HBO Documentary on Elizabeth Taylor 'The Lost Tapes' on HBO

Damn, she was gorgeous.

Tailor made for the DL. I’m surprised there’s not more replies.

I hope this doc showcases her sharp and bawdy sense of humor. La Liz didn’t take herself too seriously. Even towards the end of her life, her wit was on point.

It debuted this year at Cannes.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor is one of the reasons AIDS research happened. She started pushing and raising money in 1984. She still donates. ( Her estate). An absolute queen of the highest order.

What a life that woman led….from day one. Pushed by her mother into adulthood, acting and taking care of her family from age 12, abusive marriage after abusive marriage, valued only for her looks and savaged when she gained a pound, was worked into exhaustion and delirium (not to mention was physically disabled) and then criticized for causing delays in shooting, worked tirelessly for her fellow gay actors and their stigma and of course, their plight with AIDS, lost a husband in a plane crash….almost died….anything else? Can’t wait to tune in.

Last of the grand stars. And the grand scandals. And the grand living . And her grand charitable works. There will never be another one like her.

won 2 Oscars.

Everyone says I am just like her, except with a bigger ass!!!!

Tribeca

Do you remember Richard Burton's Diaries here on DL?

She made caftans okay for fellow fat whores everywhere.

This very unusual footage of a clearly inebriated Elizabeth forcing Michael Jackson to have his first Christmas lives rent free in my head. The level of trauma one can observe in everyone featured in this video is almost incomprehensible.

Beautiful and disturbing @R13

Nanette Burstein also directed The Kid Stays in the Picture about Bob Evans.

It’s the jingley-jangley music in the background, like a horror movie.

It's all strings like in Psycho.

[quote]Everyone says I am just like her, except with a bigger ass!!!! —JLo

[quote] What a life that woman led

Well, not as fascinating or relevant as mine. You sad little homosexual boys with your fixation on camp...

[quote]Pushed by her mother into adulthood, acting and taking care of her family from age 12, abusive marriage after abusive marriage, valued only for her looks and savaged when she gained a pound, was worked into exhaustion and delirium (not to mention was physically disabled) and then criticized for causing delays in shooting, worked tirelessly for her fellow gay actors and their stigma and of course, their plight with AIDS, lost a husband in a plane crash….almost died….anything else?

No bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end?

Liz should always have our respect for how she got Reagan and the world to take AIDS seriously. It needed a star of her stature and no one else was going to do it.

I still remember an interview with Liz Taylor back then when she said MJ was the most normal person she knew. I wondered who the fuck she hung out with.

As far as I know, Elizabeth was only able to maintain a relationship with Michael & one of her exes. Both men spent as much time away from her as possible. There's a reason in her later years her ex was only willing to meet with her at a restaurant. She was an unpredictable, overbearing, extremely emotionally needy, the unhealthiest type of spontaneous, & entirely self-centered. The relationship with Michael was so incredibly toxic. A fantasy world for both of them; filled with manufactured love they couldn't get anywhere else because that kind of life theater is insane.

R13 What a nightmare.

Elizabeth visited Kansas City, Missouri quite often before heading to Lawrence, Kansas to visit her best friend Montgomery Cliff. She was a faithful friend to him until the end and it was her love of him that had her dedicated to the AIDS cause because he died from HIV.

She LOVED visiting the black nightclubs on 18th Street while in KC and appreciated that the people allowed her to have fun and be herself. I learned this from a black limousine driver who was her 'go to' when she came to Kansas City. He said she was one of the nicest most genuine persons he had ever met in or out of the world of celebrity.

I’ve noticed young girls don’t worship Liz the way they worship Audrey and Marilyn. Those two both died in somewhat the prime of their lives, while they still had glamorous personas. No shade to Liz, but she spent the last 25 years of her life sickly and raggedy. Ain’t nobody stanning that I guess.

Audrey Hepburn died at 63, not what I would call the prime of one's life.

But I think it comes down to both Marilyn and Audrey were ideals of the beauty types they represent. Despite not being the first blonde bombshell ( that goes to Jean Harlow) Marilyn became "the blonde bombshell" that all others have since been compared to. Audrey is "the gamine" that all others get compared to. Both did several films where they played characters that reinforced the archtypes that they individually embodied.

