FILM · 1967 · UK
Doctor Faustus
20 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (20)
- #001
Elizabeth Taylor has no dialogue lines.
- #002
For the supporting roles, producer and director Richard Burton, an Oxford University graduate, cast drama students from the Oxford University Dramatic Society.
- #003
Richard Burton acted amateur roles for the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) as a student in the 1940s and regarded Nevill Coghill as his mentor. About twenty years later, when OUDS needed financial help, Burton, by then the world's most famous and highest-paid actor, offered to play Dr. Faustus for free in an OUDS production directed by Coghill, and his wife Elizabeth Taylor agreed to take the non-speaking role of Helen of Troy (also for free). All the other players were amateur students. Every performance was a sell-out, and the future of OUDS was secured for many years. This film, which Burton directed with Coghill, is a kind of record of that production.
- #004
This film and Hammersmith Is Out (1972) are both considered to be based on the Faust legend. Richard Burton took on the direction of this film, in which he starred alongside Dame Elizabeth Taylor. It was therefore the first of the two films the pair made together that are based on the Faust legend.
- #005
Writer and director Nevill Coghill was the Merton Professor of English at Oxford University during the period when this film was developed, made and released.
- #006
After the 1966 stage production of "Doctor Faustus", Richard Burton did not appear on stage again for about ten years, until he played the psychiatrist Dr. Dysart in Peter Shaffer's "Equus" on Broadway, and he then played the same character in Equus (1977).
- #007
This is one of five collaborations between actor, producer and director Richard Burton and producer Richard McWhorter. The others are Becket (1964), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965).
- #008
The film is regarded as the official filmed record of the 1966 stage production of "Doctor Faustus", staged and directed by Nevill Coghill with the Oxford University Dramatic Society and starring Richard Burton.
- #009
It is the sixth of eleven films in which Dame Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton appeared together.
- #010
In one scene, Dame Elizabeth Taylor appears painted entirely in silver body paint.
- #011
This is the last film Richard Burton produced, having previously been one of the associate producers of The Guest (1963).
- #012
Of the OUDS players who received an "Introducing" credit, only the following went on to significant acting careers: Andreas Teuber, Michael Menaugh, Richard Durden, Ian Marter and Nicholas Loukes. (Teuber left acting for academia.) One OUDS player who did not receive a name credit but also became a successful actor was Maria Aitken. Sadly, Nicholas Loukes and Ian Marter died young, at 32 and 42 respectively.
- #013
This is the only theatrical film co-directed by Nevill Coghill and Richard Burton.
- #014
The opening prologue says: "A tragic legend written in the sixteenth century, of a learned scholar honoured with his university's laurels, who sold his soul to the devil for more knowledge and power in the unknown."
- #015
Although the source material of this film is an English legend and the film is an Oxford University production made by graduates of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, it was shot in Rome, Italy.
- #016
The following players received an "Introducing" credit: Andreas Teuber, Ram Chopra, Richard Carwardine, Patrick Barwise, Michael Menaugh, Richard Durden, David McIntosh, Jeremy Eccles, Elizabeth O'Donovan, Gwydion Thomas, Ian Marter, Nicholas Loukes and Adrian Benjamin. These theatre players from the Oxford University Dramatic Society represented the majority of the cast.
- #017
This is the only screenplay ever produced by stage director Nevill Coghill.
- #018
Several players took on dual roles: Michael Menaugh as the Bishop and the voice of the Good Angel, Richard Durden as the Knight and the voice of the Evil Angel, Nicholas Loukes as Envy and the Cardinal of Lorraine, and Ian Marter as Pride and the Emperor. These are the same four who were professional actors.
- #019
Dame Elizabeth Taylor's character Helen of Troy was billed in the credits under the single name "Helen."
- #020
Despite what was stated in an earlier entry, Richard Burton did not graduate from Oxford University. In 1944 he attended Exeter College, Oxford, for a short time as part of a six-month RAF training course that also allowed him to study English Literature and Italian. His time at Oxford focused primarily on military training and part-time academic work rather than completing a full degree program.
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