Kings and Queens of Cool

Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton, Shepperton, England, 1963. The King’s Head pub, just down the road from the studios where they were busy being Henry II and Thomas Becket for Peter Glenville’s Becket.

On screen, a king and his archbishop tearing apart the friendship of a lifetime. Off screen, something considerably less complicated. An Irishman and a Welshman, two of the greatest voices the stage ever produced, and a shared conviction that moderation was something that happened to other people.

Today we’d call it the greatest bromance in movie history. They would have called it lunch.

And look at them. Wine on the table, Cinzano and VAT 69 on the ashtrays, a coffee cup or two for plausible deniability. O’Toole halfway through either a brilliant story or a terrible idea. Burton listening with the look of a man perfectly willing to sign up for both.

Becket gave each of them a Best Actor nomination. Neither won. Across their careers they would collect fifteen nominations between them and not one competitive Oscar. Judging by these pictures, I suspect they took it rather well.

📸 Milton H. Greene @miltonhgreene was there with his camera, and he knew a thing or two about catching stars off guard (ask Marilyn). Just two friends having an excellent afternoon, apparently oblivious to everyone else in the room.

I keep a private list of photographs that make me think: God, I wish I’d been there. These sit comfortably in the Top 10.

I’d even have paid for the wine.
Brave of me, considering the company. 😎

#saturdaysarefortheboys

#peterotoole #richardburton #kqcool