Their separation did not last, Burton and Taylor remarried in Kasane, Botswana on October 10, 1975.
Still, the old ghosts awaited them, and they divorced again in July 1976. But they remained close for the rest of Burton’s life, with Taylor signing a 1982 birthday telegram, “I love you very much, your double ex-wife Elizabeth.”
Burton, married twice After Taylor died on August 5, 1984, at the age of 58.
Taylor’s son Christopher, who considered Burton his primary stepfather, said The Guardian in 2024, “When we were kids, we always saw him as the larger personality—the strength of his personality was simply enormous. But looking at the interviews with him and my mother, she is the dominant figure and he is the subordinate figure. He sits quietly and she protects him, fends off reporters and takes charge.”
They may have been too combustible to stay married, but Burton was Taylor’s greatest love. She said years later: “After Richard, the men in my life were just there to hold the coat, to open the door. All the men after Richard were really just company.”
