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Elizabeth Taylor: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born with eyes so blue they appeared violet, rimmed by dark double eyelashes caused by a genetic mutation that made her look older than her years. This striking feature, combined with a directness that unsettled grown-ups, initially led Universal Pictures to reject her as a child star, with a casting director stating she had nothing and her eyes were too old. Born on the 27th of February 1932 in London to American parents Francis and Sara Taylor, she possessed dual citizenship from birth, yet her path to stardom was not immediate. Her family moved to Los Angeles in 1939 to escape the looming war in Europe, settling in Beverly Hills where she attended Hawthorne School. Despite her parents' initial opposition to her entering films, the outbreak of war made the United States a more viable home, and her mother began to see the film industry as a way to assimilate into American society. Her father's art gallery gained clients from the film world, and through connections, Taylor auditioned for both Universal and MGM. Universal offered a contract first, but after a year of minor roles and no further work, they terminated her agreement, claiming she lacked the face of a child. It was only after her father's acquaintance, MGM producer Samuel Marx, arranged an audition for a role requiring an English accent that her career truly began. She was signed to a seven-year contract in January 1943, marking the start of a journey that would see her become one of the most famous women in history.
The Factory That Controlled Her Life
MGM treated Taylor like a product in a big extended factory, controlling every aspect of her life from her teeth to her hair. After the success of National Velvet in 1944, the studio gave her a new seven-year contract with a weekly salary of $750, but the price of fame was total submission. They required her to wear braces to straighten her teeth, pulled out two of her baby teeth, and even proposed dyeing her hair and changing the shape of her eyebrows, though she and her parents refused to let them change her name to Virginia. Her days were spent attending school and filming, followed by dancing and singing classes, and practicing scenes for the next day. By the time she turned 15, MGM began cultivating a more mature public image, organizing photo shoots that portrayed her as a normal teenager, while film magazines compared her to older actresses like Ava Gardner and Lana Turner. The studio's control became even tighter when she married Conrad Hilton Jr. in 1950, an event organized by MGM to promote her next film, Father of the Bride. After divorcing Hilton in 1951, she was sent to Britain to star in Ivanhoe, a project she resented as a reprimand for her divorce. Her financial need, driven by her marriage to Michael Wilding and pregnancy, forced her to sign a new seven-year contract in 1952, granting the studio even more leverage. She was cast in B-pictures and historical epics she disliked, such as Beau Brummell, where she later admitted to giving one of the worst performances of her career. The studio's grip was so strong that she considered ending her career in the early 1950s, yet she remained trapped in a system that prioritized profit over her artistic growth.
When was Elizabeth Taylor born and where was she born?
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on the 27th of February 1932 in London to American parents Francis and Sara Taylor. She possessed dual citizenship from birth and her family moved to Los Angeles in 1939 to escape the looming war in Europe.
What caused Elizabeth Taylor's eyes to appear violet?
Elizabeth Taylor was born with eyes so blue they appeared violet due to a genetic mutation that caused dark double eyelashes. This striking feature combined with a directness that unsettled grown-ups initially led Universal Pictures to reject her as a child star.
How did Elizabeth Taylor die and when did she die?
Elizabeth Taylor died of congestive heart failure aged 79 on the 23rd of March 2011 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She had been hospitalized six weeks prior to her death and her funeral took place the following day at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
How much money did Elizabeth Taylor raise for HIV/AIDS activism?
Elizabeth Taylor helped to raise more than $270 million for the cause beginning in the mid-1980s. She began her philanthropic work in 1984 and founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991 to raise awareness and provide support services for people with HIV/AIDS.
What was the cost of the film Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor?
The film Cleopatra had a final cost of $62 million making it the most expensive film made up to that point. Elizabeth Taylor became the first movie star to be paid $1 million for a role in the film which nearly bankrupted 20th Century-Fox.
How much did Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry sell for at auction after her death?
Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry sold for a record-breaking sum of $156.8 million at auction by Christie's after her death. The clothes and accessories from her collection sold for a further $5.5 million to benefit her AIDS foundation.
