Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton: love as “a clash of elements. Great novels by stars of the 20th century - Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

The romance between Richard and Elizabeth, which began in 1962 on the set of Cleopatra, immediately became the event of the century. In comparison, the passions of the number one modern Hollywood clan - the Brangelinas - look like a sluggish plot of a play from a provincial drama club. It was “Liz and Dick” that ushered in the era of the paparazzi. They were expected to show whims, quirks, and nonsense. And more - so that later you can savor the details and again look at the keyhole with your insatiable eye.

Evil tongues said that not only good sex was to blame for the rapidity of this romance. And certainly not a kinship of souls. For an English theater actor, a relationship with the main Hollywood beauty became a ticket to the big world.

If so, then calculation soon gave way to true love. The letters that Barton wrote to Taylor during their marriage are proof of this: “My eyes go blind without seeing you. You don’t realize how fantastically beautiful you are...”

In the early 1950s, Barton, the twelfth child in a family of Welsh miners, competed for the stage championship in London, and then, together with his then wife Sybil, went to conquer Hollywood, where he quickly acquired a reputation as a tireless lover, a drunkard and a slob. One day Barton found himself at a lavish party. He drank, chatted and gazed around, stunned by the tons of glistening female flesh. “Suddenly, one girl at the other end of the pool put down her book, lowered her sunglasses and looked straight at me. She was so beautiful that I almost laughed out loud. She was amazing. Magnificent. Sucked me in like a black hole. And she didn’t care about me.” Actually, I don't really care. The stern indifference with which Elizabeth then looked at men served as armor against empty attention. In addition, she had been married to her second husband, English actor Michael Wilding, for a year. Apart from a few incidents, Barton and Taylor did not see each other for the next nine years.

Their real meeting happened in Rome on the set of Cleopatra. Elizabeth prepared to give her partner the cold shoulder: his affairs (preferably with brunettes) were endless, and Liz was going to immediately make it clear that she was not “one of those.” Barton also seemed to ignore her at first, and then gathered his courage and blurted out: “Has anyone told you that you are beautiful?” Taylor couldn’t believe her ears: “Great lover? Witty? Intellectual? And here it is on you. Gave it out." It was a brilliant gambit: everyone was trying to please Taylor, Barton just made her laugh.

In the very first scene with the kiss, the actors felt as if they were in a drug haze. The director long ago commanded: “Cut,” but the scene continued.

However, Elizabeth was not ready to go through another public divorce (her then-husband "number four" Eddie Fisher left his wife for Taylor), so for some time she and Richard tried to stay away from each other. On set, the actors didn't say anything to each other that wasn't in the script. But it didn't last long. Soon they secretly fled to a tiny villa in Porto San Stefano, and these were the happiest moments in their lives. “I grilled meat. The shower barely dripped and the sheets were always damp. But we all just loved it."

The crew then went to Ischia to film the naval battle between Mark Antony and Octavian. There, on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, a photograph was taken that spread around the world: she is in a swimsuit, black hair fluttering in the wind, he is lying down kissing her, two packs of Marlboro are lying at their feet.

In March 1964, Elizabeth received a divorce; Richard divorced in December. After all the formalities were settled, the couple flew to Montreal and settled in the Ritz under the name Smith. That evening, in a small circle, they registered their marriage. Elizabeth wore a yellow chiffon dress designed by Irene Sharaf, the designer of the costumes for Cleopatra, and hyacinths and lilies in her hair. An emerald brooch worth one hundred and fifty thousand then dollars, donated by Barton, shone brightly. It was complemented by a pair of equally catchy earrings - also a gift, but for the wedding. This was Richard's second marriage. For Elizabeth it is the fifth.

They left for Toronto, where the next day Barton was to play Hamlet. When the performance ended, the actor led Elizabeth to the front of the stage by the hand. In a vibrating voice, he once again uttered the Prince of Denmark’s remark addressed to Ophelia: “I say: no more marriages!” The spectators were crying.

Richard and Liz on the set of The Taming of the Shrew, 1973

In 1967, Richard and Elizabeth, together and separately, earned two hundred million dollars. They were not just husband and wife, they were a brand. For a million dollars they bought a twin-engine jet designed for ten passengers and named “Elizabeth”, began collecting Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh and even picked up a Rembrandt. They each had a Rolls Royce: a silver one for him and a green one for her. They invested in real estate: in Tenerife (for growing bananas), in Ireland (also in business: horse breeding). We bought the villa Casa Kimberly in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, which was even put on the map for the occasion. Plus three houses - his in Celigny and Hampstead in England and her chalet in Gstaad.

The two weddings of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

However, the couple lived mainly in hotels, occupying an entire floor to accommodate their children and retinue: three from Elizabeth’s previous marriages, a jointly adopted girl and Barton’s daughter (his second daughter was in a hospital for the mentally ill, and the actor regularly paid considerable bills for medical care ). Someone estimated that Barton supported forty-two people at a time, including his brothers and sisters. And he didn’t spare money: in Rome, Liz wanted chili from a restaurant in Beverly Hills - the order was delivered by plane. In Paris - pork sausages from London. He loved to find the rarest jewelry for his wife, setting price records at auctions, which he himself later broke. Barton bought a thirty-three-carat Krupp diamond for three hundred five thousand dollars (now worth two million). Then he washed Aristotle Onassis himself, taking away his Cartier diamond for one million one hundred thousand. “This diamond was to be worn by the most beautiful woman in the world,” Barton wrote in his diary. “I couldn’t allow Jackie Kennedy or Sophia Loren to be considered that way.”