Elizabeth was beautiful but her beauty was not one that represented any particular idea and the feature of hers that was most reveried was her unique eye color and super thick eyelashes. While A and M's beauty was most connected to their body type. It's easier to emulate a certain body type than something as a rare feature.

Montgomery Clift died from a heart attack in New York City in 1966.

R28 Rumors say otherwise but perhaps that poster had him mixed up with Rock Hudson.

r2 ... Taylor made?

But he's talking about her other best friend, Montgomery Cliff.

You know, of the Dover White Cliffs.

[quote]As far as I know, Elizabeth was only able to maintain a relationship with Michael & one of her exes

That's not true at all. Elizabeth had a few close friends.

Montgomery Clift as stated above.

Roddy McDowell was another close friend. They knew each other since they were child actors.

Rock Hudson. It was also Rod's illness and passing from AIDS that got Liz involved in AIDS charities.

Liza Minelli considered Liz to be like a step mother to her.

Barbra Streisand has talked about having Liz over for lunch at her house every week towards the end of Liz's life.

I"ll watch, HBO's documentaries are usually excellent.

Is that her actual voice heard in some of the OP's trailer? It sounds like someone doing a bad imitation.

Nevertheless, can't wait to watch this. Liz must not be forgotten.

R34, Yes, pulled from 55 hours of unreleased interviews recorded in the mid 1960s.

I remember an interview (TCM?) where she said she knew things about Monty Clift that she would never ever disclose. I wonder if any of the secrets they shared are on those tapes. As he was still alive in 1964 perhaps not.

R36 Yeah, like being a pass around bottom who died of the gay plague. Poor Monty.

I conflated Clift and Hudson, my bad. The rest holds true.

R37 That’s fascinating considering he died in 1966 and the first case of AIDS was reported in 1981.

Rock Hudson didn't live in Kansas. He lived in Los Angeles. He died in Paris. France. Not Texas.

Actually Rock died in California, but he left Paris literally on his death bed. They had to hire a private plane to get him home after the Paris hospital kicked his ass to the curb for having AIDS. What a fun time the 80s were.

Sourcing on Monty & Rock = Darwin Porter.

If you’re a Liz Taylor aficionado you might see if there’s a tape out there of a cabaret show her friend did, “The Shadow of Her Smile.”

Ann Talman played Taylor’s daughter in “The Little Foxes” and they remained close. I met Talman once because she was in a play with a friend of mine. She was very lovely and nice and gracious. We all had dinner afterwards and I asked her if Taylor had been good on stage, and she said, “Oh YEAH! She was REALLY good!”

(Frankly, that surprised me a bit. But this actress absolutely loved her, on stage and off.)

While Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe are undoubtedly iconic, Elizabeth’s legacy is equally significant, albeit in different ways. Liz was a powerhouse both on and off the screen, earning two Oscars and leaving an indelible mark with performances in films like "Cleopatra," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

Beyond her acting, Liz was a trailblazer in humanitarian efforts, particularly her pioneering work in AIDS advocacy. Her influence in Hollywood and her impact on social issues ensure that she remains a legendary figure. So, while preferences for classic actresses can vary, dismissing Elizabeth Taylor as overrated overlooks her substantial contributions and enduring legacy.

[quote]Actually Rock died in California, but he left Paris literally on his death bed. They had to hire a private plane to get him home after the Paris hospital kicked his ass to the curb for having AIDS. What a fun time the 80s were.

Years ago, I ran into some queen who supposedly knew about the private plane and claimed he tipped off the press. He felt quite proud of what he did. I can't imagine someone making something like that up.

I believe they asked the Reagan’s to help fly Rock to the USA but they refused.

I love Liz. I’ll watch.

The Hollywood Reporter review

[quote] I believe they asked the Reagan’s to help fly Rock to the USA but they refused.

Reportedly his people asked Nancy to get Ronnie's approval to transfer Rock to a I.S. military hospital outside Paris where he would have much better care, but they declined. They had been "good" friends for decades. This was all years before Ronnie would even utter the word AIDS or HIV to the media; I guess for them the epidemic just didn't exist. I would think with their Hollywood background and Ronnie Jr's ballet career they would have known their fair share of dying gay friends but opted not to lose political capital on a those-people illness.

