Why Richard Burton told Michael Caine to go fuck himself: “That seemed a little unusual”
One of cinema’s greatest-ever examples of a working-class lad done good, Michael Caine rose to the top of the industry and encountered an array of icons, legends, and superstars that could best be described as mind-boggling, and that’s probably still underselling it.
Of course, with a career that stretched for 70 years and saw him win two Academy Awards, deliver countless iconic performances, and contribute to a litany of box office smash hits and classic films, it may not have been a surprise that he regularly found himself rubbing shoulders with Hollywood’s big and mighty.
Then again, this is the boy from Rotherhithe who flew on Frank Sinatra’s private jet when he was dating the ‘Rat Pack’ favourite’s daughter, received words of wisdom directly from John Wayne, found himself in the middle of Marlon Brando throwing a tantrum, and realised at one stage in the 1960s he’d become so famous that his star power eclipsed that of even Cary Grant, who he was standing next to at the time.
Caine was best friends with Sean Connery and Roger Moore, grew up idolising John Huston before working with the director more than once, and basically ticked everything and more of the bucket list before he finally decided to hang up his hat and call it a day after the release of 2023’s The Great Escaper.
With that in mind, of course, Caine was familiar with both Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton when they were the glitziest and most glamorous tabloid fodder on the face of the planet. The press intrusion was just one of many crushing weights placed on an infamously fractious relationship at the best of times, culminating in a verbal evisceration.
Caine and Taylor played a married couple in 1972’s X Y & Zee, which wrapped principal photography in the midst of the festive season. All the actor did was offer his well wishes, only to be unceremoniously shot down. “As they were leaving, I said, ‘Merry Christmas to both of you,'” he recalled, per The Telegraph. “Richard turned and shouted, ‘Go fuck yourself, Michael’. Well, that seemed a little unusual.”
He merely wanted to pass on a dose of holiday cheer to the married couple, only for Burton to tell him to go fuck himself. It’s not very Christmassy, but Caine took it on the chin. “Looking back, I can see it was all the drink and cocaine,” he explained. “It made him say things he didn’t mean. He had terrible mood swings, attacks of jealousy. And he died so young, just 58. It’s very sad, alcoholism.”
Nobody is obligated to reciprocate good tidings at Christmas, but there are a thousand better ways to respond than, “Go fuck yourself”. Obviously, Burton had his own demons to fight in a battle he ended up losing, so at least Caine didn’t take it to heart.
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