Wednesday’s fatal shooting of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was greeted with widespread grief, horror, and shock by many MAGA and right-wing figures, some of whom counted Kirk as a friend or cited him as an inspiration for their own work. But while many simply expressed their grief for Kirk and his family, and politicians on […]
Richard Burton’s legacy is one of contradictions. He is both a towering figure of 20th-century popular culture and a bright, brief candle whose peers made indelible marks on the 21st, too. He managed to achieve success as both a classical stage actor and marquee-name movie star at a time when slippage between those worlds was at a minimum. He was nominated for an Oscar seven times, but never won. His relationship with Elizabeth Taylor—with whom he co-starred in many films and stage productions, most famously Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?—is remembered as an epic love story despite their twice divorcing. He described himself as a socialist, or indeed a communist, but moved to Switzerland to avoid paying taxes, wryly commenting, “I believe that everyone should pay them—except actors.” Famously an alcoholic, he claimed to drink to stave off the deadness of being offstage. Sometimes his alcoholism was functional; other times he was reportedly so drunk, like while filming The Klansman (1974), that he had to shoot all his scenes sitting or lying down. By his forties, he had become frail and weak. By 58, he was dead.
Leading conservative activist Charlie Kirk died Wednesday after being shot while speaking to students at a university in Utah. He was 31 years old. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show Kirk being struck in the neck while he was sitting on a stool addressing an outdoor crowd at Utah Valley University in the […]