- Also an actor, playwright and producer
- A schoolteacher, he took in the 17-year old Richard Jenkins and groomed him for success. The two became so close, Burton attempted to adopt his as his son, but was prevented from doing so as he was too young, under the law. Nevertheless, Jenkins -- who became known to the world as Richard Burton -- considered Philip his adopted father and honored him by taking on his surname. Years later, when Philip met Elizabeth Taylor and she asked Philip how he came to adopt her soon-to-be fifth (and later sixth) husband, Richard piped up, "He didn't adopt me! I adopted him." '
- Is mentioned in the 1967 memoir of actor William Redfield, "Notes of an Actor". Redfield, who appeared as Guildernstern in the John Gielgud-directed stage version of Richard Burton Hamlet (1964), wrote that Gielgud had an encyclopedia knowledge of the play and could play any and all parts of it from memory for his cast as he directed the production, but he lacked the overall vision to bring the production together.
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