by Tom Rubython
Benson was furious with Peter Hunt, who he realised had been very economical with the truth. He decided to phone Hunt direct, but Hunt also proceeded to tell him a pack of lies. He told him that he had been speaking to Suzy the night before and that there was nothing between her and Burton. Benson recalls: “Hunt had never lied to me to my knowledge before and I’d known him from his very early days in Formula 3 and done a great deal to promote his career. So I had every reason to believe James. I suppose, deep down, I liked Suzy so much and I thought that they made such a good couple that I wanted to believe James. He was rather jovial about the whole thing.
I advised him: ‘Well, look James, if you are really telling me the truth about Suzy, I suggest the best thing you can do is to ring Suzy and tell her to get on the next plane and come out to South Africa and be at your side. At least it’ll take the steam out of the publicity whilst you’re running up to the Grand Prix. He told me not to worry. Nevertheless, I instinctively suspected that Hunt was not really telling the truth and I fed my feelings back to the Daily Express news desk.”
The Express news desk contacted its own bureau chief in New York, a man called Ivor Key. Key investigated and confirmed Benson’s suspicions, writing a story headlined: ‘Off We Go Again – Booze, A Beautiful Girl And Another Burton Bust-up’. The article read: “Off we go once more on the Burton marriage merry-go-round. First, Richard Burton is back on the booze, with racing driver James Hunt’s 26-year-old wife Suzy at his side. Second, Liz Taylor is packing her bags to go home to mother in Los Angeles. Third, Suzy Hunt has said she is considering divorce, although her husband, now in South Africa, says that’s news to him.”
When that story was published, Benson got back on the phone to Peter Hunt. He recalls: “‘Look, Peter’, I said, ‘I have had a great friendship with you and James and this story about Suzy is bouncing around the world and must come out in the open sooner or later. Why not tell me straight exactly what is going on? It’s perfectly obvious that this is no friendly little deal of Suzy staying with Burton in New York.’ Peter replied: ‘All right, David, I’ll square with you. Suzy wants to marry Burton. I think she’s a very silly girl, but there it is. She’s told James and he has said he won’t stand in her way.’ I grumbled about not being told that at the start and immediately phoned James in South Africa, where he confirmed the story and gave me a quote about his co-operation if Suzy asked for a divorce.”
Benson then wrote a story that appeared on the front page of the Daily Express on 26th February 1976, headlined: ‘Suzy To Marry Burton.’ Benson and the Daily Express were now back on top and leading the world with the story. The story read: “Suzy Hunt, wife of British racing driver James Hunt, is seeking a quickie divorce in America so that she can marry Richard Burton. This follows the actor’s latest break-up with his second-time wife Liz Taylor. He and 27-year-old Suzy are staying at the same New York hotel. Burton, too, was said to be in a hurry to get a divorce.” The article then contained everything the Hunt brothers had told him.
The article legitimised the story, and it seemed that suddenly everyone wanted to know how Hunt felt about his wife keeping company with Richard Burton. Hunt pretended to be desolate. At the gates of the hotel, he read out the following statement: “Naturally, I am perturbed by all the publicity about my wife in Europe and America, but I must concentrate 100 per cent on the Grand Prix. If there is a problem, it is just going to have to wait until after the race. Meanwhile, I’m far too busy sorting out the car and keeping myself fit.” With that, he handed out the press releases and immediately sprinted off on a six-mile training run, followed by puffing hacks who soon gave up the chase.
It was one of the most satisfying workouts of his life. He was finally free, exactly 16 months after his wedding day in London. In fact, the Miller-Burton relationship that had developed so quickly into a proposal of marriage and a request for a quickie divorce came as a huge release.
Meanwhile, Suzy and Burton found they couldn’t leave the Lombardy Hotel because over 50 reporters and photographers were at the front door.
As the news broke, Burton decided to break the ice with Hunt and called him in Kyalami, effectively to apologise. Hunt remembered Burton being rather embarrassed and tongue tied on the telephone, which he found strange. In truth, Burton couldn’t quite believe that Hunt was being so casual about letting go of his beautiful wife. He expected him to be bitter towards him and devastated. But he simply said to Burton: “Relax, Richard. You’ve done me a wonderful turn by taking on the most alarming expense account in the country.” A bemused and somewhat relieved Burton replaced the receiver in his hotel room and turned to Suzy and smiled. She said to him: “I told you James is fine about all this.” Burton still could not understand.
