The Richard Burton Diaries (61 page)

We persuaded PG not to fire an actor called George Stanford Brown – a very beautiful sluggish lethargic negro boy.
¹¹
He always wears tight jeans and sits sprawled with his legs wide open. Gives me a pain but am told to be nice to him by E. And also he's a pupil of PHB's [Philip Burton]. I hope we were right to keep him on – not that it matters, it's only a film.

The food in the two restaurants we went to was good at first and then, through over-familiarity perhaps or boredom or something, became atrocious. We ate mostly at home afterwards. [...]

A. Guinness walked around looking very white and pink and read a little note-book which contained his lines for the film. He looks remarkable as a negress.
¹²
Quite deceived me at first.

P. Ustinov gave a turn at the huge charity benefit for lepers and TB.
¹³
He is a very good sort but his invention is running out. He is doing the same turns now as he was 10–15 years ago. They are brilliant to the uninitiated. He is very serious when alone with one but must clown with an audience of two. In some vague way, because he seems disturbed, I feel sorry for him. Jack of all trades.

Friday 31st
We have been at this house – it's a famous one called ‘La Fiorentina’ – for 2
¹
/
₂
weeks, and for the last 12 days have shot at night, which after the initial adjustment I don't mind.
¹⁴
It means a certain amount of sunshine during the day and a game or two of tennis. It has however been quite cold at night
and the night before last in the mountains above St Michel it was bitter. We had a soup in St Michel which is well known locally as Potage au Pistou.
¹⁵
I think. Very good.

Last Monday night we had drinks at the Palace at Monaco and then went on to the Hotel de Paris to a banquet in aid of the British American Hospital, at which we were the guests of honour.
¹⁶
I enjoyed but don't remember too much about it. He was tubby and smiled kindly and seemed nice. She was pretty and young looking and very short-sighted. Her eyes indeed are terribly weak and at the end of the evening were shot bright with blood.
¹⁷

Last night I worked with James Earl Jones – a retake – and then with A. Guinness.
¹⁸
We finished by 02.45 – very early for us. A hot bath when I arrived home, a read in bed and asleep by 5.30.

We were roughly 3 weeks in Paris before coming here. We stayed at the Plaza Athenée.
¹⁹
So far it's the best hotel we've stayed at in Paris with a splendid restaurant. Things that stick out:

We were both nominated for Oscars for
VW
– the film itself getting 13 nominations.
²⁰

We had dinner with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who came back afterwards to our apartment in the Plaza.
²¹
We all got on famously.

We went to London for the opening night of
Shrew
. A huge success almost totally spoiled by Frank Flanagan's sudden death on the morning of the opening night, which incidentally was E's birthday.
²²
He died quickly thank God of a heart attack.

A couple of weeks later Sally Wilson died in NY of leukaemia or a sinister relation.
²³

Bob (Wilson) and Agnes (Flanagan) are both with us here in the house at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat recovering from the terrible shock. Bob is strong and suffers in relative silence. Agnes, poor dab, drinks and drinks and drinks.

With the Duke of Windsor in Paris. We went back to our apartment after dinner and the Duke and I sang the Welsh National Anthem in atrocious harmony. I referred disloyally to the Queen as ‘her dumpy majesty’ and neither the Duke or Duchess seemed to mind.

APRIL

Saturday 1st
Went into Nice in the afternoon yesterday to buy books. There wasn't much selection but we bought a lot of thrillers. Afterwards we had cocktails at the Negresco where we ran into Bob Hall (stuntman) and John Lee. Mike (our M.) came with us. I wrote to his headmaster yesterday to try and get him reinstated at Le Rosey from which he has been expelled. Poor boy. Otherwise I'll try and get both boys into Millfield.
²⁴

[...] Wrote to Kate and enclosed $10. She hopes Syb's baby is a boy. He will be called Colin if a boy, Amy if a girl.
²⁵
[...]

Telegraphed Franco Z. that he can show
Shrew
at Cannes if he wishes but warned him that he may get royally shrewed! They're a nasty lot around here. [...]

