As far back as my memory goes I remember Elizabeth Taylor.
Just last month, during the Academy Awards I opined that the Oscar show is no longer like watching living history, with the stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood mostly gone and the few still alive, not attending the Academy Awards.
Elizabeth Taylor was the last of the Great Hollywood Stars.
When Katharine Hepburn died I felt bad. I'd come to greatly like and admire Katharine Hepburn. But, Katharine Hepburn never entered my consciousness til I was well in to my teenage years.
I have been aware of Elizabeth Taylor all my life.
I don't think there is a celebrity/star today who quite makes the stir Elizabeth Taylor did in her heyday. It was like she was an ongoing news story. All the world followed her affairs. And then she hooked up with Richard Burton, during the filming of Cleopatra, with the storm that erupted from that burning throughout the 1960s. By comparison, later movie star assignations, like the fuss made over Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, are nothing.
Before Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor wooed Eddie Fisher away from America's sweetheart, at the time, Debbie Reynolds. After putting the world through the spectacle of the Eddie Fisher affair Elizabeth Taylor then started up with Richard Burton.
No matter what bad girl behavior Elizabeth Taylor indulged in, she was an ever brighter star.
Elizabeth Taylor was married 8 times to 7 men. Conrad Hilton, Michael Wilding, Michael Todd, Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton, Richard Burton, again, John Warner and Larry Fortensky.
When Elizabeth Taylor married Senator John Warner, she tried to live the life of a Washington, D.C. political wife. This caused her to put on an awful lot of weight. I remember thinking it was awful sad how badly she'd let herself go. And then she divorced the senator, lost the weight and was back being one of the most beautiful women in the world again.
Elizabeth Taylor made some of my favorite movies. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." "Giant." "Butterfield 8" "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?"
Elizabeth Taylor was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar several times, winning for "Butterfield 8" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?"
Elizabeth Taylor was an early activist in the AIDS fight, after her Giant co-star, Rock Hudson died from AIDS, Elizabeth Taylor went on to raise millions for research.
I remember months ago reading that Elizabeth Taylor was not expected to last longer than six months, due to congestive heart failure that had had her ailing for years.
Elizabeth Taylor, born February 27, 1932, died March 23, 2011 at 79 years old.
