Biography
Richard Burton CBE (born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable performance of Hamlet in 1964. He was called "the natural successor to Olivier" by critic Kenneth Tynan. A heavy drinker, Burton's perceived failure to live up to those expectations disappointed some critics and colleagues and added to his image as a ...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes
2024
as Self (archive footage)
Newly discovered interviews with Elizabeth Taylor and unprecedented access to the star’s personal archive reveal the complex inner life and vulnerabil...
Julie Andrews Forever
2019
as Self (archive footage)
Julie Andrews starred in Hollywood productions that have become iconic movies, winning an Oscar for her performance as Mary Poppins, a symbol of the m...
Paris Hilton, Inc.
2009
as Self (archive footage)
We are drowning in celebrity culture and certainly no tabloid topic has been as big as Paris Hilton. Her incarceration and subsequent release, then re...
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds: Live
2006
as George Herbert, The Journalist (archive sound)
The live version of Jeff Wayne's 1978 bestselling album was brought to the stage in 2006 as part of a sell-out tour of the UK. Filmed at London's Wemb...
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
2003
as Self (archive footage)
Broadway: The Golden Age is the most important, ambitious and comprehensive film ever made about America's most celebrated indigenous art form. Award...
Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
2001
as Self (archive footage)
Documentary about the making of 20th Century Fox's 1963 film "Cleopatra," then the most expensive film of all time.
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
1999
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Even big stars need to stand in front of the director and audition for their roles, and some of the best screen tests are from the early years of lege...
Under Milk Wood
1992
as First Voice (voice) (archive sound)
A poet's tale of a day in the lives of the villagers of a Welsh fishing town of Llareggub.
Richard Burton's Christmas Story
1991
Novel
Richie lives in a mining village, is disturbed by the mysterious absence of Cis, his sister-mother, and is being teased mercilessly by his friend Trev...
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
1988
as Self (archive footage)
Biography of risk-taker and raconteur John Huston from his childhood to become one of the most highly respected filmmakers in the world.
In from the Cold? A Portrait of Richard Burton
1988
as Self (Archive Footage)
Tony Palmer's award-winning feature-length documentary profile of Richard Burton.
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
1988
as Self (archive footage)
Stars celebrate Bob Hope's 50 years with NBC.
To Be Hamlet
1985
as Self
Documentary examination of the role of Hamlet, in which ten prominent actors who have played the part discuss Hamlet's personality, Shakespeare's play...
Nineteen Eighty-Four
1984
as O'Brien
George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.
All-Star Party for Frank Sinatra
1983
as Self
A Celebration of the great life of Frank Sinatra with song, dance, and many famous guests.
Alice in Wonderland
1983
as White Knight
From the elaborate Broadway revival of the 1932 Eva Le Gallienne/Florida Friebus production comes a whimsical retelling of the Lewis Carroll classic.
I, Leonardo: A Journey of the Mind
1983
as Self - Narrator (voice)
The story of Leonardo da Vinci: his life, his thoughts, his times, his art and inventions and the individuals who had an influence on his life.
To the Ends of the Earth
1983
as Narrator
The story of the three year expedition led by British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, which ended in August 1982, and which was man's first and only lan...
Lovespell
1981
as King Mark of Cornwall
Romantic tragedy, the story of Tristan and Isolde.
Circle of Two
1981
as Ashley St. Clair
A 60-year-old artist shares a secret, platonic romance with a 16-year-old girl.
Breakthrough
1979
as Sergeant Steiner
Starting in late May 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front, Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) orders Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) to...
The Wild Geese
1978
as Col. Allen Faulkner
A British multinational company seeks to overthrow a vicious dictator in central Africa. It hires a band of (largely aged) mercenaries in London and s...
Absolution
1978
as Father Goddard
At a Catholic boys' school, domineering disciplinarian Father Goddard rules over his pupils with an iron hand. When one of his teenage charges confess...
