Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added. Candies come in numerous colors and varieties and have a long history in popular culture.

The Middle English word "candy" began to be used in the late 13th century, coming into English from the Old French ''çucre candi'', derived in turn from Persian ''Qand (=قند) and Qandi(=قندی)'', "cane sugar". In North America, ''candy'' is a broad category that includes candy bars, chocolates, licorice, sour candies, salty candies, tart candies, hard candies, taffies, gumdrops, marshmallows, and more. Vegetables, fruit, or nuts which have been glazed and coated with sugar are said to be ''candied''.

Outside North America, the generic English-language name for candy is "sweets" or "confectionery" (United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa and other commonwealth countries). In Australia and New Zealand, chocolate, sweets or candy is collectively known as "lollies".

In North America, Australia, NZ and the UK, the word "lollipop" refers specifically to sugar candy with flavoring on a stick. While not used in the generic sense of North America, the term ''candy'' is used in the UK for specific types of foods such as ''candy floss'' (''cotton candy'' in North America and ''fairy floss'' in Australia), and certain other sugar based products such as candied fruit.

A popular candy in Latin America is the so-called pirulín (also known as pirulí), which is a multicolor, conic-shaped hard candy of about 10 to 15 cm long, with a sharp conical or pyramidal point, with a stick in the base, and wrapped in cellophane.

Classification

Chemically, sugar candies are broadly divided into two groups: crystalline candies and amorphous candies. ''Crystalline candies'' are not as hard as crystals of the mineral variety, but derive their name and their texture from their microscopically organized sugar structure, formed through a process of crystallization, which makes them easy to bite or cut into. Fudge, creams, and fondant are examples of crystalline candies. ''Amorphous candies'' have a disorganized crystalline structure. They usually have higher sugar concentrations, and the texture may be chewy, hard, or brittle. Caramels, nut brittles and toffees are examples of amorphous candies.

Commercially, candies are often divided into three groups, according to the amount of sugar they contain:

100% sugar (or nearly so), such as hard candies or creams

95% sugar or more, with up to 5% other ingredients, such as marshmallows or nougats, and

75 to 95% sugar, with 5 to 25% other ingredients, such as fudge or caramels.

Each of these three groups contains both crystalline and amorphous candies.

Manufacture

Candy is made by dissolving sugar in water or milk to form a syrup, which is boiled until it reaches the desired concentration or starts to caramelize. The type of candy depends on the ingredients and how long the mixture is boiled. Candy comes in a wide variety of textures, from soft and chewy to hard and brittle. Some examples are: caramel candy, toffee, fudge, praline, tablet, gumdrops, jelly beans, rock candy, lollipops, taffy, cotton candy, candy canes, peppermint sticks, peanut brittle, chocolate-coated raisins or peanuts, hard candy (called ''boiled sweets'' in British English) and candy bars.

=== Sugar stages === The final texture of candy depends on the sugar concentration. As the syrup is heated, it boils, water evaporates, the sugar concentration increases, and the boiling point rises. A given temperature corresponds to a particular sugar concentration. In general, higher temperatures and greater sugar concentrations result in hard, brittle candies, and lower temperatures result in softer candies. The stages of sugar cooking are as follows:

Stage	Temperature in °F	Temperature in °C	Sugar concentration
thread (e.g., syrup)	230–233 °F	110–111 °C	80%
soft ball (e.g., fudge)	234–240 °F	112–115 °C	85%
firm ball (e.g., caramel candy)	244–248 °F	118–120 °C	87%
hard ball (e.g., nougat)	250–266 °F	121–130 °C	92%
soft crack (e.g., salt water taffy)	270–290 °F	132–143 °C	95%
hard crack (e.g., toffee)	295–310 °F	146–154 °C	99%
clear liquid	320 °F	160 °C	100%
brown liquid (e.g., caramel)	338 °F	170 °C	100%
burnt sugar	350 °F	177 °C	100%

The names come from the methods used to test the syrup before thermometers became affordable. The "thread" stage is tested by cooling a little syrup, and pulling it between the thumb and forefinger. When the correct stage is reached, a thread will form. This stage is used for making syrups. For subsequent stages, a small spoonful of syrup is dropped into cold water, and the characteristics of the resulting lump are evaluated to determine the concentration of the syrup. A smooth lump indicates "ball" stages, with the corresponding hardness described. At the "soft crack" stage, the syrup forms threads that are just pliable. At the "hard crack" stage, the threads are brittle.

This method is still used today in some kitchens. A candy thermometer is more convenient, but has the drawback of not automatically adjusting for local conditions such as altitude, as the cold water test does.

Once the syrup reaches or higher, the sucrose molecules break down into many simpler sugars, creating an amber-colored substance known as caramel. This should not be confused with caramel candy, although it is the candy's main flavoring.

Candy and vegetarianism

Some candy, including marshmallows and gummi bears, contain gelatin derived from animal collagen, a protein found in skin and bones, and is thus avoided by vegetarians and vegans. "Kosher gelatin" is also unsuitable for vegetarians and vegans, as it is derived from fish bones. Other substances, such as agar, pectin, starch and gum arabic may also be used as setting and gelling agents, and can be used in place of gelatin.

Other ingredients commonly found in candy that are not suitable for vegetarian or vegan diets include carmine, a red dye made from cochineal beetles, and confectioner's glaze, which may contain wings or other insect parts.

Shelf life

Because of its high sugar concentration, bacteria is not usually able to grow in candy. As a result, the shelf life of candy is longer than for many foods. Most candies can be safely stored in their original packaging at room temperature in a dry, dark cupboard for months or years. As a rule, the softer the candy or the damper the storage area, the sooner it goes stale.

Shelf life considerations with most candies are focused on appearance, taste, and texture, rather than about the potential for food poisoning. That is, old candy may not taste very good, even though it is very unlikely to make the eater sick. Candy can be made unsafe by storing it badly, such as in a wet, moldy area. Typical recommendations are these:

Hard candy may last indefinitely in good storage conditions.

Milk chocolates and caramels usually become stale after about one year.

Dark chocolate lasts up to two years.

Soft or creamy candies, like candy corn, may last 8 to 10 months in ideal conditions.

Chewing gum and gumballs may stay fresh as long as 8 months after manufacture.

Health aspects

Cavities

Candy generally contains sugar, which can be involved in tooth decay causing cavities. Sugar is a food for several types of bacteria commonly found in the mouth, particularly ''Streptococcus mutans''; when the bacteria metabolize the sugar they create acids in the mouth which demineralize the tooth enamel and can lead to dental caries. To help prevent this dentists recommend that individuals should brush their teeth regularly, particularly after every meal and snack.

Glycemic index

Candy has a high glycemic index (GI), which means that it causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels after ingestion. This is chiefly a concern for people with diabetes, but could also be dangerous to the health of non-diabetics.

Packaging

Candy can be packaged in various ways, from individual wrapping (in twisting paper, wax paper or cellophane) pieces (commonly used for candy canes and lollipops) to candy bars to bulk packs. "Candy wrapper" or "sweets-wrapper" is a common term for such packaging.

See also

List of candies

References

External links

History and Candy Industry News – History and News of Candy Industry Manufacturers and Suppliers

National Confectioners Association – information on a variety of candies

Science of Candy – Descriptions and videos of hardness stages

Category:Confectionery Category:Persian words and phrases

ar:حلوى سكرية az:Konfet bn:ক্যান্ডি zh-min-nan:Kim-kâm bg:Бонбон da:Slik (gastronomi) de:Bonbon et:Kompvek eo:Bombono fa:آب‌نبات fr:Bonbon gl:Caramelo id:Permen it:Caramella he:סוכרייה li:Babbelaer nl:Snoepgoed nds-nl:Slik ja:キャンディ no:Godteri nrm:Chucrîn pl:Cukierek pt:Bala (doce) ru:Конфеты simple:Candy sk:Cukrík szl:Bůmbůn sr:Бомбона fi:Makeinen sv:Godis zh:糖果

Ewa Brigitta Aulin (born 13 February 1950 in Landskrona, Skåne County) is a Swedish actress who appeared in a number of Italian and some American films in the 1960s and 1970s. She is best remembered for playing the title character in the cult film Candy (1968) where she appeared alongside such stars as John Huston, Ringo Starr, Walter Matthau, Richard Burton and Marlon Brando.

Ewa Aulin first rose to fame in her native Sweden when she won the title of Miss Teen Sweden in 1965 at age 15. In the same year Ewa had been approached by Gunnar Fischer to appear as the young girl in his short film, Djävulen's instrument (The Devil's Instrument). Subsequently, she went on to represent Sweden in the first ever Miss Teen International pageant, which was held on April 6, 1966 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Ewa won; thereby earning the title of Miss Teen International 1966.

Ewa's success as Miss Teen International attracted attention not only in Sweden, where she appeared on the popular entertainment show, Hylands Hörna, but also of Italian film producers, and in 1967 aged just 16, she made her feature film debut with a supporting role in the comedy Don Giovanni in Sicilia (Don Juan in Sicily), based on the novel by Vitaliano Brancati. This was quickly followed by leading roles in two notable giallo films; the pop art-style Col cuore in gola (With Heart in Mouth, 1967) directed by Tinto Brass, and the bizarre avant-garde-inspired La morte ha fatto l'uovo (Death Laid an Egg, 1968) directed by Giulio Questi. Ewa's co-star in both these films was the acclaimed actor Jean-Louis Trintignant.

In late 1967, Ewa was cast as the title character in her most famous film, the American-Italian-French co-production Candy, directed by Christian Marquand. Ewa only learnt that she had the role the day before filming began in early December 1967. The story involves Ewa's character's search for the meaning of life, which leads to encounters with a variety of different men and always ends in a sexual situation. In spite of the presence of such big names as Marlon Brando, Ringo Starr and Richard Burton, the film did poorly in America and failed to make an international star out of Ewa. It was more successful in Europe and has gained some popularity as a cult film in later years. Ewa, in particular received praise for performance in the film; earning a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer but she lost to Olivia Hussey for Romeo and Juliet. As a consequence of her appearance in this role, Ewa was unfairly typified as something of a 'Blonde Nymphet' by people in the film industry, who seriously failed to see through the façade of her young, beautiful and elegant image and appreciate her desire to be accepted as a professional actress. This ridiculous stereotype would be something that would overshadow the rest of her career and cause her to only appear in predominantly Italian films as of 1970.

The only other American film Ewa appeared in was Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), a comedy of errors set during the French Revolution. Ewa played a supporting role as Christina of Belgium, and the film starred Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland, but just like Candy, the film did little business in America.

