Richard Burton: Mind of a Famous Star * 66

A Review of Richard Burton's Diaries: an Explosive Personal Account

The Richard Burton Diaries reveal Burton as a very intelligent man. Readers will be particularly interested in his account of his relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. The diaries make interesting reading. Perhaps at times Burton must have been aware that whatever he wrote would be read by people all over the world for posterity after his death. Would that have colored some of what he wrote?

Richard Burton was an English actor from Wales. He was born in 1925 at Pontrhydyfen. Despite his English origin Burton won accolades in Hollywood, where he was nominated seven times for an Oscar. Out of these, six times were for ‘Best Actor’. Only Peter O Toole was nominated more times than Burton, but sadly Burton never won an Oscar.  This is more a reflection on the Oscar award than on Burton.
Burton acted in some legendary roles that are remembered. Films like My Cousin Rachel, Becket, The Robe, Who is Afraid of Virginia Wolf and dozens of other movies show cased Burton as an actor par excellence.. He is also remembered for a tumultuous love affair and three marriages with the famous Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor.
 How Burton Wrote his Diaries
Burton was in the habit of writing his diary throughout his life. After his death in 1984 the diaries were published. Burton’s diaries can make depressing reading as some pages have just one word ‘Booze’ written. This show the actors drift to melancholy and alcoholism. This was a lifelong struggle for Burton who just c couldn't control his alcoholism and ultimately drank himself to death.

Reading the diaries however show the man to have been insecure, despite all the fame and riches he had. The diaries have been published in their original sequence and readers can link up with the various events in Burton’s life. The diaries cover a period of almost 44 years from 1939 to 1983. Burton started writing the diaries as a young teen. He meticulously recorded entries for over four decades. A reading of the diaries will bring out the mesmerizing roles he played on stage and screen. Burton was also a great stage actor, no way less than as a star on celluloid.A reader of the diaries will wonder how a man who on the face of it had everything including the most beautiful woman in the world as a love and wife could drift into depression and alcoholism. The diaries also cover the period when he was Hollywood’s highest paid actor. Readers may try and get some insight into the mind of Burton who made dazzling purchases of diamonds as well as several homes in different places.

Burtons Diaries

Burton wrote the diaries in his own hand. It’s fascinating to read Burton as he brushed shoulders with some of the greats in show business like Olivia de Havilland, John Gielgud, Claire Bloom, Laurence Olivier, John Huston, Dylan Thomas, and Edward Albee.
 The Richard Burton Diaries reveal Burton as a very intelligent man. Readers will be particularly interested in his account of his relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. The diaries make interesting reading. Perhaps at times Burton must have been aware that whatever he wrote would be read by people all over the world for posterity after his death. Would that have colored some of what he wrote?
Despite this Burton’s diaries are a treasure house of interesting literature. They reveal the mind of the man who can be rated as England’s greatest actor. He was a titan among other mortals and has left behind an image of a great human being.