Audio-Visual Recordings

These primarily comprise recording of Burton's film performances along with audio recordings of Shakespeare and various poetry readings. Earlier roles, such as his 1948 film debut in Emlyn Williams's The Last Days of Dolwyn, as well as lesser known performances including his role as George Jacob Holyoake in A Subject of Scandal and Concern are represented. RWB/1/5/2 includes a Welsh language recording of Saunders Lewis's Brad and a recording of the musical Camelot. There are also copies of the adaptation of Burton's own work, A Christmas Story, produced in 1990 by Harlech Television and S4C. RWB/1/5/3 comprises numerous documentaries on Burton's life as well as recordings of interviews with him, including a 1967 programme of Burton in conversation with Kenneth Tynan. Also represented here are documentaries on other subjects with narration by Burton, for example a recording about the heritage of Wales produced by the British Tourist Authority in the 1980s. The series includes both commercially and non commercially produced recordings.

The material has been arranged into four sub-series: film and television recordings, audio recordings, documentaries and interviews and miscellaneous. Within RWB/1/5/1 and RWB/1/5/2, the items have been listed in alphabetical order by title of production. Within RWB/1/5/3, items appear thematically (documentaries on Burton, interviews, tributes to Burton after his death and documentary programmes narrated by Burton).

Copyright

Most of the film and television recordings are also held at the British Film Institute National Archive