--- description: LIFE photographer George Silk recounts taking what Richard Burton called "the best pictures he had ever had taken of him." title: Richard Burton as Hamlet: Portrait of an 'Avenging Angel' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22eb6b13de222817/69884c573c163975c14577e7/140821-richard-burton-1964-feat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Richard Burton as Hamlet: Portrait of an 'Avenging Angel' by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 20, 2014 5:08 PM CUT  Richard Burton starring in "Hamlet," directed by John Gielgud, Broadway, 1964. Richard Burton starring in "Hamlet," directed by John Gielgud, Broadway, 1964.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 20, 2014 5:08 PM CUT In 1993, John Loengard asked George Silk—a New Zealander who had been a staff photographer for LIFE from 1943 until the magazine stopped publishing as a weekly in 1972—if, in his long career, Silk had been “willing to pose pictures.” Silk’s reply is worth setting down here in full: --- > “” --- [\[Buy the book, _LIFE Photographers: What They Saw_ (Bulfinch Press, 1998)\]](http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/life-photographers-john-loengard/1114270250 "undefined")  Richard Burton starring in Hamlet, directed by John Gielgud, Broadway, 1964. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3880726/richard-burton-as-hamlet-portrait-of-an-avenging-angel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3880726/richard-burton-as-hamlet-portrait-of-an-avenging-angel/"},"headline":"Richard Burton as Hamlet: Portrait of an 'Avenging Angel'","datePublished":"2014-08-20T17:08:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:37.845Z","description":"LIFE photographer George Silk recounts taking what Richard Burton called \"the best pictures he had ever had taken of him.\"","url":"https://time.com/3880726/richard-burton-as-hamlet-portrait-of-an-avenging-angel/","keywords":["photography","Actors","Theater","Shakespeare","1964","Icons","george silk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22eb6b13de222817/69884c573c163975c14577e7/140821-richard-burton-1964-feat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22eb6b13de222817/69884c573c163975c14577e7/140821-richard-burton-1964-feat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"114836933.jpg","caption":"Richard Burton starring in Hamlet, directed by John Gielgud, Broadway, 1964.","creditText":"George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3880726/richard-burton-as-hamlet-portrait-of-an-avenging-angel/","name":"Richard Burton as Hamlet: Portrait of an 'Avenging Angel'"}}]}] ```