Francesca Burns has been a controversial figure throughout her public life, as both a Nationality and an actor. She rose to fame playing the title role in the English film, The Rose. She was then courted by Sir Sean Connery and went on to star in many successful films including Moonraiser, Come Back Tonight and We Have A Problem. However, many of these roles came after her marriage to Peter Lawford, which happened in January 1967, after she had split from husband Richard Burton. The couple were close at the time and later divorced him in March of that year.
After her marriage, Francesca Burns began to work with Sir Sean Connery and became famous for playing the lead role in one of his best known films of all time, King Richard III. After this period of her career, Francesca Burns had a change of heart, moving back to the United States, where she settled in Texas. She had many achievements there, but it was not until the 1960s that she decided to return to England to take part in the British stage production of King Richard III. She would then play the role of Queen Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, and finally went on to star as the heroine herself in a movie version of the play. She also became a writer and published several books in the years that followed, including a biography of Queen Elizabeth. As you can see, throughout her life, Francesca Burns has played important parts in many different theatre and film developments, yet never lost her love of acting and continued working till the very end.
At the beginning of her career, Francesca Burns was often compared to Yul Brynner, the original Hungarian fencing master who helped define many disciplines in fencing, such as tactics, strategy and mathematics. Both men developed their own style, which proved very successful through the nineteenth century. However, when speaking about their relationship, both Brynner and Burns described themselves as country Gentlemen, and not as diplomats. This served to bring about many differences of opinion. Francesca Burns was a much loved actress in her time and passed away at a relatively young age, she was not given a proper funeral, unlike some of her female predecessors.