And then their films stopped making money. "Doctor Faustus", "The Comedians" and especially "Boom" and "His Divorce - Her Divorce" were so closely connected with the private lives of the actors that critics reproached them for parodic voyeurism. Barton discovered that much more money they bring him action. And in order not to send his relatives back to the coal mines, he no longer disdained either TV series or outright film trash. In letters to Elizabeth, he lamented: “I have never given up the thought that acting for a man is ridiculous and shameful. Of course, I won’t escape Ponty and Lauren for one reason: I desperately need money. But, unlike you, I never put my heart into it.” Alcohol and Elizabeth were the few things that gave Richard strength. He honestly tried to quit drinking several times and failed every time.

In April 1970, the Bartons flew to Los Angeles for the Oscars in the hope that Richard would finally win the coveted trophy. This was his sixth nomination - for his role as King Henry the Eighth in The Thousand Days of Anne.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (June 1977)

The brilliant couple did everything to win the award. They attended the official Golden Globe luncheon, Elizabeth flashed her new big diamond there, agreed to announce Best Picture at the ceremony, and dressed by the most fashionable costume designer of the time, Edith Head. And for what? John Wayne wins!

After the Oscar failure, Elizabeth and Richard continued acting, but separately. Barton started drinking again. From the set he wrote: “My dear chirping fool, I was shaking so much that I decided not to go to the studio at all. I've already drunk, but I promise - not another drop until you come. Try to come home early and watch the Cassius Clay fight together. I love you, my little thorn.”

By that time, it was obvious that their divorce was not far off. But despite Richard's quarrels and drunkenness, his sexual energy was visible to the naked eye. Elizabeth's leg flashing under the blanket “in those blue pajamas that I like so much” meant that the door was about to slam shut and the couple would begin to play tricks. They felt like they did back in the sixties secret lovers, indulging in forbidden passion to spite the whole world. And this excited them terribly.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (September 1970)

A few months before the divorce was announced, Barton wrote to Elizabeth, who was sleeping in the next room: “My dear sleeping child. I was used to treating women badly, using them more as an exercise in my own masculinity. But I felt how stupid it was of me to even try to treat you the way I was used to. One day I just woke up in love. It was damn hard to give my all to another person."

Here is another letter of grief, marked “very personal.” “All I care about now is whether you are happy, and with whom it’s not so important. Never forget your strange virtues, do not forget that your sharp tongue hides a wonderful and puritanical lady. Don't forget that you are probably greatest actress in the world. I would like to borrow a moment of fire and passion from you, but take me as I am: cold as ice. I love you and always will. Come back."

Still on a drinking binge, Richard called Elizabeth and demanded that she meet him on Long Island. As soon as Elizabeth got into the limousine at Heathrow Airport, she realized that her husband was drunk. On the way, Richard turned to her and grumbled: “Why the hell did you come here?” By the time the car reached the house, a furious quarrel was in full swing inside. Elizabeth ordered the driver to take her back to New York. She took up residence at the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue, where a few years earlier both spouses had enjoyed their happiness and the triumph of Hamlet. Now Elizabeth has written an official press statement here. “Having lived away from each other, perhaps we will become ourselves again - and this is the guarantee that we could be together again. Pray for us."

Richard began to drink more than ever, and his casual girlfriends were countless. However, despite the outward bravado, he had a hard time parting with Elizabeth. From Venice he wrote to her: “Prometheus was punished by the gods for procuring fire for people, stealing it from the gods, and was doomed to eternal torment. And I am doomed to torment for missing the fire given by the gods. You".

Elizabeth returned to Los Angeles and tried to live with a clean slate. She began dating Henry Weinberg, a charming Dutch businessman with a reputation as a rake. And in November 1973, the actress was admitted to the hospital - she had to undergo surgery to remove a cyst in the ovaries. Richard flew to California, rushed to the hospital, threw Henry out of the room and... reunited with Elizabeth! “I’m her husband and I need a bed here,” he told the shocked staff.

They got back together and got married a second time (the ceremony took place in Africa). But Richard never curbed his demons, and after alcohol nearly killed him (the actor spent six weeks in the hospital with shaking hands and an ashen face), Elizabeth decided on a second divorce from Barton.

The divorce took place in a small, wood-paneled courtroom in the Swiss town of Saanen. Richard was not present at the meeting. But the judge, out of duty, asked the inescapable question: “Is it true that further life together doesn’t it seem possible to you with your husband?” "Yes. It’s impossible to live with Richard,” Elizabeth answered quietly, dressed in a brown suit. Her tears were hidden by her sunglasses. This was the most painful thing: admitting in official terms that nothing could be done.

