Elizabeth Taylor

Not sure about ET per se, OP, but I have a female friend who is five feet tall and can drink absolutely anyone under the table.

Just hook the alcohol up directly into my veins, Roddy!

Her looks went to utter shit when she hit 40, but she did manage one more good run in the mid-'80s when she lost the weight, did a stint in Betty Ford, and got some work done.

The actress who played Sophia Vergara's mother, Elizabeth Pena, recently died from booze. She didn't look that bad and I think she was tiny.

Booze takes a physical toll on women at an earlier age then men.

R3 is right. She was 55 here. She also had generally shitty health.

When Liz was married to whatsisname that Senator she became quite reclusive, holing up in their house in Virginia and eating everything in sight and drinking like a fish. She came out of seclusion when Halston threw her a birthday party at Studio 54, and people were shocked at how enormous she'd gotten. It was front-page news the next day.

More of fat Liz at Studio 54.

Did all those years boozing with Richard Burton permanently screw up her health? He didn't last that long.

Overeating was her downfall more than just pills and booze. She was a cow in her mid-thirties.

Burton died at 58 from his excesses, Liz was lucky to make 79. Her peak for her looks were the 50s and early 60s, and then she had that late renaissance in the late 80s, but it didn't last.

She lived with chronic debilitating back pain. She first messed up her back after falling from a horse while making National Velvet, then injured it again when she fell down some steps on her yacht during the late '50s. She underwent spinal fusion after that, but her back problems only worsened as she aged.

It was the smoking that killed her, though.

Her "celebrity hairdresser" didn't help any, with those fussy fright-wig hairstyles she was always seen with from the 80s on.

She was a little overweight but still beautiful in the early 70s.

Her major year was 1954 when as Mrs Wilding she had 2 boys but also had 4 films released: Beau Brumell, Elephant Walk (probably filmed in 1953), Rhapsody and The Last Time I Saw Paris. She was laughably stunningly beautiful in the last two. Once her next one, Giant, hit the big time she got lazy and slowed down to one major film a year: Raintree County, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer, before being railroaded into Butterfield 8 which laughably won her the Oscar, before Cleopatra time. But by the end of the 60s she and Burton were so over-exposed people were tired of them and nobody was going to see their movies, but they had a good run. This - 1954 - was also the great era of Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner and Marilyn Monroe, while Sophia Loren was wowing them in Italy.

She is a scream in that headress in the cult campy movie Boom - when the Burtons took up with trendy director Joseph Losey, their movies bombed at the time though.

Elizabeth was of course the most ravishing child ever, but i think she was at her most iconically "MOVIE STAR" beautiful from Cynthia in 1947 right up until Suddenly Last Summer in 1959. You can begin to see the alcohol bloat in Butterfield 8.

[quote]R13

Oh, that Jose Eber who wanted to 'scrunch' everyone's hair all the time and made Elizabeth Taylor a scraggly 'do with streak of black & white so the end result had her looking like a painted up skunk.

What was the marriage to John WArner all about?? Talk about two opposite worlds and then there are the gay rumors about Warner. Was she just bearding?

[quote]R16

True, and she was only 36 !!

Terrible film but the Burtons liked those million dollar paychecks.

The stage version had Talullah Bankhead as 'Mrs. Goforth' and did no better.

I agree 100% with [quote]R17

Gladiator!

She was too young and Burton too old for those roles in Boom! but that did not stop them. Secret Ceremony with Mia was also laughed off screens at the time, but seems to be a cult movie now.

I caught her mid-70s The Drivers Seat a while back and was surprised at how shoddy it was. Then there was Ash Wednesday ..... if only she had retired at her peak.

She was at her most beautiful in Elephant Walk and The Last Time I Saw Paris.

[quote]Secret Ceremony with Mia was also laughed off screens at the time, but seems to be a cult movie now.

I've got it on DVD. I MUST watch it.

I really like The Only Game In Town. She's very witty and cute in it.

Also Zee&Co. She's a riot!

All these were 1968-72.

