Love You Madly

How Liz Taylor Fought to Keep Burton

Letter reveals actress’s obsession.

They were once the king and queen of Hollywood, among the last of the great movie stars, and so besotted with each other that they ended up marrying each other twice. Now a rare love letter from Elizabeth Taylor to Richard Burton shows how the legendary actress battled to hang on to the love of her life ahead of their first split. “I wish I could tell you of my love for you, of my fear, my pure animal pleasure of you, my jealousy, my anger at you,” she wrote in pencil. Burton left the letter, dated March 15, 1974, at a home the couple had rented in California. It is expected to be sold for 35,000 pounds, or about $57,000. Burton died in 1984 and Taylor in 2011.