'You'll be fine': How a 'magical' meeting with Richard Burton led Kevin Costner to become an actor
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: While the internet is abuzz with news of Kevin Costner leaving ‘Yellowstone’ citing creative differences with showrunner Taylor Sheridan, let’s take a look at the person behind the ‘Waterworld’ star’s success in Hollywood. As the star admits, it was a “magical moment” with his hero, Richard Burton that kick-started his Hollywood career.
Costner said that it was a “magical moment” with the ‘Cleopatra’ actor that changed his life, per Hollywood.com. In 1978, when Costner was on his honeymoon with first wife, Cindy, Burton was reportedly his co-passenger on the aeroplane. “He got on the plane first and had bought five seats all around him so that no one could sit next to him,” Costner told the outlet, adding, “We all got on the plane and I was burning up inside because I was grappling with the idea of acting, so seeing Richard I thought was a sign. My wife didn’t even know that I was burning with this idea of what I was gonna be in my life.”
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In 2008, in an interview with Roger Ebert, when Costner was reminiscing about the same incident, he narrated how Burton booked five seats around him so that he could get privacy. Costner said, "He had bought the seats all around him so no one could sit with him.”
The ‘Dances with Wolves’ star recalled, “I remember him reading a book and as I walked over to talk to him, the whole airplane sort of stood up like a wave in a stadium! I looked very young and I said, ‘Excuse me sir, when you get a moment can I ask you a bit of advice?’ And he looked at me and he was probably thinking, ‘Jesus, five seats isn’t enough!’”
However, the Academy Award winner’s idol did not disappoint him as Burton replied in his deep baritone, “When I finish reading this book, yes.” Costner waited patiently as ‘The Robe’ star finished his book, Gore Vidal’s ‘Lincoln’, and slept for some time. After that he called the young and ambitious Costner for a chat that fueled his dream of becoming an actor.
'I've always kinda kept it private what the conversation was'
While Costner said to Roger Ebert, "I've always kinda kept it private what the conversation was," he later revealed, "I told him, 'I was hoping to become an actor, and, well, you're a celebrated actor, but you're a brawler, you've had a lot of marriages, a lot of things ... I just want to know, does that kind of life follow an actor? I want to have a life that's not filled with drama.'”
The validation from the legendary actor was all that Costner required, as he further continued, “And Burton looked at me and he said, 'You have green eyes. I have green eyes.' And he goes, 'I think you'll be fine.'”
As it was reported by Deseret News in 2004, when Costner asked Burton whether he could achieve success in an acting career without going through the upheavals that Burton had in his life including multiple marriages (including two consecutive marriages with costar Elizabeth Taylor), Burton replied, "I think it's possible. It hasn't been for me, but I think it's possible.”
'Good Luck'
However, his “magical moment” did not end here as Costner continued, "Now we've landed, we get our bags, and my wife and I set on our bags out on the street because we had an $8 bus ride to Anaheim where our parents were gonna pick us up. And this limousine comes by, and it stops and the window comes down, and it's Richard, and he goes, 'Good luck.' And the window went up and he went out of my life, and I never had the chance to ever talk to him about the fact that in a way, because of him, I had a life in the movies.”
Costner concluded with, “Of course, I've been bruised in this world, but I've tried to hold on to my normalcy, my life, my children and stuff."
Kevin Costner's achievements
It looks like a little push from the ‘1984’ star was all that Costner needed to find his calling. Not only that, even after delivering two box-office bombs, ‘Waterworld’ and The Postman’, he rose like a phoenix to star in numerous movies and play the iconic character of John Dutton in ‘Yellowstone’. Throughout his life, he has also won various accolades including two Academy Awards for ‘Dances With Wolves’, three Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.