She is laughably bad in The Only Game In Town as the chubby, short legged showgirl in Las Vegas, but she and Beatty are two beauties and it was his turn with her after Clift, Dean, Newman, Brando ... whatever you say about her she did work with all those new American greats.

It was George Stevens last film too, she had been great in his iconic A Place In The Sun and Giant, but by 1969 they were both past it. It was also of course filmed in Paris to fit in with the Burtons' tax schemes, Richard was filming the awful Staircase there at the same time, despite that one best set in Brixton in South London, where he and Rex Harrison played gay. Didn't they know any real gays from all their years in Hollywood?

[quote]I really like The Only Game In Town. She's very witty and cute in it.

She was funny in it but she was too short & too rotund to be believable as a statuesque showgirl in Vegas.

How did the recently departed Mike Nichols get that great performance out of her for Virgnia Woolf?- or was it the shock factor of seeing her made up to look middle-aged and drunk that got all the attention?

She did have a phase in the 80s when she lost weight and probably had some (very good) cosmetic work done, when she was quite beautiful-again. I saw her in person a couple times in NYC- she was tiny- and much much more striking in person- amazing eyes and a perfect mouth and nose.

She would spend hours getting herself up to look like her usual tacky self dripping in (real) jewels which of course she owned- but apparently she didn't have much vanity- and enjoyed using speculation about how fat or thin she would look at this or that event toward the end of her life so she could maximize the attention and money she could raise for AmFar and her foundation.

A great big hearted raucous generous woman.

[quote]She was funny in it but she was too short & too rotund to be believable as a statuesque showgirl in Vegas.

It didn't really matter. You never saw her actually dance.

The story was really about her relationship with Warren Beatty and I think the chemistry was there.

She was very good. Even he was quite good in it and I'm NOT a fan.

She looked terrible on Here's Lucy, so I'd say about a decade afore that.

I saw her and Burton (ranting as usual) at an event in London in 1970 (when I was a mere child) with director Losey, they were complaining about the failure of Secret Ceremony. She looked like a gypsy in a fantastic multi-colour dress and of course flashed that diamond.

Yes, it was the smoking that got her in the end. She had emphysema and congestive heart failure. She smoked about two packs of Salems a day.

[quote]when she was quite beautiful-again.

She was never quite beautiful again.

After she lost a few pounds it just emphasized her wrinkles and sagging skin.

She only remained famous by clinging on to AIDS to have the only people the dying homosexuals, someone, anyone give her any "positive" attention.

Joan Rivers: Liz Taylor was in a yellow dress and stopped in front of a school and 30 children tried to board her.

The guy who owns the findadeath.com website HATES her and accused her of not respecting Roddy McDowell's wishes on no funeral or memorial service when he died. She went and had one anyway.

Marilyn kept her looks longer. Even when she gained a bit weight during her marriage to Miller (1956-1961), she still had a striking face, and IMO she still looks ravishing in screen tests and surviving footage from Something's Got to Give.

Taylor, for her part, was a striking raven beauty but wasn't able to maintain it. She peaked too early look-wise. She was an incredibly beautiful child, teen, and early twentysomething, but when she won her first Oscar for BUtterfield 8 in 1961, she had just turned 29 but was starting to look matronly.

By the time she was 36 (the age Marilyn died), she looked frumpy and over-the-hill. I think it was a combination of too much sun, booze & pills, and a jet set, rich food lifestyle.

Marilyn didn't exactly take care of herself either, where booze/pills are concerned, but I think she was blessed with good genes. Some people abuse their bodies but still come out looking great. Look at Wes Bentley. He was a hardcore junkie in his twenties into his thirties, but he still has a thick head of hair and is still incredibly handsome at 36. Then you have people like Judy Garland, who was only 47 when she died, but looked to be in her sixties.

She lasted a long time for smoking two packs a day, overweight and in a wheelchair. She should have been dead well before 79. Are you sure? I never saw any paparazzi pictures of her with a cigarette except from the 1950's and 60's.

