 The actors who played the two principal villains in the film,  Richard Burton (as OBrien) and Cyril Cusack (as Mr. Charrington),  had appeared together on screen four times before: twice in the  1960s and twice in the 1980s. Their first joint venture was the 1965  film of John Le Carrés novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold,  and the second was Franco Zeffirellis 1967 film of The Taming of  the Shrew. Over a decade later, they appeared together again in the  1981 film, Lovespell, and the 1983 miniseries, Wagner. Nineteen  Eighty