A new BBC documentary has painted a vivid portrait of the legendary Welsh actor Richard Burton to mark what would have been his 100th birthday. Richard Burton: Wild Genius delved into the life of a man who was as famous for his towering talent as he was for the storm of anecdotes that followed him everywhere.
A Life in Stories
As the film revealed, everyone seemed to have a Richard Burton story. He was a human anecdote machine, generating memorable moments that were eagerly collected by all who crossed his path. Avengers star Patrick Macnee recalled a chance meeting at Heathrow that led to a drunken transatlantic flight where they traded lines from Shakespeare and Dylan Thomas while consuming 18 vodkas, with passengers crowding around to listen.
The late Robert Hardy gleefully shared how Burton's 'great wickedness' on stage at the Old Vic—in the form of secret, vulgar hand gestures—reduced him to smothered giggles during a performance of King John, forcing him to turn his back on the audience. Even comic genius Kenneth Williams was in such awe of Burton while understudying him in a Chekhov play in Swansea that he would trot across the road to fetch him pints of beer.
Illuminating a Colossal Career
With most of Burton's contemporaries now gone, the one-off centenary celebration was illuminated by contributions from two grandes dames: his former lover Claire Bloom, now 94, and Sian Phillips, who is 92. Directed by Adrian Sibley, the hour-long tribute deftly sketched the major arcs of his life and career.
The documentary covered everything from the early death of his mother and his upbringing in a Welsh mining town, to his global celebrity status achieved through his affair and marriage to Elizabeth Taylor, and the alcoholism that ultimately destroyed him. Major actors including Iwan Rheon and Michael Sheen queued to declare their admiration, though the programme might have benefited from more archive footage of late stars like Sir John Gielgud.
The Power and The Introspection
Gielgud had once shared an uproarious account of visiting Burton and Taylor on their yacht in the middle of a meltdown row, an anecdote that was sadly missing from this film. However, Wild Genius did include well-chosen excerpts from films like Look Back In Anger and Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? that conveyed Burton's smouldering power.
Even in his most explosive, violent roles, he left viewers with the conviction that more rage was trapped within him. Watching him in Cleopatra or The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, it was easy to imagine only superhuman restraint kept him from committing murder. The documentary also reminded us of his articulate and introspective side through readings from his diaries, showcasing a deeply self-aware man behind the public persona.