I read that Burton couldn't handle his booze like she could.

R34 If you can't be honest when it comes to Liz Taylor's beauty, then I've no interest in reading the rest of that SHITRAG of a post.

Liz was gorgeous up until the late 90's. And her AIDS work was unparalleled during a time when no one else was willing to work so hard for the community. She was a class act, and a great actress, and a movie star, and was near close to perfection in beauty as one could go.

Your remarks are completely offensive and way out of line.

Don't even try to dismiss Liz Taylor in such a odious and vicious way. You've no idea what the fuck you're talking about.

Well, if she was still smoking, it's no wonder she had back pain. Smoking really messes up the healing from spinal surgery and also increases back pain. Many good surgeons won't perform spinal surgery on a smoker.

She was gorgeous, though, and I thought she looked amazing in the 80s after she lost weight.

Something I found amusing whilst surfing the TV guide listings on Comcast tonight.

They have the movie listed as "Who's Afraid Of Va. Woolf?"

R41 you know how disappointed I was to find out that the movie was not about Virginia Woolf? I had to wait until THE HOURS and that wasn't even a proper bio, either.

TCM aired it tonight.

Eliz Taylor is much like the other DL subject as of late Brooke Shields. They were both at the peak of their beauty when most girls were still in their awkward stage. Then, at an age when most women are finally coming into their own, they both looked over the hill in their own way (Brooke masculine; Liz matronly and saggy, etc).

But both will always be renowned for their beauty because they skipped their awkward stage entirely and were "beautiful" at an age when most women/girls are far from it.

It's not their adult looks that got them that reputation.

R39 sounds like a hysterical Liz Taylor fangurl.

The truth is that Liz Taylor was a spoiled, greedy, selfish, willful, self-absorbed movie star, which was not surprising considering she'd been rich and famous and pampered from the age of 12. She was used to getting what she wanted when she wanted it and she had tantrums if that didn't happen immediately.

Her did start to lose her looks early on, due to weight gain and illness and alcoholism and drug addiction and smoking.

She got involved in AIDS charities but then a lot of celebrities did. She wasn't special in that way.

She was a very flawed human being, which is why all her marriages failed. She never really grew up, just like Judy Garland. She was lucky to have lived as long as she did.

[39]: Hear hear and BRAVO!

[quote]She got involved in AIDS charities but then a lot of celebrities did. She wasn't special in that way.

Disagree. She started her work in '85, before pretty much any other celebrities, least of all those of her renown. She paved the way in many ways.

[quote]R47

Plus, TAYLOR later said that even though some of her Hollywood friends were willing to write her a check on behalf of her 'pet' project, few of them, particularly the men wanted their faces/names associated with the dreaded disease. SINATRA for example gave her a check but told in her in no uncertain terms not to let anyone know it came from him. In his defense, maybe he sincerely wanted to remain anonymous but I think the example speaks for itself.

I met and talked to her in 1981. She looked beautiful. Hair, dress, all of it. But her skin was just awful. Couldn't believe it at the time.

[quote]R49

I've heard that from a few others; that being that her skin was somewhat pitted etc & not at all what one would have thought particularly since she photographed so well.

I saw her in the early 1990s at the Plaza Hotel. Her perfume arrived before she did and lingered long after she left. She was quite beautiful but very heavily made up and the make up was too orange for her skin.

Kelt, there's no need to do a quote when just mentioning r-whatever, and in fact, it is quite distracting.

She was also hairy. "Hirsute", I believe it's called. Her friend Montgomery Clift was the same way. He was hairy as an ape, and tried electrolysis to help get rid of some of it.

I doubt there has every been a woman more beautiful as 17 year old Elizabeth Taylor in FATHER OF THE BRIDE (as beautiful, yes, think Grace Kelly in HIGH NOON; more beautiful, no way)

Once Taylor did CLEOPATRA, she adopted a a heavily made up look that she carried with her until the end.

I think sometimes Taylor thought that she really was Martha from WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

I don't think she was ever a great beauty.

