Mr. Burton

Yes, it was marvellous. A revelation.

I always imagined Richrd Burton was born to be a suave gent who could marry the most beautiful woman in the world ( twice? ) and buy her a huge diamond.

Toby Jones always is wonderful .

But Harry Lawley as Richard was extraordinary. By the end of the film , his voice and facial expressions have become those of the RB we all know.

RB 's reading of Under Milk Wood is on BBC R4 must look for it.

I will definitely watch it now it has become available.

We've recorded it. For anyone who is interested, there is a documentary on BBC2 on Wednesday at 9pm Richard Burton:Wild Genius.

I did. It was a joy to watch. Toby Jones excels in these gentle roles.

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention

It would be hard (imo) to better Derek Jacobi’s modern film-set interpretation on this from Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 Henry V but I loved how it was used in this drama.

Some other familiar actors too as well as Lesley Manville as Ma. Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Cis (she was the young wannabe deterectorist with Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook), Aneurin Barnard as her husband Elfed (Cilla’s husband Bobby with Sheridan Smith) and Steffan Rhodri (Dave Coaches from Gavin and Stacey) as Richard Jenkins’ drunk and neglectful father Dic.

I hadn’t heard of Harry Lawtey playing Richard Jenkins but see he was in Magpie Murders with Manville. An actor to watch out for.

Philip Burton’s Wiki profile is interesting. He was was a prolific playwright. His name pops up often in old editions of the Radio Times (catalogued in the BBC Genome project) often in connection with the children’s “soap opera” The Appleyards but also many of his plays.

His first play for the BBC Granton Street was broadcast in 1937.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Burton_(theatre_director)

Philip Burton played Tiresias, the blind soothsayer in an (also) 1937 production of Antigone.

I really enjoyed this film. It is a definite one to watch 👍

Will definitely watch. Thank you for the prompt
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002m3tl

I was going to watch it late last night but decided to watch Gone Fishing instead. But I’m looking forward to seeing it.

It was wonderful , great actors . Heartbreaking childhood Richard Burton had . What an amazing life

I loved it! My first tv ‘watch’ in six months (anxiety, resorted to comfort reading and scrolling on here).

It was brilliant. I didn’t realise RB had so many siblings there was no room for him at home so lived with his older sister and her husband.

I googled him today.
He would have been 100 years old on Monday 10th.
He was the 12th child out of 13.
His mother died when he was 2.
He died of a haemorrhaging stroke, alcohol related at the age of 58 in 1984. (That shocked me, I thought he was older upon death).

Kate1949

We've recorded it. For anyone who is interested, there is a documentary on BBC2 on Wednesday at 9pm Richard Burton:Wild Genius.

Thanks Kate49
Just checked.
It’s on BBC iPlayer now! That me sorted for the next hour. ✔️

He was very loved by his sister

Well that was a great documentary on RB.
Sian Phillips (still fabulous) one of the presenters.

Apparently when he was filming the 1968 ‘Where Eagles Dare’ with Clint Eastwood (so 16 years before his death - he’d have been 42 at the time) he was drinking four bottles of vodka a day.

I enjoyed this. Snippets of songs from the 60’s/70s too were enjoyable - Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, The Kinks.

And clips with the gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor!

It was such a moving film, and so beautifully acted.

I think I was aware that Richard Burton had come from a modest background, but in fact it was far worse than that - losing his mother at the age of 2 and having a selfish and uncaring drunk for a father. What a remarkable man he must have been to overcome these difficulties and achieve such acclaim.

True.
But the sad thing was that in some way, deep inside of himself, his demons told him he was a failure. A ‘real man’ went down the mines. He was play acting in make up and tights. He didn’t like who he was at times and drank to blot out his thoughts.
Very sad.

Just watched Mr Burton. Lovely. Looking forward to the documentary.

I've got it recorded.

We really enjoyed everything about this when we came across it the other night. We had no idea of his childhood poverty. Toby Jones was brilliant as per usual and the actor who played RB had him to a T.

I’ve just remembered that I’ve got Melvyn Braggs biography of him somewhere so I should know more about his early life than I do. Mind you it was a long time ago that I read it. I do remember him and Elizabeth Taylor being on the news all the time when I was young. I felt sorry for his last wife when he died as all the talk was of Elizabeth Taylor.

That was a delight. Burton was a prickly character throughout his life I think, and an addictive personality - his relationships often proved toxic. His alcoholism may I guess have been inherited from his father? As I think there has been suggestions that it has a genetic component.

Another BBC highlight in the year.

My goodness they do good stuff.

One of the best films I have seen, told me so much about RB .

On my books to read list I’ve got “Erotic Vagrancy” by Martin Lewis. I think I might get it now.

Fabulous film.

It was brilliant.

Great film, I had no idea of his roots. But he was a fabulous actor, with an amazing voice