The Richard Burton Diaries (245 page)

178
Comedians
. Alec Guinness (1914–2000) was to co-star in
The Comedians
, based on the novel (published in 1965) by Graham Greene (1904–91).

179
Bechuanaland, now part of Botswana and South Africa.

180
Sandy MacPherson (1897–1975), theatre organist who broadcast regularly on the BBC during the Second World War.

181
A reference to the Munich Agreement of September 1938 reached between Britain and France on the one hand, and Hitler's Germany on the other, regarding the fate of the Sudetenland.

182
Burton presumably means not ‘hunger strikes’ but the hunger marches of the 1930s, some of which emanated from South Wales, but the most famous of which began in Jarrow in the north-east of England.

183
D'Chez Eux, Avenue Lowendal, Paris.

184
A reference to the music hall song ‘It's a long way to Tipperary’, written in 1912 and made popular during the First World War.

185
Nat White was Louise's husband.

186
Samuel Johnson (1709–84), essayist, journalist, author, made this remark of Sir John Hawkins (1719–89).

187
The Players’ social club, Gramercy Park, New York, founded in 1888 by the Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth, whom Burton had portrayed in
Prince of Players
. The Band of Hope was a temperance organization for children, founded in 1847. The Urdd Gobaith Cymru (Welsh League of Youth) was founded in 1922. The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), also aimed at young people, was founded in 1844.

188
Alberto Sordi (1920–2003), actor. Marcello Mastroianni (1924–96), actor, who was to co-star with Richard in
Massacre in Rome
(1974). Vittorio Gassman (1922–2000), actor and director. Virna Lisi (1937—), actor, who was to co-star with Richard in
Bluebeard
(1972). Monica Vitti (1931—), actor. Rossana Podesta (1934—), actor.

189
Hassler Hotel, Piazza della Trinità dei Monti, Rome.

190
Ion Swinley (1891–1937), Shakespearean stage actor. Henry Hinchliffe Ainley (1879–1945), Shakespearean stage and film actor.

191
Frank Robinson (1935—), and Brooks Robinson (1937—), playing for the Baltimore Orioles. Donald Scott Drysdale (1936–93), pitcher for the LA Dodgers. Baltimore won this, the first game, on 5 October 1966.

192
Baltimore won the second game, 6–0, on 6 October 1966. Willie Davis (1940–2010) of the LA Dodgers made three errors.

193
Sanford ‘Sandy’ Koufax (1935—) of the LA Dodgers.

194
Ann Sheran Cazalet (1934—), childhood friend of Elizabeth Taylor. P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975), short story writer, novelist. Possibly the book was
Plum Pie
, an anthology published in September 1966.

195
Nicholas Loukes (1944–76), who played Pride and Cardinal of Lorraine in
Faustus
.

196
Richard Charles Uryan Rhys, 9th Baron Dynevor (1935–2008), who had inherited the Llandeilo Estate in 1962. He was at this point attempting to establish an Arts Centre at Newton House, in Dinefwr Park.

197
This refers to the (historically unsubstantiated) claim that the Welsh Prince Madog ab Owain Gwynedd discovered America
c.
1170.

198
Harvey Orkin, theatrical agent and a good friend of Burton.

199
A reference to the researches of Richard Deacon,
Madoc
(1966).

200
Ken Muggleston (1930—) was in charge of properties on both
Taming of the Shrew
and
Faustus
.

201
Baltimore beat the LA Dodgers 1–0 in the third game on 8 October 1966.

202
Josephine Tey, pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh, 1896–1952),
A Shilling for Candles
(1936).

203
Stanley Ellin (1916–86) had published six novels by this time.

204
Baltimore won the World Series with a 1–0 victory in the fourth game on 9 October 1966.

205
Bobby Frosch, Aaron's wife.

206
A reference to William Dunbar (1456–1513),’Lament for the Makaris, the last line of each verse of which being ‘Timor Mortis conturbat me’.

207
Which Burton eventually would in 1974.

208
Taylor, who had previously enjoyed dual citizenship, renounced American citizenship in order to become solely a British subject.

209
Burton had played Prospero in a 1960 production for NBC television, having played Caliban in the Old Vic production in 1953–4.