James and Suzy had effectively split some six months before, in July 1975, so it was by no means traumatic. He said at the time: “Her running off with Burton is a great relief to me. It actually reduces the number of problems I have to face outside my racing. I am mainly concerned that everyone comes out of it happy and settled.” In fact, there was no disguising Hunt’s utter relief at what had transpired, as he confessed: “I prefer to be on my own at races because, really, there’s enough to do looking after me. It’s more than I can handle to keep myself under control at a race meeting without trying to look after someone else as well and have more responsibilities and worries. I find that, if I want an early night before a race, or if I want a couple of hours to cool off and relax before dinner, I can do no better than to read a book or listen to music and therefore it’s better to be on my own.” Resolving not to get tempted into marriage again, he told journalists: “Meanwhile, it is probably a good thing that I am still technically married. I have that as a safety valve. It will stop me from doing anything silly again.”
The intense media interest carried on all weekend, and Hunt was as equally prominent on the front pages of the newspapers as he was on the back. Eventually, Caldwell smuggled him out of the hotel to stay with the retired South African tennis player, Abe Segal, a friend Hunt had made in London. As Caldwell recalls: “We hid him there and James went off with this tennis player to a very nice house and played tennis. Then, when he turned up at the track, we could muscle the journalists out of the pit road and keep him more or less isolated.” Caldwell adds: “James loved every minute of it.”
After writing his world exclusive piece, the news desk told Benson to get out to South Africa. Benson knew Abe Segal well and spoke to Hunt at length at his house. He was virtually the only journalist with access. When he had that covered, off it was back to the mundane business of reporting the race. Benson remembers that the compulsory seat belt law was about to be debated in parliament and his news desk instructed him to get a reaction to it from motor racing people in the paddock. But Benson soon found a better story to occupy him. Ironically, at the same time as Hunt was splitting from Suzy, Niki Lauda was also breaking up with his fiancé and long term love, Mariella. He discovered Lauda was with his new girlfriend, Marlene, at Kyalami. But every reporter was obsessed with the Suzy Hunt story and had overlooked it, leaving Benson with another exclusive.
Hunt flew home to London then Spain, and planned to call into New York on his way to the US Grand Prix to sort things out with Suzy and to meet Burton. Benson got wind of this and tackled Hunt about it on the day before he flew out, asking: “James, I understand you are going off to New York. Are you going to see Suzy?” Hunt told him: “I have spoken to her on the phone and I am hoping we can have lunch together tomorrow and talk over the whole problem and the question of Richard Burton. It’s all very personal and there’s nothing else I can say right now.” When they put the phone down, Hunt took a taxi to Battersea and flew by helicopter to Heathrow to catch a Pan Am flight to New York.
In reality, it was a brief stopover on his way to Los Angeles airport. As news got round New York that “the husband” was flying in, reporters filled up the Lombardy lobby and pounced on Hunt once they recognised him. H
e was shocked to find himself surrounded by photographers and journalists asking him questions while his wife was upstairs in Burton’s suite. Suzy eventually appeared and they went off in a taxi together to meet Burton. It was basically a meet-and-greet, with nothing of substance discussed. But, perhaps a bit ironically, Hunt had wanted to meet Burton to “approve him” as suitable for his wife. At that first meeting, Hunt was impressed by Burton’s sensitivity. Burton even thanked Hunt for having given him Suzy. Thoroughly approving of Burton, Hunt said he hoped to meet him again soon.
When they returned to the Lombardy, the number of reporters and photographers had doubled, and Hunt hightailed it back to JFK airport to catch his flight to Los Angeles.
