{{Short description|British author and theatre producer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Use British English|date=October 2016}} {{BLP sources|date = February 2022}} {{infobox person |name = Sally Burton |birth_name = Sally Anne Hay |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|1|21|df=yes}} |birth_place = [[Braintree, Essex]], England |occupation = {{Hlist|Theatre producer|author|philanthropist}} |spouse = {{marriage|[[Richard Burton]]|1983|1984|end = died}} }} '''Sally Hay Burton''' (born '''Sally Anne Hay'''; 21 January 1948) is a British author and theatre producer. She is the widow of actor [[Richard Burton]], having been his fourth wife.
==Personal life== Burton was born Sally Anne Hay in [[Braintree, Essex]], the daughter of journalist Jack Hay. She was working as a freelance production assistant on the set of the TV mini-series ''[[Wagner (film)|Wagner]]'' when she met Richard Burton.<ref name=RBL>[http://www.richardburton.com/life_71.htm Richard Burton – Life: 1971–1984] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129120908/http://www.richardburton.com/life_71.htm |date=29 January 2009 }}</ref> During a seven-month tour of the United States with [[Noël Coward]]'s play ''[[Private Lives]]'', in which [[Elizabeth Taylor]] was Richard Burton's co-star, Burton and Hay married on 3 July 1983 in Las Vegas; it was Burton's fifth marriage and her first. After the tour, they went to rest in Hawaii for several months before returning to their home in [[Céligny]] where Burton died on 5 August 1984; Sally Burton was then 36.
In 2012 Burton published the diaries of Richard Burton. She said her motivation was to show Burton's "love for words". In her review of the book, Barbara Ellen in ''[[The Guardian]]'' wrote <blockquote>The suspicion forms that Sally's unspoken motivation was to derail, once and for all, the Liz-Dickie show. To demonstrate that, despite all those tales of Burton's sending secret final love letters to Taylor, in which he wrote of yearning to "come home" to her, in truth, he had gone right off her, and, considering what he was writing, near despised her. To my mind, this none-too-subtle attempt to undermine the Burton/Taylor-myth looks a bit vindictive – especially considering that Taylor is dead now, and can't flash those violet eyes, and open that fabulous fishwife mouth, in reply.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/16/barbara-ellen-sally-burton-edwina-currie-diaries|title=Girls, please! Talk about putting the 'dire' into diaries By Barbara Ellen|date=16 September 2012|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=12 September 2017}}</ref></blockquote>Simon De Bruxelles wrote of the diaries in 2012, "The depth of Richard Burton's passion for Elizabeth Taylor is laid bare in diary extracts to be published for the first time this year ... beautiful beyond the dreams of pornography."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/richard-burtons-diary-reveals-love-for-the-exciting-wilful-elizabeth-taylor/news-story/cea7c040e7121a3f9b68b0399d5df66c|title=Richard Burton's diary reveals love for the 'exciting, wilful' Elizabeth Taylor|author=Simon De Bruxelles|date=15 August 2012|work=[[The Australian]]|access-date=12 September 2017}}</ref>
The diaries had been kept since 1965 and Burton, "... always maintained that they were personal and not intended for publication."<ref name=":0" />
==Philanthropy== Burton donated the Richard Burton Collection to [[Swansea University]] in 2005<ref>[http://www.swan.ac.uk/news_centre/NewsArchive/2009-2010/Headline,46033,en.php Richard Burton Archives: The New Home of Swansea University's Archives], [[Swansea University]], 30 April 2010</ref> and she received an honorary [[fellow]]ship from that university in 2006.<ref>"Ruth Madoc and Sally Burton awarded university fellowships", ''[[Western Mail (Wales)|Western Mail]]'' (18 July 2006)</ref>
In 2005, Burton moved to [[Perth]], Western Australia, where her brother and his family had lived for years.<ref name=Oz>[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/lasting-legacy/story-e6frg8n6-1225900461831 "Lasting legacy"] by Victoria Laurie, ''[[The Australian]]'' (7 August 2010)</ref> In 2009, she launched the Richard Burton Award for New Plays, in conjunction with [[Black Swan State Theatre Company]] offering a prize pool of [[Australian dollar|A$]]30,000 for writers of unproduced scripts; this is Australia's richest prize for playwrights.<ref name=Oz /> The 2010 first prize of A$20,000 was awarded to [[Caleb Lewis]]; Hellie Turner was awarded the runner-up prize of A$10,000.<ref>[http://www.bsstc.com.au/playwriting/the-richard-burton-award-for-new-plays/ The Richard Burton Award for New Plays] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024030436/http://www.bsstc.com.au/playwriting/the-richard-burton-award-for-new-plays/ |date=24 October 2010 }} at the [[Black Swan State Theatre Company|Black Swan Theatre]]</ref> The prize was not awarded in 2011 and new guidelines were drawn for 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://awg.com.au/view/richard-burton/|title=The AWG Congratulates Black Swan on the Revised Richard Burton Award|website=Australian Writers Guild|access-date=10 January 2017}}</ref> The award was shared in 2012 by Ingle Knight and [[Tommy Murphy (Australian playwright)|Tommy Murphy]] who would each receive a commission of $15,000 at the completion of a new play.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bsstc.com.au/blog/2012/october/winners-of-richard-burton-award-for-playwriting-2012-announced/#.WHSHGlN97IV|title=Winners of Richard Burton Award for Playwriting 2012 Announced 31 October 2012|website=Black Swan State Theatre Company.|access-date=9 January 2017}}</ref> No further awards have been announced and the award has ceased.
