Richard Burton gets Hollywood star

Los Angeles: Actor Richard Burton has finally been honoured by Hollywood with a star on the Walk of Fame next to his wife Elizabeth Taylor.

Nearly 30 years after his death, the Welsh-born actor received the film world`s highest accolade as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of `Cleopatra`, the film which brought Burton and Taylor together and saw the start of their passionate love affair, reported Entertainment Weekly. Among those paying tribute at the St David`s Day ceremony was the star`s lookalike grandson, actor Morgan Ritchie, 24, with his sister Charlotte and mother Kate. Burton and Taylor`s adopted daughter Maria was also there. The unveiling of the plaque, the 2,491st on Hollywood Boulevard, came after a long-running campaign. Actor Michael Sheen recalled the awe he felt when the couple visited the Welsh seaside village where he grew up. "They descended from the heavens, like gods from Olympus, in a helicopter and landed on the beach where I built my boyhood sandcastles," he said. Burton, who died in 1984 aged 58, starred alongside Taylor in 11 films. Morgan Ritchie with the plaque honouring his grandfather Richard Burton has received the film world`s highest accolade The Oxford-educated son of a miner was a distinguished Shakespearean actor when they met on the set of Cleopatra. They went on to become one of the world`s most famous couples, both on and off camera, starring together in `The Taming Of The Shrew` and `Who`s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?` Their 10-year marriage ended in divorce in 1974 but they went on to marry again the following year in Botswana. That marriage was over by the following summer. Born Richard Jenkins, Burton grew up in the village of Pontrhydyfen, near Port Talbot, South Wales. He died from a stroke as his father had done before him. PTI