A fantastic celebrity biography on Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Behind-the-scenes of their marriage of the century lies two people who had severe insecurities, alcoholic dependencies and for the most part, despite their love for each other, love wasn’t enough to keep them together. Featuring a well-researched and well-written, detailed book by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, and also access to Elizabeth Taylor’s private letters and interviews with Taylor, “Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century” is a fantastic book definitely worth reading!
TITLE: Furious Love
BY: Sam Kashner & Nancy Schoenberger
PUBLISHER: Harper Collins
PAGE COUNT: 484
From veteran entertainment reporter Sam Kashner and biographer Nancy Schoenberger comes the definitive account of the greatest Hollywood love story ever told—the romance of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Kashner has interviewed Elizabeth Taylor numerous times and is the only journalist given access to her extensive collection of personal letters and journals, and he and Schoenberger have also interviewed the Burton family at length. This is truly an authorized and singularly informed biography of these two larger-than-life stars, and of their glamorous, volatile, and audacious relationship.
Elizabeth Taylor, a talented actress known for her beauty and is no doubt a legend and the “It” girl through the 50’s and the 70’s.  An actress that many will remember for her strong personality, her sexy demeanor but also her many marriages.
The one such marriage that fans or those who grew up alongside with Taylor was her marriage to actor Richard Burton. Of her eight marriages, Burton would be #5 and #6 which would last from March 1964 through June 1974 and October 1975 through July 1976.
Two talented people, who loved each other passionately and when they got married, despite their love, their addiction to alcohol, health problems and constant arguing which was fueled by jealousy and excessive alcohol would lead them to a path of discontent, fierce arguing and most of all, their marriage which brought out the best of them, would also bring out their most ugliness.
“Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century” is a book that is amazing in the fact that Dame Elizabeth has helped behind-the-scenes, answered questions and gave material that was invaluable to the book but to this date, Taylor has never authorized a biography nor given extensive interviews for one (since her 1965 memoir “Elizabeth Taylor”. Joined by Nancy Schoenberger, the both Kashner and Schoenberger have created a book with so much detail on both individuals, that I don’t think any other book that can best it.
The details about Elizabeth Taylor and her multiple marriages to various conflicts that took place during her marriage to Burton and having to balance career and husband.
With Richard Burton, he was suave and debonair but also a man who loved alcohol too much. And because he had insecurities himself, was constantly jealous and so much in love with his wife that everything was too much for him and it led to him drinking more and more. Elizabeth Taylor was one of the most wanted talents who had everything but always feared that she may lose Burton as he was unfaithful to her (and I was surprised to find out that the woman he would mess around with was actress Nathalie Delon, who divorced French star Alain Delon in 1969). But who she was losing Burton to was not a person but the bottle which ultimately consumed him.
The book also shed some details on their reunion and second marriage to each other. And once again, things were not the same. Taylor was wise to Burton and Burton while married to Taylor had his eyes set on Suzie Hunt, who would become wife #4 for Burton.
The book would then continue to cover the lives of Taylor and Burton after the divorce up to the funeral of Burton, who passed away in 1984.
Both Kashner and Schoenberger do a great job in detailing Elizabeth and Richard’s marriage, from her hysterectomy that led to health problems to the growing dependency on alcohol for Burton. Where some books would refer to other books, news clippings and other printed sources, Kashner literally hit the ball out of the ballpark by getting access by Elizabeth Taylor to the letters that provide the reader the sense of what state of mind Taylor and Burton were in.
“Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century” is an absolutely fantastic biography on both talents and this time incorporating letters and even information from Elizabeth Taylor. As mentioned, there is no rose color glasses when it comes to how these talents are portrayed in this book. Both were talented onscreen but behind the scenes, they had major insecurities, addictions and issues.
There is no doubt that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton grabbed the headlines with their marriage and divorce. But both Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger do a terrific job in providing the behind-the-scene details that many people including their fans were unaware of. It’s important to note that the version I have read is the uncorrected proof but according to the writers, this is the closest memoir/biography of her marriage to Burton that we will ever see from her and that Dame Elizabeth wants Richard Burton to be well remembered.
Overall, this book is definitely recommended!