The Medusa Touch
1978
as John Morlar
A French detective in London reconstructs the life of a man lying in hospital with severe injuries with the help of journals and a psychiatrist. He re...
Stars' War - The Flight of the Wild Geese
1978
as Self
Promotional short film about the making of the 1978 film The Wild Geese.
Equus
1977
as Martin Dysart
A psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, investigates the savage blinding of six horses with a metal spike in a stable in Hampshire, England. The atrocity was c...
Exorcist II: The Heretic
1977
as Father Philip Lamont
Bizarre nightmares plague Regan MacNeil four years after her possession and exorcism. Has the demon returned? And if so, can the combined faith and kn...
The Man with No Name
1977
as Self
Profile of Clint Eastwood.
CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years
1976
as Self
CBS honors Lucille Ball with this celebration of her three CBS series: I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy.
Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry
1976
as Malcolm Lowry (voice)
This feature-length Oscar®-nominated documentary focuses on Malcolm Lowry, author of one of the major novels of the 20th century, Under the Volcano. B...
The Gathering Storm
1974
as Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's life in the years leading up to World War II.
Brief Encounter
1974
as Alec Harvey
Two strangers, both married to others, meet in a railway station and soon find themselves in a brief but intense affair.
The Klansman
1974
as Breck Stancill
A small southern town has just been rocked by a tragedy: a young white woman has been raped by a black man. When young black man Garth witnesses the K...
The Voyage
1974
as Cesare Braggi
The charming Adriana gets sick after her husband's death. Her brother-in-law takes her on a journey to meet a doctor, while love overwhelms them.
Massacre in Rome
1973
as SS-Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler
In the Nazi occupied city of Rome, an assault on an SS brigade draws retaliation from the military governship. "Massacre in Rome" is the true story of...
The Battle of Sutjeska
1973
as Josip Broz Tito
The headquarters of the Marshal Tito's Liberation Army are surrounded by Axis forces. The Partisans have no choice but to fight their way out of the e...
Bluebeard
1972
as Baron von Sepper
Baron von Sepper is an Austrian aristocrat noted for his blue-toned beard, and his appetite for beautiful wives. His latest spouse, an American beauty...
Hammersmith Is Out
1972
as Hammersmith
The Faust legend retold (loosely) and applied to a mentally disturbed patient in a hospital run by a doctor of dubious sanity himself. The patient off...
The Assassination of Trotsky
1972
as Leon Trotsky
A Stalinist assassin tracks exiled revolutionary Leon Trotsky to Mexico in 1940.
Under Milk Wood
1972
as First Man
The delightful if peculiar story of a day in the life of a small, Welsh fishing village called "Llareggub" in which we meet a host of curious characte...
Mooch Goes to Hollywood
1971
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
A dog tries to become a canine star with the help of Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Villain
1971
as Vic Dakin
In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the line by blackmailing Members of Parliament.
Raid on Rommel
1971
as Capt. Alex Foster
Captain Foster plans on raiding German-occupied Tobruk with hand- picked commandos, but a mixup leaves him with a medical unit led by a Quaker conscie...
Anne of the Thousand Days
1969
as King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England discards his wife, Katharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.
Staircase
1969
as Harry Leeds
An aging gay couple owns a barber shop in the East End of London. One of them is a part-time actor about to go on trial for propositioning a police of...
The Violent Universe
1969
as Narrator - Verse Spoken
Thirty distinguished astronomers are visited at their observatories throughout the world in this comprehensive report of astronomical theories, resear...
Candy
1968
as MacPhisto
A high school girl encounters a variety of kookie characters and humorous sexual situations while searching for the meaning of life.
Where Eagles Dare
1968
as Maj. Smith
World War II is raging, and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in the Schloss Adler, a Bavarian castle that's nearly impo...
A Wall in Jerusalem
1968
as Narrator (English version) (voice)
A brilliant documentary about the growth of Israel into the Jewish homeland. Seventy-three years of struggle for religious freedom is vividly recorded...