While Hunt was away, his mother, Sue, had got in on the act. She was trapped by baying reporters at a lunch she was attending to promote the sending of cards for Mother’s Day, which wasn’t as popular then as it is today. She told the journalists that she could not take the rift in her son’s marriage lightly. She said she didn’t know whether there was the possibility of a reconciliation, but did say that she was very upset about Suzy becoming involved with Burton: “I like Suzy very, very much. I am very fond of her and terribly sad for her. My upbringing has been for the stability of marriage and the family, but I realise and fully understand that marriage breakdowns can happen. And I can understand that in James’ case particularly, it is [due to] his dedication to motor racing. He was dedicated to Suzy but to motor racing as well. He’s always been an odd fellow, James. They were very desperately in love when they married; they really were. But, with James’ character, it was a mistake for him to be married at all. I’m quite convinced that whomever he had married, the same situation would have arisen. Suzy was a delight, James is just not the marrying kind.”
And there the frenzy ended, with the last world going, perhaps fittingly, to Hunt’s mother.
In late March, Hunt spent some days in Marbella with Suzy and sorted out the logistics of the split. Free of the responsibilities of their relationship, Hunt also confessed to her the anguish he had gone through over the marriage, recognising that, where he liked “consuming life in a rush”, she had wanted the exact opposite. Suzy assured Hunt that she did not want a divorce settlement and that Burton would take care of the financial arrangements for her. All their joint possessions stayed with Hunt, including the piano, and Suzy left with her personal possessions in a few suitcases, which she dropped off in Switzerland at Burton’s house in Celigny.
And that was that. A few months later, they met for coffee at a restaurant in Malaga and bid farewell to each other as man and wife for the last time.
Suzy stopped off in London to see her parents on her way back to New York from Marbella. Up until then, she had not spoken to any reporter about the events at all, nor, indeed, has she spoken to them since. But Peter Hunt owed David Benson a favour after the terrible lies he had told him. Expecting the favour to be paid, Benson was rewarded with an exclusive chat with Suzy. So Benson travelled to Hunt’s office for a sit-down with her. He was the only journalist ever to do so in the 36 years that have followed.
Benson recalls what happened: “As an old friend, she greeted me with a warm embrace. I took notes on the interview, writing down the precise words she wanted to appear: ‘You are the first newspaperman I have talked to about the break-up. You understand the difficulties I have in discussing my private life in public so I want to talk to you about them and, then, if you print them, that will be it once and for all.’ Suzy was particularly distressed about a report in a rival newspaper that suggested she had given Richard Burton a ring – ‘I want to correct that. I didn’t give Richard a ring and I wouldn’t do anything like that; its too vulgar. Also, Richard did not break up my marriage to James, it was already over when I met Burton, and James had already asked me for a divorce. All I want now is to complete the separation with as much dignity and friendship as possible. James and I are still good friends, and I hope we will remain so. I did not go to Spain to try and effect a reconciliation. The home that you knew us in, David, we were only renting, and the lease ran out. James has now rented a new house and he was moving all of our things out of our old home. It was the right time for me to collect my things and sort them out.’”
When Benson asked her what had gone wrong in the marriage, she told him that James was just not ready for it: “‘His racing career put enormous demands on him and, at this stage, his career must come first. He tried awfully hard not to hurt me. Fortunately, everything has turned out for the best for all of us. James is happy and I am happy. It sounds corny, but put this down David, he [Richard] is a very special person and we are very, very happy together.’”
Suzy confirmed to Benson that she and Burton intended to get married, but, because of the legal problems with various divorces, she didn’t want to have it printed at that time. Benson agreed to this informal embargo.
The resulting story was another world exclusive for the Daily Express and it was covered over a double-page spread on Saturday 24th April. It was a genuine exclusive in the old tradition of Lord Beaverbrook, the late owner. Benson never saw Suzy again.
Over the spring, Burton telephoned Hunt several times in the interim to sort out the details of the divorce. Hunt was surprised how well they got along and was charmed by Burton, who he found was not at all like the man portrayed in the press. Hunt said: “He was a very nice guy, not at all the monster the press made him out to be. He called himself my father-in-law, and he’s been a very nice father-in-law ever since.”
With the divorce pending, Burton and Suzy made a trip to England so that each could meet their respective families. The meetings were a huge success. Burton and Suzy’s father, Frederick Miller, became great friends and found that they shared similar interests. Miller, like Burton, was very well read and owned a considerable library of books, which Burton loved perusing. Sharing similar literary tastes, Burton and Frederick would go for long walks in the Hampshire countryside discussing books they had read and owned. Only Suzy’s brother, John, who lived in Los Angeles, was absent but Burton did meet Suzy’s twin sister, Vivienne van Dyke, and Vivienne’s young daughter, Vanessa.
