Elizabeth Taylor has Passed Away

[littlepinetree]

Sad day. Elizabeth Taylor died at 79 years old. She was sick for a long time. She will very much be missed.

[paul]

Elizabeth Taylor passed away early today after battling Congestive Heart Failure for the past 7 years. I had the good fortune to meet her several times - backstage after "Private Lives" in which she co-starred on the stage with Richard Burton in 1983, when we worked together in September, 1984 to honor our friend, Sydney Guilaroff for his more than 50 year career, and on half a dozen AIDS fundraising events.
While I was never a huge fan of her acting beyond some favorites such as "National Velvet", she deserves enormous praise for her tireless efforts on behalf of those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. She approached that work with the same unconditional love and spirit that Doris has shown with her work on behalf of animals.
Elizabeth had a bawdy and very funny sense of humor and on several occasions I asked her if she had ever met Doris Day. I have never seen a picture of them together although both appear with a large group on stage at the Academy Awards in the late 50's. Elizabeth never answered, although she did once say, "I was always jealous of her because Rock liked her better than me...." It was impossible to tell whether it was serious or spoken in jest.
I know they spoke on the phone after Rock's passing because Elizabeth personally invited Doris to come to the Memorial Service that was held in Rock's honor. Doris declined but the two ladies chatted briefly about their mutual friend.

[webmaster]

I asked her if she had ever met Doris Day. I have never seen a picture of them together although both appear with a large group on stage at the Academy Awards in the late 50's. Elizabeth never answered, although she did once say, "I was always jealous of her because Rock liked her better than me...." It was impossible to tell whether it was serious or spoken in jest.

Liz always seemed to me to have an 'English' sense of humour - no doubt gotten from her parents - that sounds like a joke to me - we tend to joke with a deadpan expression.

Sad to see her go but she seemed to be in pain during recent years so she is finally free of that - she was an amazing character and won't be forgotten.

[webmaster]

I got that one wrong - she had American parents apparently:

Philip French's screen legends: Elizabeth Taylor
• News: Elizabeth Taylor dies
• Elizabeth Taylor: a life in clips

Born in London to well-off American parents, Taylor was taken to America when war broke out and was in show-business from the age of 10. She became a major child star, giving one of her finest performances as Velvet Brown, the farmer's daughter and Grand National winner, in National Velvet (1944). Her steady development from charming child to alluring adult star culminated in Vincente Minnelli's Father of the Bride (1950). (Twenty one years later, Peter Bogdanovich used a clip from this in The Last Picture Show to present her as the belle idéale of the postwar years.)

At this point, the 5ft 2in, violet-eyed beauty's career became inextricably bound up with a much publicised private life, when her idyllic screen marriage coincided with her disastrous real-life marriage to the hotel heir Nicky Hilton, first of her seven husbands. From then on, she was exploited by every gossip columnist and patronised by virtually every film reviewer, dismissed as a substandard actress, condemned as a predatory home-breaker - but elevated to superstar status.

The climax of her career came with the on-set romance with future fifth husband Richard Burton during the protracted production of Cleopatra (1963), which eclipsed that between the Serpent of the Nile and her two Roman lovers.

Before that point, she had given several notable performances, most particularly as the wilful, upper-class girl courted by Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951) and the strong wife brought to Texas by Rock Hudson in Giant (1956), both directed by George Stevens, and as the wives of closet gays in film versions of two Tennessee Williams plays, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), the latter providing Taylor's most beguiling erotic pin-up.

After Cleopatra, there were seven further movies with Burton, only one of which had real distinction, Mike Nichols's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Her Martha, a tough, vulnerable survivor, is her finest performance, more worthy of the Oscar it brought her than her previous Academy Award winner, the forgotten Butterfield 8

Starting with two bizarre Joseph Losey films, Boom! and Secret Ceremony (both 1968), Taylor's career went into steep decline. She could sell magazines, peddle fragrances, raise money for Aids charities, but she couldn't sell tickets at the box office. Still, as a star and celebrity, she has remained undiminished.

MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jun ... een-legend

[howard]

Too bad about Elizabeth Taylor. She had had more than her share of illnesses ... skin cancer, two hip operations, a benign brain tumor, pneumonia, and finally, congestive heart failure which finally did her in.. She was truly a great survivor. She was also a great star ... incredibly beautiful and very talented. I'll never forget her performances in "Suddenly Last Summer," "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof," and her academy-award winning performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." R.I.P.

[webmaster]

"I'm retired from acting because it doesn't interest me anymore," Liz Taylor said in 2003

I wonder if Doris ever felt like saying something like that? I think she's too polite to be as blunt but I think she must have felt the same way.

[webmaster]

Found online:



Elizabeth Taylor, the song is ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’ sung by Doris Day.

[melancholy]

Yes,quite a glamourous actress has left us.She did live life to the fullest,her way and must have suffered pain quite a bit.R.I.P.
Dorine

[mikeydv]

The REAL STARS are leaving us in the dust....Heaven is starting to fill up! No such thing, in my eyes, as a star today. What we have is WANNABEES. No one like DORIS LIZ DEBBIE ROCK TONY JIMMY etc.
It was a different time; I, for one, am glad i did not miss it.

[TCMMovieFan]

It was sad to hear the news as its the end of a golden era.
I was never a fan of LA LIZ however.
After awhile, all the media attention she was receiving became a joke and it was tough for me take her seriously.
Obviously fame and fortune cannot buy everything and that was definitely true about LIZ. Its truly amazing she made it 79 as she was plagued by several accidents, illnesses, tragedies, alcoholism, drug addiction, et al.
It was truly heartbreaking to see her final years spent in a wheelchair------equally so to hear that Zsa Zsa Gabor's leg has been amputated........this is no way to live.
All in all, Liz led a very full and eventful life.........she left this world without having to say that is was ever boring for her !

[littlepinetree]

Thank you for taking time to reply to this sad news. Nice of you all to post detail information and also post the beautiful pictures. Her passing is sad but now not only she's with God, but now she's with her best friend Michael Jackson.

[Jas1]

And with the love of her life - Richard Burton.

[webmaster]

And Rock, Jimmy, Monty, and all....

"In her final weeks, Elizabeth Taylor had a lot of friends drop by her room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "We talked about how it's really hell getting older," says Debbie Reynolds, who spoke to PEOPLE about her onetime rival and longtime friend. "We were complaining to each other about that, like two girls would."

http://www.people.com/people/package/ar ... 95,00.html

[TCMMovieFan]

This is all very well and good but...........this year the world also lost BETTY GARRETT & JANE RUSSELL to name but two 'biggies'......but the biggest fuss has been made about Liz !
I am not trying to minimize the passing of Liz Taylor but the media frenzy...........let's face it...she was none too fond of the press and valued her privacy...such as it could have been given the magnitude of her lifestyle, marriages, major cinema stardom, etc.
Also her passing should not have come as much of a shock either. Healthwise she definitely suffered tremendously and did not look altogether well for several years. She is finally AT PEACE.

[paul]

The sad realty is that a lot of people today only know Betty Garrett from "Laverne and Shirley" and have no idea of her musical skills. Her film career was relatively short whereas Elizabeth worked in films from the early 1940's until "The Flintstones" in the 1990's and even did a television movie less than a decade ago with Debbie Reynolds, Shirley MacLaine, and Joan Collins among others. As for Jane Russell, those of us who know and appreciate film realize the scope of her career and success. Some people my age (late 50's) only seem to remember her hawking the "18 hour long line bra" or whatever the product was. Although Elizabeth often shunned the limelight, it somehow found her and so much of her name recognition is based upon the past scandals, marriages and ups and downs in her life. In addition, she was one of the first individuals to speak out in support of those with HIV/AIDS and helped raised tens of millions of dollars. I can understand your feelings about the almost backhanded way in which the passing of Miss Garrett and Miss Russell were handled, but today's press seems only interested in what is most recently relevent and today's press know Elizabeth from the more recent headlines. Sadly many of these reporters can't be bothered to research anyone with whom they are not instantly familiar.

