Part II

Once again, this information has been gathered from various sources including online archives, biographies and The Richard Burton Museum. The non-autograph writings are mostly a work of compilation. Images are used for educational purposes only.

Richard Burton started 1950 with four productions of Christopher Fry's The Boy with a Cart, which had its final performance at the Cambridge Arts Theater in March. April saw Burton appearing in Fry's A Phoenix too Frequently at the Dolphin Theatre in Brighton.

Below is Burton's signature in his 1949 printing of A Phoenix too Frequently.

Burton appeared in two films in this period, Waterfront Women (1950) and Green Grows the Rushes (1951).

Below, Richard Burton and Susan Shaw pose on a mockup of the Liverpool Landing Stage for a still to promote Waterfront Women of 1950. From a still in my collection.

Burton began his memorable performances at The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre during the Stratford-Upon-Avon Shakespeare 1951 Season. The plays in which Richard Burton was cast during this cycle included The Tempest, King Henry IV (Parts I and II) and Henry V.

Below, the Stratford Shakespeare Memorial Theatre from the 1950's, photographed from the banks of the River Avon contemporary to the time Richard Burton was making his triumphant Shakespearean debut.

Below, Richard Burton, photographed in the role he detested, that of Ferdinand, pictured alongside Hazel Penwarden as Miranda, in The Tempest. The photograph is credited to Angus McBean.

Below is Richard's 1951 signature on memorabilia from The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre.

My own signed formal photocard attributed to Angus McBean and dating to this period.

Richard Burton, fresh from his outstanding success on the Stratford stage, flew to America to join the cast members in rehearsal almost immediately after the 1951 Shakespeare Season was complete.  After a brief run of Jean Anouilh's Legend of Lovers at The Plymouth Theatre, New York, which opened on Boxing Day 1951, Burton returned to Brighton to appear in Lillian Hellman's Adaption of Montserrat at The Theatre Royal which opened March 24th, 1952. There were four productions, ending in May 1952.

Also in 1952, Burton successfully made the transition to Hollywood on the recommendation of film director George Cukor when he was given the lead role in the Gothic romance film, My Cousin Rachel, opposite Olivia de Havilland. Based on the 1951 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, My Cousin Rachel is about a man who suspects his rich cousin was murdered by his wife in order to inherit his wealth, but ends up falling in love with her, despite his suspicions. Upon release, the film performed well at the box office, and Burton's performance received mostly excellent reviews.

Below is Richard's signature on a Montserrat playbill from 1952.

Below are two checks signed by Burton from 1952.

The year 1953 marked an important turning point in Burton's career. He arrived in Hollywood at a time when the studio system was struggling and the rise of television was drawing viewers and studios looked to new stars, and film technologies, to tempt viewers back to cinemas. Burton first appeared in the war film The Desert Rats with James Mason, playing an English captain in the North African campaign during World War II who takes charge of a hopelessly out-numbered Australian unit against the indomitable German field marshal, Erwin Rommel (Mason). Burton's second and final film of the year was in the Biblical epic historical drama, The Robe, notable for being the first ever motion picture to be made in CinemaScope. 

Bolstered by The Robe's box office collections, Zanuck offered Burton a seven-year, seven-picture $1 million contract, but Burton politely turned it down as he was planning to head home to portray Hamlet at The Old Vic. The incident spread like wildfire in the press and Burton's decision to walk out on a million dollar contract for a stipend of £150 a week at The Old Vic was met with both appreciation and surprise.

It was at this time, at a party in Bel Air to celebrate the success of The Robe, that Richard Burton first met Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor, who at the time was married to actor Michael Wilding and was pregnant with their first child, recalled her first impression of Burton being "rather full of himself. I seem to remember that he never stopped talking..."

Below is the Old Vic as it appeared C. 1955. On this stage Burton would first solidify his status as one of the greatest actors of the century.

In 1953, Richard Burton began his legendary Shakespearean performances at The Old Vic, beginning with Hamlet, Prince of Denmark on September 14th. He would go on to appear in King John in November, Coriolanus in February 1954,  Twelfth Night in May,  The Tempest in April, King Henry V in January, 1956 and ending with Othello, The Moor of Venice in March.

