Richard Burton’s two greatest performances, according to Steven Spielberg
As well as teaming up with the biggest names of his generation and ushering in the next age of Hollywood stars, Steven Spielberg has also collaborated with the stars he would have watched growing up. He cast Sean Connery as Indiana Jones’ dad in The Last Crusade, giving the series a much-needed new edge. He let Richard Attenborough run Jurassic Park (which turned out to be a terrible decision in hindsight) and gave Audrey Hepburn her final feature film role in his movie Always.
One star he never worked with is Richard Burton. The hard-drinking Welshman died in 1984, when Spielberg was in his prime. He was only 58 years old, but left behind a remarkable legacy. This included influencing a movie released over three decades after his death – Spielberg’s espionage thriller Bridge of Spies.
Co-written by the Coen brothers, the movie tells the story of the Francis Gary Powers affair. When a US pilot is shot down over Soviet airspace and taken prisoner, it’s up to lawyer James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks) to orchestrate his release. This hinges on a spy swap involving Rudolph Abel, the role that won Mark Rylance his ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Oscar and brought the esteemed stage actor to a bigger audience. Taking on the murky world of the Cold War is no easy feat, so Spielberg looked to one of his favourite spy movies for advice. Luckily, Burton was on hand to help.
Spielberg turned to the 1965 John le Carré adaptation The Spy Who Came In from the Cold for inspiration for his own work. Burton stars as Alec Leamas, an MI6 double agent working inside East Germany. The movie doesn’t get as much love as other films based on le Carré’s stories, particularly those featuring George Smiley, but it’s still a tense, slick affair anchored by a brilliant performance by its leading man. “It is also one of my favourite Richard Burton performances,” Spielberg told Screen Daily, adding that he loves “the way that film had been photographed.”
The highest-grossing director of all time wasn’t finished heaping praise on his fallen idol. He also highlighted his love for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the 1966 movie Burton made alongside his two-time wife Elizabeth Taylor. The movie, the first to be directed by the great Mike Nichols, was nominated in every single category it was eligible for at the Oscars. Taylor scooped ‘Best Actress’ for her performance as the unhappy Martha, whilst Burton was beaten to his award by Paul Scofield for A Man for All Seasons. Taylor was so furious that her beau didn’t win, that she refused to speak about her own victory.
Anyone who knows anything about Spielberg is aware of his love of World War II. He’s been involved in numerous pictures on the subject, both fictional and non-, and has spoken at length about his favourite war movies. He is particularly fond of Where Eagles Dare, the tale of an American unit sent to rescue a captured General from Nazi hands. Burton stars in that film opposite Clint Eastwood and Mary Ure.
They may never have worked together, but Burton and Spielberg’s lives and careers have ended up being intertwined. This is the sort of legacy every actor dreams of – the power to impact creative decisions years after you’re gone.
