Though Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were once one of Hollywood's hottest couples, their relationship was controversial from the start. When they met on the set of Cleopatra in 1962, they were both married to other people, and their 'immoral' behaviour so incensed the film's producers, Twentieth Century Fox, that the company sued the couple for $50m, while the US State Department considered revoking Burton's work visa. Cleopatra opened to poor reviews, although Alistair Cooke blamed that on snobbery.
Despite all the drama, their wedding in March 1964 barely warranted a mention on the Guardian's front page. Theirs was a tempestuous marriage. In an article for the Observer Review in 1971, Burton summed up their bond, writing: "I love Elizabeth to the point of idolatry...it's a rough old ride, but I wouldn't swap travelling with Elizabeth for anything on earth."
By 1983, Burton and Taylor had been married - and divorced - twice, and had both been through a further marriage and separation (Burton to model Susan Hunt, Taylor to republican senator John Warner). But there remained a spark between the pair, and when Taylor's theatre company decided to stage a revival of Private Lives, Noel Coward's play about warring honeymooners, her ex-husband was the obvious co-star.
When Private Lives debuted in Boston, the critics were unimpressed, but the draw of the leads was enough to guarantee ticket sales. WJ Wetherby, who reviewed the play for the Guardian when it reached Broadway, called it "the show business event of the season," as tabloids filled their columns with gossip and will they-won't they rumours of a third marriage surfaced. Burton emphatically scotched those when, during a break in performances in July 1963 (Taylor was unwell), he married girlfriend Sally Hay.
A year later, at the age of 58, Richard Burton was dead. Taylor's emotional visit to his family in Pontrhydyfen made front page news, while Clancy Segal and Kenneth Hurren paid tribute to the actor who never quite fulfilled his potential.
Though Liz Taylor married once more, to Larry Fortensky, the union didn't last. She died in March 2011, aged 79.
