WHEN RICHARD BURTON CLAIMED TO MAKE UP HIS OWN SHAKESPEARE LINES.

WHEN RICHARD BURTON CLAIMED TO MAKE UP HIS OWN SHAKESPEARE LINES. Mary Jane and other actors are amused and sometimes frustrated by the many people whose first question is “How do you remember all those lines?” In HELLO GOODBYE HELLO, Craig Brown recounts the story of a dinner party given by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor at which Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were guests.Burton was placed between a duchess and a countess at dinner. One tells him that she saw his Hamlet and “asks how could possibly remember all those lines”. Burton tells her “that he doesn’t bother, that he improvises, that Hamlet’s character is so revolting that one could only say some of his lines when drunk.” It’s one of Mary Jane’s favorite stories.