RICHARD BURTON - BURTON WAS DESPERATE FOR TAYLOR RECONCILIATION

Actor RICHARD BURTON was desperate for a third reconciliation with DAME ELIZABETH TAYLOR, but the veteran actress refused to give the romance another chance. Burton enjoyed a 10-year marriage to the Cleopatra star before divorcing in 1974. The couple reunited in 1975 and wed once more, but the second union lasted just one year. However, BBC reporter John Simpson - who met Burton on the set of Exorcist II: The Heretic shortly after his 1976 divorce - claims the late actor even tried to give up drinking in a bid to win back the Hollywood legend. According to Simpson, Burton said: "If (Taylor)'d have me back, I'd leave this s**tty film and this ghastly heat right now and charter a plane to go wherever she was. "But it's the old thing: can't live with her, can't live without her. But I adore Elizabeth, and I always will." Burton went on to marry twice more before his death in 1984, aged 58.