210
Positano, a port and resort south of Naples, on the south side of the Sorrentine peninsula.

211
Possibly the make-up man on both
Faustus
and
The Taming of the Shrew
, Giannetto De Rossi (1942—).

212
During the making of
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
.

213
Cornelius Ryan (1920–74),
The Last Battle
(1964).

214
A Negroni is made of gin, vermouth and bitters.

215
Either Burton missed the ‘m’ on the typewriter and hit the adjacent ‘n’, or he really meant to use the French for ‘comfortable’.

216
A reference to the 1867 poem ‘Dover Beach’ by the poet and critic Matthew Arnold (1822–88). The line is ‘melancholy, long, withdrawing roar’.

217
Iris Murdoch (1919–99). The ‘latest volume’ may have been
The Red and the Green
(1965). She had married John Bayley (1925—) in 1956.

218
Gwyn Thomas (1913–81), Welsh playwright, novelist, satirist and broadcaster. Dylan Thomas (1914–53), poet and friend of Richard Burton. T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), poet and playwright. Louis MacNeice (1907–63), poet.

219
Roderick Thorp (1936–99),
The Detective
(1966) made into a 1968 film starring Frank Sinatra (1915–98).

220
Tony Britton (1924—), actor, who would appear with Taylor in
Night Watch
(1973). Robert Shaw (1927–78), actor. Peter Finch (1916–77), actor, who had initially been cast as Julius Caesar in
Cleopatra
.

221
Sorrento, a resort town on the north side of the Sorrentine peninsula.

222
Hotel La Minervetta, Sorrento.

223
Presumably the Michelin Red Guide to hotels and restaurants.

224
Presumably Burton means ‘muliebrity’, the condition of being a woman.

225
This is a reference to
Hamlet
, Act III, scene ii: ‘trippingly on the tongue’. Hotel Covo dei Saraceni, Positano.

226
Dorothy Jeakins, costume designer (1914–95). She had worked with Richard on
My Cousin Rachel
(1952) and on
The Night of the Iguana
(for each of which she had received an Academy Award).

227
The serial killer of at least five women in the East End of London in 1888.

228
Tiziani means Evan Richards (1924—), the founder of the fashion house Tiziani of Rome.

229
Wine from the island of Ischia, in the Bay of Naples.

230
Dopo la tempesta
, Italian for ‘after the storm’.

231
Eva Britton, Tony's second wife, is indeed Danish. Jasper Britton (1962—), actor.

232
Aberfan, a mining community in the Taff valley, South Wales, where on 21 October a coal tip slid down the hillside engulfing a number of buildings, including a primary school. 116 children and 28 adults were killed.

233
Ferdy Mayne (1916–98), actor, would appear with Burton in
Where Eagles Dare
. The ‘Something Griffiths’ was probably Kenneth Griffith (1921–2006), a Welsh actor who was appearing with Mayne in
The Bobo
(1967). Griffith had acted with Burton in
Waterfront
, the 1961 audio production of
King Henry V
, and would appear with him again in
The Wild Geese
.

234
Julie Harris (1925—) played the part of Alison Langdon in
Reflections in a Golden Eye
.

235
Brian Keith (1921–97) played the part of Morris Langdon in
Reflections
.

236
Robert Forster (1941—).

237
John Bryant (1911–69), producer and production designer.

238
Hal B. Wallis (1898–1986) had produced
Becket
and would produce
Anne of the Thousand Days
.

239
Edmund Wilson (1895–1972),
Europe without Baedeker
(1947).

240
George Santayana (1863–1952), philosopher, writer.

241
Memoirs of Hecate County
, Edmund Wilson (1946); banned in USA until 1959 on the grounds of obscenity.

242
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency.

243
Ernest Hemingway (1898–1961), novelist.

244
73, Caradoc Street, Taibach, where Richard had lived as a boy.

245
Joanna: cockney rhyming slang for piano.

246
In Florence the River Arno flooded. Thirty-three people were killed, approximately 5,000 rendered homeless and a large number of valuable books, manuscripts, maps and other artefacts were destroyed or damaged. In Venice it became known as the ‘Great Flood’, where there was no loss of life, although significant damage to property.

