It's a Burton and Taylor Relationship

In JG Ballard's novel Crash, one of the protagonists fantasises about being involved in a car accident with Elizabeth Taylor. In 1964 Richard Burton, with his finger never too far from the button marked "self-destruct", did much the same thing when he went up the aisle with La Taylor omitting to wear a safety belt and with one foot planted firmly on the accelorator pedal.

The couple's first marriage, characterized by excessive boozing and rows of baroque proportions, proved to be a bumpy ride. It was no surprise therefore when they hit the divorce courts in 1974. Bizarrely the demented pair enjoyed their high octane smash so much they decided to do it all over again in Botswana (yes Botswana) in 1975. Their second marriage would last a mere ten months.

It's a huge irony that such a talented actor as Burton will be noted more for his marriage antics than the corpus of work he produced. For the most part 'Mr Elizabeth Taylor' sleep-walked his way through a quagmire of lucrative but artistically unrewarding Hollywood fodder. Fortunately there were a few cinematic roles worthy of his talent. The most notable of course playing opposite the missus in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

That quintissential Burton/Taylor epic consists of an extended slanging match performed with gusto by the volatile couple. The presumed echoes of their own turbulent relationship lending extra spice to the whole proceedings. Despite a brilliant performance as George Burton just missed out on an Oscar. A deliciously slattern Taylor on the other hand deservedly picked up an Academy Award for her portrayal of Martha.

Burton died in Switzerland in 1985, a curiously neutral resting place for the archetypal hell-raising thespian. Since then the term: 'a Burton and Taylor relationship' has passed into common parlance and remains more of an enduring epitaph than any of his cinematic performances.

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