The Richard Burton Diaries (254 page)

191
The opening shot of the film.

192
Francis Clifford,
The Naked Runner
(1965). ‘Grapple-snapping’: a family term for snacking from the refrigerator.

193
Marlon Brando gave financial support to the Black Panthers and also spoke out in support of the rights of Native Americans.

194
Robert Emmet (1778–1803), United Irishman and leader of the 1803 Irish rebellion.

195
Brian Hutton (1935—) had directed
Where Eagles Dare
and would direct Elizabeth Taylor in
X, Y and Zee
.

196
James Barlow's 1968 novel was called
The Burden of Proof
. The film title was changed to
Villain
.

197
Southend-on-Sea, Essex. ‘The Smoke’: London.

198
Edna O'Brien (1930—), novelist and screenwriter. This was published in 1971 under the title
Zee & Co
and became the film of that name (in the USA), titled
X, Y and Zee
in Britain.

199
Robert Redford (1937—).

200
VJ Day: to mark Victory over Japan in the Second World War. Mafeking Night refers to the celebrations in Britain when news was received in May 1900 of the relief of the British garrison of Mafeking during the South African War of 1899–1902.

201
Refers to Siegfried Sassoon's poem, ‘Everyone Sang’ (1918).

202
The ‘Common Market’ was a familiar phrase at that time, used to describe what was then termed the European Economic Community, which the United Kingdom would join in 1973.

203
Romany Bain was a showbusiness journalist.

204
This refers to the part of Brown played by Greg Mullavey (1932—).

205
Michael Sevareid (1940—) played the part of Wembley, so it is likely that Burton is confused here over the real name of the actor playing Brown.

206
Rod McKuen (1933—).

207
Hotel Arnold's Del Mar, San Felipe.

208
John Orchard (1928–95) played the part of Dan Garth.

209
Harry Tatelman (1914–97), the producer of
Raid on Rommel
.

210
Easy Rider
(1969), directed by Dennis Hopper (1936–2010).

211
Possibly the name of Liza's horse. Taylor's second husband, Michael Wilding, had starred in the film
Derby Day
(1952).

212
Nigel Green (1924–72) had played Private Wilkins in
Bitter Victory
. He had also appeared in
Zulu
.

213
Leslie Howard (1893–1943), actor, renowned for playing archetypal English gentlemen.

214
Sinatra had made a statement on 9 July that he was supporting Ronald Reagan in his bid for a second term as Governor of California.

215
Joyce Haber (1931–93), Hollywood columnist for the
LA Times
.

216
Jesse Unruh (1922–87), Democratic politician in California (Speaker of the State Assembly, 1961–9) and in 1970 unsuccessful candidate for Governor.

217
A reference to the poem ‘The Scholar-Gypsy’ (1853) by Matthew Arnold (1822–88).

218
William Manchester (1922–2004),
The Arms of Krupp, 1587–1968
(1968).

219
The actual reference is (p. 101): ‘Now he [Alfred Krupp] was proposing to load his barrels from the
rear
. The officer corps considered the idea funny as a crutch.’

220
This is a reference to
Hamlet
, Act III, scene ii: ‘trippingly on the tongue’.

221
Wolfgang Preiss (1910–2002) had previously appeared in
The Longest Day
, although not there playing the part of Rommel.

222
Churchill had cited ‘the saying’, ‘The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet’, in a speech before a Joint Session of Congress on 19 May 1943.

223
A meerschaum is a name for an ornate pipe.

224
William Faulkner (1897–1962),
A Fable
(1954), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and a National Book Award.

225
Burton means a Kojah mink pelt.

226
Ross MacDonald (1915–83).

227
'Charro’: Mexican horseman.

228
Allen Welsh Dulles (1893–1969), American intelligence operative in Switzerland during much of the Second World War, later the first civilian Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

229
Super Chief
: passenger train from LA to Chicago. QE2:
Queen Elizabeth II
, ocean liner.

230
Edward Gibbon's (1737–94)
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776–89).

231
Burton means Frank Beetson, unit production manager on
Raid on Rommel
.

232
Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) and Raymond Hull (1919–85),
The Peter Principle
(1969) suggested that ‘in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence’.