247
Hotel Gritti Palace, Venice.

248
Hotel Flavia, Via Flavia, Rome. Rome's zoological gardens, located in the Villa Borghese.

249
Stanley Baker (1928–76), Welsh actor and a long-time friend of Richard Burton. Richard and Elizabeth were godparents to Stanley and Ellen Baker's daughter Sally.

250
Burton made this opinion public, which did not go down well with Stanley Baker, but he and Taylor did participate in the television show (‘The Heart of Show Business’), which was broadcast on 26 March 1967.

251
Robert Browning (1812–89), poet, and his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61), poet. Only Elizabeth was buried in the English Cemetery in Florence.

252
Anita Loos (1891–1981), actor and author. Her autobiography,
A Girl Like I
, was published in 1966.

253
Margalo Gillmore (1897–1986), actor.

254
Alex Woolcott (1887–1943), critic and writer. The story (
A Girl Like I
, p. 151) is that Woolcott revealed to Loos that ‘he had always wanted to be a girl’ and ‘all my life I've wanted to be a mother!’

255
Tuesday was 15 November. Burton remains one day out for the rest of the diary.

256
Sheran Cazalet married Simon Hornby (1934–2010) in 1968.

257
Christian Marquand (1927–2000), actor and director, who was to direct
Candy
(1968).

258
Meade Roberts (1930–92), screenwriter.

259
A reference to the screenplay (part-written by Philip Burton), of Dylan Thomas's
The Beach of Falesa
(1964), based on the 1892 short story by Robert Louis Stevenson.

260
Eddie Fisher (1928–2010), Elizabeth Taylor's husband prior to her marrying Richard Burton.

261
This is a reference to the exploits of John Ridgway (1938—) and Chay Blyth (1940—), who rowed across the Atlantic in
English Rose III
in 92 days.

262
Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90),
Tread Softly for You Tread on my Jokes
(1966).

263
John Cleland (?1709–89),
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
(1748–9), often known as
Fanny Hill
after the main character; D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930),
Lady Chatterley's Lover
(1928); Henry Miller (1891–1980),
Tropic of Capricorn
(1938) and
Tropic of Cancer
(1934); Terry Southern (1924–95) (writing as Maxwell Kenton) and Mason Hoffenberg (1922–86),
Candy
(1958).

264
A Nissen hut was a prefabricated steel building characteristic of military bases and airfields.

265
Hugh Kingsmill (1889–1949), biographer, novelist, literary critic.

266
Zeffirelli's documentary on Florence (
Per Firenze
– For Florence, which appeared in 1966), with narration by Burton, is reputed to have raised more than $20m. This appeared on the BBC in English on 11 December 1966 with the title ‘Florence: Days of Destruction’.

267
William Ralph Inge (1860–1954), cleric and journalist. The quotation is: ‘The nations which have put mankind and posterity most in their debt have been small states – Israel, Athens, Florence, Elizabethan England.’

268
Robert Blake,
Disraeli
(1966).

269
PT: Physical training.

270
Ponte Vecchio is a medieval bridge over the Arno in Florence.

271
The Uffizi Gallery, Florence's historic art museum.

1967

1
Cotonou, largest city of the Republic of Dahomey (now Republic of Benin), where the filming of
The Comedians
was taking place.

2
Peter Glenville, director of
The Comedians
.

3
Alec Guinness, co-starring in
The Comedians
.

4
President (formerly Colonel and Chief of Staff to the Armed Forces) Christophe Soglo (1909–83), President of the Republic of Dahomey from October 1963 to January 1964 and from November 1965 to December 1967. Soglo, who had fought with distinction for France in the Second World War, had been France's military adviser to the Dahomean government before resigning and acquiring Dahomean citizenship in 1960.

5
President Soglo had met his wife in French Indochina.

6
None. Soglo's rule would be brought to an end by an army coup in December 1967. There were to be a total of six coups in Dahomey/Benin during the decade from 1963 to 1972.

7
Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), President of the Republic of China. Soglo had visited Taiwan some time in 1964/65.

8
Claudye Ettori was Elizabeth Taylor's hairdresser on
The Comedians
and would become part of the Burton–Taylor entourage in Europe. She also played the small part of the manicurist in the film. Raymond St Jacques (1930–90) played the part of Captain Concasseur in
The Comedians
.