Four months later, Richard announced his engagement to the Yugoslav princess. Elizabeth resumed her affair with Weinberg. But none of them managed to turn their love affair into a lasting relationship. Richard's engagement was called off after paparazzi caught him walking with black actress and model Jean Bell, and Elizabeth finally broke up with Weinberg.

When the former couple arrived to meet with lawyers to discuss their business projects, a tearful Elizabeth fell into Richard's arms. A few days later, the press officer announced that his clients were planning to get married again. They decided to hold a repeat ceremony in Botswana. During this most modest action, Elizabeth, fooling around, wrote: “Dear husband, how do you like all this? You really are my husband again. And I have news for your honor: no more marriages - and no more divorces. Your wife." But, of course, there were later marriages and divorces. Nine months later they separated again and Richard married twenty-seven-year-old model Susan Hunt. Elizabeth married John Warner, a future senator from Virginia. But in the early eighties, both were free again, and the public rushed to wonder whether Liz and Dick would get together.

And many years after Barton’s marriage to Taylor collapsed and diamonds, yachts and jets left the actor’s life forever, he and his new wife Sally settled in the Swiss town of Seligny. Work on the film based on Orwell's 1984 has been completed. Tormented by headaches, Richard increasingly retired to his attic. There, surrounded by hundreds of books that had once been given to Elizabeth, he once wrote a letter to his former lover. Didn't wait for an answer. An overnight cerebral hemorrhage brought Barton to his grave.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on the set of Cleopatra

86 years ago, on February 27, 1932, the legendary beauty and talented actress Elizabeth Taylor was born. Besides wonderful roles and her amazing beauty, she also became famous for her stormy romances. One of the most discussed was her relationship with British actor Richard Burton.

About 7 years ago, Elizabeth Taylor published the last love letters of the legendary actor Richard Burton, who passed away in 1984. The couple married each other twice, but their relationship always remained passionate.

To write the book “Fierce Love. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Sam Keshner and Nancy Schoenberger look at 40 never-before-seen love letters that chronicle the long, tumultuous Hollywood romances of yesteryear.

The novel by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is often called the novel of the century. His characteristics include extravagance, drunkenness, debauchery, incredible jewelry and a passionate love that bewitched the world for the 16 years they were together. When the couple reunited, Elizabeth was at the height of her popularity and Richard was being hailed as Sir Laurence Olivier's successor on the London stage.

It all started with a kiss scene during the filming of Cleopatra. The couple continued to kiss even after the director said, “Cut!” Since then they have become inseparable.

At the time of their meeting, Taylor had already earned a million dollars for her role as Cleopatra and had been married four times. With her second husband, Michael Wilding, she had two sons: Michael (pictured with Elizabeth) and Christopher (foreground right), and with her third husband, Michael Todd, she had a daughter, Elizabeth, known as Lisa (not pictured).

When their relationship began, both actors were not free. Barton was married to Sybil Williams, a native of Wales, and Elizabeth was married for the fourth time. Her husband was Eddie Fisher, whom she said she stole from American fans.

In front of everyone, the couple took a walk on a yacht, and the paparazzi recorded every moment. The lovers attracted public attention after a scandalous photo in which they were basking on a ship off the Italian island of Ischia.

In their book, Keshner and Schoenberger examined the love language that Elizabeth and Richard used in their letters to each other. In one of his first letters, Barton wrote to his lover: “I am turned on by your smell... your round belly and soft inner thighs, your baby’s bottom, your lips, the somewhat aggressive twinkle in your eyes when you are very excited, when you are with your Welsh lover.” .

Taylor and Barton would sneak away and make love wherever possible. She said of his hypnotic charm: “Just imagine Richard Burton whispering something in your ear while you make love. All problems and troubles immediately disappear.”

Six days after the actress's divorce from Eddie Fisher, Taylor and Barton got married at the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal. The bride's yellow chiffon dress was accessorized with an emerald and diamond brooch that Barton gave her for her 32nd birthday.

Hopelessly in love Barton wrote: “In my poor and painful youth, I dreamed of only such a woman. And now, when from time to time the dream comes back to me, I reach out my hand and realize that it is here, next to me. If you haven't met or known her, you've missed out on a lot in your life."

The intensity of passions increased, and there was strong evidence, which included addiction to alcohol and infidelity. In one of the letters, Barton wrote: “I know that sometimes I am a terrible liar, but please believe that I have never betrayed you in either word or deed. I love you too much."

Taylor is in New York celebrating her 32nd birthday with Barton, who is playing at the time main role in the Broadway production of Hamlet directed by John Gliefeld. The cake says: “To our Mascot, the leader of our team, love and happy birthday. Colleagues".

During their marriage, Taylor and Barton starred in several films together. famous films. For his performance in the film "Who's Afraid" Virginia Woolf? Elizabeth received her second "", and Richard was nominated for this film award for the sixth time. The roles they played on screen often reflected their real-life relationships.

After divorcing in June 1974, the couple reconciled and secretly married again 16 months later in national park Chobe in Botswana. Their second marriage was much shorter than the first, and the actors separated less than a year after registration. But they stayed good friends until Barton's death in 1984.