- 🥱😴

[quote]The film — which premiered at Cannes in the Cannes Classics sidebar — is based on 40 hours of recently rediscovered audiotapes, recordings Taylor made in the mid-1960s for a ghost-written memoir (long out of print).

Anybody know the name of the memoir?

R32 McDowALL. MiNNelli.

[quote] Anybody know the name of the memoir?

It must be this unremarkable book?

Taylor becomes sporadically more biting as the film goes on, displaying a sharp-tongued wit and personality....“I can’t say anything against Debbie,” Taylor sweetly says on the tape, and without taking a breath goes on, “But she put on such an act, with the pigtails and the diaper pins.”

People.

I wonder if Evelyn Keyes ever gave any in depth opinion of Liz - Keyes was engaged to Mike Todd when he met Taylor, upon which he quickly broke things off. I don’t think she talks a lot about it in her memoir, “Scarlett O’Hara’s Younger Sister.”

Keyes married a string of interesting men: Charles Vidor, John Huston, Artie Shaw…

Evelyn writes about Elizabeth in her book.

She was everything Mike professed not to care for: she was the epitome of movie star in dress, attitude, and demands. And she was a big drinker which Mike did not like. And she had a husband at the time they met - Michael Wilding.

Director of 'Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes' documentary reflects on late star's life

New York Times review

I really enjoyed this.

In an exceptional clip in the Taylor documentary, Taylor explains why she began fundraising for the fight against AIDS: Few were speaking out or doing anything, and, she says, "it so angered me that I thought, ‘Bitch, do something yourself!'")

Shoot me, but I’m sick of rehashing every little detail of some celebrity’s life. Just get over it .

Elizabeth tells R62 off

No one else watched this?

Damn, I missed it

I hate watched it.

It was good but there's nothing about the last several decades of her life. Because it's cut from interviews, the content is a little uneven, although the director tried to get what seemed most candid. Still, a lot of it is cautious or self-serving----she claims nothing happened initially with Eddie Fisher, which I doubt. Her childhood is given a superficially happy gloss. There isn't much new here for someone who isn't a true Liz obsessive. It was entertaining, but not quite enough. It's not something I'd watch again.

I liked in the doc when she said the "violet eyes" attribute was invented by some media person. She considered her eyes dark blue.

I also liked when she scoffed at being called a "sex symbol"saying that she and all women have a sexual aspect and she didn't find it extraordinary.

My aunt was a theatre usher during the time Taylor was doing “The Little Foxes.” It wasn’t my aunt’s theater but the ushers talked to each other. She said the ushers (and all the other theater staff) loved Taylor; she was nice and a lot of fun. Her boisterous laugh could be heard all over the theater.

Love everything about her. True broad who seemed to live her life joyfully with no regrets. Plus seemed like a good mom. All her kids liked her—not one has said a peep against her.

Oh, dear, it seems that Todd Fisher objects to what Elizabeth says about Debbie. I saw a random YT video by Todd and his wife, and Todd began by saying how sick he is about 'the whole thing', but then he and his wife babble at each other. His voice was so annoying. He said about Elizabeth's children: 'you never hear anything about them, why is that?'

If you want to listen to 37 minutes of Todd griping.

R72: I'd rather not. The funny thing is that Liz and debbie buried the hatchet ages ago. They both came to see Fisher clearly as the horrible person that he was and were able to civil with each other. I don't think Carrie had any animus toward Taylor, but she had a real career, Todd doesn't.

When Todd produces Eddie's gun I expected security to rush in.

Back in the day, when (I believe it was the late 70's - early 80's) when Patricia Bosworth's bio on Montgomery Clift ('MONTY') was released, one of the stories which stuck with me all these years was the car accident he had when he was leaving a dinner party Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding gave. When it happened, she ran down the driveway and climbed into the wrecked car. Monty was choking on his broken teeth, so she stuck her hand into his mouth and removed them. She literally saved his life, but he never recovered. There was damage to his face, and he was in pain for the rest of his life.

