During the 1962 filming of “Cleopatra” in Rome, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton began a very public affair. The two were both married to other people at the time. The scandal made headlines worldwide and was met with moral outrage.
After five months in Rome, filming moved to the island of Ischia, Italy, off the Amalfi Coast, with the paparazzi in hot pursuit. It was on Ischia that the scenes on Cleopatra’s barge were shot. The following candid photos of Elizabeth Taylor sunbathing and swimming were taken by celebrity portrait photographer Bert Stern.
That same month, the Hollywood stars visited the neighboring island of Capri as guests of entertainer Dame Gracie Field at her exclusive hotel, La Canzone Del Mare. The hotel’s name – “Singer of the Sea” – is a reference to the incredible view over the rocks below where the mythological sirens were said to have lured sailors to their deaths. The photo shown here is being shown publicly for the first time in an auction of Field’s scrapbooks.
Rumours of their relationship had been sizzling since filming of Cleopatra began the year before, but exploded that June when the scandalised Vatican accused them of ‘erotic vagrancy’ and the U.S. government threatened to ban them from the country. In the photograph, however, they look as though they haven’t a care in the world as they stroll side by side to the waterfront, him holding a cigarette in a casual white top and trousers, Taylor standing beside him in a one-piece bathing suit and cap, their hands almost brushing together.”
After the picture “Cleopatra” was completed filming the next month (July 1962), Taylor and Burton would continue their off-screen romanace. Another two and a half years would elapse before they would divorce their respective spouses and be free to marry one another. After their March 1964 wedding in Montreal at the Ritz Carlton, “the Burtons” would continue to captivate the public’s attention for the rest of the sixties, grabbing headlines, making movies together, throwing glamorous parties, having nasty public arguments, buying ridiculously large and expensive jewels and yachts, jetting here and there, and hobnobbing with royalty like the exiled Duke and Duchess of Windsor and other glitterati.
But by 1970, the glitter had worn off the golden couple. Their endless and needless spending and self-indulgence were wearisome and tacky. Their film reviews were terrible and their relationship was worse. They made each other miserable. They were in bad health. Both drank heavily and Elizabeth liked pills. They would divorce each other only to remarry, then divorce again.
Readers: For more on Elizabeth Taylor, click here.
I alway wonder why she was married 7 times in one lifetime.
Great post!
LikeLike
She may not be done. Rumors of #8 are surfacing.
LikeLike
Are you serious? Wow Liz, age 72 isn’t slowing you down one bit. lol
LikeLike
Liz turned 78 last February!
LikeLike
I saw Liz and Burton on Broadway in Private Lives in 1980 or so and it was a thrill!
LikeLike
How fabulous.
LikeLike
Wow! She had quite a barge of her own, didn’t she?
Shirley K.
LikeLike
Pretty legs!
LikeLike
Surprisingly so! What I wouldn’t give for a set of gams like that!
LikeLike
I showed the photo to Carolyn Waller. She said she had never seen Liz’s legs until then.
LikeLike
I just saw Cleopatra (sp?) Ms. Taylor is a great actress and in her prime for the film. RB as always very handsome. I will always delight is seeing their movies and in readings of both. Graced we are to have these to larger than life people as a part of our world.
LikeLike
Elizabeth was in her prime in Cleopatra. In the sixties, she and Richard were the biggest stars of all. I remember those times well.
LikeLike
I remember it well, the headlines on the Los Angeles Times read, “Liz and Richard banned by the Catholic Church.”
LikeLike
He was gorgeous and sexy and so was she…..these two were the real deal, powerful, electric, great fireworks between them and each, in their own right, a character of great substance despite their debauchery…. There were so much more fun that today, today, unfortunately, where all we have are fake-macho men and anorexic women with no lipstick.
LikeLike
BRAVO! Well, said.
LikeLike
[…] of Actium took place : in natural settings in Italy or in studio… According to Imdb and some information about the personal lives of Richard Burton and Elisabeth Taylor Ischia Island near Naples is a good […]
LikeLike
What a great couple of that era.Liz had such beauty. Know one could compare at the time.To this day there is really nobody that could even come close to Liz.Her beauty was like no other
LikeLike
I confess that, as a preteen, I spent long summer afternoons at my grandmother’s Texas lakehouse reading American gossip rags in which Liz and Dick were prominently featured and covered to the nth degree. I feel that is the source of my forever fascination with them and this post War II movie period. Thanks for visiting Lisa’s History Room, Deborah, and keep reading some more posts. Best, Lisa
LikeLike