MAY

Sunday 21st, on Board
Oddyseia
Portofino
²⁶
We arrived this morning from Corsica where we have been for about a week – 2 days at Ajaccio, two at L'lle Rousse and two at Calvi.
²⁷
[...] We are going to buy this M.Y. It will cost $220,000 and we shall spend 40 or 50,000 dollars on it. It is old – 60 years – is 130 feet long, three engines, 260–80 tons. She will do 14 knots. There are 7 bedrooms two of them with large double beds and will sleep 14 passengers. There are 8 crew, though that includes a cook, maid, waiter. The boat itself
needs only 4 – at the most 5 – crew to run it efficiently. I estimate it will cost $25–30000 a year to run it. Not too bad when one considers our last house (rented) cost $10,000 a month plus approx $1000 a week for food and staff etc! If we can use it as much as possible instead of hotels we could actually save money.

Monday 22nd
Stayed on board all day yesterday and sunned ourselves. Result – pink all over. Watched the port's traffic which was endless with scores of waterbuses loaded with scores of Sunday tourists from adjacent Genoa, Santa Margherita, Rapallo etc.
²⁸
Thank the lord they didn't know we were here.

This morning however we went shopping and I bought this pen with which I write, a Jockey cap, a couple of pencils and paper while E bought out Pucci's.
²⁹
There were a lot of tourists mostly German and American – the latter being almost exclusively Jewish. They greet one with ‘Hi Elizabeth. California.’ There are only 20 million people in California. We fled for sanctuary to a splendid restaurant called ‘Pitosforo’ where we had Vodka Tom Collins, cocktail onions, cheese from Sardinia called Formaggio al Sardo, two kinds of salami and, when I asked for them, fave (spring broad beans sort of).
³⁰
Afterwards, though we'd promised to lunch on board we had steak à la maison and crepes suzette. All delicious. After lunch we went home to the boat and slept and so on.

Must send telegrams tomorrow regarding future plans. Everybody is waiting for decisions. Must make some I suppose or should we? I wish I never had to work again but know I will and suppose we must. I must work out one day how much we have in cash property etc. Must be quite a lot. Perhaps we could stop now if we stopped spending so much.

We think this restaurant ‘Pitosforo’ – we dined there again tonight to be among the best we know. And the ambience is splendid, the lovely little harbour at your feet.

Wednesday 24th, Portofino Harbour
The seas were high and the skies grey and the boat rocked and shivered since we are tied up slightly outside and more subject to the wind and weather. So we locked all doors and settled to read and, in my case, do crossword puzzles. I read E's script
The Old Man and me
and thought it good and a money maker especially with C. Grant but it may by now be unavailable.
³¹
[...] Have read variously since coming on board.
The Whole Truth
a novel about foreign correspondents for a thinly disguised
NY Times
.
³²
Caen
– about the battle of Caen and D-Day (I think I
would have gone mad in that hell).
³³
Some detective stories, new original script by Tennessee
Boom!
which E will do as a film.
³⁴
Script of
Shoes of the Fisherman
– worst of Hollywood vulgarity and taste, though written by Morris West, an Australian in Rome.
³⁵

[...] E anxious that I write about her so here goes: She is a nice fat girl who loves mosquitos and hates pustular carbuncular Welshmen, loathes boats and loves planes, has tiny blackcurrant eyes and minute breasts and has no sense of humour. She is prudish, priggish and painfully self-conscious. [...]

Friday Night, 26th, Santa Margherita Harbour
H. French arrived on Wednesday at about 7pm. [...] Showed us strange cable in which C. Grant said he would costar with E only if I directed! He must be frightened of her or something. Perhaps he's a little strange in the head.

Hugh came back on Thursday for lunch with news of telephone calls etc. Will hear something shortly I suppose. Told us that James Mason left his agency after 17 years (?) because they [...] were getting all the plum parts for me. Well, well.

Suspect that Rex and Rach Harrison are back because I saw a flag on their flag pole.
³⁶
I was right as I've received a note from them this afternoon.

Weather pretty rough so shifted to above harbour as it's safer than Portofino. [...]