Later in the same year Ewa starred in the experimental film Microscopic Liquid Subway to Oblivion, which was written, produced and directed by Ewa's husband, British writer-director John Shadow, whom she had married secretly in Mexico in early 1968 and who was the father of her son, Shawn, born in 1969. The film itself was barely released anywhere in the world, and Ewa and John Shadow later divorced in 1972.

After this, Ewa only appeared in Italian films. Many of her films were sex comedies set in the Middle Ages but she also managed to make more impact in drama and thriller films. She played one of the leads in the giallo La controfigura (The Double, 1971) directed by Romolo Guerrieri, as well as leading role in Quando l'amore è sensualità (When Love is Lust, 1973) and played an undead avenging angel in Joe D'Amato's gothic horror film La morte ha sorriso all'assassino (Death Smiles at Murder, 1973) and also appeared in the thriller Una vita lunga un giorno (Long Lasting Days, 1973) all in the same year.

However, feeling unfulfilled with acting, Ewa remarried a builder named Cesare Paladino in 1974 and abandoned her acting career to enrole at university and fulfill her childhood ambition of becoming a teacher.

Selected filmography

''With Heart in Mouth'' (1967, director: Tinto Brass)

''Candy'' (1968, director: Christian Marquand)

''Death Laid an Egg'' (1968, director: Giulio Questi)

''Start the Revolution Without Me'' (1970, director: Bud Yorkin)

''Microscopic Liquid Subway to Oblivion'' (1970, director: John Shadow)

''The Double'' (1971, director: Romolo Guerrieri)

''When Love is Lust'' (1973, director: Vittorio De Sisti)

''Death Smiles at a Murderer'' (1973, director: Joe D'Amato)

Links and references

Ewa Aulin winning Miss Teen International

Bio page

Italian site

Russian site

Japanese site

(*If Ewa Aulin or anyone who represents her could contribute then it would be greatly appreciated* :) )

Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:People from Landskrona Municipality Category:Swedish film actors

es:Ewa Aulin fr:Ewa Aulin it:Ewa Aulin nl:Ewa Aulin ja:エヴァ・オーリン ru:Аулин, Ева sv:Ewa Aulin

name	Marlon Brando
birth name	Marlon Brando, Jr.
birth date	April 03, 1924
birth place	Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
death date	July 01, 2004
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
death cause	Respiratory failure
nationality	American
education	The New School
spouse	Anna Kashfi (1957–59)Movita Castaneda (1960–62)Tarita Teriipia (1962–72)
children	13, including:Christian Brando (deceased)Cheyenne Brando (deceased)Stephen Blackehart
parents	Marlon Brando, Sr.Dodie Brando
website	http://www.marlonbrando.com/ }}

Marlon Brando, Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor who performed for over half a century.

An enduring cultural icon, Brando was perhaps best known for his role as Stanley Kowalski in ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (1951), his Academy Award-nominated performance as Emiliano Zapata in ''Viva Zapata!'' (1952), his role as Mark Antony in the MGM film adaptation of the Shakespeare play ''Julius Caesar'' (1953), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, and his Academy Award-winning performance as Terry Malloy in ''On the Waterfront'' (1954). During the 1970s, he was most famous for his Academy Award-winning performance as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's ''The Godfather'' (1972), also playing Colonel Walter Kurtz in another Coppola film, ''Apocalypse Now'' (1979). Brando delivered an Academy Award-nominated performance as Paul in ''Last Tango in Paris'' (1972), in addition to directing and starring in the western film ''One-Eyed Jacks'' (1961).

Brando had a significant impact on film acting, and was the foremost example of the "method" acting style. While he became notorious for his "mumbling" diction and exuding a raw animal magnetism, his mercurial performances were nonetheless highly regarded, and he is widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential actors of the 20th century. Director Martin Scorsese said of him, "He is the marker. There's 'before Brando' and 'after Brando'.'" Actor Jack Nicholson once said, "When Marlon dies, everybody moves up one."

Brando was also an activist, supporting many issues, notably the African-American Civil Rights Movement and various American Indian Movements.

Early life

Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Marlon Brando, Sr., a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer, and his wife, Dorothy Julia (née Pennebaker). His parents moved to Evanston, Illinois, but separated when he was eleven years old. His mother took her three children: Jocelyn (1919–2005), Frances (1922–1994) and Marlon, to live with her mother in Santa Ana, California. In 1937, Brando's parents reconciled and moved together to Libertyville, Illinois, north of Chicago.

Brando's family was of mostly Irish ancestry. He also had distant French ancestry. Brando was raised a Christian Scientist. His grandmother Marie Holloway abandoned her family when Marlon Brando, Sr., was five years old. She used the money Eugene sent her to support her gambling and alcoholism.''

Marlon Brando, Sr., was a talented amateur photographer. His wife, known as Dodie, was unconventional but talented, having been an actress. She smoked, wore trousers, and drove cars, unusual for women at the time. However, she was an alcoholic and often had to be brought home from Chicago bars by her husband; she finally joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Dodie Brando acted and was a theater administrator. She helped Henry Fonda to begin his acting career, and fueled her son Marlon's interest in stage acting. However, Brando was closer to his maternal grandmother, Bessie Gahan Pennebaker Meyers, than to his mother. Widowed while young, Meyers worked as a secretary and later as a Christian Science practitioner. Her father, Myles Gahan, was a doctor from Ireland; her mother, Julia Watts, was from England.

Brando was a mimic from early childhood and developed an ability to absorb the mannerisms of people he played and display them dramatically while staying in character. His sister Jocelyn Brando was the first to pursue an acting career, going to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. She appeared on Broadway, then movies and television. Brando's sister Frances left college in California to study art in New York. Brando soon followed her.

Brando had been held back a year in school and was later expelled from Libertyville High School for riding his motorcycle through the corridors. He was sent to Shattuck Military Academy, where his father had studied before him. Brando excelled at theatre and did well in the school. In his final year (1943), however, he was put on probation for talking back to a student officer during maneuvers. He was confined to the campus, but tried going into town, and was caught. The faculty voted to expel him, though he was supported by the students, who thought expulsion was too harsh. He was invited back for the following year, but decided instead to drop out of high school.

Brando worked as a ditch-digger as a summer job arranged by his father. It was also during this time that Brando attempted to join the Army. However at his army induction physical it was discovered that a football injury that he had sustained at Shattuck had left him with a trick knee. Brando was therefore classified as a 4-F, and not inducted into the Army. He then decided to follow his sisters to New York. His father supported him for six months, then offered to help him find a job as a salesman. However, Brando left to study at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, part of the Dramatic Workshop of The New School with the influential German director Erwin Piscator and at the Actors Studio. He also studied with Stella Adler and learned the techniques of the Stanislavski System. There is a story in which Adler spoke about teaching Brando, saying that she had instructed the class to act like chickens, then adding that a nuclear bomb was about to fall on them. Most of the class clucked and ran around wildly, but Brando sat calmly and pretended to lay an egg. Asked by Adler why he had chosen to react this way, he said, "I'm a chicken, what do I know about nuclear bombs?"

Career

Early work

Brando used his Stanislavski System skills for his first summer-stock roles in Sayville, New York on Long Island. His behavior got him kicked out of the cast of the New School's production in Sayville, but he was discovered in a locally produced play there and then made it to Broadway in the bittersweet drama ''I Remember Mama'' in 1944. Critics voted him "Broadway's Most Promising Actor" for his role as an anguished veteran in ''Truckline Café'', although the play was a commercial failure. In 1946 he appeared on Broadway as the young hero in the political drama ''A Flag is Born'', refusing to accept wages above the Actor's Equity rate because of his commitment to the cause of Israeli independence. In that same year, Brando played the role of Marchbanks with Katharine Cornell in her production's revival of Candida, one of her signature roles. Cornell also cast him as The Messenger in a her production of Jean Anouilh's Antigone that same year. Brando achieved stardom, however, as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams's 1947 play ''A Streetcar Named Desire,'' directed by Elia Kazan. Brando sought out that role, driving out to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where Williams was spending the summer, to audition for the part. Williams recalled that he opened the screen door and knew, instantly, that he had his Stanley Kowalski. Brando's performance revolutionized acting technique and set the model for the American form of method acting.

Afterward, Brando was asked to do a screen test for Warner Brothers studio for the film ''Rebel Without A Cause'', which James Dean was later cast in. The screen test appears as an extra in the 2006 DVD release of ''A Streetcar Named Desire''.

Brando's first screen role was as the bitter paraplegic veteran in ''The Men'' in 1950. True to his method, Brando spent a month in bed at the Birmingham Army Hospital in Van Nuys to prepare for the role. By Brando's own account it may have been because of this film that his draft status was changed from 4-F to 1-A. He had had an operation on the knee he had injured at Shattuck, and it was no longer physically debilitating enough to incur exclusion from the draft. When Brando reported to the induction center he answered a questionnaire provided to him by saying his race was "human", his color was "Seasonal-oyster white to beige", and he told an Army doctor that he was psycho neurotic. When the draft board referred him to a psychiatrist Brando explained how he had been expelled from Military School, and that he had severe problems with authority. Coincidentally enough the psychiatrist knew a doctor friend of Brando, and Brando was able to avoid military service during the Korean War.

Rise to fame

Brando brought his performance as Stanley Kowalski to the screen in Kazan's adaptation of Tennessee Williams's ''A Streetcar Named Desire'', and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for that role, and again in each of the next three years for his roles in ''Viva Zapata!'' in 1952, ''Julius Caesar'' in 1953 as Mark Antony, and ''On the Waterfront'' in 1954. These first five films of his career established Brando, as evidenced in his winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in three consecutive years, 1951 to 1953.

In 1953, Brando also starred in ''The Wild One'' riding his own Triumph Thunderbird 6T motorcycle which caused consternation to Triumph's importers, as the subject matter was rowdy motorcycle gangs taking over a small town. But the images of Brando posing with his Triumph motorcycle became iconic, even forming the basis of his wax dummy at Madame Tussauds.

Later that same year, Brando starred in Lee Falk's production of George Bernard Shaw's ''Arms and the Man'' in Boston. Falk was proud to tell people that Marlon Brando turned down an offer of $10,000 per week on Broadway, in favor of working on Falk's play in Boston. His Boston contract was less than $500 per week. It would be the last time he ever acted in a stage play.

Brando won the Oscar for his role as Terry Malloy in ''On the Waterfront''. For the famous ''I coulda' been a contender'' scene, Brando convinced Kazan that the scripted scene was unrealistic, and with Rod Steiger, improvised the final product.

