I read the Vanity Fair article about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton today. Wow. I always knew they had this grand, and yet scandalous, love affair in the 60s and got married and divorced twice and it was all very dramatic and yet romantic at the same time. Very real life Catherine and Healthcliff. It also made me want to rent their old movies! And buy the new book coming out about them. Funnily, I got Cleopatra from Netflix last week right before this magazine arrived, It’s like I cosmically knew ;)
But this article had some of the love letters from Richard to Elizabeth. Very passionate. Very “I cannot live without you”. They definitely seemed very much in love with other. Even when they could no longer be together, those feelings didn’t stop. Their affair started so full of passion and yet also full of scandal. Full of romance and extravagance but also turbulence. They did stay married for 10 years and then got remarried for a short time. So it wasn’t like they flamed out quickly and it was all about lust. It sure seems they stayed in love with one another forever. Kind of hard to follow that if you were one of their other lovers/spouses.
Of course, it seems so romantic to those on the outside reading about it because we didn’t have to live with the alcoholism, fighting, jealousy, etc. We get to read about the good without really feeling the bad.
Richard Burton always came across to me (in the few movie roles I have seen him in which is the only way I know anything about him besides the “Liz and Dick” stories”) as the tough as nails, hard-ass, carousing Welsh guy. And I think he was exactly this. I liked him immediately when I found out he played King Arthur on stage and I listed to the soundtrack over and over. Wonderful voice for that role. But his soft spot was definitely for her. And reading a few of the letters he wrote her, the love he felt for her was amazing.
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/06/liz-and-dick-the-ultimate-celebrity-couple.html
This link isn’t the article. If you have access to Vanity Fair and like old Hollywood stories (or tortured romance), I say read it :)
My one peeve, is the cover of Vanity Fair compares (in a way) them to “Brangelina”. Yuck. Frankly, IMO, that’s insulting to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I like Brad Pitt, and they are both OK actors and I enjoy at least most of the films I have seen with them but they are so no way on the same level. Not in talent or pure coolness. But again, my opinion. And I really could care less about their love affair. And I simply can *not* imagine Brad writing…
“Prometheus was punished by the gods forever and is still suffering in all of us for inventing fire and stealing it from the gods. I am forever punished by the gods for being given the fire and trying to put it out. The fire, of course, is you.”
Yeah…that is swoon-worthy. And he had a lot of them. Plus he had exquisite taste in sparklies :)
9:26 am on June 21st, 2010
I agree – definitely swoon-worthy. I’ve always loved them both. Richard Burton because I have a thing for rugged Welshmen – although my English friends laugh at me about that – I guess it’s the romantic in me. Liz Taylor – has always been one of my favourite actresses – and I think the most beautiful actress in Hollywood – ever. She was stunning in her youth. Both of them – so talented. Didn’t Liz Taylor say that Richard Burton was the love of her life? I think their relationship was just too volatile – even for them. And the excerpt you included from one of Richard’s letters – that definitely made my knees weak. ;)
I completely agree with you about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie – there really isn’t a Hollywood couple today that can match the passion and mystery of Old Hollywood – perhaps it’s too much media attention – who knows – but Branjelina’s “love story” has never seemed romantic to me. I think they are both good actors though. As for Brad Pitt – he’s a good looking guy but doesn’t possess that swoon-worthy appeal – that comes from within.
Great post!
11:53 am on June 21st, 2010
She really is one of the true all-time beauties. And yes, I have read where she said that. I am interested in the book when it comes out just to read all of those great love letters! Sigh….
10:59 pm on June 21st, 2010
Sometimes in life you meet someone that you know from a romantic standpoint the relationship is an inferno (in a good way) and you can never get past that knowing full well that there is no chance that it can evolve in any way beyond that.
It is truly the best and worst of what life can offer.