolades and "ran the country" as a "gentle" and forbearing "lord of the manor."
(This is not necessarily a criticism in that the country remained peaceful under Tito -- post Tito well we know all too "bloody" well eh -- and not nearly as "terrorized" as say Romania or as bored, finally, as the Soviet Union itself.)
Burton though does assume some matters that he finds out -- slowly but surely -- that he is wrong about, mainly that Tito never "executed" for political purposes any "enemies," even the Cetnik "fascist" leader Mikhailovic who had in fact been shot in 1946 and then there was a "purge" in which some 50,000 likely were bumped off.
Of course compared to STALIN eh -- some 20 to 30 or more MILLIONS over three decades! -- this is small stuff and Burton also learns of Milovan Djilas, a former Titoite who dissented and found himself in prison but however NOT shot as per Uncle Joe hmm.
Burton encounters some comic opera bureaucracy, a "Teutonic" actor named Hardy Kruger whose great ego earns him the sobriquet re Burton of "Heavy Luger," and there's an account of a really tense and scary flight among the mountain peaks in dense impenetrable fog.
Also RB goes from Yugo to Rome to be Leon Trotsky in "The Assassination of Trotsky" (by a Stalin paid henchman) directed by none other than Joseph Losey, formerly of La Crosse Wisconsin and I once resided on "Losey Boulevard" in said city, named however NOT for the movie director (blacklisted! in the 1940s and hence an "exile" to the UK) but for his lumber baron father. Burton wryly observes he, Burton, has gone from "Tit" to "Trot."
I must say as I approach the end of the diaries (they are concentrated from 1965 to 1972 although he wrote for about a year -- 1940 -- as a 14-15 year old; very interesting contrast -- and then only sporadically until his death in 1984) that I regret leaving "Burtonworld" as he's a very entertaining writer-observer and often perceptive though overly critical of himself as well as of others. He's a bit intimidating intellectually -- "sharp tongued" and he can reel off all that Shakespeare as well as scads of poetry -- yet someone you'd like to have an evening with or more...
2JGL53
Compared to THIS Richard Burton -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton
- the actor you speak of was a rather dull individual who led a rather boring and uninteresting life.
Quote: "Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was an English geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, Egyptologist and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton
- the actor you speak of was a rather dull individual who led a rather boring and uninteresting life.
Quote: "Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was an English geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, Egyptologist and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages..."
3RickHarsch
How edifiying, JGL53.
This RFB was also a self-aggrandizing, lying, buffoonish, apparently poor translating egomaniac. I have read a couple biographies of him and he WAS a fascinating character, but the OP was about someone who just happened to have the same name.
This RFB was also a self-aggrandizing, lying, buffoonish, apparently poor translating egomaniac. I have read a couple biographies of him and he WAS a fascinating character, but the OP was about someone who just happened to have the same name.
5Michael_Welch
NOBODY's perfeck huh.
Richard (born "Jenkins") Burton was a very good actor and also "interesting" AND interested and he'd have probably agreed with you.
But you STILL would not necessarily be "smarter" than he...
Richard (born "Jenkins") Burton was a very good actor and also "interesting" AND interested and he'd have probably agreed with you.
But you STILL would not necessarily be "smarter" than he...
