RIP Elizabeth Taylor

One of the most beautiful and most graceful actresses the world got to see and enjoy has passed.

It's hard to think of all of her films and list which are my favorite. Remember way back to "National Velvet?" She was what 12 years old or so? Off the top of my head, I loved Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with Paul Newman, Giant (with James Dean): and although I think the scandal of her love affair with Richard Burton was more noticeable than the movie, she made a beautiful Cleopatra. I know there are so many more I'm not thinking of.

RIP Liz

TIS

Most of Taylor's work throughout the 1950's and beyond is legendary.

Before hitting adulthood and full-fledged stardom, the teenaged Elizabeth had a delightful supporting role in one of my favorite movies, 'Life With Father' (1947).

Also a 19yr old Taylor held her own opposite the great Spencer Tracy in 'Father of the Bride' and its sequel, 'Father's Little Dividend'.

Two of her most 'fun' bits of work were her guest appearance with then hubby Richard Burton on an episode of Lucille Ball's 'Here's Lucy' show, and her role as Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law in 'The Flintstones' movie starring John Goodman. From what I recall, she did that part in order to raise money for AIDS.

The local news radio station interviewed a film professor about her death today. Both the radio host and the professor raved on and on about her role in "Virginia Wolff". She was as talented as she was beautiful.

Extremely talented. A lot of people seem to think she was just some Marilyn Monroe type of character, but Elizabeth actually had two Oscars under her belt and got nominated five times.

She did Maggie Simpson's voice for Maggie's first word ("Dada"), also.

Coincidentally, Taylor portrayed Maggie the Cat in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and IMO that was her greatest role. She, Paul Newman and Burl Ives burned up the screen with their wonderful performances.

If you've never seen "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", I HIGHLY recommend it.

SC,

I agree with Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. She was great and Newman sizzled. He was so hot!!!

I just heard a report on her death quoting her as once saying, "I was committed to all of my marriages but should have been committed for marrying so many times." As we know she married 8 times but had 7 husbands because she Married Richard Burton twice.

TIS

What makes her performance in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" even more remarkable was that her husband, Michael Todd, was killed in a plane crash on the same day that filming for the movie started. Taylor decided to go on with the schedule.

I do remember hearing when Mike Todd died but don't know much about him aside from his marriage to Liz.

I also heard today on the various news stories that she won two oscars (one I believe was Butterfield 8) but not sure what the other was. I'll look it up.

Also, a tidbit, I'm told she didn't like being called "Liz".

I'm guessing the'll have a Liz Taylor marathon on soon. I could see a few of her movies again.

TIS

Virginia Woolf.

I get mixed up between "Virginia Wolfe" and "Taming Of The Shrew." One of the films was constant bickering with her and Burton. I never was very interested at the time in either of those two films for some reason (although both were very popular).



TIS

He was a Hollywood producer...won an Oscar for his film 'Around The World in Eighty Days' (Best Picture - 1956)


Actually, there was constant bickering between them in both of those movies. But...Virginia Woolf was the more famous and superior of the two. And the one that got her that second Oscar.

The pathetic low lifes Westboro Church says they'll picket her funeral. I really dont' know how since they've announced it's a private funeral. Not sure if the location will be made public.

I was thinking yesterday of who really is left from the old glory days of hollywood. The only ones I can think of are Mickey Rooney and Jerry Lewis.

Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, Joan Fontaine and Shirley Temple come to mind.

Of course. Poor Kirk, I keep thinking he's dead already. And I for some reason thought Shirley Temple was.

I'll add Elizabeth's nemesis Debbie Reynolds to the list.

Luise Rainer, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Rutherford and Ernest Borgnine are still with us.

Signor V.

Speaking of Debbie Reynolds. I heard her in a telephone interview yesterday. She was very complimentary toward Liz and said they had been friends for a long time. Anyway, she commented on how "everyone" loved Liz. Women loved Liz and men loved Liz. Even my husband loved Liz."

On another note, I read yesterday that the Westboro Church (the ones they protest at gay funerals) plan on protesting at Liz's funeral, calling her a gay enabler. Hopefully, they won't be able to get very close.

