A star in honour of Richard Burton has been unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, alongside one dedicated to the wife he divorced twice, Elizabeth Taylor.

The couple's adopted daughters Maria and Kate, and fellow Welsh actor Michael Sheen attended the ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard on 1 March - St David's Day, celebrating the Welsh patron saint.

The unveiling was also timed to coincide with 50th anniversary of the couple's film Cleopatra.

Burton, a miner's son who was educated at Oxford, met Taylor on the set of the historical epic.

The couple married in 1964 and starred in 11 films together, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Burton died on 5 August 1984, aged 58.

Their first 10-year marriage ended in divorce in 1974. They married again the following year in Botswana, but it lasted only until the following summer. Burton was married five times in all. Taylor married eight times. She died on 23 March 2011.

Lord Rowe Beddoe and Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler were among the guests.

The star - the 2,491st plaque installed on the Walk of Fame - comes after the Western Mail newspaper started a campaign to recognise the actor.

Speaking at the unveiling, Sheen recalled the awe he felt when Burton and Taylor visited the village where he grew up. Like Sheen, Burton grew up in the industrial Welsh town of Port Talbot.

"The same beach that I built my boyhood sand castles and learned flailingly to swim was that same beach, that one legendary day, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor descended from the heavens, like gods from Olympus, in a helicopter ... and landed on those sands," Sheen said.

"They stepped out swathed in luxurious fur coats - it was the '70s - and walked among us for too short a time."

"We are thrilled that the late, great actor Richard Burton will be honoured with his Star on the Walk of Fame. We are also happy to announce that his Star will be next to the Star of Elizabeth Taylor," Leron Gubler, the president and chief executive of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said. "What makes this day even more special is that St. David, the patron saint of Wales, is also celebrated on the very date of Mr Burton's Star ceremony."

Check out photographs of Richard Burton's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame