A sweeping saga spanning 1898 to 1984 stretching from the mining fields of South Wales to the film sets of Hollywood and from the playhouses of Cardiff to the grand theatres of Broadway - this new and far reaching biography rakes over the coals of the life of Britain's greatest ever actor, Richard Burton. And how one extraordinary man had three fathers, three mothers, seven brothers, six sisters and four wives, and how he loved them all. And how that man earned US$75 million from the start of his career in 1951 to when he died in 1984; the equivalent of US$1.5 billion in today's money, making him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood history. From the Back Cover And God Created Burton is the first complete biography of the greatest Welshman ever to have lived. The man conquered Hollywood like no other British actor, before or since. His achievements were considered all the greater as they were accomplished in the era of such great British actors as Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud as well as great American stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable and Cary Grant. Burton's achievement was even more pronounced as his prowess uniquely spanned theatre, film and television unlike any other actor before him. In the end, he became a genuine legend in his own lifetime and in the mid-sixties, for one year, he stood at the very pinnacle of Hollywood as the world's most bankable actor. He also loved and lost some the most beautiful and talented actresses of the era, including Elizabeth Taylor, Claire Bloom and Susan Strasberg. But he could have achieved even more if it had not been for his addiction to alcohol, a fate inherited from his father and which stayed with him right to the end of his days, eventually killing him and tarnishing an otherwise extraordinary career.