Elizabeth Taylor

Fresh to market is this extraordinarily rare, one-of-a-kind love letter handwritten by Elizabeth Taylor to her husband, Sir Richard Burton. Written with passion, emotion, and intimacy on the tenth anniversary of their first marriage, on or about March 10, 1974. Taylor and Burton had rented a private home in Oroville, California, for nine weeks while Burton was filming The Klansman. The owner of the home discovered this letter, and another letter of adoring sentiment—written to Elizabeth’s cat, Cassius, who had apparently run away—tucked in a drawer beneath the master bed long after the couple had left the home. In full:

My darling (my still) my husband,

     I wish I could tell of my love for you, of my fear, my delight, my pure animal pleasure of you—(with you)—my jealousy, my pride, my anger at you, at times.
Most of all my love for you, and whatever love you can dole out to me—I wish I could write about it but I can’t. I can only “boil and bubble” inside and hope you understand how I really feel.

     Anyway, I lust thee
Your (still) Wife

p.s.  O’ Love, let us never take each other for granted again!
p.p.s.  How about that—10 years!!

This was a turbulent time for the couple, and they were to divorce just three months after Elizabeth wrote this letter expressing her devotion. Burton was known to be drinking heavily during filming, and according to press reports at the time, director Terence Young actually had to have the great English actor sitting or laying down for many of his lines—because he couldn’t stand and deliver them. He was also having a well publicized affair with a waitress at a local bar the film crew frequented.

Original photographs of Burton and Taylor together—and Burton with his mistress—are included with this lot, as are press reports, a photograph of the master suite the couple stayed in, and the actual lease document signed on their behalf by the film company representatives. Altogether rock solid provenance of a historic love letter between two of Hollywood’s most tempestuous acting couples. To our knowledge no other love letter between Taylor and Burton has ever been offered on the market.