Brando then took a variety of roles in the 1950s: as Sky Masterson in the musical ''Guys and Dolls''; as Sakini, a Japanese interpreter for the U.S. Army in postwar Japan in ''The Teahouse of the August Moon''; as a United States Air Force officer in ''Sayonara'', and a Nazi officer in ''The Young Lions''.

In the 1960s, Brando starred in films such as ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1962); ''One-Eyed Jacks'' (1961), a western that would be the only film Brando would ever direct; ''The Chase'' (1966), and ''Reflections in a Golden Eye'' (1967), portraying a repressed gay army officer. It was the type of performance that later led critic Stanley Crouch to write, "Brando's main achievement was to portray the taciturn but stoic gloom of those pulverized by circumstances." He also played a guru in the sex farce ''Candy'' (1968). ''Burn!'' (1969), which Brando would later claim as his personal favorite, was a commercial failure. His career slowed down by the end of the decade as he gained a reputation for being difficult to work with.

''The Godfather''

Brando's performance as Vito Corleone or 'the Don' in 1972's ''The Godfather'' was a mid-career turning point. Director Francis Ford Coppola convinced Brando to submit to a "make-up" test, in which Brando did his own makeup (he used cotton balls to simulate the puffed-cheek look). Coppola was electrified by Brando's characterization as the head of a crime family, but had to fight the studio in order to cast the temperamental Brando. Mario Puzo always imagined Brando as Corleone. However, Paramount studio heads wanted to give the role to Danny Thomas in the hope that Thomas would have his own production company throw in its lot with Paramount. Thomas declined the role and actually urged the studio to cast Brando at the behest of Coppola and others who had witnessed the screen test.

Eventually, Charles Bluhdorn, the president of Paramount parent Gulf + Western, was won over to letting Brando have the role; when he saw the screen test, he asked in amazement, "What are we watching? Who is this old guinea?"

Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but turned down the Oscar, becoming the second actor to refuse a Best Actor award (the first being George C. Scott for ''Patton''). Brando boycotted the award ceremony, sending instead American Indian Rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who appeared in full Apache dress, to state Brando's reasons, which were based on his objection to the depiction of American Indians by Hollywood and television.

The actor followed with Bernardo Bertolucci's 1973 film, ''Last Tango in Paris'', but the performance was overshadowed by an uproar over the erotic nature of the film. Despite the controversy which attended both the film and the man, the Academy once again nominated Brando for the Best Actor.

Brando, along with James Caan, was later scheduled in 1974 to appear in the final scene of ''The Godfather Part II''. However, rewrites were made to the script when Brando refused to show up to the studio on the single day of shooting due to disputes with the studio.

Later career

Brando portrayed Superman's father Jor-El in the 1978 film ''Superman''. He agreed to the role only on assurance that he would be paid a large sum for what amounted to a small part, that he would not have to read the script beforehand and his lines would be displayed somewhere off-camera. It was revealed in a documentary contained in the 2001 DVD release of ''Superman'', that he was paid $3.7 million for just two weeks of work.

Brando also filmed scenes for the movie's sequel, ''Superman II'', but after producers refused to pay him the same percentage he received for the first movie, he denied them permission to use the footage. However, after Brando's death the footage was reincorporated into the 2006 re-cut of the film, ''Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut''.

Two years after Brando's death, he "reprised" the role of Jor-El in the 2006 "loose sequel" ''Superman Returns'', in which both used and unused archive footage of Brando as Jor-El from the first two Superman films was remastered for a scene in the Fortress of Solitude, and Brando's voice-overs were used throughout the film.

Brando starred as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam epic ''Apocalypse Now''. Brando plays a highly decorated American Army Special Forces officer who goes renegade. He runs his own operations out of Cambodia and is feared by the US military as much as the Vietnamese. Brando was paid $1 million a week for his work.

Despite announcing his retirement from acting in 1980, he subsequently gave interesting supporting performances in movies such as ''A Dry White Season'' (for which he was again nominated for an Oscar in 1989), ''The Freshman'' in 1990 and ''Don Juan DeMarco'' in 1995. In his last film, ''The Score'' (2001), he starred with fellow method actor Robert De Niro. Some later performances, such as ''The Island of Dr Moreau'' (1996), earned Brando some of the most uncomplimentary reviews of his career.

Brando conceived the idea of a novel called ''Fan-Tan'' with director Donald Cammell in 1979, which was not released until 2005.

In 2004, Brando signed with Tunisian film director Ridha Behion and began pre-production on a project to be titled ''Brando and Brando''. Up to a week before his death, Brando was working on the script in anticipation of a July/August 2004 start date. Production was suspended in July 2004 following Brando's death, at which time Behi stated that he would continue the film as an homage to Brando, with a new title of ''Citizen Brando''.

Personal life

Relationships and family

In ''Songs My Mother Taught Me'', Brando claimed he met Marilyn Monroe at a party as she played piano, unnoticed by anybody else there, and they had an affair and maintained an intermittent relationship for many years, receiving a telephone call from her several days before she died. He also claimed numerous other romances, although he did not discuss his marriages, his wives, or his children in his autobiography.

Brando married actress Anna Kashfi in 1957. Kashfi was born in Calcutta and moved to Wales from India in 1947. She is said to have been the daughter of a Welsh steel worker of Irish descent, William O'Callaghan, who had been superintendent on the Indian State railways. However, in her book, ''Brando for Breakfast'', she claimed that she really is half Indian and that the press incorrectly thought that her stepfather, O'Callaghan, was her real father. She said her real father was Indian and that she was the result of an "unregistered alliance" between her parents. In 1959, Brando and Kashfi divorced after the birth of their son, Christian Brando, on May 11, 1958.

In 1960, Brando married Movita Castaneda, a Mexican-American actress seven years his senior; they were divorced in 1962. Castaneda had appeared in the first ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' film in 1935, some 27 years before the 1962 remake with Brando as Fletcher Christian. Brando's behavior during the filming of ''Bounty'' seemed to bolster his reputation as a difficult star. He was blamed for a change in director and a runaway budget, though he disclaimed responsibility for either.

The ''Bounty'' experience affected Brando's life in a profound way. He fell in love with Tahiti and its people. He bought a twelve-island atoll, Tetiaroa, which he intended to make partly an environmental laboratory and partly a resort. Tahitian beauty Tarita Teriipia, who played Fletcher Christian's love interest, became Brando's third wife on August 10, 1962. She was 20 years old, 18 years younger than Brando. A 1961 article on Teriipia in the fan magazine ''Motion Picture'' described Brando's delight at how naïve and unsophisticated she was. Because Teriipia was a native French speaker, Brando became fluent in the language and gave numerous interviews in French. Teriipia became the mother of two of his children. They divorced in July 1972. Brando eventually had a hotel built on Tetiaroa. It went through many redesigns as a result of changes demanded by Brando over the years. It is now closed. A new hotel, consisting of thirty deluxe villas, was planned.

Brando was an active ham radio operator, with the call signs KE6PZH and FO5GJ (the latter from his island). He was listed in the FCC records as Martin Brandeaux to preserve his privacy.

;Children

by Anna Kashfi:

* Christian Devi Brando (aka Gary Brown; May 11, 1958 – January 26, 2008, died of pneumonia)

by Movita Castaneda

* Miko Castaneda Brando (b. 1960)

* Rebecca Brando (b. 1966)

by Tarita Teriipia:

* Simon Teihotu Brando (b. 1963) – the only inhabitant of Tetiaroa

* Tarita Cheyenne Brando (1970–1995), committed suicide by hanging

adopted:

* Petra Brando-Corval (b. 1972), daughter of Brando's assistant Caroline Barrett and novelist James Clavell (aka Charles Edmund DuMaresq de Clavell)

by unidentified mothers:

Stefano Brando aka Stephen Blackehart (b. 1967)

* Maimiti Brando (b. 1977) She's the daughter of Tarita, but the father left them, so Brando adopted her.

* Raiatua Brando (b. 1982) She's the adoptive daughter of Tarita and Brando adopted her.

* Dylan Brando (1968–1988)

* Angelique Brando (unknown)

by his housekeeper, Maria Christina Ruiz:

* Ninna Priscilla Brando (b. May 13, 1989)

* Myles Jonathan Brando (b. January 16, 1992)

* Timothy Gahan Brando (b. January 6, 1994)

;Grandchildren

Michael Brando (b.1988)

Tuki Brando (b. 1990)

In May 1990, Dag Drollet, the Tahitian lover of Brando's daughter Cheyenne, died of a gunshot wound after a confrontation with Cheyenne's half-brother Christian at the family's hilltop home above Beverly Hills. Christian, then 31 years old, claimed he was drunk and the shooting was accidental.

After heavily publicized pre-trial proceedings, Christian pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and use of a gun. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Before the sentence, Brando delivered an hour of testimony, in which he said he and his former wife had failed Christian. He commented softly to members of the Drollet family: "I'm sorry... If I could trade places with Dag, I would. I'm prepared for the consequences." Afterward, Drollet's father said he thought Brando was acting and his son was "getting away with murder." The tragedy was compounded in 1995, when Cheyenne, suffering from lingering effects of a serious car accident and said to still be depressed over Drollet's death, committed suicide by hanging herself in Tahiti. Christian Brando died of pneumonia at age 49, on January 26, 2008.

Lifestyle

Brando became well known for his crusades for civil rights, Native American rights, and other political causes. He also earned a "bad boy" reputation for his public outbursts and antics. On June 12, 1973, Brando broke paparazzo Ron Galella's jaw. Galella had followed Brando, who was accompanied by talk show host Dick Cavett, after a taping of ''The Dick Cavett Show'' in New York City. He reportedly paid a $40,000 out-of-court settlement and suffered an infected hand as a result. Galella wore a football helmet the next time he photographed Brando at a gala benefiting the American Indians Development Association.

In an interview with Gary Carey, for his 1976 biography ''The Only Contender'', Brando said, "Homosexuality is so much in fashion it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me. But if there is someone who is convinced that Jack Nicholson and I are lovers, may they continue to do so. I find it amusing."

In 1992, he donated money to Michael Jackson to help start his Heal the World Foundation.

Final years and death

Brando's notoriety, his troubled family life, and his obesity attracted more attention than his late acting career. He gained a great deal of weight in the 1980s and by the mid 1990s he weighed over 300 lbs. (136 kg) and suffered from diabetes. Like Orson Welles or Elvis Presley, he had a history of weight fluctuations through his career, attributed to his years of stress-related overeating followed by compensatory dieting. He also earned a reputation for being difficult on the set, often unwilling or unable to memorize his lines and less interested in taking direction than in confronting the film director with odd demands. Brando also dabbled with some innovation in his last years. Brando had several patents issued in his name from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, all of which involve a method of tensioning drum heads, in June 2002 – November 2004. For example, see and its equivalents.

