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Drinking and sobriety
Richard Burton reflects on drinking and sobriety from a Welsh pub. This clip was taken from the programme Kane on Friday: Richard Burton, which was broadcast in 1977.
Burton's love of alcohol was notorious from his earliest days as an actor. His brother Ifor's death in 1972 had a profound effect on the actor; his alcohol consumption increased dramatically as he drank with little regard to his health. This behaviour contributed to the failure of his first marriage to Elizabeth Taylor.
This clip, taken from 1977, was during Burton's fourth marriage to Susan Hunt, the estranged wife of racing driver James Hunt. They had married in 1976 after the second divorce of Taylor, and although it remained in the background, Burton's alcoholism was said to have been tempered by Susan.
