The Richard Burton Diaries (270 page)

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
.

9
Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, port and resort, on the Cap Ferrat peninsula to the east of Nice.

10
VW
:
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
. New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.

11
George Stanford Brown (1943—) played the part of Henri Philipot in
The Comedians
.

12
Guinness dressed as a black woman (impersonating Burton's character's cook) for the scene in which his character, Major Jones, finds sanctuary in the embassy.

13
Peter Ustinov played the part of Ambassador Pineda in
The Comedians
.

14
Villa La Fiorentina, situated on the Saint Hospice point, Cap Ferrat peninsula. Taylor had previously rented the same property when married to Mike Todd.

15
A garlic and vegetable soup with basil.

16
The Prince's Palace of Monaco, the official residence of the Prince of Monaco. Hôtel de Paris, Place du Casino, Monaco.

17
It would appear that Burton is referring here to Prince Rainier of Monaco (1923–2005) and his wife Princess Grace (1928–82), actor.

18
James Earl Jones (1931—) played the part of Dr Magiot in
The Comedians
.

19
Hôtel Plaza Athenée, Avenue Montaigne, Paris.

20
Oscars were won by Elizabeth Taylor (Best Actress); Sandy Dennis (Best Supporting Actress) (1937–92); Haskell Wexler (Best Cinematography) (1922—); Richard Sylbert (Best Art Direction – Black-and-White) (1928–2002); George James Hopkins (Best Set Decoration – Black-and-White) (1896–1985); and Irene Sharaff (Best Costume Design). Nominations were also received for the film as Best Picture; for Ernest Lehman (Best Producer) (1915–2005); Mike Nichols (Best Director); Richard Burton (Best Actor); George Segal (Best Supporting Actor) (1934—); Ernest Lehman (Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium); Alex North (Best Music) (1910–91); George R. Groves (Best Sound) (1901–76); and Sam Steen (Best Film Editing) (1923–2000).

21
The Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII (1894–1972), and his wife, the Duchess of Windsor, formerly Wallis Simpson (1896–1986).

22
Frank Flanagan, husband of Agnes.

23
Sally Wilson, wife of Bob.

24
Millfield School, Street, Somerset.

25
Sybil and Jordan's daughter was named Amy.

26
The
Oddyseia
motor yacht was built in 1906. Richard and Elizabeth had chartered it. Portofino, a resort and port to the east of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera.

27
Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica on its western coast. L'Ile Rousse and Calvi, both on the north-western coast of Corsica.

28
Santa Margherita and Rapallo, both close to Portofino.

29
Emilio Pucci, fashion house, with a Portofino boutique.

30
Ristorante Il Pitosforo, Molo Umberto I, Portofino.

31
Cary Grant (1904–86), actor. Presumably this was a film script based on Elaine Dundy's 1964 novel
The Old Man and Me
. There is no record of the film having been made.

32
Robert Daley (1930—),
The Whole Truth
(1967). Daley had worked for the
New York Times
.

33
Alexander McKee,
Caen: Anvil of Victory
(1964).

34
Both Burton and Taylor would star in
Boom!

35
The Shoes of the Fisherman
was the title both of a novel by Australian writer Morris West (1916–99), and of a 1968 film based on the novel, starring Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.

36
Rex Harrison and the Welsh actor Rachel Roberts (1927–80) had married in 1962. Rachel Roberts had played alongside Burton in
A Subject of Scandal and Concern
. The Harrisons had a house – Villa San Genesio – in Portofino.

37
The United Arab Republic: the official name for Egypt at the time. The Six Day War between Israel on the one hand and Egypt, Syria and Jordan on the other would start on 5 June and end on 10 June 1967, with Israel clearly victorious.

38
La Gritta American Bar, Calata Marconi, Portofino.

39
Bill is William Glavin, Tennessee Williams's paid companion from 1965 to 1970. Joseph Losey (1909–84), director. Losey would direct
Boom!, Secret Ceremony
, and
The Assassination of Trotsky
. John Heyman (1933—), agent and producer of
Boom!
Tennessee Williams (1911–83), playwright. Burton and Taylor had played in film adaptations of Williams's
The Night of the Iguana, Suddenly, Last Summer
and
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Boom!
was his own adaptation of his 1962 play
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore
.

40
Carole Landis (1919–48), actor and former lover of Rex Harrison. Kay Kendall (1926–59), actor and Harrison's third wife (1957–9). Lilli Palmer (1914–86), actor and Harrison's second wife (1943–57).

41
Sir Francis Chichester (1901–72), aviator and sailor, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1958. He had won the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race in 1960 and had gone on to circumnavigate the globe from August 1966 to May 1967.

42
Hostilities between the Germans and the Allies in Italy ceased on 2 May 1945. However, Liberation Day in Italy is celebrated on 25 April, the anniversary of the end of Mussolini's Italian Social Republic.

43
Arthur Barbosa (1908–95), artist, theatre designer and interior decorator.

44
St Edward's School is on Woodstock Road, Oxford. Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader (1910–82), RAF fighter pilot and war hero.

45
Punt e Mes: an Italian vermouth.

46
Probably Elie Abel,
The Missile Crisis
(1966).

47
John F. Kennedy (1917–63), President of the United States of America. Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971), First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1953–64).

48
The David Di Donatello: the Italian version of the Academy Award.
T of S: The Taming of the Shrew.

49
Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–70), President of Egypt (1954–70).

50
'Bob’ being Bobby Frosch.