Burton was [[Patronage|patron]] of the Black Swan State Theatre Company from 2009 to 2012. She is a supporter of the [[West Australian Symphony Orchestra]]. She was a board member of Agelink, a theatre company for older actors. Established in 2007<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://onwardproduction.com.au/page.asp?page=355|title=Sally Burton|website=Onward Production|access-date=9 January 2017}}</ref> She presents the Sally Burton Awards, a prize pool of A$4,000, to the two most talented performers of Shakespeare texts at the [[Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.australianstage.com.au/index.php?option=com_jevents&task=icalrepeat.detail&evid=18369&Itemid=81&year=2009&month=05&day=30&title=sally-burton-awards&uid=1245664369evt4971&catids=181|title=Sally Burton Awards|website=Australian Stage|access-date=10 January 2017}}</ref>
==Production== In 2009 she launched the independent production house Onward Production whose productions ran from 2009 to 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://onwardproduction.com.au/page.asp?page=355|title=Sally Burton|website=Onward Productions [2011]|access-date=10 January 2017}}</ref> In October that year she produced the Australian première of the international touring anthology ''[[Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners]]'' at the [[The Playhouse Theatre (Perth)|Playhouse Theatre]] in [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]]<ref name="Theatre Australia">{{cite web|url=http://www.theatre.asn.au/theatre_reviews/7_deadly_sins_four_deadly_sinners|title=Theatre Australia|access-date=23 October 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029121408/http://www.theatre.asn.au/theatre_reviews/7_deadly_sins_four_deadly_sinners|archive-date=29 October 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and [[Noël Coward]]'s ''[[Private Lives]]'' at Perth's [[Subiaco, Western Australia|Subiaco]] Arts Centre.
She is also the executive producer of the British documentary series ''[[Great West End Theatres]]''.<ref name="The Stage">{{cite news |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/open-access-documenting-londons-theatres |title=West End boys – Open access: Documenting London’s theatres |publisher=The Stage|date=6 May 2011|access-date=6 May 2011| location=London}}</ref>
== Private life == Burton had moved to [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]], Australia to be closer to her brother and his family. She first moved into a house in [[Subiaco, Western Australia|Subiaco]], then purchased a recently built nearby house in 2007. In August 2017 she put her home on the market and returned to the UK to live in [[Rowhedge]], Essex.
==Bibliography==
===Books=== *{{cite book |last=Burton |first=Sally |title=The Barren Patch |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-14-010396-0}}
===Book reviews=== *2011: {{cite journal|last=Burton|first=Sally|date=September 2011|title=When man created film|journal=[[Australian Book Review]]|volume=334|pages=38–39}}, reviewed: {{cite book|last=Drazin|first=Charles|title=The Faber Book of French Cinema|year=2011|publisher=Faber}}
===Other writings=== * {{cite book |last=Burton |first=Richard |others=Introduction by Sally Burton |title=A Christmas Story |publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]] |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-340-51246-3}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0370538}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Sally}} [[Category:1948 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:British patrons of literature]] [[Category:Richard Burton]] [[Category:English expatriates in Australia]] [[Category:English theatre managers and producers]] [[Category:English women novelists]] [[Category:English women philanthropists]] [[Category:People from Braintree, Essex]] [[Category:Writers from Essex]]