The actor was a longtime close friend of entertainer Michael Jackson and paid regular visits to his Neverland Ranch, resting there for weeks at a time. Brando also participated in the singer's two-day solo career thirtieth-anniversary celebration concerts in 2001, and starred in his 13-minute-long music video, "You Rock My World," in the same year. The actor's son, Miko, was Jackson's bodyguard and assistant for several years, and was a friend of the singer. He stated "The last time my father left his house to go anywhere, to spend any kind of time... was with Michael Jackson. He loved it... He had a 24-hour chef, 24-hour security, 24-hour help, 24-hour kitchen, 24-hour maid service." On Jackson's 30th anniversary concert, Brando gave a speech to the audience on humanitarian work which received a poor reaction from the audience and was unaired.

On July 1, 2004, Brando died, aged 80. He left behind eleven children as well as over thirty grandchildren. The cause of death was intentionally withheld, his lawyer citing privacy concerns. It was later revealed that he had died at UCLA Medical Center of respiratory failure brought on by pulmonary fibrosis. He also suffered from congestive heart failure, failing eyesight caused by diabetes, and liver cancer. Before his death and despite his ill-health, he recorded his voice to appear in ''The Godfather: The Game'', once again as Don Vito Corleone.

Karl Malden, Brando's fellow actor in ''A Streetcar Named Desire'', ''On The Waterfront'', and ''One-Eyed Jacks'' (the only film directed by Brando), talks in a documentary accompanying the DVD of ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' about a phone call he received from Brando shortly before Brando's death. A distressed Brando told Malden he kept falling over. Malden wanted to come over, but Brando put him off telling him there was no point. Three weeks later, Brando was dead. Shortly before his death, Brando had apparently refused permission for tubes carrying oxygen to be inserted into his lungs, which, he was told, was the only way to prolong his life.

Brando was cremated, and his ashes were put in with those of his childhood friend Wally Cox and another friend. They were then scattered partly in Tahiti and partly in Death Valley.

In 2007, a 165-minute biopic of Brando, ''Brando: The Documentary'', produced by Mike Medavoy (the executor of Brando's will) for Turner Classic Movies, was released.

Politics

Civil rights

In 1946, Brando showed his dedication to the Jewish desire for a homeland by performing in Ben Hecht's Zionist play "A Flag is Born." Brando's involvement had an impact on three of the most contentious issues of the early postwar period: the fight to establish a Jewish state, the smuggling of Holocaust survivors to Israel, and the battle against racial segregation in the United States.

Brando attended some fundraisers for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election.

In August 1963, Brando participated in the March on Washington along with fellow celebrities Harry Belafonte, James Garner, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, and Sidney Poitier. Brando also, along with Paul Newman, participated in the freedom rides.

In the aftermath of the 1968 slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Brando made one of the strongest commitments to furthering Dr. King's work. Shortly after Dr. King's death, Brando announced that he was bowing out of the lead role of a major film (''The Arrangement'') which was about to begin production, in order to devote himself to the civil rights movement. "I felt I’d better go find out where it is; what it is to be black in this country; what this rage is all about," Brando said on the late night ABC-TV ''Joey Bishop Show''.

The actor's participation in the African-American civil rights movement actually began well before King's death. In the early 1960s Brando contributed thousands of dollars to both the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.) and to a scholarship fund established for the children of slain Mississippi N.A.A.C.P. leader Medgar Evers. By this time, Brando was already involved in films that carried messages about human rights: "Sayonara," which addressed interracial romance, and "The Ugly American," depicting the conduct of US officials abroad and its deleterious effect on the citizens of foreign countries. For a time Brando was also donating money to the Black Panther Party and considered himself a friend of founder Bobby Seale. However, Brando ended his financial support for the group over his perception of its increasing radicalization, specifically a passage in a Panther pamphlet put out by Eldridge Cleaver advocating indiscriminate violence, "for the Revolution."

At the 1973 Academy Awards ceremony, Brando refused to accept the Oscar for his performance in The Godfather. Sacheen Littlefeather represented Mr. Brando at the ceremony. She appeared in full Apache clothing. She stated that owing to the "poor treatment of Native Americans in the film industry" Mr. Brando would not accept the award. At this time the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee occurred, causing rising tensions between the government and Native American activists. The event grabbed the attention of the US and the world media. This was considered a major event and victory for the movement by its supporters and participants.

Outside of his film work, Brando not only appeared before the California Assembly in support of a fair housing law, but personally joined picket lines in demonstrations protesting discrimination in housing developments.

Comments on Jews, Hollywood, and Israel

In an interview in ''Playboy'' magazine in January 1979, Brando said: "You've seen every single race besmirched, but you never saw an image of the kike because the Jews were ever so watchful for that—and rightly so. They never allowed it to be shown on screen. The Jews have done so much for the world that, I suppose, you get extra disappointed because they didn't pay attention to that."

Brando made a similar comment on ''Larry King Live'' in April 1996, saying "Hollywood is run by Jews; it is owned by Jews, and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of—of people who are suffering. Because they've exploited—we have seen the—we have seen the Nigger and Greaseball, we've seen the Chink, we've seen the slit-eyed dangerous Jap, we have seen the wily Filipino, we've seen everything but we never saw the Kike. Because they knew perfectly well, that that is where you draw the wagons around." King, who is Jewish, replied, "When you say—when you say something like that you are playing right in, though, to anti-Semitic people who say the Jews are—" at which point Brando interrupted. "No, no, because I will be the first one who will appraise the Jews honestly and say 'Thank God for the Jews.'"

Jay Kanter, Brando's agent, producer and friend defended him in ''Daily Variety'': "Marlon has spoken to me for hours about his fondness for the Jewish people, and he is a well-known supporter of Israel." Similarly, Louie Kemp, in his article for ''Jewish Journal'', wrote: "You might remember him as Don Vito Corleone, Stanley Kowalski or the eerie Col. Walter E. Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now," but I remember Marlon Brando as a mensch and a personal friend of the Jewish people when they needed it most." Brando was also a major donor to the Irgun, a Zionist political-paramilitary group.

In an interview with ''NBC Today'' one day after Brando's death, Larry King also defended Brando's comments saying that they were out of proportion and taken out of context.

Legacy

Brando is widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential actors of the 20th century. Largely credited for popularizing the "method" acting style, he has earned great respect among critics and theatre experts for his memorable performances and charismatic screen presence. In the book ''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia, ''edited by Philip C. DiMare, James Delmont wrote: "Marlon Brando was arguably the finest screen actor of the twentieth century, winning worldwide acceptance as both a movie star of the first rank and as a performer of uncommon skill." Richard Schickel felt that: "As a movie actor he [Brando] has no peer in this generation. That he consistently underplays, yet still packs more emotion into a scene than anyone else, is a sign of a charisma that may be an act of God." Similarly, film critic Roger Ebert, writing of his iconic performance in ''Last Tango in Paris'', said: "This was the greatest movie actor of his time, the author of performances that do honor to the cinema." Tennessee Williams, among the many who acknowledged his finesse, described Brando as "the greatest living actor ever... greater than [Laurence] Olivier." Laurence Olivier himself said: "Brando acted with an empathy and an instinctual understanding that not even the greatest technical performers could possibly match." In a 2007 ''Best Life'' article, praising his performance in ''On the Waterfront'', Rob Reiner wrote: "Marlon Brando gives the single greatest performance ever. It's just so natural, powerful, real, and honest."

Marlon Brando is a cultural icon whose popularity has endured for over six decades. Brando's rise to national attention in the 1950s had a profound effect on the motion picture industry and influenced the broader scope of American culture. According to film critic Pauline Kael, "[Marlon] Brando represented a reaction against the post-war mania for security. As a protagonist, the Brando of the early fifties had no code, only his instincts. He was a development from the gangster leader and the outlaw. He was antisocial because he knew society was crap; he was a hero to youth because he was strong enough not to take the crap ... Brando represented a contemporary version of the free American ... Brando is still the most exciting American actor on the screen." Sociologist Dr. Suzanne Mcdonald-Walker states: "Marlon Brando, sporting leather jacket, jeans, and moody glare, became a cultural icon summing up 'the road' in all its maverick glory." His portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler in ''The Wild One'' has become an iconic image, used both as a symbol of rebelliousness and a fashion accessory that includes a Perfecto style motorcycle jacket, a tilted cap, jeans and sunglasses. Johnny's haircut inspired a craze for sideburns, followed by James Dean and Elvis Presley, among others. Dean copied Brando's acting style extensively and Presley used him as a model for his role in ''Jailhouse Rock''. The "I coulda been a contenda" scene from ''On the Waterfront'', according to the author of ''Brooklyn Boomer'', Martin H. Levinson, is "one of the most famous scenes in motion picture history and the line itself has become part of America's cultural lexicon."

Brando's estate still earns about $9,000,000 per year, according to ''Forbes''. He was named one of the top-earning dead celebrities in the world by the magazine.

Filmography

Honors, awards and nominations

Brando was named the fourth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute, and part of ''Time'' magazine's Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century. He was also named one of the top 10 "Icons of the Century" by ''Variety'' magazine.

References

Bibliography

Bain, David Haward. ''The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West''. New York: Penguin Books, 2004. ISBN 0-14303-526-6.

Bosworth, Patricia. ''Marlon Brando''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001. ISBN 0-297-84284-6.

Brando, Anna Kashfi and E.P. Stein. ''Brando for Breakfast''. New York: Crown Publishers, 1979. ISBN 0-517-53686-2.

Brando, Marlon and Donald Cammell. ''Fan-Tan''. New York: Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-40004-471-5.

Brando, Marlon and Robert Lindsey. ''Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me''. New York: Random House, 1994. ISBN 0-67941-013-9.

Pierpont, Claudia Roth. ''Method Man''. ''New Yorker'', October 27, 2008.

External links

The Oddfather, ''Rolling Stone'', Jod Kaftan, April 25, 2002

Court TV: Christian Brando: A Hollywood Family Tragedy

Vanity Fair: ''The King Who Would Be Man'' by Budd Schulberg

Marlon Brando: Never-Seen Portraits – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

The New Yorker: ''The Duke in His Domain'' – Truman Capote's influential 1957 interview.

