“He was my Burton and I was his Taylor”

EMILY: I must say, I admire your composure. The week before my wedding, I was a wreck.
MISS PATTY: So was I, before all of mine.
SOOKIE: How many was that?
MISS PATTY: Well, uh, there was St John, John, Sergio, St John. Three men, four times.
SOOKIE: Do you regret any of them?
MISS PATTY: Well, St John was a let down the second time, but he was my Burton and I was his Taylor. Just wish I could’ve found a little Mike Todd there in the middle.

Miss Patty is referring to actress Elizabeth Taylor, previously discussed, and her multiple marriages. She married actor Richard Burton in 1964 [pictured], then for a second time in 1975.

Elizabeth Taylor married theatre and film producer Mike Todd in 1957, a third marriage for each of them. Famously, he was her only husband never to be divorced; he was killed in a plane crash in 1958 – Taylor had meant to fly with him, but he told her to stay home as she had a cold. Although they had a tempestuous relationshop, in later life Elizabeth Taylor always claimed that she was happiest with Mike Todd than any other of her husbands.

We learn a little of Miss Patty’s personal life here, that she has been married several times, including a remarriage to her first husband, St. John. She seems to be divorced, as the marriage was a “let down”, and probably for several years at least, from the tone of Sookie’s questions.