I came upon the doc when it was already into her marriage to Mike Todd, then watched to the end. I loved it, actually appreciated that it didn't go into a hundred insignificant details about her life post-Burton.

But should I now watch it from the beginning? Does she have insightful things to say about the early years of her career and her first 2 marriages?

The question has always been: Had Mike Todd lived, would their marriage have lasted? I guess we'll never know.......

I have to laugh at Todd Fisher's wife saying she loves interpreting photos. Her observations in the interview are so dumb.

I don't think ET's marriage to Mike Todd would have lasted. I think ET was beautiful, charismatic, all of that. But the men probably got tired of catering to her needs AND she was just not cut out for long-term monogamy.

Wasn't Todd also considerably older than Liz? Not sure what kind of shape he would have been in by the 1960s.

I thought it was a very interesting documentary and worth watching. I think that Elizabeth would have left Mike Todd - he seemed to be controlling her as well which she doesn't seem to work with her. Elizabeth loved being in love. One thing for sure, she was the real deal when it came to being a movie star & celebrity. The crowds for her were Beatlemania crazy -- well before the Beatles hit the US. Elizabeth Taylor didn't need to call the paps to get a photo of her at the coffee shop. I was shocked to see that. She was a smart woman who negotiated her million dollar Cleopatra contract with a percentage. Well done Elizabeth.

Seemed like she demanded gifts from her husbands and friends. Like jewelry. That would get tiring.

Wonderful docu.

Michael Wilding was 20 years older than her when they married.

That People mag link at R55 says the photo on the left was taken in 1978. I think not!

R82: She bought some of those gifts and then had the husbands give them to her--case in point, that giant diamond she had.

R86, I kind of expected that.

I watched that Michael Jackson / ET video upthread. Man, her voice was kind of obnoxious.

It was interesting that she was at MJ's house without makeup. Did she sleep over? How did she get there? She arrived by helicopter in one clip. That seems excessive, considering it was in Santa Barbara County and Liz lived in Bel Air.

[quote] Todd Fisher's wife

Wait! Todd Fisher is a heterosexual?! I always figured he was gay. Did he run her "museum" tending to all of her fabulous gowns?

He's onto his third wife.

^ Still looking for Miss Right, huh?

Omg! She used to be on the soap "Texas"!

Todd is her fourth husband so she is stacking them up.

Wasn't Todd just the third after Hilton and Wilding, r92?

R80 Mike Todd was 25 years older than Taylor. His son Mike Todd Jr was 3 years older than his stepmom.

R93 I think R92 was saying Todd Fisher is Catherine Hickland’s 4th husband.

You’re correct, Mike Todd was Elizabeth Taylor’s 3rd husband.

Too many husbands and too many Todds on this thread to keep them all straight.

Actress Joan Blondell was the second wife of Mike Todd (1947-1950). She said that when Todd was in trouble financially, she bailed him out with her jewelry.

According to Joan, "The next time I saw my jewelry, Elizabeth Taylor was wearing it."

Not nice, Liz.

What R67 says. It's just a slice of life from a limited perspective but it's thoroughly enjoyable to see pictures I haven't seen before and also listen to Taylor.

R75, the Patricia Bosworth biography is called “Montgomery Clift: A Biography.” “Monty” is by Robert LaGuardia.

I prefer the Bosworth.

It’s a good documentary and the visuals are terrific. There’s one series of pics of her that appear near the beginning with a closeup repeated later, it looks colorized and like it was taken in the early ‘50s. She looks like she’s appraising and judging the photographer and she looks absolutely breath-taking, daring the photographer to ask her to smile. I would post a link to screen grabs I took but I don’t know how.

It’s a very revealing documentary in some ways, though I’m sure she continued to hide much more than she revealed, yet the takeaways that were the most fun and interesting for me:

Taylor saying “Fuck them!” about the MGM execs’ insistence that she do “Butterfield 8,” which she considered “shit” and objected to since it seemed to be an unflattering comment on her current reputation as the biggest slut in America. Then Roddy McDowell is heard saying he just watched it on TV and thought she was just fantastic in it (she was, it’s a ‘modern,’ fearless performance).