Obituaries

Marlon Brando, Oscar-Winning Actor, Is Dead at 80

Obituary from ''The Washington Post''

Obituary at Slate

MSNBC: Marlon Brando dies in Los Angeles hospital

Long article on auction of Brando's possessions at ''The Observer'' (UK)

Category:1924 births Category:2004 deaths Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from Omaha, Nebraska Category:Actors Studio alumni Category:Amateur radio people Category:American Christian Scientists Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Foreign Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis Category:Deaths from respiratory failure Category:Deists Category:Disease-related deaths in California Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Illinois Democrats Category:People from Evanston, Illinois Category:People from Libertyville, Illinois Category:People from Omaha, Nebraska

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Name	Anita Pallenberg
Birth date	January 25, 1944
Birth place	Rome, Italy
Partner	Keith Richards
Children	Marlon RichardsAngela (Dandelion) RichardsTara Richards
Residence	London, England
Nationality
Occupation	Actress; fashion designer; artist; former model}}

Anita Pallenberg (born 25 January 1944, Rome, Italy) is an Italian-born actress, model, and fashion designer. She was the romantic partner of Rolling Stones multi-instrumentalist and guitarist Brian Jones and later the partner of the guitarist of the same band Keith Richards, from 1967 to 1979, by whom she has two surviving children.

Early life

Pallenberg was born on 25 January 1944 in German-occupied Rome, the daughter of Arnaldo Pallenberg, an Italian artist and Paula Wiederhold, a German secretary. Anita became fluent in four languages at an early age and studied medicine, picture restoration and graphic design. Before settling in London, she lived in Germany, her native Rome, as well as New York City, where she was involved with the Living Theater, starring in the play ''Paradise Now'', which featured on-stage nudity, and Andy Warhol's Factory.

Romantic involvements

Pallenberg is known for her romantic involvement with Rolling Stones band members Brian Jones, whom she met in 1965 in Munich, where she was working on a modelling assignment, and Keith Richards, for whom she left Jones in 1967 while on holiday in Morocco. She remained in a relationship with Richards until 1980 although they never married. There were rumours that she also had a brief affair with Mick Jagger during the filming of ''Performance'', and Keith Richards states in his autobiography ''Life'' that it happened. However, Pallenberg denied the affair in March 2007 when ''Performance'' was released on DVD.

Children

Pallenberg and Richards together had three children: son Marlon (born 10 August 1969), daughter Angela (her middle name, which she chose to go by after initially being named and called Dandelion by her parents), born 17 April 1972), and a second son, Tara (26 March – 6 June 1976), who died in his cot 10 weeks after birth.

Influence on the Rolling Stones

Author A. E. Hotchner mentions Pallenberg's influence on the development and presentation of the Rolling Stones from the late 1960s and through the 1970s. She played an unusual role in the male-dominated world of rock music in the late 1960s, acting as much more than just a groupie or partner of a band member. Jagger respected her opinion enough that tracks on ''Beggars Banquet'' were remixed when Pallenberg criticised them. In the 2002 compilation release of ''Forty Licks'', Pallenberg is credited as singing background vocals on "Sympathy for the Devil".

Tony Sanchez's account of his time as Richards's bodyguard and drug dealer mentions Pallenberg's strange spiritual practices: "She was obsessed with black magic and began to carry a string of garlic with her everywhere — even to bed — to ward off vampires. She also had a strange mysterious old shaker for holy water which she used for some of her rituals. Her ceremonies became increasingly secret, and she warned me never to interrupt her when she was working on a spell."Sanchez goes on to describe Anita as having been "like a life-force, a woman so powerful, so full of strength and determination that men came to lean on her".

She shared Richards's drug addiction; she was charged first in the 1977 Toronto heroin arrest that led to Richards being arrested on charges that could have led to a lengthy prison sentence. A warrant for Pallenberg's arrest was the reason police came to search the pair's hotel rooms; she pleaded guilty to marijuana possession and was fined, several weeks after Richards's arrest.

In 1981, after Richards and Pallenberg had split up, Richards stated that he still loved Pallenberg and saw her as much as he ever did, although he had already met his future wife Patti Hansen. In a 1985 ''Rolling Stone'' interview, Mick Jagger claimed that Pallenberg "nearly killed me", when he was asked whether the Rolling Stones had any responsibility for the personal drug addictions of people close to the band.

Singer Marianne Faithfull, Jagger's girlfriend in the late 1960s, remained a friend of Pallenberg's. They appeared together in the fourth series (2001) of the BBC-TV/Comedy Central/ Saunders and French production of ''Absolutely Fabulous'' in episode four, "Donkey", with Faithfull playing "God" and Pallenberg "The Devil" in a dream sequence experienced by Jennifer Saunders' character Edina Monsoon.

Cleared of manslaughter

In 1979, a 17-year-old boy, Scott Cantrell, shot himself in the head with a gun owned by Keith Richards, while in Pallenberg's bed, at the South Salem, New York house shared by Richards and Pallenberg. The youth had been employed as a part-time groundskeeper at the estate and was involved in a sexual relationship with Pallenberg. Richards was in Paris recording with the Rolling Stones but his son was at the house when the teen killed himself. Pallenberg was arrested; however, the death was ruled a suicide in 1980, despite rumours that Pallenberg and Cantrell had been playing a game of Russian roulette. The police investigation stated that Pallenberg was not in the room or on the same floor of the house at the time the fatal shot was fired.

Film and fashion

Pallenberg has appeared in more than a dozen films over a forty year span. Most notably, she appeared as The Great Tyrant in Roger Vadim's cult-classic sci-fi film ''Barbarella'', the sleeper wife of Michel Piccoli in the film ''Dillinger Is Dead'', directed by Marco Ferreri. She had a small part in Volker Schlöndorff's ''Michael Kohlhaas - der Rebell'' which was filmed in Slovakia in 1969 and the 1970 avant-garde ''Performance'' in which she played the role of Pherber (actually filmed in 1968 but not released for two years). She appeared in a 1968 documentary about the Rolling Stones, ''Sympathy for the Devil'', directed by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. In a March 2007 interview Anita related her encounters in Rome in 1960, while ''La Dolce Vita'' was happening, with legendary Italian filmmakers such as Federico Fellini, Alberto Moravia, Luchino Visconti and Pier Paolo Pasolini. In 1985 for the video of "Wild Boys" Duran Duran used the clip of Pallenberg from ''Barbarella''.

Pallenberg has been portrayed in popular film and television. Monet Mazur played a young Pallenberg in the 2005 film ''Stoned'', a biographical film about the last year of Brian Jones' life. In 2006 the NBC television show ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' included a story arc in which the character Harriet Hayes was hired to play Pallenberg in a film.

Pallenberg became a fashion designer during the 1990s, after four years at London's St. Martins School of Art and Design. She now divides her time between New York City and Europe, and sporadically appears in public as a party DJ.

Filmography

''Mord und Totschlag'' (''A Degree of Murder'', 1967)

''Candy'' (1968)

''Barbarella'' (1968)

''Dillinger Is Dead'' (''Dillinger è morto'', 1969)

''Michael Kohlhaas - Der Rebell'' (1969)

''Performance'' (1970)

''Umano non umano'' (1972)

''Berceau de cristal'' (1976)

''Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon'' (1998)

''Absolutely Fabulous IV'' - Episode IV "Donkey" (2001)

''Hideous Man'' (2002)

''Mister Lonely'' (2007)

''Go Go Tales'' (2007)

''Cheri'' (2009)

''Stones in Exile'' (2010)

References

External links

Anita Pallenberg fan site

Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:People from Rome (city) Category:Italian film actors Category:Italian female models Category:Italian fashion designers Category:The Rolling Stones Category:Italian people of German descent Category:Alumni of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

da:Anita Pallenberg de:Anita Pallenberg es:Anita Pallenberg fr:Anita Pallenberg it:Anita Pallenberg he:אניטה פלנברג nl:Anita Pallenberg ja:アニタ・パレンバーグ pl:Anita Pallenberg pt:Anita Pallenberg ro:Anita Pallenberg ru:Палленберг, Анита fi:Anita Pallenberg sv:Anita Pallenberg

name	Richard Burton
birth name	Richard Walter Jenkins
birth date	November 10, 1925
birth place	Pontrhydyfen, Wales
death date	August 05, 1984
death place	Céligny, Switzerland
death cause	Cerebral haemorrhage
occupation	Actor
nationality	Welsh
years active	1944–84
spouse	Sybil Williams (1949–63; divorced)Elizabeth Taylor (1964–74, 1975–76; divorced)Suzy Hunt (1976–82; divorced)Sally Hay (1983–84; his death)
Children	Kate BurtonJessica BurtonLiza Todd BurtonMaria Burton
Signature	RichardBurton.jpg ‎ }}

Richard Burton, CBE (10 November 19255 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role (without ever winning), and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. He remains closely associated in the public consciousness with his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor; the couple's turbulent relationship was rarely out of the news.

Childhood and education

Richard Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins in the village of Pontrhydyfen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales. He grew up in a working class, Welsh-speaking household, the twelfth of thirteen children. His father, Richard Walter Jenkins, was a short, robust coal miner, a "twelve-pints-a-day man" who sometimes went off on drinking and gambling sprees for weeks. Burton later claimed, by family telling, that "He looked very much like me...That is, he was pockmarked, devious, and smiled a great deal when he was in trouble. He was, also, a man of extraordinary eloquence, tremendous passion, great violence."

Burton was less than two years old in 1927 when his mother, Edith Maude (née Thomas), died at the age of 43 after giving birth to her 13th child. His sister Cecilia and her husband Elfed took him into their Presbyterian mining family in nearby Port Talbot (an English-speaking steel town). Burton said later that his sister became "more mother to me than any mother could have ever been... I was immensely proud of her... she felt all tragedies except her own". Burton's father would occasionally visit the homes of his grown daughters but was otherwise absent. Also important in young Burton's life was Ifor (Ivor), the brother 19 years his senior. A miner and rugby player, Ifor "ruled the household with the proverbial firm hand".

Burton showed a talent for English and Welsh literature at grammar school, and demonstrated an excellent memory, though his consuming interest was sports – rugby (in fact famous Welsh centre Bleddyn Williams said in his autobiography that Burton could have gone far as a player), cricket, and table tennis He later said, "I would rather have played for Wales at Cardiff Arms Park than Hamlet at the Old Vic." He earned pocket money by running messages, hauling horse manure, and delivering newspapers. He started to smoke at the age of eight and drink regularly at twelve. Inspired by his schoolmaster, Philip H. Burton, he excelled in school productions, his first being ''The Apple Cart''. Philip could not legally adopt Burton because their age difference was one year short of the minimum twenty years required. Burton early on displayed an excellent speaking and singing voice and won an Eisteddfod prize as a boy soprano.

