MovieChat Forums > The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) Discussion > Richard Burton drank a lot of booze betw...

Richard Burton drank a lot of booze between 1963 and 1965


He looked pretty good in Cleopatra (1963) but looked terrible two years later.

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He was just getting warmed up for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

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Indeed.

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Actually he drank a lot from 1940 to 1984. Unfortunately he had a lot of roles that called for drunks and he gladly obliged.

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Many actors were and are drunks. It goes with the pressures from the job. Make one near miss due to a movie that flopped or their acting and their life style could be greatly reduced or gone.

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Those of us who aren't drunks are all so lucky to have easy, carefree jobs with no pressure.

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There is a twitter account that tweets a daily extract from his diaries. The are in no particular order and bounce between school days and lustful observation on Liz Taylor. But quite a lot of the tweets are about drinking too much and trying to cut back and just bloody well enjoying it.

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This is NOT called 'Casting Against Type'. Burton's drunks are always a thing to behold, and probably the result of special insight on the actor's part.

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