51
Gualberto Rocchi of Milan (1914—), whose bust of Burton was donated to the New Theatre, Cardiff, by Sally Burton in 1989. Kate Burton still owns her Rocchi bust.

52
Rampoldi's restaurant, Avenue des Spélugues, Monaco.

53
La Ferme Saint Michel, Avenue La Condamine, Villefranche-sur-Mer.

54
L'il Abner Yokum was an American comic strip character (1934–77). This may well be Ernie Smatt from Jamaica, a world water-ski champion.

55
La Réserve de Beaulieu-sur-Mer, on the Côte d'Azur.

56
Orson Welles (1915–85), actor and director.

57
Chimes at Midnight
was a film written, directed and starring Welles that had appeared in 1966.

58
Sam Spiegel (1903–85), producer. Harry Kurnitz (1907–68), screenwriter, playwright.

59
Gus and Frances Newman owned the
Southern Breeze
.

60
Howard probably refers to Howard Taylor (1929—), Elizabeth's brother, who played the part of the journalist in
Boom!

61
L'Oustau de Baumanière, Les Baux de Provence, to the east of Arles.

62
Hôtel Negresco, Promenade des Anglais, Nice.

63
Hôtel La Grillade au Feu de Bois, Le Luc, between Fréjus and Brignoles.

64
Hôtel-Restaurant Le Relais de l'Empereur, Montélimar, in the Rhône valley.

65
L'Abbaye de Talloires, on the eastern shores of Lake Annecy.

66
Auberge du Pere Bise, Talloires.

67
Bulle, just west of the southern end of Lac de la Gruyère.

68
Sandie Shaw (1947—) had won the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Puppet on a String’ in 1967.

69
Mara Taylor, Howard's wife.

70
Colonel Louis Johannot (1919–2009).

71
Ava Gardner (1922–80), actor, who had played alongside Burton in
The Night of the Iguana
. Ricardo Sicre, a friend of Gardner, whose son, also Ricardo, went on to study at Yale University.

72
This may be a jokey reference to Norma Heyman (1940—), John Heyman's wife.

73
Yul Brynner (1915–85), actor, by this time married to his second wife, Doris Kleiner (the marriage ended in 1967). Morges is 11 km west of Lausanne on the northern shore of Lake Geneva.

74
Grande Hotel Bellevue, Gstaad.

75
Hôtel Beau Rivage, Quai du Mont Blanc, Geneva.

76
Nella was Elizabeth Taylor's maid.

77
Ernst Andrea Scherz, owner and manager of the Gstaad Palace, with his wife Shiwa. The Scherz family had been running the Gstaad Palace Hotel since 1938.

78
Victoria Brynner was born in November 1962.

79
Stephen Marlowe (1928–2008), writer.
The Shining
appeared in 1961. Marlowe wrote many thrillers.

80
Vivien Leigh (1913–67), actor, former wife of Laurence Olivier.

81
Jayne Mansfield (1933–67), actor. Although she suffered severe head injuries, the rumour that she was decapitated is untrue.

82
Gianni Bozzacchi, photographer. He and Claudye would marry in June 1968.

83
Roy Emerson (1936—), Manuel Santana (1938—), and Rafael Osuna (1938–69) were all international tennis stars. Emerson would beat Santana in the final in 1967 for the second year running.

84
Paula Strasberg (1909–66), actor. Lee Strasberg (1899–1982), drama teacher, founder of the Actors’ Studio and guru of ‘method’ acting. Susan Strasberg (1938–99), actor, was their daughter, and had been Richard's lover in the late 1950s.

85
'Anche io’ is Italian for ‘me too’.

86
Jim McManus (1940—) and Jim Osborne (1940—), international tennis players, beaten in the men's doubles.

87
Gavin Maxwell,
Ring of Bright Water
(1960).

88
Neuchâtel, a city on the northern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

89
Posthotel Rössli, Promenade, Gstaad.

90
Salisbury, Wiltshire, slightly more than halfway between London and Street, Somerset.

91
R. J. O. Meyer (1905–91), headmaster of Millfield, former captain of Somerset (cricket).

92
The Bobo
. Peter Sellers was at this point married to Britt Ekland (1942—).

93
Sammy Davis Jr (1925–90), entertainer.

94
Taormina, a small town on the east coast of Sicily.

95
Peter O'Toole, actor, who had played alongside Burton in
Becket
and would play alongside both Burton and Taylor in
Under Milk Wood
. Between 1959 and 1979 he was married to the Welsh actor Siân Phillips (1934—), who had also acted in
Becket
and would act in
Under Milk Wood
.

96
At this point O'Toole had been twice nominated for Oscars (for
Lawrence of Arabia
and
Becket
). His current (2012) tally stands at eight nominations, one higher than Burton.

97
Catania, city on the east coast of Sicily, and location of the Fontanarossa airport.

98
Michael Wilding Sr. ‘Maggie’ refers to Wilding's fourth wife, the actor Margaret Leighton.

99
Burton and Taylor (and O'Toole) were attending the Taormina Film Festival.

100
Noël Coward (1899–1973), actor, director and playwright.

101
Burton had played the Marquis of Sheere in Coward's
Conversation Piece
.

102
Ehud Avriel (1917–80), Israel's ambassador to Italy, 1965–8.

103
Grand Hotel de la Minerve, Plaza della Minerva, Rome.

104
Jane Swanson, secretary to Burton and Taylor.

105
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901), wrote
La Traviata
(first performance 1853); Robert Merrill (1917–2004), operatic baritone. His second wife was Marion Machno (d. 2010).