On Location: Where Eagles Dare
1968
as Self
A behind-the-scenes look at the difficulties of shooting a movie on location in the Austrian Alps.
Boom!
1968
as Chris Flanders
Explores the confrontation between the woman who has everything, including emptiness, and a penniless poet who has nothing but the ability to fill a w...
The Comedians
1967
as Brown
American and British tourists get caught up in political unrest in Haiti.
Doctor Faustus
1967
as Doctor Faustus
Faustus is a scholar at the University of Wittenberg when he earns his doctorate degree. His insatiable appetite for knowledge and power leads him to ...
Doctor Faustus
1967
Director, Producer
Faustus is a scholar at the University of Wittenberg when he earns his doctorate degree. His insatiable appetite for knowledge and power leads him to ...
The Comedians in Africa
1967
as Self (uncredited)
Behind the scenes short documentary about the cast and crew during the filming of The Comedians.
Acting in the 60's: Richard Burton
1967
as Self - Interviewee
Richard Burton is interviewed by film critic Kenneth Tynan
The Taming of the Shrew
1967
as Petruchio
Italy, 16th century. Petruchio, a choleric, lying and poor rural landowner from Verona, arrives in Padua in search of fortune and a wife, while Baptis...
The Taming of the Shrew
1967
Producer
Italy, 16th century. Petruchio, a choleric, lying and poor rural landowner from Verona, arrives in Padua in search of fortune and a wife, while Baptis...
Lionpower from MGM
1967
"Lionpower from MGM" (1967) is an exciting 60's promotional short subject, which showcases MGM's releases for the 1967-68 film season under a "five se...
For Florence
1966
as Self - Narrator
A dramatic, solemn and refined work, "Per Firenze" spread throughout the world the cry for help that was rising in those hours from the city of Dante ...
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1966
as George
A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the ...
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
1965
as Alec Leamas
British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the Cold War during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one...
The Sandpiper
1965
as Edward Hewitt
A free-spirited single mother forms a connection with the wedded headmaster of an Episcopalian boarding school in Monterey, California.
What's New Pussycat?
1965
as Man In Strip Club
A playboy who refuses to give up his hedonistic lifestyle to settle down and marry his true love seeks help from a demented psychoanalyst who is havin...
The Big Sur
1965
as Self / Narrator
This MGM short film narrated by Richard Burton promotes its upcoming major release "The Sandpiper" (1965), starring Burton and his then wife Elizabeth...
A Statue for 'The Sandpiper'
1965
as Self
Promotional short for the film "The Sandpiper".
Hamlet from the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
1964
as Hamlet
A stage production of Hamlet filmed at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York. It was deliberately staged in the style of a "dress rehearsal", but perf...
The Night of the Iguana
1964
as Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon
A defrocked Episcopal clergyman leads a bus-load of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunt...
On the Trail of the Iguana
1964
as Self
Behind the scenes documentary of the filming of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana.
Becket
1964
as Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket, Henry II's longtime advisor, finds his friendship with the debauched king corroding when he is unwillingly appointed as Archbishop of C...
Zulu
1964
as Narration spoken (voice)
In 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War, man-of-the-people Lt. Chard and snooty Lt. Bromhead are in charge of defending the isolated and vastly outnumbered...
The Caretaker
1964
Associate Producer
Aston, a quiet, reserved man, lives alone in a top-floor cluttered room of a small abandoned house in a poor London district. He befriends and takes i...
The V.I.P.s
1963
as Paul Andros
Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport fight to survive a variety of personal trials.
Cleopatra
1963
as Marcus Antonius
Determined to hold on to the throne, Cleopatra seduces the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. When Caesar is murdered, she redirects her attentions to his g...
The Longest Day
1962
as Flying Officer David Campbell
The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the d...
The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe
1962
as Self / Arthur
A musical special celebrating the fruitful collaboration of Broadway lyricist/librettist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe. Stars from the ...
A Tribute to Dylan Thomas
1961
as Self
An atmospheric tribute to the genius of Welsh poet and dramatist Dylan Thomas, using many of the windswept locations where Thomas himself grew up and ...