Anyone else think its weird that the circa 1991 White Diamonds commercial STILL airs?

I figured that at the very least they would yank it after her death.

I remember a funny SNL parody of the White Diamonds commercial with Sally Field as Liz. She was filmed through a shower door.

No woman before or since has equaled Miss. Taylor's beauty in "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and "BUtterfield 8"

Elizabeth Taylor in the opening scenes of Butterfield * poured into that silk and lace slip proved even in her undergarments she knocked it out of the ball park. Same applies for that white dress in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. The woman was simply sex personified.

In Father of the Bride it wasn't so much the wedding gown but Miss. Taylor's waistline (looks like 22" or less), that draws gasps. You saw the same in "Giant" were even down on a Texas ranch Elizabeth Taylor was casket sharp.

In the era of blonde sexpots like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor's beauty and figure rocked. Yet no one would ever mistake the latter for the easy lay of the former.

Her beauty was brief. She was only 33 when she did "...Virginia Wolf."

From what one understands Miss. Taylor gained all that weight on purpose for WEHTVW. She wanted to be seen as a blowsy high riding bitch rather than a starlet.

That's what they all say r60.

She was beautiful and mesmerizing when she triumphed on Broadway in the spring of 1981 in The Little Foxes. She was 49.

That should have led to a major comeback but she followed that up with the disastrous Broadway production of Private Lives with Burton two years later.

I saw both shows and they were events because of her.

She was what she was, a great star with all the demons and drama that goes with the territory. There's more than ample evidence to support that.

[quote]That should have led to a major comeback but she followed that up with the disastrous Broadway production of Private Lives with Burton two years later.

I liked that Helena Bonham Carter movie about that play. She came across as a likable drunk in that.

MoSt everyone would love to live that amazing life she led and look as good as she did all through.

You stupid, stupid people. R3 and others say she went to shit when she hit 40? Here she is on the cover of Life. Does she look like shit to you?

I'm glad we are in agreement that people shouldn't show their age at 79.

We certainly won't, will we?

To answer the OP's question:

Elizabeth was beautiful for as many years she was alive.

Elizabeth Taylor's face while young and into the late 60's was real.

That's why she's different and more beautiful than the ones who had nosejobs like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn.

Sophia Loren was gorgeous straight on, from the side not so much but she was real as well up to the late 60's.

Audrey Hepburn as a teen, passport photo, pre-nosejob.

Another pic of Audrey Hepburn pre-nosejob

I knew the actress Maureen Stapleton. She and Elizabeth Taylor became great friends after working together in "The Little Foxes" on Broadway. Maureen adored Elizabeth Taylor, and spoke to me many times about their friendship.

In fact, while I was visiting Maureen one time at her home, she called Elizabeth Taylor on the telephone. While Mauree was talking to her, she handed me the phone and said: "Say hello to Elizabeth." We proceeded to have a very pleasant conversation. She was very sweet. At one point she said to me: "You know that woman sitting next to you? I love her with all my heart." It was a memorable moment.

A friend who's a stew for a major airline says Elizabeth was always a sweetheart during flights, whereas 'that Jane Russell was a real cunt.'

I held the door for Elizabeth and Liza as we all entered the Bev Hills Hotel many years ago. I was surprised by ET's height. Very, very short. Too short, imo, to be extraordinarily beautiful.

In some films and print work, however, her facial features and coloring are divine.

Great story r71.

I don't like her nostrils.

[quote]R75

I recall reading the following about her in Andy Warhol' diary which was published after his death. BTW it wasn't actually a diary but blurbs & notes that he'd made on a daily basis so there would be some accountability for his expenses once tax time came.

Warhol had commented on Taylor's appearance after she had some facial work done: "She looks good; shame though that they (docs) couldn't get the liquor out of her nose !" (In reference to the damage done on one's nose by chronic drinkers.)

All those stars from an earlier era drank, smoked, I cannot imagine what their breathe was like, or how they smelled of smoke. Looks at the movies from the 40's, 50's mostly every scene has someone asking for a cig, or lighting up, puffing away in a cloud of smoke.