Many years later, Taylor will tell you what place Barton occupied in her heart: “At first sight in Rome, we were always madly and deeply in love with each other.”

ISN’T that fat girl here yet?” A fairly tipsy Barton raised his hand and shook his fist: “I swear to you, she will be late for the Last Judgment!” The pastor, sitting humbly in the corner, looked disapprovingly at the groom.

FINALLY, the elevator dinged on the eighth floor of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Elizabeth stepped out. Alone, unaccompanied, in a bright yellow chiffon dress with a deep neckline. The thirty-two-year-old bride gave the shepherd a charming smile. It took Elizabeth a lot of trouble to find a clergyman who turned a blind eye to her previous four divorces. The ceremony took ten minutes. Barton, although standing, swayed from time to time. However, this did not bother the bride at all. The happy smile never left her face. “I'm over the moon. We will be together with Barton until the end of our days,” Elizabeth told reporters waiting on the street. In the car, Barton admitted that he was “pretty nervous.” “Silly, why worry? We’ve been sleeping together for two years now,” Elizabeth said and squeezed her husband’s hand tightly.

...THEY met in Rome on the set of Cleopatra. Elizabeth received the long-awaited Oscar the day before, playing a prostitute in the film Butterfield 8. For the role of the Egyptian queen, she was offered a sensational fee for the 60s - more than a million dollars. In the film, Taylor had to play with the Englishman Richard Burton, who gained the reputation of a notorious womanizer.

When he first saw Elizabeth on the set, he whispered in her ear: “You’re a little fat, but you have a pretty face.” And in the evening, sitting at a bar in the company of friends, Barton, imitating Taylor’s squeaky voice, gave out a portion of choice abuse. Everyone was simply dying of laughter, because Elizabeth, with her angelic appearance, could outshine a shoemaker in terms of swearing. However, Barton, who himself loved strong words, liked Elizabeth’s behavior.

“Look, Ricci, be careful, don’t get hooked by her,” one of the friends joked. “Don’t worry, she’s as black as a shave,” Barton replied. Dark-skinned Elizabeth really had problems with her mustache, which had to be shaved.

Nevertheless, already the first love scenes showed that when portraying passion, the actors are not acting at all. The kisses were so protracted that the director had to command every now and then: “Stop.” After filming ended, Richard and Elizabeth continued to "rehearse" in her dressing room. Their moans haunted the workers who were changing the scenery. It is not surprising that the press immediately caught wind of the novel and trumpeted it to the whole world.

Barton’s wife Sybil reacted to what was happening in a Spartan calm way: “My husband is in once again trains the phallic muscles.” And Elizabeth's husband, singer Eddie Fisher, maintained diplomatic silence. He was also in Rome, but tried not to notice what was happening under his nose. Until Barton told him:

Look, I think you should know that I love your grandmother.

She is not my woman. She is my wife.

What difference does it make, it means I love your wife.

That same day, after a stormy explanation with Elizabeth, during which she declared: “If I fall in love, I fall in love,” Fischer packed his bags and went home. Taylor called a lawyer in America to start the divorce process.

Elizabeth was sure that Richard would soon do the same. However, Barton did not share his mistress’s enthusiasm at all. “I won’t leave Sybil. “She loves and understands me,” he said. “And then, my dear,” Richard slapped Liz on the bottom and smiled slyly, “Sybil doesn’t stop us from giving ourselves over to what we love to do.”

Indeed, for twelve years Sybil forgave any of her husband’s antics. At the same time, she was his devoted friend, and if necessary, then his nanny. She tolerated that Barton gave diamonds to his mistresses for Christmas and modest souvenirs to her. The only thing Sybil could boast of was a gray mink coat that suited her prematurely gray hair.

Barton's decision infuriated the "semi-divorced" Elizabeth. She announced that she was stopping filming the film and locked herself in her room: “Go to hell! And tell this bastard that he will still dance with me!”

Barton sat at the bar, drank tequila and assured that “this bitch will go crazy.” The news that Elizabeth tried to commit suicide by drinking a bottle of sleeping pills took the actor by surprise. He immediately rushed to the hospital and behaved like a beaten dog. The actress stayed in the hospital for a week.

The hype surrounding the actors' relationship reached such proportions that the Vatican was forced to respond to it. The Catholic Church condemned the adultery that was happening under its nose in Rome. And one of the Italian newspapers called Elizabeth “an unbridled predator who ruins other people’s families and devours other people’s husbands.”

Meanwhile, the filming of “Cleopatra” was coming to an end, which meant that the denouement of the novel was approaching. Willy-nilly, Barton had to decide whether to return to London to his wife or go with Elizabeth to the States. The film crew even made a bet on this score. And on the last day, the prudent producer ordered an ambulance, which was on duty next to the filming pavilion. You never know what Elizabeth will do again?

The carriage was of no use. Elizabeth managed to tame the obstinate Englishman. She almost never left Barton. In the actor's hotel room, a Van Gogh original hung above the fireplace - one of Elizabeth's gifts. By the way, the cost of the painting - 250 thousand dollars - was equal to Barton's entire fee for filming Cleopatra. The scandalous couple went to America together. Barton began divorce proceedings and told reporters: “I want to marry Elizabeth Taylor, and I will marry her. No ifs, no buts.