TIS

Zsa Zsa Gabor...but she isn't very well herself....
and please don't say that she will be next!
Death Pool or not- lol

Olivia de Havilland is? Man, no wonder I sucked at the Dead Pool. I think everyone's already dead.

Yeah.... she was in that southern movie in which Atlanta burned. But, frankly I don't give a damn.

Please tell me you're kidding. Ugh, I despise these people.

Well fiddle-de-de. I do declare sir that you are no gentleman.

Yea, DeHavilland has to be really quite old and I assume the only one of the major cast members who are still alive.

TIS

The GWTW actors still alive I believe are Alicia Rhett/India Wilkes; Mary Anderson/Maybelle Merriweather, Mickey Kuhn/Beau Wilkes and Ann Rutherford/Carreen.

They're saying she might be buried in Wales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12845258

That's strange since she has a vault already next to her parent's that she's supposed to be laid to rest at in Westwood Cemetery.

According to this article and what I'm hearing here on the news, is that she will be at Westwood Village Cemetery by her parents. The Hollywood Walk of Fame has a lot of flowers/tributes on her star.

Also, in the link I've added about the funeral mentions the planned protest by Westboro church. I really don't think they'll get very close hopefully.

Btw, that first picture that Vinny posted is truly a beautiful picture of her.

TIS

http://robotceleb.com/news/218075-03242011-elizabeth-taylor-funeral-details.html

Apparently Zsa Zsa Gabor heard of Taylor's death and became inconsolable. Thinking deaths come in threes, and with Jane Russell and now Liz Taylor, Gabor is afraid she is next. Her blood pressure went up so much that she was brought to the hospital. Gabor is 94. She's had many health issues of late.


TIS



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110324/ap_en_ce/us_people_zsa_zsa_gabor_5

What I always loved about Liz Taylor was her eyes. Nobody has eyes like that. I wanted to find a picture that truly showed the beauty of those eyes and I actually went through a lot of pictures before coming across this one, but when I saw it, I knew immediately I had found the right one.

Elizabeth has been laid to rest. That was fast, but I guess those were her wishes.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/entertainment/20110324/US.Elizabeth.Taylor.Funeral/

Boy, that was quick. I either didn't read or didn't pay attention to the date of the funeral. Another Hollywood Legend laid to rest.


TIS

I had heard on TV that funeral services would be private, and I'm sure her relatives didn't want this to turn into a media circus - and also, having a very fast funeral was a good way to thwart the idiots from the Westboro Church from making a disgraceful scene near the cemetary.

Signor V.

Well I learn something new everyday. She had her funeral the next day because she had converted to Judaism.

It's never too late.

Well, I learned something. I had no idea that was Jewish tradition/policy. Btw, did she turn Jewish when she married Eddie??????


TIS

one of the last from golden age of hollywood. i was really sad when i heard, but it was coming since her health has been terrible for years.

also too i bet zsa zsa is next to go now...i mean really she made her self go to the hospital this time around.

WOW!!! This was quick.

I'm not exactly certain when Elizabeth Taylor converted to Judaism. Both Mike Todd and Eddie Fisher were Jewish. I didn't know she still considered herself a Jew.

Signor V.

I read today that she converted to marry Fisher. I don't know if she was still a practicing Jew, though.

TIS, if you read Carrie Fisher's book "Wishful Drinking", you'll find someone who definitely did NOT love Liz!

For whatever reason, Carrie Fisher did once take part in a celebrity tribute/roast honoring Elizabeth Taylor, sometime during the 1980's or 90's. I remember seeing a brief clip in which Fisher uttered the hilarious line:

"The greatest contribution Elizabeth Taylor made to our family was to get Eddie Fisher out of the house."

Per this article Elizabeth did convert before her marraige to Eddie. And to show her sense of humor she was 15 minutes late to the funeral. So the next time you're funny late and someone says, "You'll be late for your own funeral", you'll be in good company.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/elizabeth_taylor_late_the_own_funeral_Rmx3hEENStVIeMLtbdxHzI

I LOVE the fact she insisted on being late to her own funeral. For many years I've toyed with having the same thing arranged for my funeral. Like Liz, I'm always late.

i would be 15 minutes earlier

Liz converted to Judaism in 1959. Her Jewish name was Elisheba Rachel.