According to an article I read a while back, in her last years Elizabeth's caretakers would occasionally load her into a wheelchair and haul her down to The Abbey, so she could have a cocktail and let all the boys fuss over her. It made me happy to know she still liked to turn it out with her gays right up until she died.

Any LA DLers ever encounter her during those visits? I'd love to hear your stories.

Just for R78:

Liquor & cigarette breath is nowhere near as bad as enduring the breath of those with poor oral hygiene, and any with partials, and full dentures.

* Elizabeth Taylor had said that her love scenes with Louis Jourdan in 1963's THE V.I.P.S. were a real endurance (test) because his breath damn near knocked her over.

* Kirk Douglas fucked Joan Crawford right on her foyer floor (circa 1949,50) after she made a pass at him. Kirk said that her breath almost made him lose his hard-on.

* Most folks know the tale of Vivien Leigh saying that one of the most difficult things about filming GONE WITH THE WIND was putting up with Clark Gable's denture breath.

Amen R67…

I saw her on Broadway in "The Little Foxes". It was the summer of 1981, I just graduated high school and longed see her. It was one of the most thrilling days of my life. She was breathtaking. Everytime she appeared, the audience gasped at her beauty.

PS Yes, darlings, the following autumn I became a Theatre major in college…do the math.

Elizabeth Taylor had constant illnesses and accidents, smoked, and was an alcoholic and prescription drug addict, all of which took a toll on her looks.

She also had a tendency to compulsively overeat, especially when bored, which is why she blew up when married to John Warner. Life as the wife of a politician was very boring to someone like her, who was used to traipsing all over the world and drinking and screwing and going to endless parties and soirees where she was feted and fawned over. She was used to a lot of pampering and adoration and she wasn't getting that during her marriage to Warner. Even so, Warner was definitely a much better choice of husband than Larry Fortensky, who was a big loser nobody. She must have been desperately lonely to have married him.

I remember in the mid 80s when she lost all that weight, was very tan, and did a one-on-one no audience interview with Donahue. Back when Donahue was the Oprah. I remember her saying how upset she was by all the fat jokes. I watched the interview during the summer when I was up in Canada. this would have been anywhere from 1985-87.

That's my great Liz Taylor story. Never met her. But I did see her collection when it was up for sale at Christie's in 2011. Lots of earrings! Caftans! I immediately thought of the DL.

A very dear friend of mine now deceased was a friend of both Elizabeth and Burton. Whenever they were in New York they would meet up for drinks. My friend said that he never encountered them NOT completely drunk. They would show up at his door in their chauffeur driven Rolls Royce completely plastered. Then proceed to further drink the night away. He was sure that they were both chronic alcoholics. He also said that even after her 1962 death, Elizabeth was deeply jealous of Marilyn Monroe. She would go off into drunk tirades if Marilyn's name was mention. My friend implied that Elizabeth was somehow threatened by Monroe's beauty/legacy .

R85 when journalist Max Lerner wrote the following:

[quote]"When Marilyn died in 1962, I penned an article comparing the two actresses, terming Elizabeth a legend and Marilyn a myth. Elizabeth read the piece and gave me a call. She sounded perturbed. She wanted to know 'how in hell' I could refer to Marilyn as a myth while she had to settle for being in the legend category. 'But Marilyn is dead,' I pointed out. 'That makes her a myth.' 'I don't give a damn,' reported Elizabeth. 'She couldn't hold a candle to me while she was a alive.'

[quote]SINATRA for example gave her a check but told in her in no uncertain terms not to let anyone know it came from him.

My brother worked with Easter Seals. Sinatra donated large checks every year, but his rule was that they not give out this information. It was only known by members of the board. This was an Easter Seals chapter in Maryland, not a place where Sinatra lived or had releatives. You have to wonder how many other places around the country got Sinatra donations.

[quote]Elizabeth's caretakers would occasionally load her into a wheelchair and haul her down to [...],

WTF is webby's forbidden word that ended up with the (...) in R78?

