Richard Burton to join Taylor on Walk of Fame

By Anthony Barnes
Published on 15/02/2013 01:08

actor Richard Burton is to be given a posthumous place on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, next to Elizabeth Taylor, the actress he twice married.

Welshman Burton, who died almost 30 years ago, will be accorded the accolade on St David’s Day, 1 March, in a ceremony which will form part of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of epic film Cleopatra, in which the two stars appeared together for the first time.

His inclusion on the Walk of Fame, expected to be confirmed today, follows a campaign by the Welsh newpaper, the Western Mail, led by Welsh business academic Professor Dylan Jones-Evans to secure recognition for the film great.

The relationship between Taylor and Burton – who died on 5 August, 1984, aged 58 – began as they worked on Cleopatra, until which point Oxford-educated, coal miner’s son Burton was best known as a stage actor. Taylor died on 23 March, 2011, aged 79.