Roger Lewis and his new book, ‘Erotic Vagrancy’.Photo:Mobius; Courtesy of Roger Lewis
Mobius; Courtesy of Roger Lewis
Roger Lewis' new book, ‘Erotic Vagrancy’.
With so many books out there about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, how did you approach writingErotic Vagrancy?I really felt I wanted to really get under the surface there, get in deep about their psychology, almost like I was approaching it as a novelist might, exploring their mentality, their motivations.The book began for me when I was quite ill with pancreas trouble and I had all these [sorts] of fevers and hallucinations. During my recuperation, I started watching things likeCleopatra,Taming of the Shrew,Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, all their famous movies from the sixties. There was something almost a bit mad about them, and I rather loved that.
How did you come up with the title for the book?The pope gave me the title for the book. [Burton and Taylor] were in Italy makingCleopatra. Burton was married to this very nice Welsh lady called Sybil with two children, and Elizabeth Taylor was married to Eddie Fisher, whom she’d already stolen fromDebbie Reynolds, so there was already controversy around her because of that.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor on the set of ‘Cleopatra’.Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
The thing about Burton, which really struck me [while] reading his diaries, is what a sort of academic, scholarly figure he was. He really loved reading. He went to Oxford and he really knew about culture. He said towards the end of his life, “People think the great love of my life is women or booze or fame or money.” He said, “No, the big love of my life is the English language.” I found that quite moving.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.William Lovelace/Express/Getty
William Lovelace/Express/Getty
Do you think there’s a couple that mirrors Taylor and Burton today?No, I’m afraid I don’t. People don’t have the courage to be that unapologetically outrageous. There wasLauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, you hadJohn Lennon and Yoko [Ono], you had Peter Sellers and Britt Ekland, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon…You have these celebrity couples, but I think the Burtons were really the main ones, because they were like Punch and Judy. They were just battling the whole time.
With 20th Century Fox, they wouldn’t have anything to do with any of their rebukes about their behavior. When the pope rebuked them, didn’t make them change their ways one little bit.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton pose in casual wear.Bob Penn/Sygma/Sygma via Getty
Bob Penn/Sygma/Sygma via Getty
Do you think that Taylor and Burton helped or hindered each other throughout their time together?One of the big things that happened when Burton met Taylor was that was the end of his career on the stage. I know later on he didCamelot, he didEquusand then made the movie ofEquus…but basically that was it as far as his Shakespearean ambitions went.
As far as Elizabeth Taylor went, she’s the one that becomes, in a way, a more serious actress. You can see Taylor is a really good actress now. She’s not just beautiful in profile, wearing lovely furs or swimming costumes. She now has presence. She has command and depth. And just whatever it is that’s sort of going on in her mind, you can kind of feel that through her presence as an actress. She gets to be really good.
I think they did learn from each other, and maybe detract from each other a bit, and added a bit to each other. They’re in real harmony as artists. It’s like their marriage there we’re watching [in the film], but sort of in a stylized way. It’s turned into art.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
While researching, did you find out anything about Taylor that was particulary interesting to you?She was a very good friend. If she decided that she liked you and trusted you, she was just an amazingly good, close friend. For example, Richard Burton had all these sisters in South Wales, and whenever Elizabeth Taylor finished with all her clothes, all her designer outfits, she’d package them all and send them to these little old ladies in South Wales. And every Christmas, she’d send them very lavish gifts. She was very generous.
Do you think that Taylor and Burton could have ever made things work?They might very well have got together again, because when they were divorced definitively for the second time, what did they do? They appeared on Broadway together in Noel Coward’sPrivate Lives, which is a play about a divorced couple who can’t live without each other. They can’t live with each other, they can’t live without each other. They were playing themselves at the end of their lives in the same way at the start of their lives together.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.Frank Lennon/Toronto Star via Getty
Frank Lennon/Toronto Star via Getty
When Burton died at only the age of 58, Elizabeth Taylor did not go to the funeral. She didn’t want to upstage the event. Early hours of the morning a few days later, she visited the grave on her own with some of her bodyguards. And she said, when she was kneeling at the grave, “It’s one of the few times Richard and I were alone.“It was real love, wasn’t it? It was a love story.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Erotic Vagrancyhits shelves on March 26 and is now available for pre-order.
source: people.com