Thank you R67. That's exactly how I feel.

The word is the name of a gay bar in LA. I never remember it's forbidden. Not sure if it's banned in any iteration, or only when you put "The" in front of it.

R85 - Monroe was jealous of Elizabeth Taylor. Of course, Miss Taylor was a much stronger personality and asserted herself. She did not tolerate crap from the studio executives. She got all the star trappings during "Cleopatra" at Fox (Monroe's studio), whereas Monroe was fired for her erratic behavior. This is no criticism of Marilyn, she was crying out for help and she was exploited. I adore both ladies, but Elizabeth is my favorite superstar of all time.

Saw the Misfits on television the other night and quite honestly felt sorry for MM.

Here was this older and quite honestly a bit fat (you could see her very visible muffin top as she comes out of the lake in a bikini), still playing the giggly, jiggly and breathless voiced sex kitten.

That poor woman was fucked over by almost everyone she came into contact with, always seen as a joke or something. Remember reading that she had to fight to get star listing/treatment in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes when the suits willingly gave such to Jane Russell. MM came back with that film was about a blonde and she was that blonde.

If I have the choice of befriending either Taylor or Monroe I would most assuredly pick Monroe. Taylor seems so coarse and self involved. A supreme narcissist. Monroe might have had her demons but compared to Taylors self involvement coupled with her raging thirst to be pampered and glorified...worshipped..rewarded...praised ....While downing gallons of booze....Pills ...it must have been exhausting being around her.

She was truly beautiful.

I hope I look this good at age 78.

Elizabeth Taylor & Marilyn Monroe were jealous of one another for different reasons. Taylor didn't like competition in the beauty department which is a shame because the two weren't in the same category; Monroe envied Taylor's clout, power.

There's a story that at a party in the late 50s Marilyn saw Taylor across the room and went over to speak to her. Taylor, who already consumed several drinks deliberately turned to her escort (I think it was her doctor Rex Kennamer) and allegedly loudly said, "keep that dyke away from me." Monroe who was stunned just turned away and went back to where she had been.

p.s. how come towards the end of their lives, Elizbeth Taylor, Yvonne deCarlo & (still living) Jackie Stallone looked like 3 sisters ?

"Saw the Misfits on television the other night and quite honestly felt sorry for MM."

That movie was not MM at her best. Arthur Miller wrote the thing "for" her, but nobody wanted to see the glamorous, sexy, adorable Marilyn Monroe in blue jeans and being "serious." She was heavy and wearing a bad wig and the production was shut down several times due to her mental breakdowns and pill addiction. All the principles in that movie were doomed and would die not long after it was finished: Clark Gable, Marilyn, Montgomery Clift.

R93, so true. Marilyn and Liz were polar opposites in practically every way.

Liz was born to well-to-do American ex-pats in London, who hobnobbed with the elite and nobility. She went to the best schools and with her parents' connection began her career as a child star when they returned to America. Mrs. Taylor was a constant presence on set so her little girl wouldn't be taken advantage of.

On the other hand, Marilyn was born illegitimate in the charity ward of an LA hospital. She never knew her father, and her mother was a paranoid schizophrenic so Norma Jeane spent her childhood/adolescence in a succession of foster homes and a two-year stint in an orphanage., When she was 16, she was married off by her last foster family, who were moving cross country and gave her the ultimatum to return to the orphanage or marry the 21-year-old man next door. She also worked in a munitions factory to make ends meet.

I think their upbringings shaped their adulthood. Liz was pampered and fawned over immediately upon birth, so naturally she developed this thirst to be glorified, worshipped, and bejeweled. Whereas Marilyn spent a lonely childhood in foster care, where she was sexually abused, and developed fear of abandonment and a need to be loved which would forever plagued.

Also, as a result of her upbringing, Marilyn was not materialistic despite her signature role being Lorei Lee. She was very laid-back, a homebody, and didn't care one bit for diamonds and jewels, but those were catnip to Taylor, who loved to flaunt her rocks and demanded jewelry from lovers, director, and male co-stars.