Burton left school at sixteen for full-time work. He worked for the local wartime Co-operative committee, handing out supplies in exchange for coupons, but then considered other professions for his future, including boxing, religion and singing. When Burton joined the Port Talbot Squadron of the Air Training Corps as a cadet, he re-encountered Philip Burton, his former teacher, who was the commander. Richard also joined a youth drama group led by Leo Lloyd, a steel worker and avid amateur thespian, who taught him the fundamentals of acting.

Philip Burton, recognising Richard's talent, then adopted him as his ward and Richard returned to school, and, being older than most of the boys, he was very attractive to some of the girls. Philip Burton later said, "Richard was my son to all intents and purposes. I was committed to him." Philip Burton tutored his charge intensely in school subjects and also worked at developing the youth's acting voice, including outdoor voice drills which improved his projection.

In 1943, at the age of eighteen, Richard Burton (who had now taken his teacher's surname but would not change it by deed poll for several years), was allowed into Exeter College, Oxford for a special term of six months study, made possible because he was an air force cadet obligated to later military service. He subsequently did serve in the RAF (1944–1947) as a navigator. Burton's eyesight was too poor for him to be considered pilot material.

Early acting career

In the 1940s and early 1950s Burton worked on stage and in cinema in the United Kingdom. Before his war service with the Royal Air Force, he starred as Professor Higgins in a YMCA production of ''Pygmalion''. He earned his first professional acting fees doing radio parts for the BBC. He had made his professional acting debut in Liverpool and London, appearing in ''Druid's Rest'', a play by Emlyn Williams (who also became a guru), but his career was interrupted by conscription in 1944. Early on as an actor, he developed the habit of toting around a book-bag filled with novels, dictionaries, a complete Shakespeare, and books of quotations, history, and biography, and enjoyed solving crossword puzzles. Burton could, given any line from Shakespeare's works, recite from memory the next several minutes of lines. His Welsh love of language was paramount, as he famously stated years later, with a tearful Elizabeth Taylor at his side, "The only thing in life is language. Not love. Not anything else."

In 1947, after his discharge from the RAF, Burton went to London to seek his fortune. He immediately signed up with a theatrical agency to make himself available for casting calls. His first film was ''The Last Days of Dolwyn'', set in a Welsh village about to be drowned to provide a reservoir. His reviews praised him for his "acting fire, manly bearing, and good looks."

Burton met his future wife, the young actress Sybil Williams, on the set, and they married in February 1949. They had two daughters, and divorced in 1963 after Burton's widely reported affair with Elizabeth Taylor. In the years of his marriage to Sybil, Burton appeared in the West End in a highly successful production of ''The Lady's Not for Burning'', alongside Sir John Gielgud and Claire Bloom, in both the London and NewYork productions. He had small parts in various British films: ''Now Barabbas Was A Robber''; ''Waterfront'' (1950) with Robert Newton; ''The Woman with No Name'' (1951); and a bigger part as a smuggler in ''Green Grow the Rushes'', a B-movie.

Reviewers took notice of Burton: "He has all the qualifications of a leading man that the British film industry so badly needs at this juncture: youth, good looks, a photogenic face, obviously alert intelligence, and a trick of getting the maximum of attention with a minimum of fuss." In the 1951 season at Stratford, he gave a critically acclaimed performance and achieved stardom as Prince Hal in Shakespeare's ''Henry IV, Part 1'' opposite Anthony Quayle's Falstaff. Philip Burton arrived at Stratford to help coach his former charge, and he noted in his memoir that Quayle and Richard Burton had their differences about the interpretation of the Prince Hal role. Richard Burton was already demonstrating the same independence and competitiveness as an actor that he displayed off-stage in drinking, sport, or story-telling.

Kenneth Tynan said of Burton's performance, "His playing of Prince Hal turned interested speculation to awe almost as soon as he started to speak; in the first intermission local critics stood agape in the lobbies." Suddenly, Richard Burton had fulfilled his guardian's wildest hopes and was admitted to the post-War British acting circle which included Anthony Quayle, John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Hugh Griffith and Paul Scofield. He even met Humphrey Bogart, a fellow hard drinker, who sang his praises back in Hollywood. Lauren Bacall recalled, "Bogie loved him. We all did. You had no alternative." Burton bought the first of many cars and celebrated by increasing his drinking. The following year, Burton signed a five-year contract with Alexander Korda at £100 a week, launching his Hollywood career.

Hollywood and later career

In 1952, Burton successfully made the transition to a Hollywood star; on the recommendation of Daphne du Maurier, he was given the leading role in ''My Cousin Rachel'' opposite Olivia de Havilland. Burton arrived on the Hollywood scene at a time when the studios were struggling. Television's rise was drawing away viewers and the studios looked to new stars and new film technology to staunch the bleeding. 20th Century Fox negotiated with Korda to borrow him for this film and a further two at $50,000 a film. The film was a critical success. It established Burton as a Hollywood leading man and earned him his first Academy Award nomination and the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor. In ''Desert Rats'' (1953), Burton plays a young English captain in the North African campaign during World War II who takes charge of a hopelessly out-numbered Australian unit against the indomitable Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (James Mason). Mason, another actor known for his distinctive voice and excellent elocution, became a friend of Burton's and introduced the new actor to the Hollywood crowd. In short order, he met Judy Garland, Greta Garbo, Stewart Granger, Jean Simmons, Deborah Kerr, and Cole Porter, and Burton met up again with Humphrey Bogart. At a party, he met a pregnant Elizabeth Taylor (then married to Michael Wilding) whose first impression of Burton was that "he was rather full of himself. I seem to remember that he never stopped talking, and I had given him the cold fish eye."

The following year he created a sensation by starring in ''The Robe,'' the first film to premiere in the wide-screen process CinemaScope, winning another Oscar nomination. He replaced Tyrone Power, who was originally cast in the role of Marcellus, a noble but decadent Roman in command of the detachment of Roman soldiers that crucified Jesus Christ, who, haunted by his guilt from this act, is eventually led to his own conversion. Marcellus' Greek slave (played by Victor Mature) guides him as a spiritual teacher, and his wife (played by Jean Simmons) follows his lead, although it will mean both their deaths. The film marked a resurgence in Biblical blockbusters. Burton was offered a seven-year, $1 million contract by Darryl F. Zanuck at Fox, but he turned it down, though later the contract was revived and he agreed to it. It has been suggested that remarks Burton made about blacklisting Hollywood while filming ''The Robe'' may have explained his failure to ever win an Oscar, despite receiving seven nominations.

In 1954, Burton took his most famous radio role, as the narrator in the original production of Dylan Thomas's ''Under Milk Wood'', a role he would reprise in the film version twenty years later. He was also the narrator, as Winston Churchill, in the highly successful 1960 television documentary series ''The Valiant Years.''

Stage career

Burton was still juggling theatre with film, playing Hamlet and Coriolanus at the Old Vic theatre in 1953 and alternating the roles of Iago and Othello with the Old Vic's other rising matinee idol John Neville. Hamlet was a challenge that both terrified and attracted him, as it was a role many of his peers in the British theatre had undertaken, including John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier. Bogart, on the other hand, warned him as Burton left Hollywood, "I never knew a man who played Hamlet who didn't die broke." Once again, Philip Burton provided expert coaching. Claire Bloom played Ophelia, and their work together led to a turbulent affair. His reviews in ''Hamlet'' were good but he received stronger praise for Coriolanus. His fellow actor Robert Hardy said, "His Coriolanus is quite easily the best I've ever seen" but Hamlet was "too strong".

Burton appeared on Broadway, receiving a Tony Award nomination for ''Time Remembered'' (1958) and winning the award for playing King Arthur in the musical ''Camelot'' (1960), directed by Moss Hart and written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Julie Andrews, fresh from her triumph in ''My Fair Lady,'' played Guenevere to Burton's King Arthur, with Robert Goulet as Lancelot completing the love triangle. The production was troubled, with both Loewe and Hart falling ill, numerous revisions upsetting the schedule and the actors, and the pressure building due to great expectations and huge advance sales. The show's running time was nearly five hours. Burton took it all in his stride and calmed people down with statements like "Don't worry, love." Burton's intense preparation and competitive desire served him well. He was generous and supportive to others who were suffering in the maelstrom. According to Lerner, "he kept the boat from rocking, and ''Camelot'' might never have reached New York if it hadn't been for him." As in the play, both male stars were enamoured of their leading lady, newly married Andrews. When Goulet turned to Burton for advice, Burton had none to offer, but later he admitted, "I tried everything on her myself. I couldn't get anywhere either." Burton's reviews were excellent, ''Time'' magazine stated that Burton "gives Arthur the skilful and vastly appealing performance that might be expected from one of England's finest young actors." The show's album was a major seller. The Kennedys, newly in the White House, also enjoyed the play and invited Burton for a visit, establishing the link of the idealistic young Kennedy administration with Camelot.

He then put his stage career on the back burner to concentrate on film, although he received a third Tony Award nomination when he reprised his Hamlet under John Gielgud's direction in 1964 in a production that holds the record for the longest run of the play in Broadway history (136 performances). The performance was immortalised both on record and on a film that played in US theatres for a week in 1964 as well as being the subject of books written by cast members William Redfield and Richard L. Sterne. Burton took the role on just after his marriage to Taylor. Since Burton disliked wearing period clothing, Gielgud conceived a production in a "rehearsal" setting with a half-finished set and actors wearing their street clothes (carefully selected while the production really was in rehearsal). Burton's basic reading of Hamlet, which displeased some theatre-goers, was of a complex manic-depressive personality, but during the long run he varied his performance considerably as a self-challenge and to keep his acting fresh. On the whole, Burton had good reviews. ''Time'' said that Burton "put his passion into Hamlet's language rather than the character. His acting is a technician's marvel. His voice has gem-cutting precision." The opening night party was a lavish affair, attended by six hundred celebrities who paid homage to the couple. The most successful aspect of the production was generally considered to be Hume Cronyn's performance as Polonius, winning Cronyn the only Tony Award that he would ever receive in a competitive category.

