Mar. 15, 1964 - Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, whose on and offscreen romance was watched by the world since they fell in love two years ago, slipped into Montreal today and were married by a clergyman. It was reported that a rabbi performed a second ceremony. It was the fifth marriage for Liz, 32, and the second for the 38-year-old Welsh actor who has been appearing in a pre-Broadway production of “Hamlet” in Toronto.
“Elizabeth Burton and I are very, very happy,” Burton said after a Unitarian minister performed the single-ring ceremony.
Tonight, Richard and Liz, in their five-room, eighth-floor suite of the Ritz Carlton, dined on filet mignon with sauce béarnaise. Later, Burton, in a bathrobe, shorts, and a T-shirt, responding to a knock on the door, refused to talk to newsmen. He will resume his Hamlet role tomorrow in Toronto.
The Rev. Leonard Mason of the Church of the Messiah in Montreal married the couple in the regal suite of the Ritz. It was reported that a second ceremony was performed by an unidentified rabbi. Liz was converted to Judaism three months before marrying singer Eddie Fisher in 1959. Burton is Presbyterian. But the son of a Welsh coal miner said last year that he had no conventional religion.
It was not known where Liz’s four children and Burton’s two were. She had planned to have the children present when she originally scheduled the wedding for Puerto Vallarta during the Christmas holidays, but divorce delays cancelled the ceremony.
Burton divorced his wife Sybil three months ago, but he is free to visit his two children as he wishes.
