Richard Burton: Age, Wife, Children, Net Worth & Movies

The voice came first. Critics said Richard Burton could read a telephone directory and make it sound like poetry, a baritone so rich that fellow actors fell silent just to hear him warm up. It carried him from a Welsh coal-mining village to Broadway, to Hollywood, and into legend.

He was nominated for seven Academy Awards and never won one. He played Hamlet, King Arthur and Becket, and his two marriages to Elizabeth Taylor turned his private life into the most photographed romance of the twentieth century.

He died at 58 at his home in Switzerland in August 1984 — a son of Wales, the toast of Broadway, the biggest film star in the world, and one of the great wasted talents of his generation. This is his story.

Quick Facts

Fact	Details
Full Name	Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.
Born	November 10, 1925
Died	August 5, 1984, aged 58
Birthplace	Pontrhydyfen, Glamorgan, Wales
Nationality	Welsh
Occupation	Actor
Spouse	Sybil Williams, Elizabeth Taylor (twice), Suzy Miller, Sally Hay
Children	Kate Burton, Jessica Burton, Liza Todd Burton (adopted), Maria Burton (adopted)
Net Worth	Estimated at $20 million at death by Celebrity Net Worth, about $60 million in today’s dollars

What Was Richard Burton’s Childhood Like in Wales?

Richard Walter Jenkins Jr. was born on November 10, 1925, in a house at 2 Dan-y-bont in Pontrhydyfen, a small coal-mining village in Glamorgan, Wales. He was the twelfth of thirteen children born to Richard Jenkins Sr., a coal miner, and Edith Maude Jenkins, who had worked as a barmaid in the village pub where she met her husband.

He was not quite two years old when his mother died on October 31, 1927, six days after the birth of the family’s thirteenth child. The death, from postpartum infections, left a mark on him that biographers have traced through the whole of his life. His elder sister Cecilia, whom he called “Cis”, and her miner husband Elfed James took the boy in, and he grew up in their terraced cottage in Port Talbot, the steel town biographer Melvyn Bragg described as “grind and grime”.

Rugby was his first great love — Burton later said he would rather have played for Wales at Cardiff Arms Park than played Hamlet at the Old Vic. He also showed a remarkable voice from childhood, winning an eisteddfod prize as a boy soprano, and he read poetry with a hunger that set him apart.

Port Talbot Secondary School gave him his opening — he was the first of his family to reach secondary school. A schoolmaster there, Philip Burton, saw what was hiding in the tough Welsh boy, drilled his speaking voice outdoors until it could carry across a field, and remade him as an actor before he was fully grown.

How Did Richard Jenkins Become Richard Burton?

The name change happened when he was barely 18. Philip Burton had wanted to adopt Richard, but a legal technicality — Philip was 20 days too young to be the required 21 years older than his adoptee — forced a different arrangement. Instead, with his father’s consent, Richard became Philip’s legal ward, and on November 26, 1943, he changed his surname by deed poll to Burton, after the man who had given him everything.

Burton later put it simply: “I owe him everything.” It was one of the great mentorships in theatre history, and it gave the future star the name the world would know him by.

His path ran through Exeter College, Oxford, on a six-month RAF scholarship, where he played Angelo in an Oxford University Dramatic Society Measure for Measure. The visiting John Gielgud was so impressed by the young actor’s stillness that he told his people to look Burton up after the war.

He then served three years in the RAF — not as aircrew, his eyesight being below pilot standard, but in an administrative role at RAF Wroughton hospital. The drinking and smoking that would shadow his whole life deepened during those years.

How Did Richard Burton Conquer the British Stage?

He was on a professional stage before 18. Emlyn Williams gave him a small part as Glan in The Druid’s Rest, which opened in Liverpool in November 1943 and reached London in January 1944. A single sentence in the New Statesman — “In a wretched part, Richard Burton showed exceptional ability” — changed his life, by his own account.

After the RAF he threw himself at Shakespeare: Prince Hal in both parts of Henry IV, Henry V, Ferdinand in The Tempest, Hamlet, Sir Toby Belch, Coriolanus and Othello, largely between 1951 and 1955. The critic Kenneth Tynan called him “the natural successor to Olivier”, a comparison that thrilled and burdened him for the rest of his career.

The voice did the conquering. Robert Hardy remembered moments when Burton “totally commanded the audience by this stillness”, with “a voice which would sing like a violin and with a bass that could shake the floor”.

Hollywood was already watching, and Burton’s looks — the cleft chin, the hooded eyes, the coiled energy — were going to make him a film star whether the theatre liked it or not.

How Did Richard Burton Break Into Hollywood Films?

His feature debut was modestly Welsh: The Last Days of Dolwyn in 1949. Then came My Cousin Rachel in 1952, Daphne du Maurier’s romantic mystery, in which Burton played Philip Ashley and earned his first Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. He was 27.

