John le Carré was a particularly observant man. He was both a British spy and a successful writer, so even if he and Burton didn't spend a long time together drinking and binge-watching, he still saw through Burton's mental and physical illness.
In 1964, Burton invited him to watch "Hamlet" on Broadway. He was placed in the front row, the best position. And Burton didn't know him before, just because he read his novel "Berlin Spy".
Le Carré said that even if he was asked to make a pilgrimage to the Pope, he would not be more excited than to ask him to meet Burton. Burton's performance on stage was epic. He was unsurprisingly smitten by Burton when he was invited to Burton's dressing room at the end of the show.
He desperately says Burton's Hamlet is better than Oliver's and Gielgud's, better than everyone else's.
But he kept muttering in his heart that this man with a beautiful, thunderous classic baritone, with a perfect face like a Greek statue, a pockmarked face, and an unparalleled masculine charm, can really play that man well. A decadent middle-aged British spy?
Later, in the middle of the filming, Burton refused to shoot because of depression and did not want to talk or move. He said that he only wanted to see Le Carré, and that he would only read it if Le Carré had revised his lines.
The producer hurriedly called Le Carré and said in a panicked tone as if someone was holding a gun to his head, "Come on, Richard needs your company and help."
Le Carré flew to Dublin, Ireland, and took over the job of drinking with Burton every day. He watched Burton and Taylor, and the dispute with director Martin Ritter. Burton was in a lot of trouble at the time.
Just before filming began, his second daughter, Jessica, was sent to a psychiatric nursing home on Long Island by Sybil. When he went to visit her, she didn't recognize him at all and had become a schizophrenic.
Tyler tried to take her by his side, hired the best nurses to care for her, and asked the best doctors to treat her, but Sybil refused, and she forbade Burton to pick up her daughter. This made Burton very remorseful and remorseful.
After filming began, Taylor's Rolls-Royce hit and killed people on the road, although they were not responsible for the accident. Then, Taylor's father suffered a stroke and was said to have less than a year to live, leaving her to care for him.
Finally, when Taylor returned to the set, he was jealous with Burton's first love Bloom, staring at Burton every day on the set, screaming and shouting at him from time to time, making him more anxious.
Le Carré was once invited to his suite by Burton in the early hours of the morning, and when he arrived, Burton was sitting alone. Taylorming knew he was coming, but he called Burton back to the bedroom angrily on the walkie-talkie, not wanting Burton to be alone with him.
After Burton returned to the room, because the walkie-talkie was not turned off, he clearly heard loud slaps, which were many slaps. He guessed that Tyler's face must have been swollen from Burton's beating.
But what he didn't expect was that when she came out of the room safe and sound, Burton was beaten all over by her. Under domestic and foreign difficulties, Burton had only started drinking at noon, but now he was so stimulated that he fell ill and could only use alcohol to suppress him. He was very drunk on the set all day long, which caused director Martin Ritter anger.
Ritter hated Burton from the first time he met him, thinking he was too indulgent. Ritter was a moral gentleman, conservative and stubborn, neither smoking nor drinking. While Burton was talking to him, he was smoking and drinking nonstop.
He couldn't hide his distaste for Burton at the time, so much so that it was beyond words. He also took anger at Burton, arguing that when he was blacklisted by Hollywood in 1952, Burton did not speak out for the persecuted leftists. In fact, they didn't know each other at the time.
The two had differences because of their performance concepts, and they debated openly on the set and refused to give in to each other.
A few years later, Ritter said, "I didn't like the way he and Elizabeth lived. She was drinking champagne all the time, and when he went out to dinner with her at noon, he came back drunk. It wasn't a pleasant collaboration, and I think he too I must think I don't appreciate him enough."
This is a polite remark, because Burton was in the red at the time, and he didn't want to say too sharp things.
In 1986, two years after Burton's death, he began to criticize Burton.
"I don't have any respect for talent. Talent is born, not earned, so how you treat your talent is more important. Put money over art, or family. Show off you wealth and women, showing off your alcoholic life, it's pretty bad.
Wasting talent is a sin against God and humanity. Burton's talent is extraordinary, and because of this, the greater his talent, the greater the sin. "
Obviously, the Oscar judges have not given Burton an award, and it is also his mentality. Le Carré countered, "Really? Is that fair? It's not true and it's not fair. Richard Burton was a literate, serious artist, a self-taught, very learned man. His desires and The downside is something we all share...he's rude, stubborn, generous, and controlling. But every great man has a strong desire to guard their territory.
It's a shame I didn't meet him before he became famous. His limas were superb and it should have earned him an Oscar that year. It is a pity that this was an award he never won in his lifetime. "
When the last scene of the filming took place, on the seaside of Scheveningen in the Netherlands, when Le Carre saw Burton again, he suddenly found that he was aging at a speed visible to the naked eye. At this time, Burton was not yet 40 years old.
As Burton walked up to him on the beach, he realized that the man in front of him was his Limas, the tired, disillusioned middle-aged spy.
His body is alive, but his spirit is slowly dying in self-loathing, and he's been drained by his life.
Burton wrote in his diary at the time, "I am enjoying life, if this desperate life can be enjoyed."
Burton in "Berlin" received unanimous praise, and one critic who once criticized him said, "He has completely made up for all his previous deficiencies. If he does not win an Oscar this year, then the Oscar will be nothing. There is no justice."
Indeed, Oscar was unjust, or at least unjust to Burton alone. Picture 1: Burton and Le Carre
Picture 2 is Martin Ritter, Bloom and Burton
Figure 3: Martin Ritter, Burton and Michael Holden
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