Why Richard Burton Hate Working With Lucille Ball on ‘Here’s Lucy’

Richard Burton and Lucille Ball Feud image — Everett Collection

What To Know

When Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor guest-starred on Here’s Lucy in 1970, tensions ran high behind the scenes.
Lucille Ball’s strict and controlling approach as a studio head clashed with Burton’s background.

For every lifelong friendship born on a soundstage, there is also a famous personality clash that the studio public relations teams are working overtime to hide. Case in point, consider for a minute a backstage battle that happened way back in 1970. It was the week Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor guest-starred on Here’s Lucy.

Everyone knew that this was going to be a huge television event. According to the Everything Lucy website, “There was a great deal of national publicity about the show, including a TV Guide cover of the three superstars, Lucy, Liz, and Richard. This is one of the all-time highest-rated programs of Lucille Ball‘s career.”

From the outside looking in, the episode had to be considered a big win for everyone involved. However, in reality, it turned into a deeply uncomfortable workplace that left one of the world’s most famous dramatic actors writing diary entries filled with pure anger for America’s favorite redhead.

To comprehend just how things went so wrong, one must really understand where Ball was at that point in her career. She was no longer just the silly Lucy Ricardo trying to wrap chocolates on a moving conveyor belt. She was a powerful studio head and a very strict boss. She ran her set with incredible discipline, and she demanded perfection from herself as well as her cast and crew. For her, comedy was a very serious business.

HERE'S LUCY, Richard Burton, Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor, 1968-1974

Everett Collection

And then, there were Burton and Taylor. At the time, they were arguably one of the most famous couples on the planet. They were known for their stormy relationship, their great wealth, and Burton’s serious stage background. And they were used to being treated with a ton of respect. So, when they agreed to appear in the Season 3 premiere titled “Lucy Meets the Burtons,” as noted earlier, it was the talk of the town.

The plot was a classic Lucy mix-up. Burton, disguised as a plumber, was dragged into Ball’s office to fix a sink, and eventually, through a series of hijinks, she got Taylor’s massive diamond ring stuck on her finger. Admittedly, the final product looked fine when broadcast on TV. But behind the scenes, the mood was tense from the very first day.

Burton was a serious thespian. He was a trained stage actor who was used to digging into deep dramatic roles, and he got super annoyed almost immediately under Ball’s commanding style. At that point in her career, she was a bit of a control freak, and Burton was absolutely not used to a sitcom star reading his lines back to him, telling him exactly where to pause for a laugh, and picking apart every single physical movement.

HERE'S LUCY, 1968-74, Richard Burton, Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor, 1970

Everett Collection

The two managed to keep the peace just long enough to finish filming the episode, but Burton’s true feelings were captured in his personal diaries, which were published years later. They provided a remarkably honest look at how much he hated that experience. And because he was a writer, a stage actor, and never lacking in words, Burton used very colorful language to complain.

Louise Phillips, writing on his blog, The Intermediate Period, shared a quote from Burton’s diaries where he said, “Those who had told us that Lucille Ball was ‘very wearing’ were not exaggerating. She is a monster of staggering charmlessness and monumental lack of humour.”

Burton’s final review of working with the TV legend was simple and direct, and riffing off Ball’s biggest TV hit, arguably pretty darn clever. He said, “I loathe Lucy.”