[quote]I adore both ladies, but Elizabeth is my favorite superstar of all time.

See, I have more respect for Marilyn, because she overcame so much and achieved it all.

[quote]“Marilyn played the best game with the worst hand of anybody I know." ~ Edward Wagenknecht, author

[quote]“Nobody discovered her, she earned her own way to stardom.” ~ Darryl Zanuck, president of 20th Century Fox

Meanwhile, Liz had the ideal childhood and her parents made everything happen for her.

I agree completely with post 99. Taylor just seems like a spoiled coddled brat. Monroe on the other hand seems much more " human " and empathetic. ...And from what I've personally read about MM , infinitely less concerned about material possessions . La liz comes across in her Bios as greedy and extremely selfish. Monroe also had an obvious and very active aspiration for self improvement...Taylor was happy just being pampered and adored.

[quote]I saw her on Broadway in "The Little Foxes". It was the summer of 1981, I just graduated high school and longed see her. It was one of the most thrilling days of my life. She was breathtaking. Everytime she appeared, the audience gasped at her beauty.

Mary!

That was an EPIC performance! And I don't mean [italic]hers![/italic]

Having a hard scrabble childhood hardly makes one a better person. If anything, some of the most self-important, abrasive, humorless divas (Demi, Madonna, JLo, Faye, Joan, Sharon Stone) came from nothing or less then nothing. So they had to be even bigger ball busters in order to get ahead.

Something tells me that Post 102 had a " Hard scrabbled childhood ".

I outlived that bitch, Bessie Mae! I survived Ritchie! Hey, I even buried another husband and mourned Roddy McDowell!

I owned a successful discotheque and was theater producer in my own right.

Bessie you didn't deserve the Oscar for BUtterfield-8; that wasn't acting, that was your life story

She was fuckin fierce in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

I always felt that The Misfits was Marilyn's greatest performance. She showed so much vulnerability and depth in that role while - IMHO - inverting her "sexpot" image to show the person underneath the facade/character. I've always felt that many viewers misunderstood Arthur's screenplay.

Post 106...." I've always felt that many viewers misunderstood Arthur's screenplay."

I agree. What I love about The Misfits is that it's a uniquely American film. Staring a uniquely American actress. Marilyn is a fully realized character in the film and not just a lust object. I feel its a highly under appreciated film.

Up until about 1960, Taylor was probably the most beautiful woman ever on film. And she could be a great actress when she wanted. But after superstardom, she seemed to become lazy. Woolf, however, is astounding. Can't imagine any other actress pulling that role off.

The original actors talked about for the starring roles in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF ? were James Mason & Bette Davis. Davis in particular really wanted the role.

Arthur Hill and Uta Hagen had originated the roles of George & Martha on stage in 1962 but studios want to go with box office draws, hence who was bigger in 1965 than Burton & Taylor ?

Bumping this, curious as to opinions.

Safe to say the two husbands with whom Elizabeth was most passionately in love were Mike Todd and Richard Burton. If Mike had lived, and Elizabeth had done Cleopatra, would she have left him for Richard? In other words, whom did she love more? Both of them knew they had to give her serious jewels.

She was never lovelier...

When ELiz was filming cleopatra around 1961 she was already putting on the pounds. Marilyn Monroe saw photos of Liz at this time and one of them was Eliz in a bathing suit and MM made the comment that liz s arms were fat but nobody would be noticing because they couldnt get past her spectacular face and eyes..................probably pretty accurate. I remember seeing a movie on tv, XY and Zee that LIz did in 1973 with Michael Caine. She was about 20 lbs overweight but she was playing a kind of frivolous nympho boozy character and she was still very beautiful in it.and perfectly cast.

Taylor made a very revealing comment once. The only times in her life that she was able to stay slim was when she was deeply deeply in love with somebody. I can relate as that has generally been my experience as well.

Yesterday I watched “the last time I saw Paris.” She was quite lovely in that and her clothes were fantastic.