After becoming Mrs. Barton, Elizabeth used all her influence to ensure that the films in which she played male role Be sure to invite your husband. It turned out to be a kind of family contract, extremely profitable. Together the couple starred in 11 films, earning $50 million. At the same time, they usually stipulated that filming should take place abroad, in which case taxes were significantly reduced.

FOR Elizabeth, who began acting at the age of 9 and acquired star status at 15, money was not an end in itself. “I don’t remember when I wasn’t famous,” the film star once said. To this one could add: “and rich.” But Barton, who had known outright poverty as a child, was in awe of wealth. Richard was the twelfth child in the family of an English miner. Mother died early. “The ten pounds that we were forced to borrow for our mother’s funeral hung heavily on us for several more years,” the actor recalled. - The day when our family finally paid off the debt became a real holiday for us. There were years when we only existed thanks to free soup.”

Receiving millions in royalties, the star couple could afford to live in grand style. Barton bought a jet plane to make it easier for the family to travel around the world. They stayed in the most luxurious hotels. The couple appeared accompanied by one hundred and fifty suitcases, children, a governess, three secretaries, a hairdresser, a nanny, four dogs, a turtle and two Siamese cats wearing diamond collars. And hell broke loose for the employees. The film star's dogs shit wherever they wanted.

When Elizabeth married Barton, she had three children from previous marriages - two sons and a daughter. She often took them with her on trips, but when she arrived for filming, she simply forgot about their existence. “Elizabeth really had a very busy filming schedule,” recalled one of the teachers of the star offspring, “but when in Paris we lived at the Lancaster Hotel “, then only one floor separated us from the children. And still they didn’t see their mother for weeks.”

Indulging her husband, Elizabeth agreed to any role if the fee was in six figures. This could not but affect the attitude towards star couple. More and more often, when they opened newspapers, they read unflattering reviews about own work. “Every now and then you have to do a hack job,” Barton said dismissively. However, over time, the reputation of unscrupulous actors threatened to completely establish themselves with Elizabeth and Richard. Taylor, who had reigned supreme in Hollywood for nearly 20 years, felt in her gut that “it was time to star in a masterpiece.” Such an opportunity presented itself in the film “Virginia Woolf.” Thirty-six-year-old Elizabeth was to play a forty-five-year-old grumpy woman who takes her anger out on her husband. The actress had to gain ten kilograms. With the help of makeup, the beauty was turned into a sloppy, degraded woman. The husband, as you might guess, was played by Barton. His hero was a henpecked, henpecked man.

The director forced Liz to spit in Richard's face take after take, making sure that the audience felt the heroine's hatred for her husband. Gradually, the stars became “infected” with their roles. They took the game from the set to real life. After work, high on tequila, Richard called Elizabeth “monkey tits,” and she, still dressed in her character’s costume, threatened: “Shut your stinking mouth! I haven’t finished talking yet!”

Taylor was awarded a second Oscar for her role in Virginia Woolf, but she did not go to receive it. My husband dissuaded me. Barton was also nominated for an Academy Award, but the award went to someone else. As always, he didn't find the best way out how to get drunk. And then quarrel with my wife.

It is clear that over the years the Hollywood goddess has not become more beautiful. The second Oscar had virtually no effect on her career. "Virginia Woolf" was the peak, after which the success curve rapidly began to decline. In 1968, Taylor lost her place in the top ten most popular movie stars. Her name was no longer synonymous with box office success. But the main thing for her was something else - they stopped filming her with Richard, which meant that he had new young partners, and she could no longer control her husband one hundred percent. Barton took up his old ways. He never missed an opportunity to have an affair with a young actress. The affairs, of course, were quickly stopped. It was not in Taylor's character to share her man with someone. As a “pray for forgiveness,” Richard gave Elizabeth diamonds after each “walk to the left.” Often these were jewels known throughout the world. For example, the Krupp diamond, which previously belonged to a family of German industrialists. It cost Barton $300,000. Then came the famous gem “La Peregrina”. The crowning glory was the Cartier-Burton diamond, worth more than a million dollars.

DIAMONDS were the actress's weakness youth. One day she decided to make a real splash by wearing the entire collection at once. She decorated her fingers with rings, hung bracelets on both hands, tied her waist with a diamond belt, inserted earrings that shimmered in the light into her ears, put a diamond tiara on her head, and placed the Cartier-Burton on her famous chest. In Hollywood they were quick to call her vulgar. “I know I’m vulgar, but would you really want me to be different?” - Elizabeth was surprised. However, even diamonds could not always extinguish Elizabeth’s anger. Once she did not speak to Barton for several days because at one of the receptions, wanting to introduce Elizabeth, he said: “This is my wife, uh…. Phyllis." Taylor was almost speechless - her husband forgot her name!

