Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

88 years ago, on February 27, 1932, the legendary beauty and talented actress Elizabeth Taylor was born. In addition to wonderful roles and amazing beauty, she also became famous for stormy romances. One of the most discussed was her relationship with British actor Richard Burton.

About 10 years ago, Elizabeth Taylor published the last love letters of the legendary actor Richard Burton, who passed away in 1984. The couple married each other twice, but their relationship has always remained passionate.

To write the book "Furious Love. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton", Sam Keshner and Nancy Schoenberger got acquainted with 40 previously unpublished love letters, which tell about the long and noisy Hollywood romances of the past years.

The novel by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is often called the novel of the century. His characteristic features are waste, drunkenness, debauchery, incredible jewelry and passionate love, which bewitched the world for 16 years while they were together. When the couple reunited again, Elizabeth was at the height of popularity, and Richard was called the successor of Sir Laurence Olivier on the London stage.

At the time of their meeting, Taylor had already earned a million dollars for the role of Cleopatra and was married four times. From her second husband, Michael Wilding, she had two sons: Michael (pictured with Elizabeth) and Christopher (foreground right), from her third husband Michael Todd, she had a daughter Elizabeth, known as Lisa (not in the frame).

When their relationship began, both actors were not free. Barton was married to Sybil Williams, a native of Wales, and Elizabeth was married for the fourth time. Her husband was Eddie Fisher, whom, according to her, she stole from American fans.

In front of everyone, the couple took a walk on a yacht, and the paparazzi recorded every moment. The lovers attracted public attention after a scandalous picture of them basking on a ship off the Italian island of Ischia.

In their book, Keshner and Schoenberger studied the language of love that Elizabeth and Richard used in letters to each other. In one of his first letters, Barton wrote to his beloved: "Your smell excites me... a rounded belly and a delicate inner surface of the thighs, a baby's ass, lips, a somewhat aggressive twinkle in your eyes when you are very excited, when you are together with your Welsh lover." Taylor and Barton slipped away and made love wherever possible. She said of his hypnotic charm: "Just imagine Richard Burton whispering something in your ear while you're making love. All problems and troubles disappear immediately."

Six days after the actress' divorce from Eddie Fisher, Taylor and Barton got married at the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal. The bride's yellow chiffon dress was complemented by an emerald and diamond brooch that Barton gave her for her 32nd birthday.

Hopelessly in love, Barton wrote: "In my poor and suffering youth, I dreamed only of such a woman. And now, when from time to time the dream comes back to me, I stretch out my hand and realize that she is here, next to me. If you didn't meet her or didn't know her, you've lost a lot in your life."

The intensity of passions increased, and there was strong evidence to which addiction to alcohol and infidelity can be attributed. In one of the letters Barton wrote: "I know that sometimes I am a terrible liar, but please believe that I have never betrayed you either in words or deeds. I love you too much." Taylor is celebrating her 32nd birthday in New York with Barton, who at that time was starring in the Broadway play Hamlet directed by John Glifeld. The cake reads: "To our Mascot, the leader of our team, love and happy birthday. Colleagues".

During their marriage, Taylor and Barton starred together in several famous films. For playing in the film "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Elizabeth received her second Oscar, and Richard was nominated for this film award for the sixth time. The roles they played on screen often reflected their real relationships.

After the divorce in June 1974, the couple reconciled and 16 months later secretly married again in Chobe National Park in Botswana. Their second marriage was much shorter than the first, and the actors broke up less than a year after registration. But they remained good friends until Barton's death in 1984.

Many years later, Taylor will tell you what place Barton occupied in her heart: "At first sight in Rome, we were always madly and deeply in love with each other."