The death of her third husband, Mike Todd, in a plane crash on the 22nd of March 1958, left Taylor devastated, but it was her subsequent affair with singer Eddie Fisher that transformed her public image from a grieving widow to a homewrecker. Fisher was still married to actress Debbie Reynolds, and their union was idealized by the media as the marriage of America's sweethearts. The scandal was so severe that MGM used it to their advantage, featuring an image of Taylor posing on a bed in a slip in the promotional posters for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Despite the public outrage, the film grossed $10 million in American cinemas alone, making Taylor the year's second-most profitable star. She married Fisher in 1959, stating later that she did so only due to her grief, but the damage to her reputation was done. The affair marked a turning point in celebrity culture, where the public's fascination with private lives began to overshadow professional achievements. Taylor's next film, BUtterfield 8, in which she played a high-class call girl, was hated by her, yet it won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. The studio correctly calculated that her public image would make it easy for audiences to associate her with the role, and the film became a major commercial success. The scandal surrounding her personal life became a tool for the studio to sell tickets, and Taylor found herself trapped in a cycle where her private tragedies were commodified for public consumption.
The Million Dollar Cleopatra And The Vow Of Excess
Taylor became the first movie star to be paid $1 million for a role when she starred in Cleopatra, a decision that made her more famous than ever before but also nearly bankrupted 20th Century-Fox. The film's production was characterized by costly sets, constant delays, and a scandal caused by her extramarital affair with co-star Richard Burton. Filming began in England in 1960 but had to be halted several times due to bad weather and Taylor's ill health. In March 1961, she developed nearly fatal pneumonia that necessitated a tracheotomy, and one news agency erroneously reported that she had died. Once she recovered, Fox discarded the already filmed material and moved the production to Rome, changing its director and the actor playing Mark Antony to Burton. The film's final cost was $62 million, making it the most expensive film made up to that point, and it took several years to earn back its production costs. The studio publicly blamed Taylor for the production's troubles and unsuccessfully sued Burton and Taylor for allegedly damaging the film's commercial prospects with their behavior. The couple, dubbed Liz and Dick by the media, starred together in 11 films and led a jet-set lifestyle, spending millions on furs, diamonds, paintings, designer clothes, travel, food, liquor, a yacht, and a jet. Their relationship became a cottage industry of speculation, representing a new era of gotcha celebrity coverage where the more personal the story, the better. Despite the critical and commercial failures of many of their later films, the couple's chemistry and scandalous life kept them in the public eye, defining a new type of celebrity whose real private life was the focus of public interest.
The Weight Of Fame And The Weight Of Love
Taylor's career began to decline in the late 1960s as she gained weight and did not fit in with New Hollywood stars such as Jane Fonda and Julie Christie. After several years of nearly constant media attention, the public was tiring of Burton and her, and criticized their jet-set lifestyle. She starred in two films directed by Joseph Losey in 1968, Boom! and Secret Ceremony, both of which were critical and commercial failures. Her third film with George Stevens, The Only Game in Town, was also unsuccessful. The three 1972 films in which Taylor acted were somewhat more successful, with X Y & Zee winning her the David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress, and Hammersmith Is Out earning her the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival. However, her last film with Burton, Divorce His, Divorce Hers, was fittingly named as they divorced the following year. After her final divorce from Burton in 1976, she met her sixth husband, John Warner, a Republican politician from Virginia. They were married on the 4th of December 1976, after which Taylor concentrated on working for his electoral campaign. Once Warner had been elected to the Senate, she started to find her life as a politician's wife in Washington, D.C. boring and lonely, becoming depressed, gaining weight, and becoming increasingly addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol. Taylor and Warner separated in December 1981, and divorced on the 5th of November 1982. Her weight gain eventually reached between 70 and 90 pounds, which was at the time a size 20 dress, and she later published a diet book about her experiences. The decline in her career was mirrored by her personal struggles, as she became a symbol of excess and tragedy, yet she continued to find ways to reinvent herself.