After his Hamlet, Burton did not return to the stage for twelve years until 1976 in ''Equus''. (He did accept the role of Humbert Humbert in Alan Jay Lerner's musical adaptation of ''Lolita'' entitled ''Lolita, My Love''. However he withdrew and was replaced by friend and fellow Welshman John Neville.) His performance as psychiatrist Martin Dysart won him both a special Tony Award for his appearance, but he had to make ''Exorcist II: The Heretic'' – a film he hated – before Hollywood producers would allow him to repeat his role in the 1977 film version. The final stage performance in which he starred was a critically reviled production of Noël Coward's ''Private Lives,'' opposite his ex-wife Elizabeth Taylor, in 1983. Most reviewers dismissed the production as a transparent attempt to capitalise on the couple's celebrity, although they grudgingly praised Burton as having the closest connection to Coward's play of anyone in the cast.

Hollywood career in the 1950s and 1960s

In terms of critical success, Burton's Hollywood roles throughout the 1950s did not live up to the early promise of his debut. Burton returned to Hollywood to star in ''Prince of Players'', another historical Cinemascope film, this time concerning Edwin Booth, famous American actor and brother of Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth. A weak script undermined a valiant effort by Burton, although the view of director Philip Dunne was that "The fire and intensity were there, but that was all. He hadn't yet mastered the tricks of the great movie stars, such as Gary Cooper." Next came ''Alexander the Great'' (1956), written, directed, and produced by Robert Rossen, with Burton in the title role, on a loan out to United Artists, and again with Claire Bloom co-starring. Contrary to Burton's expectations, the "intelligent epic" was a wooden, slow-paced flop.

In ''The Rains of Ranchipur'', Burton plays a noble Hindu doctor who attempts the spiritual recovery of an adulteress (Lana Turner). Critics felt that the film lacked star chemistry, with Burton having difficulty with the accent, and relied too heavily on Cinemascope special effects including an earthquake and a collapsing dam. Burton returned to the theatre in ''Henry V'' and ''Othello'', alternating the roles of Iago and Othello. He and Sybil then moved to Switzerland to avoid high British taxes and to try to build a nest egg, for themselves and for Burton's family. He returned to film again in ''Sea Wife'', shot in Jamaica and directed by Roberto Rossellini. A young Joan Collins (then called by the tabloids "Britain's bad girl") plays a nun shipwrecked on an island with three men. But Rossellini was let go after disagreements with Zanuck. According to Collins, Burton had a "take-the-money-and-run attitude" toward the film. Burton turned down the lead for ''Lawrence of Arabia'', also turned down by Marlon Brando, which went to newcomer Peter O'Toole.

Then in 1958, he was offered the part of Jimmy Porter, "an angry young man" role, in the film version of John Osborne's play ''Look Back in Anger'', a gritty drama about middle-class life in the British Midlands, directed by Tony Richardson, and again with Claire Bloom as co-star. Though it didn't do well commercially (many critics felt Burton, at 33, looked too old for the part) and Burton's Hollywood box office aura seemed to be diminishing, Burton was proud of the effort and wrote to his mentor Philip Burton, "I promise you that there isn't a shred of self-pity in my performance. I am for the first time ever looking forward to seeing a film in which I play". Next came ''The Bramble Bush'' and ''Ice Palace'' in 1960, neither important to Burton's career.

After playing King Arthur in ''Camelot'' on Broadway for six months, Burton replaced Stephen Boyd as Mark Antony in the troubled production ''Cleopatra'' (1963). Twentieth Century-Fox's future appeared to hinge on what became the most expensive movie ever made up until then, reaching almost $40 million. The film proved to be the start of Burton's most successful period in Hollywood; he would remain among the top 10 box-office earners for the next four years. During the filming, Burton met and fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor, who was married to Eddie Fisher. The two would not be free to marry until 1964 when their respective divorces were complete. On their first meeting on the set, Burton said "Has anyone ever told you that you're a very pretty girl?" Taylor later recalled, "I said to myself, ''Oy gevalt'', here's the great lover, the great wit, the great intellectual of Wales, and he comes out with a line like that." In their first scenes together, he was shaky and missing his lines, and she soothed and coached him. Soon the affair began in earnest and Sybil, seeing this as more than a passing fling with a leading lady, was unable to bear it. She fled the set, first for Switzerland, then for London.

The gigantic scale of the troubled production, Taylor's bouts of illness and fluctuating weight, the off-screen turbulence—all generated enormous publicity, which by-and-large the studio embraced. Zanuck stated, "I think the Taylor-Burton association is quite constructive for our organization." The six-hour film was cut to under four, eliminating many of Burton's scenes, but the result was viewed the same—a film long on spectacle dominated by the two hottest stars in Hollywood. Their private lives turned out to be an endless source of curiosity for the media, and their marriage was also the start of a series of on-screen collaborations. In the end, the film did well enough to recoup its great cost.

Burton played Taylor's tycoon husband in ''The V.I.P.s'', an all-star film set in the VIP lounge of London Airport which proved to be a box-office hit. Then Burton portrayed the archbishop martyred by Henry II in the title role of ''Becket'', turning in an effective, restrained performance, contrasting with Peter O'Toole's manic portrayal of Henry.

In 1964, Burton triumphed as defrocked Episcopal priest Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon in Tennessee Williams' ''The Night of the Iguana'' directed by John Huston, a film which became another critical and box office success. Richard Burton's performance in ''The Night of the Iguana'' may be his finest hour on the screen, and in the process helped put the town of Puerto Vallarta on the map (the Burtons later bought a house there). Part of Burton's success was due to how well he varied his acting with the three female characters, each of whom he tries to seduce differently: Ava Gardner (the randy hotel owner), Sue Lyon (the nubile American tourist), and Deborah Kerr (the poor, repressed artist).

Against his family's advice, Burton married Taylor on Sunday 15 March 1964, in Montreal. Ever optimistic, Taylor proclaimed, "I'm so happy you can't believe it. This marriage will last forever". At the hotel in Boston, the rabid crowd clawed at the newlyweds, Burton's coat was ripped and Taylor's ear was bloodied when someone tried to steal one of her earrings.

After an interruption playing ''Hamlet'' on Broadway, Burton returned to film as British spy Alec Leamas in ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold''. Burton and Taylor continued making films together though the next one ''The Sandpiper'' (1965) was poorly received. Following that, he and Taylor had a great success in Mike Nichols's film (1966) of the Edward Albee play ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', in which a bitter erudite couple spend the evening trading vicious barbs in front of their horrified and fascinated guests, played by George Segal and Sandy Dennis. Burton was not the first choice for the role of Taylor's husband. Jack Lemmon was offered the role first, but when he backed off, Jack Warner, with Taylor's insistence, agreed on Burton and paid him his price. Albee preferred Bette Davis and James Mason, fearing that the Burtons' strong screen presence would dominate the film. Nichols, in his directorial debut, managed the Burtons brilliantly. The script, adapted from Albee's play by Hollywood veteran Ernest Lehman, broke new ground for its raw language and harsh depiction of marriage. Although all four actors received Oscar nominations for their roles in the film (the film received a total of thirteen), only Taylor and Dennis went on to win. So immersed had the Burtons become in the roles of George and Martha over the months of shooting, after the wrap Richard Burton said, "I feel rather lost." Later the couple would state that the film took its toll on their relationship, and that Taylor was "tired of playing Martha" in real life.

Their lively version of Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (1967), directed by Franco Zeffirelli, was a notable success. Later collaborations, however, ''The Comedians'' (1967), ''Boom!'' (1968), and the Burton-directed ''Doctor Faustus'' (1967) (which had its genesis from a theatre production he staged and starred in at the Oxford University Dramatic Society) were critical and commercial failures. He did enjoy a final commercial blockbuster with Clint Eastwood in ''Where Eagles Dare'' in 1968 but his last film of the decade, ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969), was a commercial and critical disappointment. In spite of those failures, it performed remarkably well at that year's Academy awards (receiving ten nominations, including one for Burton's performance as Henry VIII), which many thought to be largely the result of an expensive advertising campaign by Universal Studios.

Later career

Because of Burton and Taylor's extravagant spending and his support of his family and others (42 people at one point), Burton agreed to work in mediocre films that hurt his career. He recognised his financial need to do so, and that in the New Hollywood era of cinema he or Taylor would not soon again be paid as well as at the height of their stardom. Films he made during this period included ''Bluebeard'' (1972), ''Hammersmith Is Out'' (1972), ''The Klansman'' (1974), and ''Exorcist II: The Heretic'' (1977). He did enjoy one major critical success in the 1970s in the film version of his stage hit ''Equus'', winning the Golden Globe Award as well as an Academy Award nomination. Public sentiment towards his perennial frustration at not winning an Oscar made many pundits consider him the favourite to finally win the award, but on Oscar Night he lost to Richard Dreyfuss in ''The Goodbye Girl''.

In 1976 Burton received a Grammy in the category of Best Recording for Children for his narration of ''The Little Prince'' by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He also found success in 1978, when he narrated ''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds''. His distinctive performance became a necessary part of the concept album – so much so that a hologram of Burton is used to narrate the live stage show (touring in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010) of the musical.

Burton had an international box office hit with ''The Wild Geese'' (1978), an adventure tale about mercenaries in Africa. The film was a success in the UK and Europe but had only limited distribution in the U.S. owing to the collapse of the studio that funded it and the lack of an American star in the movie. He returned to appearing in critically reviled films like ''The Medusa Touch'' (1978), ''Circle of Two'' (1980), and the title role in ''Wagner'' (1983), a role he said he was born to play, after his success in ''Equus''. His last film performance, as O'Brien in ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', was critically acclaimed.

At the time of his death, Burton was preparing to film ''Wild Geese II'', the sequel to ''The Wild Geese'', which was eventually released in 1985. Burton was to reprise the role of Colonel Faulkner, while his friend Sir Laurence Olivier was cast as Rudolf Hess. After his death, Burton was replaced by Edward Fox, and the character changed to Faulkner's younger brother.

Oscars

He was nominated six times for an Academy Award for Best Actor and once for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – but he never won. From 1982, he and ''Becket'' co-star Peter O'Toole shared the record for the male actor with the most nominations (7) for a competitive acting Oscar without ever winning. In 2007, O'Toole was nominated for an eighth time (and subsequently lost), for ''Venus'' (however, O'Toole received an Academy Honorary Award in 2003).

Television

Burton rarely appeared on television, although he gave a memorable performance as Caliban in a televised production of ''The Tempest'' for The Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1960. Later appearances included the television film ''Divorce His – Divorce Hers'' (1973) opposite then-wife Elizabeth Taylor (a prophetic title, since their first marriage would be dissolved less than a year later), a remake of the classic film ''Brief Encounter'' (1974) that was considered vastly inferior to the 1945 original, and a critically applauded performance as Winston Churchill in ''The Gathering Storm'' (1974). A critically panned film he made about the life of Richard Wagner (noted for having the only onscreen teaming of Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson in the same scenes) was shown as a television miniseries in 1983 after failing to achieve a theatrical release in most countries, but Burton enjoyed a personal triumph in the American television miniseries ''Ellis Island'' in 1984, receiving a posthumous Emmy Award nomination for his final television performance.

