A diary Richard Burton kept during his first tempestuous marriage to Elizabeth Taylor is missing and presumed stolen from the British Broadcasting Corp.
The diary was among items that Burton's widow, Sally, lent to the BBC earlier this year for a documentary about the actor's life. After the items were returned in March, Sally Burton discovered the diary was not among them.
"The possibility that it has been stolen is a strong one," a BBC spokeswoman said Friday. She said the diary had been kept in a locked cupboard at the BBC's west London television center.
Scotland Yard confirmed it was investigating the theft.
"We haven't given up hope of recovering it and we have been co-operating with the police over this matter," the BBC spokeswoman said.
The diary was written in 1965, the year after Burton and Taylor married for the first time.
A Welsh miner's son, Burton went through two tumultuous marriages to Taylor — his co-star in films including "Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" — between 1964 and 1976. He was nominated seven times for an Oscar but never won, then died in 1984 at age 58.