This was a period when scandals occurred almost daily in the Barton household. Richard locked himself in his room so that God forbid Elizabeth could not enter him. Knowing his wife’s character, he was afraid that she would throw something heavy at him. Most often, the cause of quarrels was Barton's drunken antics. Elizabeth's patience was overflowing with her husband's behavior at a dinner party with the British ambassador in Budapest. At dinner, Richard found himself next to the ambassador's wife. He put his hand on her knee and, smiling drunkenly, said: “I hope you’re terribly glad, pussy, that you met me?”

Liz offered Richard a choice - either her or the drink. Barton promised to "knock it off." But he stayed sober for several days. And Elizabeth filed for divorce for the fifth time in her life. Only if the actress had previously separated from their husbands because of the appearance in her life new love, then this time she continued to love Barton, but could no longer live with him.

Everyone explained what happened in their own way. Barton held a press conference, where he sat with a glass of vodka in his hand. “Everything was going towards this, everything was going towards this,” said the actor. - You know, when two hot-tempered people unleash their anger on each other, anything can happen. Besides, women are strange creatures. Who will dare to say what is going on in their heads?

“Perhaps we loved each other too much,” Elizabeth reasoned in turn. - We kept getting into each other's pockets, never being separated. It seems to me that this was the reason for our misunderstanding.”

Nevertheless, even after the divorce, those around me still had the feeling that this was the end whirlwind romance not yet installed. Elizabeth and Richard stopped living together, but at the same time they called each other all the time. Elizabeth went on a diet. She became slimmer again and regained her former charm. Richard was licking his wounds in Switzerland, trying to break his habit of drinking early in the morning. IN telephone conversations he assured ex-wife that “things are moving forward.” And soon he invited Liz to see for herself that he was completely fine.

Seeing Barton with his arms outstretched to meet her, Elizabeth threw herself on his chest. This time they both cried. At dinner, Richard raised a glass of orange juice in his wife's honor.

It took Elizabeth about a month and a half to persuade Barton to become her husband again. For the second marriage, at the request of the actress, they went to Africa. The ceremony was performed on the river bank in the presence of the leader of the local tribe. And after two weeks it became clear to both of them that the broken cup could not be mended. Officially, for some time they continued to be husband and wife, but they hardly communicated with each other. The secondary divorce took place quietly, without attracting public attention.

Richard Burton passed away in 1984, before his sixtieth birthday. Elizabeth Taylor has already celebrated her 75th birthday, saying that “she looks very good for her age.” After her divorce from Barton, she married several more times. Now I'm free again. For how long? “Until a man with a good sense of humor turns up,” says the actress.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

Their marriage was called "fierce." The whole planet followed the development of their relationship - romance, family, divorces and reconciliations.

Even Americans can forgive such love if it ultimately ends in a marriage based on intimacy and friendship - which is exactly what happened with Taylor and Barton. Elizabeth, describing the mystical connection between herself and Richard, recalled flights in Chagall’s paintings: “Once on board a ship, when Richard walked towards me through the dining room; or another time at a party where he charmed a lot of people. At such moments, I seemed to split into two, as if I was flying up, like in a Chagall painting, and looked at us, admiring. And then I was suddenly overcome with awe... It was as if I saw him for the first time and fell in love again.”

ROMANTIC MARRIAGE

They were well aware that their personal lives were doomed to be spent in public. “The truth is,” Barton admitted to the Daily Mirror, “we live for the amusement of the crowd, which expects us to do idiotic things. Often we start a fight just to practice. I call Elizabeth ugly, and she calls me a mediocre son of a bitch, and this seems to instill fear in people... I like to argue with Elizabeth, unless she is naked..."

They loudly called each other all sorts of stupid and offensive nicknames, such as Fatty, Chatterbox, Picture or Lucky Take for Elizabeth and Fred, Gentle Charlie, Old Shooter, Welsh Drunkard, Pockmarked Welshman for Richard. They exchanged similar names in public. Elizabeth learned that one couple had specifically rented a room directly below them at the Regency Hotel in order to eavesdrop on their battles royale. They say that curious people stood on chairs and pressed empty glasses to the ceiling to hear better. “Well, they heard a lot,” said Elizabeth, “but the poor fellows had no idea that these were just vocal exercises.”

The Bartons knew each other's vulnerabilities: Richard, for example, was haunted by the fact that Elizabeth's income exceeded his own, and Taylor was worried about her own tendency to be overweight and Richard's ever-increasing craving for alcohol. “You need to take a nap, Old Gunslinger,” she said. - You got drunk again. Looks like he's had too much of a hangover!” Often their quarrels became a kind of prelude to love games or were teasing, theatrical play - for the amusement of themselves and everyone who could hear them.

In the two years that have passed since the filming of Cleopatra, they have become known as dangerous people, they were avoided

Now the Bartons were represented as romantic and sexy conjugal love. But in the two years that passed after the filming of Cleopatra, they became known as dangerous people and gained such notoriety that even old friends avoided them. But after successful work everything has changed. “Success is the best deodorant,” Taylor said. Elizabeth felt that their attitude towards them had changed. “Many people are beginning to understand that Richard and I are not monsters. Some may even like our honesty. And some people are beginning to suspect what kind of hell we have gone through..."

