Sonic Editions

Rags to Riches

Born Richard Jenkins in 1925, Burton was the twelfth of thirteen children born to a Welsh coal miner. Whilst at school, he was encouraged to try his hand at acting by his schoolmaster and mentor Philip Burton, whose name he eventually took. Although Burton made his London stage debut in the early forties, he didn't become a household name in Shakespearean theatre until 1951. He soon made it on to the big screen, starring in masterful pictures like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. 

Burton's notoriety extended to his private life. He was married five times, twice to Elizabeth Taylor. Part of a troop of hellraisers that included O'Toole and Oliver Reed, he battled the bottle throughout his career, mostly without success, and passed away in Switzerland at the age of 58.