Word: burtonizing
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Superb & Definitive. Not too long ago, Richard Burton was considered one of the half-dozen great actors in the English-speaking world. Other men equally select ?Paul Scofield, Sir Laurence Olivier-recognized this; so did critics like Kenneth Tynan; so did a growing public, aware that Burton was young and that most of his major work was still to be done. He has not done it, and there is more than a slight possibility that he never will. But no one can take from him, at least, the achievements that are already behind...
Only four actors in history have played Prince Hamlet more than 100 times in a single production?Sir Henry Irving, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Sir John Gielgud, and Richard Burton. Moreover, Burton was the longest-running Hamlet in the history of the late Old Vic, where Hamlets were kept in the repertory only as long as the box office remained strong...
...whom Shakespeare prophetically wrote: Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all! Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. -Burton's voice and Welsh background also made him a natural for the documentary, A Tribute to Dylan Thomas, winner of a Hollywood Oscar a fortnight ago. *A housemaid's journal in Britain, now defunct. -Rex is suing...
...Gods. Today, his profession views Burton with melancholy. "When the movie career is finished," sighs Gielgud, "he will have lost his romantic years, his vigorous years." His friend and agent, Harvey Orkin, says roughly, "This is a man who sold out. He's trying to get recognition on a trick. He could have been the greatest actor on this planet." It was Olivier who first warned Burton, "Make up your mind. Do you wish to be a household word or a great actor?" Paul Scofield renders judgment, gauging his language with extreme care: "Richard professionally is the most interesting actor...
...Whether Burton ever does return to the theater? in more than a token way?will be determined by something considerably deeper than the fate of the liaison he has recently formed. Two little gods within his frame are warring?one that builds with sureness and power, and another that impels him, like his late companion and countryman Dylan Thomas, recklessly toward self-destruction...