But Taylor quickly realized that the tabloid press "was still more interested in illicit love than marital love." Glossy magazines they thirsted for scandal at any cost, and this insatiability of theirs had to be constantly fed. Even serious publications published articles like “Is Liz really legally married?” (“When Richard touches me, everything else becomes unimportant” - these are her own words.”) If there was not enough material for sexual revelations, journalists savored their quarrels (“Liz admits: “Richard gets me drunk with liquor,” said Photoplay “Richard Burton tells Liz: “I don’t love you,” claimed the Sunday Evening Post) ...

EVERYTHING LIKE SHAKESPEARE

An adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew (for Columbia Pictures) was to be the Bartons' first joint production. But, according to Richard, she became second. “The first was our marriage,” he said in an interview with Life magazine. The choice fell on film director Franco Zeffirelli, who became famous for his grandiose productions of luxurious operas, for example, La Traviata and La Bohème.

Sigmund Freud’s biographer, Welshman Ernst Jones, once called the Welsh “the Jews of Britain,” referring to their perception of themselves as pariahs and outsiders in Britain. “In this case,” one of the actress’s biographers joked about this, “Barton can be considered Taylor’s third Jewish husband.”

Elizabeth converted to Judaism before her wedding to Mike Todd, but the origins of this faith were rooted in her childhood. “As a child during the war,” she recalled, “I made heroic plans: I imagined myself to be a Jew... I dreamed about it... When I married Mike, I told him that I wanted to become a Jew.” After Todd's sudden death, Taylor found solace in Judaism. “In my beliefs and feelings I am now a perfect Jew,” she would later write, when she took the Hebrew name Elisheba Rachel. For Elizabeth, essentially a citizen of the world, being Jewish gave her the opportunity to remain herself, and not just an actress, an unfaithful wife and mother. This was as important to her as his Welsh heritage was to Barton. This helped, despite the nomadic lifestyle, to preserve their roots.

But Barton laughed at her attraction to Jewry, and sometimes they even really got along on this basis. “My great-grandfather,” Barton told reporters, “was a Polish Jew named Jan Isar, and that was our last name until we changed it to Jenkins. Is it true. I have one eighth Jewish blood. But there is not a drop of it in Elizabeth. That's what I told her. She just went crazy." Earlier, during the filming of Night of the Iguana, in a bar in Puerto Vallarta, Barton, drunk, announced: “I was born a Jew. I may be the oldest of the truly ancient Jews."

“You’re not a Jew,” Richard told Elizabeth during one of their public confrontations. - If anyone is Jewish in our family, it’s me!

No, I’m Jewish,” she replied. - Don’t bother yourself!

But in a couple of years, when Richard began to pour out his soul to her in intimate letters, he would sometimes jokingly call her “dear Sheba” (a variant of the Hebrew name Taylor) and Shebes. As, for example, in one undated letter: “All my love. I don't think about anyone as much as I do about you. I adore you, Shebes. Rich."

FRIENDSHIP WITH KENNEDY

In June, the Bartons and Zeffirelli were invited to visit Princess Pignatelli, where they saw Robert and Ethel Kennedy, whom they had met during the production of Hamlet. They dined in the city and ended the evening at a nightclub, and on the way back to the Eden Hotel, where Kennedy was staying, Barton and Bobby Kennedy started a poetry competition, trying to outdo each other in reciting Shakespeare's sonnets from memory. In the hotel lobby, Richard finally won, he threw back his head and roared the 15th sonnet (“When I contemplate all living things”) from end to beginning, without missing a syllable. Elizabeth, beaming with pride, said: “Isn’t it torture to endure such a monster?”

Barton laughed at her attraction to Jewry, sometimes they even really got along on this basis

The Bartons adored Robert Kennedy. Two years later, in June 1968, when the senator was assassinated in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles just after winning the California primary for the Democratic presidential nomination, Elizabeth paid $50,000 for a full-page ad. a strip in the New York Times calling for gun restrictions.

The look of love

Elizabeth was a dazzling beauty. From her youth until her death, her gaze captivated millions of men and literally drove them crazy. From under beautiful lush eyelashes, eyes of the rarest violet hue looked out. This is what gave the look a special penetration and depth. And dancing, which she actively practiced as a child, contributed to the formation of a figure with graceful curves. The actress always understood the power of her beauty and tried to present it favorably.

The five months the Bartons spent in Rome this time turned out to be idyllic - sometimes pious, sometimes dissolute, like the city itself. Elizabeth and Richard frequented Bulgari's "money room", resplendent with antiques and silver and gold samovars, and looked at samples of cryme de la creme, the cream of the crop that was reserved for them as special clients.

Liz and I solemnly agreed that we would quit working and just enjoy life.

One evening, after sharing a peasant dinner (cheese, beans and vin de pays) in a trattoria near the Church of the Madonna of Divine Love, they heard the beautiful singing of a boys' choir coming from the church. Barton wrote movingly in his diary: “It was one of those moments that you begin to yearn for before they are over.” And again the familiar refrain about the desire to stop making films: “Liz and I solemnly agreed that we would quit working and just start enjoying life, let eternal Sunday come for us. And it will be right. We are both terrible lazy people and love to waste our time.”