A year later he carried a genuine Hollywood epic. In The Robe in 1953, the first film released in CinemaScope, Burton played the Roman tribune Marcellus, and its vast success made him a bankable international star. He worked in an era when Charlton Heston would carry the biblical epic to its peak with Ben-Hur, but Burton brought something different to the costume drama: intelligence, danger and that voice.

The nominations kept coming without the wins. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold in 1965 gave him one of his most admired screen performances, as the burned-out agent Alec Leamas.

He never settled for being just a film star. In 1960 he went to Broadway to play King Arthur in the Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot, winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical — a reminder that the singing voice of the Port Talbot eisteddfod boy had never left him.

How Did Cleopatra Make Richard Burton the Most Famous Actor Alive?

In 1963 Burton played Mark Antony opposite Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra in Cleopatra, the most expensive film ever made at that point. Burton and Taylor, both married to other people, fell in love on the set, and the whole world watched.

The scandal was the first true modern media frenzy — the Vatican newspaper condemned them, and photographs of “Liz and Dick” were front-page news for years. They divorced their spouses and married in Montreal in March 1964, and for a decade they were simply the most famous couple on earth.

They made eleven films together. The Sandpiper in 1965, The Taming of the Shrew in 1967, The Comedians, Boom! — some good, some terrible, all watched. At their best they were electric, two ferocious talents feeding off each other.

Burton bought Taylor jewels of staggering value, including the 69-carat Taylor-Burton diamond. They drank and fought and reconciled in public, divorced in 1974, remarried in 1975, and divorced again in 1976. He would marry twice more, but Taylor was the story of his life.

Why Was Becket Richard Burton’s Great Partnership With Peter O’Toole?

In 1964 Burton played Thomas Becket opposite Peter O’Toole as King Henry II in Becket — the two greatest classical actors of their generation, head to head, in a story of power, friendship and betrayal.

Both were Oscar-nominated for Best Actor — Burton’s third nomination, O’Toole’s second. The film sealed their twin reputations: Burton the dark, brooding Welshman, O’Toole the golden, mercurial Irish-Englishman. Friends off screen as well as rivals, they reunited in 1972 for the film of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood.

When filmmakers wanted the heaviest possible acting weight in the 1960s, they reached for Burton. He had that gravity, and O’Toole’s glittering energy played against it perfectly.

For anyone tracing how these two lions of the stage shared the screen, the biography of Burton on Wikipedia walks through the Becket years and all seven of his Oscar nominations in full.

What Made Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Richard Burton’s Finest Hour?

Mike Nichols’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966 is the film Burton’s reputation rests on. He played George, the beaten-down history professor locked in a night of vicious marital warfare with Taylor’s Martha, and he played him without vanity, without charm, without any of the star armour he usually wore. It earned him his fifth Academy Award nomination.

Taylor won the Oscar for Martha; Burton lost again. Watch George’s exhausted cruelty in the final scenes and you are watching one of the great screen performances of the 1960s, full stop.

The same partnership gave the world The Taming of the Shrew in 1967, with Burton as a swaggering Petruchio. In Anne of the Thousand Days in 1969 he played Henry VIII opposite Geneviève Bujold, earning his sixth Oscar nomination for a performance of real royal menace.

By the end of the 1960s he was among the highest-paid actors in the world — and, in the eyes of the serious critics, a disappointment. The “natural successor to Olivier” had chosen movie stardom over the classical stage, and the old guard never forgave him.

Did Richard Burton Ever Win an Oscar?

No. Seven nominations, no wins. The full list runs from My Cousin Rachel in 1952 (Best Supporting Actor) through The Robe in 1953, Becket in 1964, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold in 1965, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966, Anne of the Thousand Days in 1969, and finally Equus in 1977, where he played the psychiatrist Martin Dysart.

He did win the other great prizes. The Tony for Camelot, a Grammy, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe. And the comparisons to Laurence Olivier never stopped — Tynan’s “natural successor” tag followed him like a shadow, and Burton himself seemed torn between pride in it and resentment at the expectations it carried.

The drinking is part of the legend of why the Oscar never came. By his own admission he drank three bottles of vodka a day during one stretch in 1974, spending six weeks in a clinic to recover.

Then again, his performances were never the kind the Academy most rewards — too dark, too intelligent, too unwilling to charm. He lost to performances history has mostly forgotten, and the work has outlasted every vote.

What Was Richard Burton’s Net Worth at Death?

Celebrity Net Worth estimates that Richard Burton had a net worth of $20 million at the time of his death in 1984 — roughly $60 million in today’s dollars after adjusting for inflation. As with all such figures for stars of his era, it is an attributed estimate, not an official valuation.

Burton’s probated estate was separately valued at US$4.58 million — real estate, investments in three countries and works of art — most of it bequeathed to his widow, Sally Hay.

Through the 1960s Burton was among the highest-paid actors in the world, commanding enormous salaries for Cleopatra and the Taylor co-productions, plus a fortune from Camelot. He also spent on a legendary scale — the jewels for Taylor alone ran into many millions.