233
Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1909–93) expounded the notion, in his book
Parkinson's Law
(1958), that ‘work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion’.

234
Hedda Hopper (1885–1966), actor, radio and television host and Hollywood columnist for the
LA Times
. Haber (no relation) had taken up this post in 1968.

235
Burbank Airport, Burbank, Los Angeles County, California.

236
Henry Wilding, Michael's father.

237
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(1969), directed by George Roy Hill (1921–2002) and starring Paul Newman (1925–2008) and Robert Redford.

238
Beau Bridges (1941—) was to take the part of Billy Breedlove in
Hammersmith Is Out
.

239
The Landlord
(1970), directed by Hal Ashby (1929–88) and starring Beau Bridges.

240
Jim Bouton (1939—),
Ball Four
(1969).

241
Gallup and Albuquerque, both in New Mexico.

242
Arthur Hailey (1920–2004),
Airport
(1970).

243
The
Broadway Limited
was the passenger train operating between Chicago and New York.

244
Penn Station, New York.

245
Regency Hotel, Park Avenue, New York.

246
Rumpelmeyer's was located in the St Moritz Hotel, Central Park South and Sixth Avenue.

247
Shake Hands with the Devil
(1959), directed by Michael Anderson (1920—).

248
The Colony Restaurant was at Madison Avenue and 61st Street, New York.

249
Alan Jay Lerner (1918–86), writer and lyricist, co-author (with Frederick Loewe, 1901–88) of
Camelot
(stage play and film). Lerner wrote an adaptation of
The Little Prince
which Burton narrated in 1974. The original work was a novella,
Le Petit Prince
, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–44) (1943).

250
Clint Eastwood did not appear in the film.

251
John le Carré (1931—),
The
Looking-Glass War
(1965). Le Carré had previously written the novel
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
(1963).

252
National Velvet
(1945), directed by Clarence Brown (1890–1987).

253
A reference to the island of Elba, where Napoleon Bonaparte (‘Boney’) was exiled from April 1814 to February 1815. The ‘hundred days’ refers to Bonaparte's final campaign, which began with his escape from Elba on 26 February 1815 and ended shortly after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815.

254
Theodore Harold White (1915–86),
The Making of the President 1968
(1969).

255
A blend of champagne and stout, usually Guinness.

256
A brand of tear gas, often used for personal defence.

257
Burton means Portoferraio, Elba.

258
Villa dei Mulini.

259
Burton means ‘
motoscafona
’ – motor boat. Piombino is the port on the Italian mainland closest to Elba from which ferry services operate.

260
Rashomon
(1950), directed by Akira Kurosawa (1910–98).

261
Burton must mean the island of Gorgona, approximately two-thirds of the way between Portofino and Elba.

262
Burton means a milometer and speedometer.

263
E. F. Goldman (1916–89),
The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson
(1969).

264
Rio Marina, on the east coast of Elba.

265
Burton is referring to a mutinous incident aboard HMS
Iveston
, berthed in Ullapool, Scotland.

266
Hotel Les Aloes, Sal Les Aloes, Calvi.

267
On the west coast of Corsica roughly equidistant between Calvi and Ajaccio.

268
Hotel La Verniaz, Neuvecelle-Eglise, Evian-les-Bains, on the southern shore of Lake Geneva.

269
Burton is referring to the filming of
Villain
.

270
Elliott Kastner was executive producer of
Villain
.

271
Not entirely true, as also appearing in
Villain
were T. P. McKenna, Cathleen Nesbitt, and Brook Williams.

1971

1
Burton was playing the part of Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito, born Josip Broz (1892–1980), President of Yugoslavia (1953–80), in a film recreating the 1943 battle of Sutjeska (also known as the fifth anti-partisan offensive) between Tito's Partisans and German forces.

