I couldn’t have written this book without the help of John Gayford, an actor who played a centurion in the 1963 Cleopatra and is frequently seen standing behind Richard Burton in the finished movie. He has been unbelievably generous with his time, answering my questions by telephone and email and going through the text in minute detail. His knowledge of the making of the film and life in Rome in the early 1960s have been invaluable, while his witty emails brought colour to the working day! I’m incredibly grateful.
Thanks also to Francesca Annis, who played one of Elizabeth Taylor’s handmaidens in the film, and who answered my questions about life on the set. And my gratitude to Aurelio Cappozzo and Laura Ronchetti for information on legal processes in Rome at the time.
For those interested in learning more about the making of the film, I recommend Walter Wanger’s book My Life with Cleopatra and Jack Brodsky and Nathan Weiss’s The Cleopatra Papers, both published in 1963, as well as the documentary Cleopatra: The Film that Changed Hollywood. And do watch the film: it’s enjoyable, and certainly much better than the critics said at the time.
Huge thanks as always to Karen Sullivan, my number one reader, who has extraordinarily good instincts for story and character. Anne Nicholson also had some very wise advice. Thanks to Karel Bata for his wisdom on technical aspects of filming and to Luke Sullivan for help with Italian dialogue. And grateful thanks to all the team at Avon: Caroline Ridding, Sammia Rafique, Helen Bolton, Lydia Newhouse, Becke Parker, Claire Power, Cleo Little, Tom Dunstand and Cicely Aspinall, as well as the amazing Claire Bord, whose editing is always spot-on.
Finally, special thanks to Vivien Green, the best agent anyone could wish for. She is wise, fun, fiercely protective of her authors, and a canny deal-maker. Having her on my side has made all the difference, and I’ll always owe her a huge debt of gratitude.