<\/p>\n
Today, November 10, it is exactly a century since Richard Walter Jenkins, Jr., was born in Pontrhydyfen, a village in southern Wales. If that name does not ring a bell, that\u2019s not surprising. You\u2019re likelier to recognize the identity Jenkins adopted nearly two decades after his birth: in 1943, he became Richard Burton<\/b>.<\/p>\nWhy did Richard Burton change his name?<\/h3>\n
Then 18, Burton took the surname of Philip Burton<\/b>, a school teacher who saw the future screen star\u2019s potential, playing a pivotal role in kindling his four-decade acting career. Such was Philip\u2019s influence on the young Burton\u2019s life, indeed, that he became the teenaged Oscar-nominee-to-be\u2019s legal guardian<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Best know for films such as Cleopatra<\/i>, Where Eagles Dare<\/i>, and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold<\/i>, Burton has said<\/a> of Philip: \u201cI owe him everything.<\/b>\u201d<\/p>\n