CHILDREN AND MARRIAGE

The final reconciliation scene of The Taming of the Shrew, in which Petruchio introduces his tamed wife to everyone, was staged by Barton himself, because Zeffirelli went to New York to prepare a performance at the Metropolitan Opera. Under Richard's direction, Elizabeth as Kat gave a speech praising female submissiveness:

Your husband is your master,

protector, life,

The head is yours. In caring about you.

When is she obstinate, angry, stubborn?

And disobedient to the honest will of her husband,

Why isn't she a daring rebel?

A traitor to his master?

Such sentiments do not closely coincide with the ideas modern women, but Taylor sincerely believed in the truth of these words. Zeffirelli noted that most actresses, when pronouncing this monologue, seem to wink at the audience, but Elizabeth “played looking straight into the eyes.” Although her own behavior had provoked to some extent the sexual revolution, although she herself had always remained more famous, rich and influential than her husbands, she continued to dream of the kind of marriage that Katharina praised in final scene"The Taming of the Shrew."

After the monologue was delivered and the cameras were turned off, Elizabeth looked around at the actors playing numerous guests, then looked at Richard. He was “deeply shocked” by the way she pronounced Shakespeare’s text and said: “Okay, my girl, I hope now you will put all this into practice.”

“The words may not be mine, but I agree with them in my heart,” Taylor answered. In the scene of Kat's transformation, Elizabeth accompanies the lines she pronounces with tender glances that she casts at the children playing with the dog under the dinner table, then she meaningfully turns her gaze to Petruchio, as if letting him know: it is children who make marriage real. As if he wants to say: you and I will bring children into this world. After this monologue, the heroes finally give each other a long, heartfelt kiss, and then Petruchio says: “Kat, honey, isn’t it time for us to go to bed?” It's like the whole movie was a prelude to this moment.

However, in real life, Elizabeth and Richard entered into marriage knowing that they would not be able to conceive a fourth child. Deep down, Taylor dreamed of having children with Richard, but her dream will remain unfulfilled. That is why they were so eager to adopt and raise Maria Barton. But they wanted Mary to have another brother or sister. After some time, they will try to adopt another child. Friend Taylor remarked: “Elizabeth would like to be like Josephine Baker and her Rainbow Tribe.” ( Famous actress Cabaret adopted twelve orphans different nationalities.) The loving look that she transfers in the film from the playful children to Richard reflects her true feelings and, at that moment, her hopes for the future.

After the scene was filmed, Elizabeth had a seizure. On April 6, Barton writes in his diary: “Elizabeth was very ill because of this damned bleeding. I had to send for a doctor from London. I went to bed in despair and had nightmares all night that she was dying.” He does not indicate in this published diary the cause of the bleeding, but it may have been hemorrhoidal bleeding, a disease that would continue to make itself felt in later years and would require several hospitalizations. The amount of blood loss horrified Richard.

Taylor dreamed of having children with Richard, but her dream remained unfulfilled

On April 8, he recorded: "E. has a very low blood pressure - 90, apparently due to loss of blood." And four days later: “E. Tomorrow he will go to the hospital for curettage. She dined with me, so pale and weak. Upon returning home the bleeding started again. Dr. Price flies in from London to get her back on her feet. Poor thing. I shouted at her and swore that she was “sick” because she did not follow discipline, because she drank too much. In fact, I was talking about myself, but out of fear for her.”

April 13. “The phone rang, and - oh joy, joy! - Elizabeth herself was on the other end of the line. The operation is over, she is still in pain, but she is alive and will live so that I can continue to yell at her.”

That evening Barton finished work, washed off his makeup and took a shower, mixed himself a vodka and tonic and went to the hospital. On the way home, he asked his driver Mario to stop at St. Peter's Basilica. Looking at “this bulk,” Barton said in a whisper prayer of thanksgiving... They were seven years away from their first divorce.

(BASED ON THE BOOK “FURIOUS LOVE” BY SAM CASHNER AND NANCY SHONBERGER. PUBLISHING HOUSE SLOVO/SLOVO)

Portrait of a drowning man

Who could he be?

The man sitting alone in the corner of the bar?

Who could he be

Lonely, lost in thought,

Reminiscing,

Who could he be?

Sits dejectedly.

The face is pitted with pockmarks and wrinkles,

A life full of small tragedies.

Mirror hanging at an angle on the wall

With the logo of the beer "Kup and Alsop",

Reflects his thinning hair

His loose shoulders

Silent, monkey-like hairy hands.

What kind of load is this that bent

Those drooping shoulders?

The man is alone, blurry. He thinks.

About who he could be.

Or is he experiencing the nightmare again?

The one who suffered and forced

to suffer others

Broken promise, wrong word...

Love, hate, fear and love again

and hatred

And the last terrible inevitable

the wrath of God.

Does he hear the silent howl of death?

Dejected, lonely, silent.

This man is sitting in the corner of the bar.

Lonely thinking

Who could he be?

I look up from my pint of bitter.

I see him in the mirror.

This person is me.