[Ken]

Paul--It is good to hear from you as I've always enjoyed reading your comments.

[littlepinetree]

I understand what TCMmoviefan is talking about. Farah Fawcett died the same day Michael Jackson died.
I know both had a very different kind of fame but the media forgetting about Farah Fawcett was sinful!!!

[TCMMovieFan]

I understand what TCMmoviefan is talking about. Farah Fawcett died the same day Michael Jackson died.
I know both had a very different kind of fame but the media forgetting about Farah Fawcett was sinful!!!

Totally agreed ! I very well remembered----I think it was around 1977 if I am not mistaken but please correct me if I am in error.....when Farah Fawcett-Majors (that was her name at the time !) created quite a stir in that red bikini pinup poster that appeared everywhere and anywhere.....she had just hit the BIG TIME with Charlie's Angels TV Series which was originally created as a starring vehicle for KATE JACKSON - remember her ?! - while Jaclyn Smith and Farah were meant to be the co-stars - though of course, Farah became the star attraction there while Jackson & Smith -- though popular (maybe Smith just a tiny bit more) wound up taking a back seat to Farah and for that year of '77, Farah was RIDING HIGH and had become the talk of the country. The media certainly was in her corner but then she left the series after that initial season with the hopes of moving on to bigger and better things though it never happened. Then with her torturous suffering from cancer but then her passing happened on the day of Michael Jackson and of course the media had always had a FETISH for Michael -- as they had always had for Liz.
Michael's early demise was largely his own doing..........he was careless with his life and/or trusted the wrong people around him----sounds familiar ?!.............there was no GRIT there.......Farah fought and bravely pressed on though the clock had run out.
I am not especially a fan of the media and I truly wonder how much of their stories are generated by the old 'payola' from the PR people. There is always a pattern here at work on their end. Anyway................

[littlepinetree]

It's so cool you know so much about the classic movie stars!
I'm a huge fan of Veronica Lake! Do you or anyone else know her work?

[TCMMovieFan]

It's so cool you know so much about the classic movie stars!
I'm a huge fan of Veronica Lake! Do you or anyone else know her work?

Veronica Lake was the 'peek-a-boo' girl from the 1940's......very famous in her time but ultimately led a horrendous life in which poverty prevailed, her looks faded dramatically, and died sadly all too soon in Vermont-----worlds apart from Hollywood. I have yet to catch one of her films. Was she on the A LIST or B LIST ? Can anyone here kindly fill us in on the details ? Thanks.

[littlepinetree]

Veronica Lake died from hepatitis in her early 50's in 1973.
Her looks did change. Now it's known she was only 4 foot 10 and weighed around 90 pounds.
She put on a lot of weight as she aged and looked like a different person.
"I Married a Witch" is one of her movies I liked best.
She was a tiny little doll and was beautiful and natural.
The peek a boo wave was natural and she hated it! That turned out to be her trade mark!
Here is a clip of her. What a beauty!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbEEmUwdhxs

[TCMMovieFan]

Thanks Very Much for the info on Miss Lake.

[littlepinetree]

You're very welcome!
Here is a nice clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbEEmUwdhxs

Enjoy!

[howard]

What an amazing video ... thanks for posting.

[melancholy]

Thanks for posting this on Veronica Lake Lisa.She had quite a distinct look and wonderul when you see her movies with Alan Ladd.
Wich brings mr to Cheryl Ladd.She also had a role in Charlie's Angels right?Because Farah Fawcett mentioned here by TCM fan,did suffer terribly from her cancer,she was not in the news,she was taken good care of by Ryan O'Neill and her closest friends who said she smiled her way through her sickness and always stayed positive.There was a recording of the last part of her life which is very touching.Made by one of her friends.
As for E.Taylor,she was such a wonderful looking woman ans won quite some awards.She was always in the spotlights.And yes,she is now near to her best friends,R.I.P.
Dorine