A Subject of Scandal and Concern
1960
as George Holyoake
A dramatized account of a Victorian cause célèbre, written by John Osborne and concerning the true story of the last person in England to be tried for...
The Bramble Bush
1960
as Dr. Guy Montford
A young doctor returns to his Massachusetts home town at the request of a terminally ill old friend.
The Tempest
1960
as Caliban
Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan, who lives in exile on a remote island as a sorcerer, uses his powers to shipwreck his usurper brother on the isla...
The Fifth Column
1960
A TV film made as part of The Buick-Electra Playhouse.
Ice Palace
1960
as Zeb Kennedy
Alaska: America's last great wilderness frontier. A land of primitive grandeur, of glaciers, mountains and ice-fields. And of ambitious cannery tycoon...
Borrowed Pasture
1960
as Self - Narrator
Richard Burton narrates this stunning film of two Polish soldiers struggling to make a living from a derelict farm in Carmarthenshire.
Look Back in Anger
1959
as Jimmy Porter
A disillusioned, angry university graduate comes to terms with his grudge against middle-class life and values.
March to Aldermaston
1959
as Narrator (voice)
Collaborative documentary (credited to a committee rather than to individual filmmakers) detailing the CND march from London to Aldermaston at Easter ...
Wuthering Heights
1958
as Heathcliff
Mistreated foundling Heathcliff and his stepsister Catherine fall in love, but when she marries a wealthy man, he becomes obsessed with getting reveng...
Bitter Victory
1957
as Capt. Leith
During the second world war, two British officers, Brand and Leith, who have never seen combat, are assigned a vital mission. Their relationship and t...
Sea Wife
1957
as Biscuit
In 1942, a cargo ship jammed with British evacuees from Singapore is sunk by a Japanese sub. A small lifeboat carries a beautiful woman, an army offic...
Alexander the Great
1956
as Alexander
An engrossing spectacle set in the 4th-century BC, in which Alexander of Greece leads his troops forth, conquering all of the known world, in the beli...
The Rains of Ranchipur
1955
as Dr. Major Rama Safti
India. The spoilt and stubborn Edwina Esketh, comes to a small town with her husband. She falls in love with an indian doctor, Dr. Safti. She also mee...
Prince of Players
1955
as Edwin Booth
Prince of Players is a biographical film about the 19th century American actor Edwin Booth.
Thursday's Children
1954
as Narrator (voice)
Won the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Short of 1954. The subject deals with the children at The Royal School for the Deaf in Margate, Kent. T...
The Robe
1953
as Marcellus Gallio
Drunk and disillusioned Roman, Marcellus Gallio, wins Jesus' robe in a dice game after the crucifixion. Marcellus has never been a man of faith like h...
The Desert Rats
1953
as Captain "Tammy" MacRoberts
In North Africa, German Field Marshal Rommel and his troops have successfully fended off British forces, and now intend to take Tobruk, an important p...
My Cousin Rachel
1952
as Philip Ashley
A young man plots revenge against the woman he believes murdered his cousin, but his plans are shaken when he comes face to face with the enigmatic be...
Green Grow the Rushes
1951
as Robert 'Bob' Hammond
Efforts to move Britain into the modern age don't sit well with the people of the small village of Anderia Marsh, who have claimed a right (going back...
The Woman with No Name
1950
as Nick Chamerd
This is a British drama film from 1950 about a young woman in London in WW2 with amnesia.
Waterfront
1950
as Ben Satterthwaite
When ship's fireman Peter McCabe walks out on his long-suffering wife, he leaves her impoverished, with two young daughters and a boy born soon after ...
Now Barabbas
1949
as Paddy
A prison governor deals with a variety of different prisoners, including a charming murderer.
The Last Days of Dolwyn
1949
as Gareth
An old woman fights a group of industrialists who are planning to build a dam and flood the valley where she grew up.
Guilty Rebel
N/A