2
Saturday Review
was an American weekly magazine published from 1924 to 1986.

3
Heathfield School, London Road, Ascot.

4
W. C. Fields (1880–1946), actor, comedian, writer. He is credited with a number of lines disparaging children, including ‘I like children – fried’.

5
Christy Brown (1932–81), novelist, poet and artist who suffered from severe cerebral palsy. His autobiography,
My Left Foot
was published in 1954, and in 1970 was used as the basis for Brown's novel
Down All the Days
.

6
Mrs Diana Ladas (1913—), headmistress of Heathfield School.

7
Stan Stennett (1925—), actor and comedian. Porthcawl is a seaside town in South Wales, eight miles south-east of Taibach.

8
Stan Smith (USA) (1946—) beat Tom Gorman (USA) (1946—), 6–3, 8–6, 6–2 and John Newcombe (Australia) (1944—) beat Ken Rosewall (Australia) 6–1, 6–1, 6–3.

9
At the Swiss Open championships.

10
Anthony Shaffer, author of the screenplay for what would become the film
Absolution
, in which Burton starred. His brother Peter (later Sir Peter) would write
Equus
, which Burton would act in on stage and on film.

11
Joseph Losey would direct Burton in
The Assassination of Trotsky
, Burton playing the title role of Leon Trotsky (1879–1940).

12
Beatrix Miller was the editor of the British edition of
Vogue
from 1965 to 1983. By the ‘Snowdons’ Burton means Princess Margaret and her husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones, the 1st Earl Snowdon. The article (which is bound amidst the pages of the diary) is a draft of ‘My Day’, an article that appeared in
Vogue
, 1 September 1971.

13
John Newcombe (Australia) beat Tom Okker (Netherlands), 6–2, 5–7, 1–6, 7–5, 6–3 at the Swiss Open in Gstaad.

14
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006), economist and writer.

15
Kingsley Amis (1922–95),
The Green Man
(1969).

16
George Thomas (1909–97), Labour MP for Cardiff West, later Speaker of the House of Commons, and Viscount Tonypandy. Thomas had written to Burton in connection with the flotation on the Stock Exchange of HTV, asking Burton to use his influence to place HTV's business with the Hodge financial group, based in Cardiff.

17
Llew Heycock (1905–90), a leading figure in the Labour Party in South Wales, who had been elevated to the peerage as Baron Heycock of Taibach in 1967.

18
Telegram from Beatrix Miller enthusiastically accepting Burton's article.

19
Assimil, a French publishing house specializing in language learning.

20
Ici Paris
: a weekly magazine.

21
President Nixon (1913–94) would actually visit China in February 1972.

22
A reference to the song ‘California, sweet homeland of mine’, which includes the lines ‘Neath the palm of the sheltering pine / California, sweet homeland of mine’.

23
This film is probably
Absolution
.

24
Dubrovnik, city on the Adriatic coast, in the then state of Yugoslavia (now in Croatia). Jersey, the Channel Islands.

25
Maurice B. Solowicz, Fert & Cie, Voyages/Transports, of Rue Fendt, Geneva, Burton's car dealer.

26
Tribune de Genève
: Geneva's daily newspaper.

27
Manège
: a riding school.

28
Absolution
would eventually be made in 1978 but not released until 1981.

29
‘Tamping’ meaning mad, furious.

30
Villefranche-sur-Mer: resort and port between Nice and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.

31
Stavros Spyros Niarchos (1909–96), shipping tycoon.
Creole
was his luxury yacht, which he sold following the death of his wife in 1970.

32
Beth Clutter, wife of Michael Wilding Jr.

33
Nikola Popovic, producer of
The Battle of Sutjeska
.

34
Burton had owned 2, Squire's Mount Cottages, Hampstead, London since 1960, and it had been used as a home by Ivor and Gwen and, after Ivor's accident, by Gwen alone.

35
Sir William Deakin (1913–2005),
The Embattled Mountain
(1971).

36
Mad
, a satirical magazine published in the USA. Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), novelist, perhaps most famous for
Steppenwolf
(1927). Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), writer on the occult, philosopher, mountain climber and explorer.