As far as her affair with Eddie Fisher, she and Debbie Reynolds publicly buried the hatchet years ago and Deb had nothing but good things to say this week about her.

Even Carrie Fisher came out this week and said "If my father had to divorce my mother for anyone-I'm so grateful that it was Elizabeth."

Movie Icon..

RIP

Taylor's final Tweets were shout outs to Kim Kardashian.

While we're bringing up Taylor movies, how about REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE?

Yes, I just heard that amount today. As a matter of fact the report said possibly one billion??? She made much I guess off her perfume as well.
Btw, I know she has at least two kids but I don't think I've ever seen them.

TIS

According to an article I read, she had four children: two boys with Michael Wilding, a daughter with Michael Todd and one with Richard Burton.

I didn't know she had any children with Richard Burton. For some reason I didn't think they had any.



TIS

BTW, I heard this morning that Liz was the first actress to make one million dollars (as Cleopatra). I guess that would be chicken feed in today's market.



TIS

That's been well known for years. Elizabeth Taylor once told the story of how that came about.

Said she was soaking in the bathtub and husband Eddie Fisher answered the phone. He told her that the producers at 20th Century Fox were offering her the lead in 'Cleopatra'. Liz had no interrest & sarcastically said..."Tell them I'll do it for a million dollars." Assuming that would put an end to the offer right there.

A few minutes later Eddie came back and told her they said ok.

All there was left to do was sign the contract...and the rest as they say...is history.

Apple

Liz and Dick adopted their daughter Maria in 1964, so they actually did have a child together. She had two sons, Michael, Jr. and Christopher with Wilding, and Elizabeth, known as Liza, with Michael Todd.


This is Liz with two of her children - Michael Wilding, Jr. and Maria Burton at a party given for Maria back in 1981.

Thanks SB. Although it's hard to tell exactly by the picture you posted, but her son seems to have her eyes no? Considering her fame, her children seem to have managed to stay out of the spotlight, at least that I'm aware of.


TIS

HOLY COW...I had completely forgotten that they had adopted a child. My bad!!

This link has a photo gallery which includes a 2007 pic of Liz & all 4 of her children, at her 75th birthday party.

http://www.life.com/gallery/22489/elizabeth-taylor-as-a-mother#index/11

I think Chris Wilding looks the most like Elizabeth...while Liza Todd & Michael Wilding, Jr. more resemble their fathers.

With such management style by Fox, no wonder they almost went bankrupt over that movie.

Elizabeth Taylor's nude photo at 24 seen for first time
A goddess revealed: Intimate portrait of Liz Taylor at 24 seen for the first time
By Liz Thomas

Countless photographs have paid homage to Liz Taylor’s fabulous figure. But none has been so revealing as this.

A private collector has released the only known picture of the star – then aged 24 – posing nude. It is understood to be the first time the photo has been shown publicly.

It was an engagement gift from Miss Taylor to producer Michael Todd, who was her third husband.

The picture was taken by one of her closest friends, actor and photographer Roddy McDowall. He persuaded her to pose naked by promising her it would be done tastefully.

She then gave it to Todd as a present after he proposed in 1956 – the pair married a few months later but the relationship was tragically short-lived.

Todd was killed 13 months after their wedding day when his private plane crashed during a storm over New Mexico.

Full Article

Wow. She was just gorgeus.

Yes, she was. And all class.

It prompts me to ask: with so many puttane out there among the coterie of female so-called stars who spread their legs for the cameras at the drop of a hat, I wonder if stars such as Taylor would have been disposed to do so? What about Bacall, Lamour, Garbo, Leigh, Hayworth, Bergman, just to name a few?

I'd have to say yes, Oli. Those "casting couch" stories about old Hollywood are legendary. If you were willing to sleep with an 80 year old Sam Goldwyn or some such old geezer just to get a part, why wouldn't you do nudity?

It is no mystery that Marilyn Monroe screwed her way to the top. They say she even screwed the extras. How she was able to walk so elegantly will forever mystify me.