Byron Rogers

Scenes from the Mad Hatter’s tea party

I only ever heard my mother admit twice to fancying other men.

I only ever heard my mother admit twice to fancying other men. One, remarkably, was Saddam Hussein, the other was Richard Burton, and of each she said, ‘He’s a good-looking old man.’ She said this the way only a Welsh Baptist matron could: grimly, and because she was secure in the knowledge that she was not likely to meet either in chapel or on the streets of Carmarthen.

Richard Burton, once of Port Talbot, later of the Dorchester Hotel, was cat-nip to women. He had a face ravaged by acne and his feet smelt, but he managed to sleep with the most beautiful leading ladies of his time, something his latest biographer quotes Stanley Baker, his fellow thespian and Welshman, as saying was ‘absolutely essential’ for an actor. Sadly, Baker did not say this. What he did say was that it was essential ‘to establish some sort of emotional rapport with an actress if any sort of performance is to be given on screen’ — which is not quite the same thing at all.

But Burton must have taken his advice, for he did — usually by first reciting Dylan Thomas to them at full blast (which didn’t work with Lassie, nor apparently with Julie Andrews, though she admitted later it had been a close-run thing). As for the rest, oh God, as for the rest . . . When he was making Look Back in Anger he was sleeping with both his leading ladies, Claire Bloom and Mary Ure, then married to John Osborne. He was also managing to fit in up to 100 cigarettes and three bottles of vodka a day, which meant he could not remember some of the films he made. Which is lucky, for some were also among the worst ever made. During The Klansman, Burton could not stand without help, but, according to Tom Rubython, local women were still passing through his trailer ‘like on a conveyor belt’, and the husband of one of them came after him with a shotgun.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in