Richard Burton

Drinking with Richard Burton 

During the filming of 'Circle of Two' I had become Richard Burton's Drinking buddy. While I wasn't on the shoot of the movie. The company I worked for UDO productions had owned the movie and we had sold it and I had worked on it. 

I would be sitting in the 22 and at the end of the day Bob Harris (Richard's Valet) came in and presented me with a brand new pressed Twenty dollar bill. My winnings from Richard, we were betting on the world series. Richard had the Phillies and I had Kansas City. I had a ritual that when I won a bet I would buy the loser a drink. I no sooner pocketed the Twenty when Richard would slip into the booth to collect his drink. When Richard won he would appear alone to collect the 20 and buy me a drink. (The series went seven games with Kansas City finally winning.)This was not about money it was an excuse for Richard to drink. Richard was technically 'On the Wagon' he only drank beer and wine , no hard stuff. Surprisingly Richard loved baseball. he even knew players averages etc. he told me he always wanted to make a movie about Hank Greenberg. Greenberg was one hit away from tying Babe Ruth's home run record. Nobody would pitch to him because he was Jewish so he never got a decent pitch to give him a chance to beat Ruth.

At least two or three nights a week Richard would come back after dinner and we would talk and drink. In the course of the shoot he told me his life story including his finances.  He professed an undying love for Elizabeth "We were just no good for each other.".(he was married to Susan Hunt at the time) Up close Richard had pockmarks, he had one on his nose that was incredibly deep and somewhat disconcerting. His voice, The Voice, was always remarkable I really had to give my head a shake every once in awhile. Some of his stories were fantastic, they were performances really, to an audience of one. Me! Wow I was so lucky. In spite of his magnificent artistry I think in his heart Richard was just one of the lads at the pub the prodigal son who had gone off and seen the world and made his fortune and wanted to go home and tell the story. 

Richard was not completely  well, he was just a bit frail he said he had a pinched nerve in his neck that he was going to get looked at when the movie was finished.

One night he was a bit quieter than usual and a bit maudlin. Out of the blue he said" I am not going to live until 60 you know." I questioned this with the usual remarks etc he was 53 at the time. but he went on. "No you know the drink I drank much too much. "Peter or Richard and I would often finish two or three bottles in a day." "It is catching up with me." It made for an early night and I never thought too much about it.

When I won the final bet Richard came in to collect his drink. Ron Berkeley his make up man and my very good friend by then was with him.

Richard went into the most fantastic story that he had made a bet with one of the other actors on the game and he had bet Ten thousand dollars on the previous game and the guy had stopped by his room to pay him. With this he finished his drink and left. I was a bit stunned it was a very silly story. "Fucking Pills" Ron said and went after him. It was more than a bit disappointing but the reality is nobody is perfect. Richard died at 58.