Television played an important part in the fate of his Broadway appearance in ''Camelot.'' When the show's run was threatened by disappointing reviews, Burton and co-star Julie Andrews appeared on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' to perform the number ''What Do The Simple Folk Do?''. The television appearance renewed public interest in the production and extended its Broadway run.

Burton showed a subtle flair for comedy in a 1970 guest appearance with Elizabeth Taylor on the sitcom ''Here's Lucy'', where he recited, in a plumber's uniform, a haunting excerpt of a speech from Shakespeare's ''Richard II''. He later parodied this role in an episode of Television Show ''The Fall Guy''.

In 1997, archive footage of Burton was used in the first episode of the television series ''Conan.''

Book

In 1964, Burton wrote a semi-autobiographical book ''A Christmas Story'', which is an endearing tale of a Christmas Eve in a Welsh mining village, during the Depression.

Personal life

Burton was married five times and he had four children. From 1949 until their divorce in 1963, he was married to producer Sybil Williams, by whom he had two daughters, Katherine "Kate" Burton (born 10 September 1957) and Jessica Burton (born 1961). He was married twice, consecutively, to actress Elizabeth Taylor, from 15 March 1964 to 26 June 1974 and from 10 October 1975 to 29 July 1976. Their first wedding took place in Montreal, and their second wedding occurred, 16 months after their divorce, in the Chobe National Park in Botswana. In 1964, the couple adopted a daughter from Germany, Maria Burton (born 1 August 1961). Burton also adopted Taylor's daughter by the late producer Mike Todd, Elizabeth Frances "Liza" Todd Burton (born 6 August 1957). Their relationship as portrayed in ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' was popularly likened to Burton and Taylor's real-life marriage. Burton disagreed with others about Taylor's famed beauty, saying that calling her "the most beautiful woman in the world is absolute nonsense. She has wonderful eyes, but she has a double chin and an overdeveloped chest, and she’s rather short in the leg." In August 1976, a month after his second divorce from Taylor, Burton married model Susan Hunt, the former wife of Formula 1 Champion James Hunt; the marriage ended in divorce in 1982. From 1983 until his death in 1984, Burton was married to make-up artist Sally Hay.

In 1957 Burton became a tax exile by moving to Switzerland, where he lived until his death. It is widely believed he was never offered a knighthood due to his tax exile status, together with his attacks on Churchill and other controversial public opinions.

In 1968 Burton's elder brother, Ifor, slipped and fell, breaking his neck, after a lengthy drinking session with Burton at the actor's second home in Céligny, Switzerland. The injury left him paralysed from the neck down. His younger brother Graham Jenkins opined it may have been guilt over this that caused Burton to start drinking very heavily, particularly after Ifor died in 1973.

In a February 1975 interview with his friend David Lewin he said he "tried" homosexuality. He also suggested that perhaps all actors were latent homosexuals, and "we cover it up with drink". In 2000, Ellis Amburn's biography of Elizabeth Taylor suggested that Burton had an affair with Laurence Olivier and tried to seduce Eddie Fisher, although this was strongly denied by Burton's younger brother Graham Jenkins.

Burton was notorious for his unrestrained pursuit of women while filming. Joan Collins wrote that when she rejected his on-set advances, he embarked on a series of liaisons with other women including an elderly black maid who, according to Collins, was "almost toothless". Collins playfully told Burton that she believed he would sleep with a snake if he had the chance, to which Burton is alleged to have replied "only if it was wearing a skirt, darling".

He was an insomniac and a notoriously heavy drinker. However, ongoing back pain and a dependence upon pain medications have been suggested as the true cause of his misery. He was also a heavy smoker from the time he was just eight years old; and by his own admission in a December 1977 interview with Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Burton was smoking 60–100 cigarettes per day. According to his younger brother Graham Jenkins's 1988 book ''Richard Burton: My Brother'', he smoked at least a hundred cigarettes a day.

His father, also a heavy drinker, refused to acknowledge his son's talents, achievements and acclaim. In turn, Burton declined to attend his funeral, in 1957. Like Burton, his father died from a cerebral haemorrhage, in January 1957, at the age of 81.

Burton admired and was inspired by the actor and dramatist Emlyn Williams. He employed his son Brook Williams as his personal assistant and adviser and he was given small roles in some of the films in which Burton starred.

Burton was banned permanently from BBC productions in November 1974 for writing two newspaper articles questioning the sanity of Winston Churchill and others in power during World War II – Burton reported hating them "virulently" for the alleged promise to wipe out all Japanese people on the planet. The publication of these articles coincided with what would have been Churchill's centenary, and came after Burton had played him in a favourable light in ''A Walk with Destiny'', with considerable help from the Churchill family. In one article he accused Churchill of having Welsh miners shot during strikes in the 1920s. Ironically, Burton got along well with Churchill when he met him at a play in London, and kept a bust of him on his mantelpiece. On the Parkinson show in November 1974 Burton told a funny story about meeting Churchill; however, according to Robert Hardy, it was not true. Politically Burton was a lifelong socialist, although he was never as heavily involved in politics as his close friend Stanley Baker. He greatly admired Democratic Senator Robert F. Kennedy and once got into a sonnet-quoting contest with him. In 1973 Burton agreed to play Josef Broz Tito in a biopic, since he greatly admired the Yugoslav leader. While filming in Yugoslavia he publicly proclaimed that he was a communist, saying he felt no contradiction between earning vast sums of money for films and holding very left-wing views since "unlike capitalists, I don't exploit other people." Burton courted further controversy in 1976 when he wrote a controversial article about his friend and fellow Welsh thespian Stanley Baker, who had recently died from pneumonia at the age of 48.

Health issues

The 1988 biography of Burton by Melvyn Bragg provides a detailed description of the many health issues that plagued Burton throughout his life. In his youth, Burton was a star athlete and well known for his athletic abilities and strength. By the age of 41 he had declined so far in health that his arms were by his own admission thin and weak. He suffered from bursitis, possibly aggravated by faulty treatment, arthritis, dermatitis, cirrhosis of the liver and kidneys, as well as developing, by his mid-forties, a pronounced limp. How much of this was due to his intake of alcohol is impossible to ascertain, according to Bragg, because of Burton's reluctance to be treated for alcohol addiction; however, in 1974, Burton spent six weeks in a clinic to recuperate from a period during which he had been drinking three bottles of vodka a day. He was also a regular smoker, with an intake of between three and five packs a day for most of his adult life. Health issues continued to plague him until his death of a stroke at the age of 58.

Death

Burton died at age 58 from a brain haemorrhage on 5 August 1984 at his home in Céligny, Switzerland, and is buried there. Although his death was sudden, his health had been declining for several years, and he suffered from a constant and severe pain in the neck. He had been warned that his liver was enlarged as early as March 1970, and had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and kidneys in April 1981. Burton was buried in a red suit, a tribute to his Welsh roots, and with a copy of Dylan Thomas' poems. He and Taylor had discussed being buried together; his widow Sally purchased the plot next to Burton's and erected a large headstone across both, likely to prevent Taylor from being buried there.

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

;Nominations

1952 Best Supporting Actor, ''My Cousin Rachel''

1953 Best Actor, ''The Robe''

1964 Best Actor, ''Becket''

1965 Best Actor, ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold''

1966 Best Actor, ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''

1969 Best Actor, ''Anne of the Thousand Days''

1977 Best Actor, ''Equus''

BAFTA Awards

1966 Best Actor, ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? / The Spy Who Came in from the Cold''

;Nominations

1959 Best Actor, ''Look Back in Anger''

1967 Best Actor, ''The Taming of the Shrew''

Emmy Awards

;Nominations

1985 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special, ''Ellis Island''

Golden Globe Awards

1953 Most Promising Newcomer – Male, ''My Cousin Rachel''

1978 Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, ''Equus''

;Nominations

1960 Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, ''Look Back in Anger''

1965 Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, ''Becket''

1967 Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''

1968 Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, ''The Taming of the Shrew''

1970 Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, ''Anne of the Thousand Days''

Grammy Award Winner

1975 Best Children's Recording, The Little Prince

Tony Awards

1961 Best Actor – Musical, ''Camelot''

1976 Special Award

;Nominations

1959 Best Actor – Play, ''Time Remembered''

1964 Best Actor – Play, ''Hamlet''

Filmography

Stage productions

''Measure for Measure'' (1944)

''Druid's Rest'' (1944)

''Castle Anna'' (1948)

''The Lady's Not for Burning'' (1949)

''The Lady's Not for Burning'' (1950)

''A Phoenix Too Frequent'' (1950)

''The Boy With A Cart'' (1950)

''Legend of Lovers'' (1951)

''The Tempest'' (1951)

''Henry V'' (1951)

''Henry IV'' (1951)

''Montserrat'' (1952)

''The Tempest'' (1953)

''King John'' (1953)

''Hamlet'' (1953)

''Coriolanus'' (1953)

''Hamlet'' (1953)

''Twelfth Night'' (1953)

''Henry V'' (1955)

''Othello'' (1956)

''Sea Wife'' (1957)

''Time Remembered'' (1957)

''Camelot'' (1960)

''Hamlet'' (1964)

''A Poetry Reading'' (1964)

''Doctor Faustus'' (1966)

''Equus'' (1970)

''Camelot'' (1980)

''Private Lives'' (1983)

''War of the Worlds'' (1978)

Further reading

Shipman, D. ''The Great Movie Stars: The International Years'', Angus & Robertson 1982. ISBN 0-207-14803-1

References

External links

Official website of Richard Burton

Richard Burton's yacht Kalizma

Burton in the pub with his father and brother in Pontrhydyfen

Richard Burton on the Dick Cavett Show, July 1980

|- !colspan="3" style="background:#C1D8FF;"| Husband of Elizabeth Taylor

Category:1925 births Category:1984 deaths Category:Adoptees adopted by relations Category:Alcohol-related deaths in Switzerland Category:Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Category:American Theatre Hall of Fame inductees Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best British Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:British expatriates in Switzerland Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Deaths from cerebral hemorrhage Category:Grammy Award winners Category:People from Neath Port Talbot Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Category:Shakespearean actors Category:Tony Award winners Category:United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassadors Category:Welsh film actors Category:Welsh-speaking people Category:Welsh stage actors Category:People educated at Glan Afan Comprehensive School

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