The money came from the work — that voice and that face — and it went on living the way he and Taylor lived: large, fast and in public.

Who Were Richard Burton’s Five Marriages?

Burton married five times, to four women. His first wife was the actress Sybil Williams, whom he married in 1949, before the fame. They had two daughters, and the marriage lasted until 1963, when the Taylor affair destroyed it.

Then came Elizabeth Taylor, twice: married in Montreal in March 1964, divorced in 1974, remarried in Botswana in October 1975, divorced again in 1976. It was the defining relationship of both their lives — passionate, destructive, operatic.

In 1976 he married the former model Suzy Miller, previously the wife of Formula 1 champion James Hunt; that marriage lasted until 1982. In 1983 he married Sally Hay, a freelance production assistant, who was with him until his death and inherited the bulk of his estate.

Five weddings, four wives, one great love. The arithmetic of Burton’s heart was never going to be simple.

How Many Children Did Richard Burton Have?

Burton had four children. With Sybil Williams he had two daughters: Kate Burton, born in 1957, who became a noted actress in her own right, and Jessica Burton, born in 1960. With Elizabeth Taylor he adopted two daughters: Liza Todd Burton, born in 1957, Taylor’s daughter by her late husband Mike Todd, whom Burton formally adopted, and Maria Burton, born in 1961 in Germany, adopted by the couple in 1964.

Kate Burton carried the family talent onto stage and screen in a Tony-nominated career of her own. The Burton children grew up in the blast radius of the most famous marriage in the world, and by most accounts their affection for their father survived it.

What Were Richard Burton’s Final Years Like?

The last decade was a long decline that he fought with work. His health had been failing since 1970, when he was warned his liver was enlarged; in April 1981 he was diagnosed with cirrhosis and kidney disease, and he suffered constant, severe neck pain. He kept acting through all of it.

His seventh and final Oscar nomination came for Equus in 1977, as the tormented psychiatrist Martin Dysart. His final film role was O’Brien in Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1984, released after his death — a chilling farewell, gentle and terrifying at once.

On August 5, 1984, he died of an intracerebral haemorrhage at his home in Céligny, Switzerland. He was 58. He was buried in the Old Cemetery of Céligny with a copy of Dylan Thomas’s poems placed with him.

The obituaries all said the same thing in different words: the greatest actor of his generation who never quite became what he might have been. Wales mourned a son, the theatre a lost prince, Hollywood the last of the hellraisers.

Lesser-Known Facts About Richard Burton

• He changed his surname from Jenkins to Burton by deed poll at 18, taking the name of his schoolmaster and mentor Philip Burton.
• A single sentence in the New Statesman — “In a wretched part, Richard Burton showed exceptional ability” — was, by his own account, the review that changed his life.
• He won a Tony Award for playing King Arthur in the musical Camelot on Broadway in 1960, beating the film stars at their own game.
• He was buried with a copy of Dylan Thomas’s poems, and he had made celebrated recordings of Thomas’s work, including Under Milk Wood.
• His probated estate was valued at US$4.58 million, most of it left to his widow Sally Hay, his fifth marriage and final wife.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old was Richard Burton when he died?

Richard Burton died on August 5, 1984, at the age of 58. He had been born on November 10, 1925, in Pontrhydyfen, Wales, and he died of an intracerebral haemorrhage at his home in Céligny, Switzerland.

What was Richard Burton’s real name?

His birth name was Richard Walter Jenkins Jr. He changed his surname to Burton by deed poll on November 26, 1943, at 18, taking the name of his mentor Philip Burton.

How many times was Richard Burton married?

He married five times, to four women: Sybil Williams from 1949 to 1963, Elizabeth Taylor from 1964 to 1974 and again from 1975 to 1976, Suzy Miller from 1976 to 1982, and Sally Hay from 1983 until his death.

How many Oscars was Richard Burton nominated for?

Seven, and he never won. His nominations were for My Cousin Rachel, The Robe, Becket, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Anne of the Thousand Days and Equus.

How many children did Richard Burton have?

Four: Kate Burton and Jessica Burton with his first wife Sybil Williams, and two adopted daughters with Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Todd Burton and Maria Burton.

What was Richard Burton’s net worth?

Celebrity Net Worth estimates his net worth at $20 million at the time of his death in 1984, roughly $60 million in today’s dollars. His probated estate was separately valued at US$4.58 million.

Final Thoughts

Richard Burton’s voice is still the standard. Put on his recording of Dylan Thomas and you hear what the fuss was about — the Welsh music in it, the power held in reserve.

He made his choices and paid for them, in health and in the roles he never played. But Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Becket, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold — those are not the work of a wasted talent. They are the work of a great one, caught at full stretch.

The miner’s son from Pontrhydyfen who became the most famous actor in the world, who married Elizabeth Taylor twice and lost the Oscar seven times. There will not be another Richard Burton.