The Voice That Opened Doors For The Dying
Taylor was one of the first celebrities to participate in HIV/AIDS activism, helping to raise more than $270 million for the cause beginning in the mid-1980s. She began her philanthropic work in 1984, helping to organize and host the first AIDS fundraiser to benefit the AIDS Project Los Angeles. In August 1985, she and Michael Gottlieb founded the National AIDS Research Foundation after her friend and former co-star Rock Hudson announced that he was dying of the disease. The following month, the foundation merged with Mathilde Krim's AIDS foundation to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research. As amfAR's focus is on research funding, Taylor founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991 to raise awareness and to provide support services for people with HIV/AIDS, paying for its overhead costs herself. Since her death, her estate has continued to fund ETAF's work, and donates 25% of royalties from the use of her image and likeness to the foundation. Taylor testified before the Senate and House for the Ryan White Care Act in 1986, 1990, and 1992. She persuaded President Ronald Reagan to acknowledge the disease for the first time in a speech in 1987, and publicly criticized presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton for lack of interest in combatting the disease. Taylor also founded the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center to offer free HIV/AIDS testing and care at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, DC, and the Elizabeth Taylor Endowment Fund for the UCLA Clinical AIDS Research and Education Center in Los Angeles. In 2015, Taylor's business partner Kathy Ireland claimed that Taylor ran an illegal underground network that distributed medications to Americans suffering from HIV/AIDS during the 1980s, when the Food and Drug Administration had not yet approved them. The claim was challenged by several people, including amfAR's former vice-president for development and external affairs, Taylor's former publicist, and activists who were involved in Project Inform in the 1980s and 1990s. Her dedication to the cause earned her several awards, including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993, the GLAAD Vanguard Award in 2000, and the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2001.
The Fragrance Empire And The Jewelry That Sold
Taylor created a collection of fragrances whose unprecedented success helped establish the trend of celebrity-branded perfumes in later years. In collaboration with Elizabeth Arden, Inc., she began by launching two best-selling perfumes, Passion in 1987, and White Diamonds in 1991. Taylor personally supervised the creation and production of each of the 11 fragrances marketed in her name. According to biographers Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, she earned more money through the fragrance collection than during her entire acting career, and upon her death, the British newspaper The Guardian estimated that the majority of her estimated $600 million to $1 billion estate consisted of revenue from fragrances. In 2005, Taylor also founded a jewelry company, House of Taylor, in collaboration with Kathy Ireland and Jack and Monty Abramov. She collected jewelry through her life, and owned the Krupp Diamond, the Taylor-Burton Diamond, and the La Peregrina Pearl, all three of which were gifts from husband Richard Burton. She also published a book about her collection, My Love Affair with Jewelry, in 2002. Taylor helped to popularize the work of fashion designers Valentino Garavani and Halston. She received a Lifetime of Glamour Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1997. After her death, her jewelry and fashion collections were auctioned by Christie's to benefit her AIDS foundation. The jewelry sold for a record-breaking sum of $156.8 million, and the clothes and accessories for a further $5.5 million. Her business acumen in the fragrance and jewelry industries proved to be a more lucrative legacy than her film career, allowing her to fund her philanthropic efforts and secure her financial future.
The Final Days And The Legacy Of A Rebel
Taylor's health increasingly declined during the last two decades of her life, and she rarely attended public events after 1996. She had serious bouts of pneumonia in 1990 and 2000, two hip replacement surgeries in the mid-1990s, a surgery for a benign brain tumor in 1997, and successful treatment for skin cancer in 2002. She used a wheelchair due to her back problems and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004. She died of the illness aged 79 on the 23rd of March 2011, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, six weeks after being hospitalized. Her funeral took place the following day at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The service was a private Jewish ceremony presided by Rabbi Jerome Cutler. At Taylor's request, the ceremony began 15 minutes behind schedule, as, according to her representative, She even wanted to be late for her own funeral. She was entombed in the cemetery's Great Mausoleum. Since Taylor's death, House of Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor's estate, has preserved Taylor's legacy through content, partnerships, and products. The estate is managed by three trustees selected by Elizabeth prior to her death. They continue to be involved with The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and oversee The Elizabeth Taylor Archive. In 2022, House of Taylor released Elizabeth The First, a 10-part podcast series with Imperative Entertainment and Kitty Purry Productions and narrated by Katy Perry. In December 2022, Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon by Kate Andersen Brower, the first Elizabeth Taylor biography authorized by the estate, was released. In 2019, it was announced that Rachel Weisz would portray Taylor in A Special Relationship, an upcoming film about Taylor's journey from actress to activist written by Simon Beaufoy. In 2024, it was announced that Kim Kardashian would executive produce and feature in a docuseries about Taylor. Commissioned by the BBC, it's been given the working title Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar. The second track of the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, is titled after Taylor. Swift said that she decided to write a song inspired by Taylor after watching an online video in which Taylor's son said that if he were to choose a person to compare his mother with in terms of popularity and chaos, it would be Swift. Taylor's legacy lives on not just in her films, but in her activism, her business ventures, and her enduring influence on celebrity culture.