Below is Burton as Hamlet at The Old Vic as photographed by Angus McBean. This rare print has a preprinted signature. From my collection.

Above on the left: John Neville as Iago with Richard Burton as Othello. On the right: Richard Burton as Iago and John Neville as Othello - Angus McBean, Old Vic Theater, 1956.

Among the performers Burton worked with at The Old Vic were John Neville, Claire Bloom and Michael Hordern, seen in the photographs and playbills reproduced above. Below are examples of their signatures on album pages from the period.

Reproduced below are a 1953 contract signature and two album pages from The Old Vic.

Below is a photograph of Richard drinking with his father and brother at The Miners Arms in Pontrhydyfen, Port Talbot in 1953.

In 1954 Burton appeared in Homage To Dylan Thomas. Held at The Globe Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue, on Sunday the 24th of January. Burton's first performance of the evening was a reading of the beautiful poem, 'Poem In October.' Closing the first part of the evening was Dylan Thomas's early poem 'Paper And Sticks', once again set to music and extracts from 'Under Milk Wood', as performed by Richard Burton, Richard Bebb, Hugh Griffith, Rachel Thomas, Richard Burton's then wife Sybil Williams and Philip Burton.
After a brief interval the evening recommenced with readings of Dylan Thomas's poetry and prose by Richard Burton, Dame Edith Evans, Hugh Griffiths and Emlyn Williams. Richard Burton's selections includes 'Lament', 'The Hunchback In The Park', 'After The Funeral' and 'Fern Hill'.
The evening concluded with the theatre being filled with a recording of Dylan Thomas's own booming voice reading the haunting poem, 'And Death Shall Have No Dominion.'

In February of 1954 Burton appeared at The Old Vic in London in a reading of 'Under Milk Wood' by Dylan Thomas. This was to be the first complete stage reading to take place in Britain and featured the vocal talents of Richard Burton, cast in the role of 'First Voice', accompanied by Emlyn Williams, Sybil Thorndike, Clifford Evans, Meredith Edwards, Rachel Roberts and Jessie Evans. The reading was specially adapted for this performance by Philip Burton and was directed by Douglas Cleverdon, who incidentally was the producer of the first B.B.C. recording of the play.

Below is a 1954 album page signature.

Burton performed in various production and made several appearances including The William Shakespeare Birthday Performance at The Old Vic Theatre on April 23rd,1954, and in Jean Anouilh's Time Remembered which opened at The Colonial Theatre on October 22nd, 1957 and c0-starred Helen Hayes and Susan Strasberg. Time Remembered was well received on its opening nights at Broadway's Morosco Theatre and also at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. The play went on to have a good run of 248 performances for six months. Burton received his first Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination

Below is a 1956 Old Vic portrait by Angus McBean and signed by Burton.

After The Old Vic season ended, Burton's contract with Fox required him to do three more films. The first was 1955's Prince of Players, where he was cast as the 19th-century Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth, who was John Wilkes Booth's brother. The second film was Robert Rossen's Alexander the Great, with Burton in the title role. The third film was The Rains of Ranchipur, released on 16 December 1955, three months before Alexander the Great on March 28th, 1956. Both films were critical and financial failures and Burton regretted being in them. He would go on to make several more films in this period including Sea Wife (1957), Bitter Victory (1957) and in 1958 he portrayed Heathcliff in a DuPont television version of Wuthering Heights with Yvonne Furneaux. In 1959 Burton was cast in Look Back in Anger with Claire Bloom.

Below is Richard Burton's signature reproduced in an ad for Albany cigarettes.

Below is another check, this from August 1959.

And here is the PSA/DNA exemplar, a signed candid dating to these final years of the decade.

The next 10 years would mark a period of unparalleled stardom, critical successes, extreme excess and a marriage for all time. Part III, Shooting Stardom will cover 1960 to 1970 and it is there this study will resume.

Richard Burton 1925 -1984 Signature Study Part III Shooting at Stardom