Elizabeth Taylor smashed Richard Burton's 'Shakespearean ambitions' amid pair's scandalous romance...

Richard Burton's 'Shakespearean ambitions' were shattered by Elizabeth Taylor, according to the author of a new book on their rollercoaster romance.

Teasing the upcoming volume to People, Lewis argued that Burton's career as a classical actor was dashed on the rocks of his relationship with Taylor. That decade, Burton followed in Olivier's footsteps and took on the role of Hamlet, winning plaudits for his run in the part at the Old Vic in London. 'One of the big things that happened when Burton met Taylor was that was the end of his career on the stage,' the biographer began, before amending his statement.

The pair struck up a scandalous affair while they were both married to other people, during the making of their 1963 epic Cleopatra Burton and Taylor indulged in a torrid affair at the iconic Hotel du Cap in Cannes, which remains to this day a hot spot for celebrities. Their unabashed infidelity prompted the Vatican newspaper to predict they were on the road to 'erotic vagrancy' - hence the title of Lewis' new book.

Taylor, pictured pre-Burton in the 1944 movie National Velvet, became a more highly regarded actress during her relationship with the Shakespearean thespian Laurence Olivier sent him a telegram demanding: 'Make up your mind - do you want to be a great actor or a household word?' to which Burton shot back: 'Both.'

Perhaps the most admired movie Burton and Taylor made together is the searing 1966 drama Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, based on a play by Edward Albee. They were first married from 1964 until 1974, then briefly remarried in 1975 and wound up divorced once again the following year; pictured 1975 During one of their on periods, Burton presented Taylor with a whopping 68 carat rock that became known as the Taylor-Burton diamond.

'I don’t want to be that much in love ever again,' Taylor confided in a friend: 'I gave everything away…my soul, my being, everything'; pictured 1965

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