Dec. 16, 1963 - Mrs. Sybil Burton was granted a divorce today on charges that her husband, the actor Richard Burton, had abandoned his home and subjected her to cruel and inhuman treatment. A friend of Mr. Burton said that he now would marry Elizabeth Taylor, the actress. In Beverly Hills, Eddie Fisher, estranged husband of Miss Taylor exclaimed, “Marvelous! Bravo!” Then he broke into the first two bars of the song “Guadalajara.” In a relaxed and expansive mood, Eddie said he was in the final stages of preparation for his nightclub act, opening Dec. 23 at the Desert Inn, Las Vegas. In Hollywood, Martin Gang, Miss Taylor’s lawyer, said his partner, Mickey Rudin, was in New York conferring with Fisher’s lawyer about a settlement to clear the way for a divorce between the actress and the singer. Fisher said, “I will do anything to make Elizabeth happy. I’d be glad to get it over and done with. I wish her only the best.” The Burton divorce was confirmed by the Mayor of Puerto Vallarta, where Mr. Burton and Miss Taylor have been staying during the shooting of the movie, “The Night of the Iguana,” in which Mr. Burton is the star. Mrs. Burton agreed to the divorce when Mr. Burton met her financial terms: to deposit $1 million immediately in her name in a Swiss bank and to pay her an additional $500,000 over the next 100 years. Mrs. Burton will also receive custody of the couple’s two children, Kathryn, 6 years old, and Jessica, 4.
