Their estrangement didn’t last, Burton and Taylor remarrying in Kasane, Botswana, on Oct. 10, 1975.
Yet the old ghosts were waiting for them and they divorced again in July 1976. But they stayed close for the rest of Burton’s life, Taylor signing a 1982 birthday telegram, “Love you very much, your double ex-wife Elizabeth.”
Burton, who married twice after Taylor, died Aug. 5, 1984, at the age of 58.
Taylor’s son Christopher, who considered Burton his main stepfather, told The Guardian in 2024, “As kids we always saw him as the larger personality—the force of his personality was just huge. But looking at interviews with him and my mom, she’s the dominant figure, and he’s the subordinate one. He’s sitting there quietly and she’s protecting him, fending off reporters and taking charge.”
They may have been too combustible to stay married, but Burton ranked as 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.”