Liz & Dick Coming Apart
After so many movie bombs in the last 1960s and early 1970s, the movie roles have mostly dried up. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton start hanging out with European and British royalty because they are peerless in other social circles. This include Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Princess Margaret.
Richard Burton often outbids Aristotle Onassis looking to buy jewels for his new bride Jackie.
The Grand Duchess Vladimir Suite
(Richard Burton purchases these pieces in the early 1960s, first the earrings and then the necklace prior to their wedding.)
Soon it becomes a phrase of derision: Living Like the Burtons. Their life becomes so over-the-top, they are un-castable in movie roles. But they are both ambivalent about their careers. Elizabeth Taylor doesn't want to keep working and Richard Burton fantasizes about being a college professor. However, their lifestyle is very expensive. Although Richard Burton is very proud of his glamorous wife, as a working-class kid he is uncomfortable with the waste of their lifestyle. Someone notices that Richard Burton is the "only one who drained his glass" at big parties.
The Poem
The honeysuckle charmed you off your feet,
the emeralds and the red carpets,
the five o'clock beard.
You gotta know what is and isn't yours.
Chicken and chocolate on the dress,
there are parties to find.
Slamming doors and swearing.
Some day you will cry alone
when all the daddys will be gone
and you will wake up some cold day
to find what a fool you've been.
Richard Burton realizes he has an alcohol problem but can't kick it, mostly because Elizabeth Taylor won't stop drinking and partying.
In 1972, they make the movie Under Milk Wood based on a radio play by Dylan Thomas.
"The loving, the fun, the fear and the frustration."
The also made Hammersmith is Out based on Faust.
Then the paparazzi starts looking for bad shots of Elizabeth Taylor. Then Richard Burton's gardner commits suicide at his Switzerland house. Then Richard Burton's brother becomes paralyzed during an accident that breaks his neck while visiting the same house. Filled with guilt, Richard Burton gives up trying to give up drinking. They throw a big $45,000 party for Elizabeth Taylor's 40th birthday. The hotel staff allegedly celebrates when they leave.
Fights become more serious and nastier. Richard Burton is barely able to stand up on the set and has an affair during the making of Bluebeard with one of his wives. Liz and Dick split up but then reunite to make the TV movie Divorce His, Divorce Hers.
This is their last movie together. During filming in Paris Richard Burton once disappears at Elizabeth Taylor's arrival on the set. He has checked out.
I know how lucky I am and how stupid I am!
If you existed, I'd divorce you!
Claire McGuire Interlude
Elizabeth Taylor retreats to Los Angeles and has an affair with onetime 16-year-old crush Peter Lawford. Then she starts dating a local swinger and Dutch businessman who is also a car salesman.
The car salesman moves in but Liz & Dick reunite in Switzerland and the salesman gets the boot.
The reconcile again after Elizabeth is hospitalized. But then while in Rome, Elizabeth is convinced Richard is having an affair with Sophia Loren, his costar in a new movie.
Eric D. Johnson Interlude
Sophia Loren, however, is usually very loyal to her husband Carlo Ponti, who was making the film so it is probably just flirtations that infuriated Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth Taylor finally leaves and releases a statement to the press about her separation from Richard Burton. They finally divorce in 1974. She calls this the saddest day of her life.
But then they remarry in 1976. Richard is not faithful during the second marriage and eventually asks her to reunite with him in New York for her birthday. She arrives for him to announce that he's leaving her for the younger, blonder Suzy Miller.
