6 Essential Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Movies Every Fan Should Watch
They met while married to other people — on the set of what would be one of Hollywood’s most notorious productions (Cleopatra), no less — got married, divorced, then remarried, then re-divorced. Simply put, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are the standard-bearers for epic Hollywood romance. By the mid-1960s, Burton and Taylor — “Dickenliz,” as they were called — had become the “It” celebrity couple, constantly in the lens as they jet-setted around the world.
But while their offscreen exploits are the stuff of legend, the duo managed to make some magic onscreen as well. Over a decade, the couple appeared in 11 films together, including 1963’s The V.I.P.s, 1967’s The Comedians, and 1968’s Boom!, to name a few, both nabbing Academy Award nominations during that stretch, though only she took home the prize. Some roles were memorable, others best forgotten, but they were all unmistakably Liz & Dick.
Take a look back at six of the most memorable chapters in their onscreen partnership, from unforgettable classics to overlooked curiosities.
1963 – Cleopatra
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Highly anticipated and reeking of the lavish excess of Hollywood’s epic film age, the film made Taylor the highest-paid female movie star at the time. It also famously disappointed at the box office. But the affair between Liz and Dick started here, while Taylor was still married to Eddie Fisher. The tabloids loved it, and the public ate it up, and the film carries the air of their early romance … even if it’s four-plus hours of it.
1965 – The Sandpiper
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Probably their most lushly romantic pairing. Liz and Dick star in this swoony tale of a young, unwed mother and an Episcopalian priest embarking on a forbidden romance. The duo was not first in line for their roles, but in the end they were happy to do it, as they feared their popularity might be waning and wanted to make another film together.
1966 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
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Liz and Dick’s fights were legendary, and Edward Albee’s play was the perfect vehicle to capture the passion and venom of this extraordinary couple doing their worst to each other, and shamelessly involving a young couple in their game. The umbrella shotgun scene is as big a belly drop as ever, but what resonates most loudly is the payoff — the tender final scene that you know isn’t being feigned.
1967 – The Taming of the Shrew
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In the comedic telling of William Shakespeare‘s classic, The Taming of the Shrew, Taylor starred in her first Shakespearean role. The duo co-produced the film by investing $1 million of their own money because the studio was reluctant to fund it, since Cleopatra had almost put 20th Century Fox into bankruptcy. They waived their own salaries on the film and would only take a percentage of the movie’s gross. The film did well at the box office, with worldwide receipts of over $12 million.
1972 — Hammersmith Is Out
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After the 1971 film adaptation of the 1954 Radio drama, Under Milk Wood, Liz and Dick’s final big-screen film together is a zany but ultimately dark retelling of Faust (directed by Peter Ustinov!) set in a mental hospital. Burton chews through every scene as a disturbed patient who offers an orderly (Beau Bridges) untold riches if he helps him escape. Liz tarts it up as a waitress named Jimmie Jean Jackson who catches both men’s fantasies.
1973 — Divorce His/Divorce Hers
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You can’t script a better movie for Liz and Dick to go out on. This three-hour TV movie stars the duo as a longtime married couple examining the breakup of their marriage, something Liz and Dick would be experiencing in real life one year later as they divorced for the first time. They remarried on October 10, 1975, and this time, it lasted only 10 months.
— Additional writing by Stacey Harrison and Karl J. Paloucek
Remind 
Elizabeth Taylor
April 2017
Dedicated to the life and loves of the violet-eyed beauty Elizabeth Taylor.
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