Stayed on board all day and read and sunbathed. Sky hot and blue but sea a curious milky green from the storm I suppose.

Much threat of war between Israel and U.A.R.
³⁷
Bugger it. Was put in a fury by crowds of staring idiots on Thursday in the square. [...] Fury vented on E of course.

JUNE

Thursday 1st, En Route St. Marg – Portofino
We were in St Margherita yesterday for watering and fuelling and just as well as it gave us a chance to get away from Rex and Rachel. We had spent Sunday up at their house and, as usual it was very liquid. Rex seems to hold his booze better than he used to but Rachel is still maniacal. We saw them again on Monday evening at La Gritta
bar in the Port.
³⁸
Fortunately before Rachel became totally demented they left (not without difficulty for Rex) for home and dinner at about 9.30. By this time Tennessee Williams and his friend Bill had arrived and Joe Losey and J. Heyman and H. French.
³⁹
Tennessee, who now prefers to be called Tom, seemed sloshed and spoke in a loud voice, powerful penetrating and incoherent and somewhat embarrassing. E told him to lower his voice a few times. We were in the Pitosforo at the time, and we attract enough attention as it is. Have now decided to do
Boom!
with E. [...]

On Tuesday everybody came on board. Rachel became stupendously drunk and was or became totally uncontrollable. The strangers T. Williams, Losey, Bill, French, Heyman, left in disgust. She insulted Rex sexually morally physically and in every way. She lay on the floor in the bar and barked like a dog. At one time she started to masturbate her basset hound – a lovely sloppy old dog called Omar. E lectured her, I did, Rex did. All to no avail. She bitterly harangued the memories of Carole Landis and Kay Kendall, hurled imprecations at Lilli Palmer.
⁴⁰
Christ.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we left early in the a.m. for S. Marg to fuel and load up. [...] Losey came to lunch. He's intelligent but a trifle grim. I hope he has a sense of humour. I found it hard work talking to him for 2 hours. Still one doesn't necessarily have to talk all that much to directors.

Tennessee and Bill came too. Again the former seemed to be tipsy. He is certainly not very prepossessing physically. Heyman told us he tried to kill himself a few weeks ago but was saved by Bill. There were no details. I asked Tenn if diarhyl (?) pills depressed him.

‘I have no way of knowing,’ he said.

‘Because,’ I said, ‘you're depressed all the time.’

‘Right,’ he said.

[...]

Friday 2nd, Portofino
Yesterday afternoon taking a little sun on the after deck (finally driven away by long-focus lens paparazzi who were shooting from the road above) I thought – about 2 o'clock – that I saw Rex Rachel and two other people go by in their boat. E wonders if they think we are snubbing them because of Rachel's behaviour on Tuesday. Perhaps. Must call them today sometime.

[...] The two dogs have been making love now since last Sunday at least 3 times a day. Who would have thought that dogs in heat went on so long. They remain locked after each coition for about 10–12–15 minutes. They are very serious about it and O Fie's penis is beginning to look the worse for wear.

Saturday 3rd
Went on shore yesterday, as promised, to ring R and R. H[arrison]'s keeper told me they were in the harbour so I went to ‘La Gritta’ and there they were sure enough. They were already somewhat the worse for wear – it was about 2.00 pm. I went with them to a little rest[aurant] and drank some red wine while they ate. [...] We talked a lot about death and miraculous recoveries – stemming from Chichester and his cancer and his recovery and his round-the-world voyage.
⁴¹
It was pleasant enough.

It was the anniversary of the liberation of Italy by the Allies I gather, and Portofino was crawling with holiday makers.
⁴²

I took R and R in my new boat and we went for
¹
/
₂
hour spin down the coast. There was so much traffic that we were, until we got clear, soaked with water. I brought the boat back in as one, said Rex, to the manner born.

This coast is unquestionably more interesting than the Côte d'Azur, much more wild and forted. Rex was very anxious to prevent Rach drinking and we managed to keep her off it for an hour but once on board she was on to the Scotch like a homing pigeon. [...]