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Richard Burton
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It's no secret that Richard Burton had been on the short list of actors considered to play James Bond. However, a newly published interview with his great-nephew Guy Masterson reveals a few more insights as to why the Welsh actor did not accept Ian Fleming's personal suggestion that he play the role. The reason is as mundane as it is honest: at the time Bond was not a household name and Burton simply didn't forsee the future of the character or franchise. In retrospect, this was good news for Bond producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman because no matter how successful the first Bond film would have been, Burton was far too much of a free spirit to get tied down with a series for any length of time. Ironically, in 1965, at the height of Bond mania, Burton scored one of his biggest successes with his Oscar-nominated role in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold playing a cynical, worn-out MI6 agent who was the anithesis of 007. (For Robert Sellers' extensive article on the Bond film that never was - the original plans for Thunderball starring Richard Burton- see Cinema Retro issue #8) For more on this story click here
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Richard Burton (November 10 1925 - August 5 1984) was a Welsh actor from the late 1940s through the 1980s. He was born Richard Walter Jenkins in the village of Pontrhydyfen near Port Talbot. With the assistance of his inspirational schoolmaster, Philip H Burton (who legally adopted him), he excelled in school productions. It was at this time that he began to develop the distinctive speaking voice that became his hallmark, having been encouraged by Philip (who sidelined as a BBC radio producer) to [L]ose his Welsh accent.
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Richard Burton has a sympathetic nature and instinctively reaches out to people in need of help. Burton ... has a deeply ingrained tendency to want to improve or "fix" other people's lives, which can be annoying to the person who has no desire to be changed or "helped" in this way. For Richard, affection and caring must be expressed in tangible acts or service of some kind.
The 12th of 13 children of a Welsh miner, actor Richard Burton left his humble environs by winning a scholarship to Oxford. Blessed with a thrillingly theatrical voice, Burton took to the stage, and, by 1949, had been tagged as one of Britain's most promising newcomers. Director Philip Dunne, who later helmed several of Burton's Hollywood films, would recall viewing a 1949 London staging of The Lady's Not for Burning and watching in awe as star John Gielgud was eclipsed by juvenile lead Richard Burton: "He 'took' the stage and kept a firm grip on it during every one of his brief appearances." A few years after his film debut in The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949), the actor was signed by 20th Century Fox, which had hopes of turning him into the new Lawrence Olivier -- although Burton was not quite able to grip films as well as he did the stage. Aside from The Robe (1953), most of Burton's Fox films were disappointments, and the actor was unable to shake his to-the-rafters theatricality for the smaller scope of the camera lens. Still, he was handsome and self-assured, so Burton was permitted a standard-issue 1950s spectacle, Alexander the Great (1956).
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From All Movie Guide: The 12th of 13 children of a Welsh miner, actor Richard Burton left his humble environs by winning a scholarship to Oxford. Blessed with a thrillingly theatrical voice, Burton took to the stage, and, by 1949, had been tagged as one of Britain's most promising newcomers. Director Philip Dunne, who later helmed several of Burton's Hollywood films, would recall viewing a 1949 London staging of The Lady's Not for Burning and watching in awe as star John Gielgud was eclipsed by juvenile lead Richard Burton: "He 'took' the stage and kept a firm grip on it during every one of his brief appearances." A few years after his film debut in The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949), the actor was signed by 20th Century Fox, which had hopes of turning him into the new Lawrence Olivier -- although Burton was not quite able to grip films as well as he did the stage.
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