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Richard Burton: Prince of Players
 
 

Richard Burton: Prince of Players (Hardcover)

by Michael Munn (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: JR Books Ltd (25 Feb 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1906217157
  • ISBN-13: 978-1906217150
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.4 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 338,674 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Product Description

Richard Burton was a man of contradictions. He wanted to escape the mining community of Wales, yet his heart never left it. He wanted to achieve greatness, but he would have been as happy to have achieved it on a rugby pitch as on a stage. He wanted to live life to the full, but he came to know that he was driving himself to an early grave through drink. He was an avid reader and a lover of poetry; a scholar of life and culture. Yet he seemed to squander his talents and find happiness at the bottom of a beer glass, giving up all hopes of becoming a great actor when he sold his soul to Hollywood and his heart to Elizabeth Taylor. But it was never quite that simple. Here is the full story of Richard Burton's life and remarkable career, revealed by a writer who knew him from 1968 up to the time they were together on Burton's last film in 1984. Munn recounts the deepest and often darkest thoughts and secrets that Burton shared with him, revealing hell-raising stories that Hollywood quashed to save Burton's early film career including affairs with Lana Turner and Marilyn Monroe, being caught in a brothel with Errol Flynn, and a fist fight with Frank Sinatra. He also movingly recalls nursing Burton, through an epileptic seizure of a kind that gripped him from his early days, and witnessing a terrifying encounter Burton had with an East End gangster that ended in violence. In writing this definitive biography, Michael Munn has been able to draw on his conversations with Burton over the years and on formal interviews and informal conversations with a great many of the stars who knew and worked with Burton. This definitive biography includes explosive new material confided by Burton. Author has a strong track record for classy, headline-catching, big selling biographies.


About the Author

A writer, actor and director, Munn was a publicist at Cinerama, Columbia and Warner Bros, a journalist with Film Review and Photoplay, an extra in films - including a number of Richard Burton's - and a 'script doctor' for John Huston. He has worked with Charlton Heston and Kenneth Branagh, and ran his own theatre company. He has written twenty-one books, including the best-selling John Wayne: the Man Behind the Myth, the acclaimed Jimmy Stewart: the Truth Behind the Legend and Lord Larry: The Secret Life of Laurence Olivier.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Update for a new generation., 14 April 2008
By Peter Devaney "FifeFlyer" (Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The singular bonus and difficulty with writing a biography published a few decades after the subjects death is that you have the benefit of a wealth of material to draw on but a problem in trying to present it with a fresh prespective, fortunately Munn has the distinct advantage in that he was actually aquainted with his person he was detailing,

Munn does, however, readily admit that he and Burton were not close friends, more ships that pass in the night, he was an 'extra' on a few of Burton's films while he harboured an ambition to be a director, he first met Richard Burton while he was filming "Anne Of The Thousand Days" and it remains a firm favourite of the author though Burton himself was a little more scathing about the movie, marital problems with Elizabeth Taylor playing more than a small part in his feelings, no doubt!

The book itself is a very good resource for anyone becoming familar or beginning to appreciate the performances of this genuine acting legend who became as famous for his private life as for anything he did on film, much to his eternal annoyance, there is a congenial tone throughout the book and it is a engrossing page turner, the personal anecdotes come from the many personalities who worked and knew the man, being entirely honest and not wishing to insinuate that Mr Munn is not telling the truth, some of these 'anecdotes' are a little difficult to substantiate, though they make excellent reading, a scrap with Frank Sinatra, who later became a close friend, has Burton basically deriding Sinatra's connection with the mafia by stating that he will call up the Welsh version, the 'Tafia', nice story, the only problem is that the organised crime families were never referred to as the mafia until years later but hey it's a good story and perhaps Mr Munn has picked up Burton's knack of spinning a tall tale or two,

This aside, this is a very good book and one I would recommend, I've several books on Richard Burton and while, in my opinion, Melvyn Bragg's "Rich" is still the gold standard, Michael Munn's Prince Of Players happily sits alongside, it beats the family memoirs of the Jenkins brothers and naturally due to additional material tops Penny Junors book as well, it covers his theatre and film work as well as his recording performances into the bargain all in all a very worthwhile purchase and if you like Richard Burton you can't go wrong.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An actor for all seasons., 12 April 2008
By Mr. D. Turner (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This biography of Richard Burton is written by an author who knew Burton from the early 70s until the end of his life.
The main focus is on Burton's childhood through his early stage career and into his movie making in the 50s & 60s. Much attention is paid to his marriage with Elizabeth Taylor and their/his world celebrity status.
The conclusion of the book covers his work and personal life in the early 70s up to his untimely death in 1984.
I learned a lot about Richard Burton that I did not know reading this work. The author is in awe of Rich ( as his friends called him ) but this does not get in the way of his narrative. The author, also, does not shy away from Burton's destructive alcoholism that eventually cost him his life.
All in all, a good solid bio of the greatest actor never to win an Academy award.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Richard Burton, 23 Sep 2009
By Anthony J. Gleave - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a great book about Richard Burton for all of his fans and anyone who is interested in the theatre actors and films. It covers more of his early life and theatrical background than other biographies i have read, before Hollywood got a grip of him and ruined a great stage actor....Much is also wrote about his mentor Philip Burton, who Richard Jenkins took his surname. This is a must for lovers of the famous and their backgrounds and one if not the best biography of Richard Burton.
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5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT BIOG
Richard Burton was one of this country's greatest actors and this biography does him justice. The author does not let his respect for his subject blind him to the man's faults,... Read more
Published 14 months ago by botany11

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