Equally, Suzy got on very well with Burton’s Welsh family, and his sisters particularly admired the subtlety with which Suzy kept Burton from drinking. The Burtons and the Millers could not have been more compatible.
Whilst the Burton family met with her approval, many of his friends did not. In Marbella, Suzy had become accustomed to the people who surrounded James. She put up with them because they were mostly old school friends who had known him long before he was famous. But she was not prepared for the mass of hangers-on and sycophants that surrounded Burton. Where Hunt’s friends had been quality people, she recognised Burton’s camp followers as mostly low-quality individuals. She felt they just told him what he wanted to hear and encouraged him to drink. She got rid of them all, one by one – even upsetting Brook Williams, who had been responsible for their meeting.
Suzy found that she had also to get used to the many people who accidentally kept calling her Elizabeth. But these were mostly minor problems and, despite the age difference, Burton and Miller were a perfect foil for each other, providing exactly what the other needed.
Suzy was quite unambitious and didn’t crave fame or fortune in the slightest. She wanted Burton for exactly who he was. Equally, Burton loved the quiet and unassuming, quintessentially English woman. He was delighted at the seemingly endless happiness she exhibited in sitting and listening to his stories and poetry, all of which were rather good. She was an all-attentive, all-adoring audience, and Burton loved it. He also loved listening to her play the piano, marvelling in her ability to play faultlessly any piece of music he chose.
She also kept him sober. Asserting that she planned to have children with him, she did her best to ensure that their father would be around to see them. Burton wasn’t a pleasant drunk, and his personality would change for the worse after even one drink.
She had been used to a drinker like Hunt, who simply became increasingly sillier as he drank. But Burton was an altogether different proposition, and she realised she had to keep him off it entirely. Burton did later readily admit that she had saved him from the brink of self-destruction.
In June 1976, the divorces of both Taylor and Burton and Hunt and Miller were formalised in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, in South America. There, foreigners could be divorced in a day, although the status was not always universally recognised.
Burton paid all the legal costs and, as predicted, Taylor took him for almost everything he had. Taylor even delayed signing the divorce papers until she got precisely what she wanted. Demanding and getting all the jewels, the paintings and almost all the property – everything she hadn’t got in the first divorce two years earlier – Taylor left Burton with the half million dollars he had earned in 1976, since the split, and the three thousand books he kept in the library at his house in Switzerland. Taylor decided she didn’t want the house, purchased by Burton in 1957, when he had first moved away from Britain.
After dealing with Taylor’s demands, he signed a prenuptial agreement with Suzy that guaranteed her a million dollars in cash plus a suitable house if their marriage failed. After his divorce, however, he realised that he didn’t actually have a million dollars in cash, so he bought her a half million dollar insurance policy on his life. She was well-provided for, and the divorce didn’t cost Hunt a penny.
On Saturday 21st August, Suzy and Burton were married in Arlington, Virginia. Virginia was one of only three states in the United States that recognised a Haitian divorce. They exchanged simple gold bands, and the wedding service, conducted by Judge Frances Thomas Jr, lasted precisely four minutes. Almost immediately, they stopped using contraception and began trying for a child.
At the precise moment of their wedding, Hunt was celebrating in Scotland. He was playing golf at Gleneagles. No one who was witness to his demeanour that day would have believed he had just lost one of the world’s most beautiful women to one of the earth’s most seductive men. For the record, he told a local journalist: “Richard Burton came along and solved all the problems. I learned an awful lot about myself and life, and I think Suzy did too. We all ended up happy, anyway, which is more than can be said for a lot of marriages.” For Hunt, it was the final release. As he said afterwards: “For the first time, I am mentally content with my private life. Suzy is largely responsible for that.” Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Burton gushed about his new wife to anyone who would listen. It was hard to believe that the new husband and the ex-husband were indeed talking about the same woman. It must have been the most pleasurable divorce and remarriage in history.