Then she says “I can’t say anything against Debbie,” but proceeds to talk about how phony Debbie was in pretending to be shocked that her husband was fucking Elizabeth and that she and Mike Todd were well aware of how troubled the Reynolds/Fisher marriage actually was. America thought Taylor was breaking up a happy, successful marriage but it was anything but. (In his memoirs, Fisher claimed that Reynolds was a cold, sexually frigid workaholic who cared only about her image and film career. In her memoir, Reynolds claimed that Fisher —who was her first — was a lousy lover and that she never had her first orgasm until she married Harry Carl.)

But Taylor does reveal that when it came to her choice of men, she needed a man who would stand up to her and “dominate” her. She uses that word several times. She refuses to talk about her first husband Nicky Hilton except to mention in passing that he kicked her in the stomach while she was pregnant, giving her a miscarriage. But she mentions that her second marriage to Michael Wilding was unsuccessful because he acquiesced to everything she said or wanted, she was wearing the pants in that couple whereas she needed a man who would stand up to her. I thought that admission was pretty frank.

Gladiator!

I never heard Mike Todd’s voice before I saw this. He talked like a greasy low level Mafioso. He made Eddie Fisher seem like Cary Grant or something.

I came away from this loving the hell out of this lady. I am 44 and always liked her , but now I love her. I had only seen her in Cat and a Hot Tin Roof, Giant, and I caught that "Just Between Friends" on Youtube once!

After this doc I went an watched Butterfield 8 and she was fucking awesome. I loved the film too.

I would have tried to talk her into loving that film if I ever had a conversation with her.

R102, you MUST see her in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Aww shit! I saw that years ago- I forgot- I will definitely be watching that next-

Cleopatra (to me) looks unwatchable and I have no interest-

I started watching The Sandpiper yesterday and I can see why it bombed- But its not bad!

Next are Woolf and then Suddenly Last Summer-

R99 I don't think she cared to hide much.

Suddenly Last Summer - you're already a fan so you'll enjoy it. But it's no walk in the park.

I've never see the full version(s)? of Secret Ceremony but that's my next.

Catherine Hickland was previously married to David Hasselhoff. Can you imagine anyone that different to Todd Fisher?

Rs 102 and 104 — Actually, CLEOPATRA is a good movie, a lush epic with a savvy, movie star performance from Taylor, who seems to be commenting (subtextually) on her own stardom. Rex Harrison is good as Julius Caesar too. Burton hams it up as Mark Antony but is watchable. The script by Joe Mankiewicz is good, very intelligent with lots of good lines, a minimum of clinkers, and is pretty accurate as far as what we actually know about these legendary figures.

Re THE SANDPIPER: the reviews were indeed terrible but business was good and it made money.

Just my opinion but I don't think Taylor ever gave another great film performance after Virginia Woolf. At first, I was going to say once she got together with Burton, but I did love her in The Taming of the Shrew. She was an incredible screen presence in the 40s and 50s and early 60s. Charisma plus.

One can only imagine LB Mayer and the MGM execs salivating over her as a child and pre-teen just waiting for her to grow up.

I regret missing her onstage in The Little Foxes. Odd that it was never made into a film or TV movie or something....

It's an enjoyable and informative documentary. It shows a bit of that side of Taylor of which she was so protective of. I agree with many of the points made in this thread. But what I have taken away from it is how much times have changed. While she did not want to talk about Nicky Hilton, it's pretty much common knowledge about his drinking issues and the physical abuse.

She was an MGM major star. Was there no one there, or anywhere to go, to avoid and be protected from such abuse? What did her parents (especially her mother) think of this? The MGM brass? It seems that only her gay friends (who she was always fiercely protected of) came to her rescue and it was something that she never forgot through the years of theirs's and her life. Maybe there are more examples of such friendships in Hollywood, but I am not aware of any others that had so much loyalty and devotion to one another.

I remember as a kid when she was married to John Warner & had a reputation for rolling around Middleburg VA, wearing sunglasses, caftans while fat & drunk as a skunk. For that alone, I love her. She was one messy bitch, but it speaks well of her that she spent her final years raising awareness over a disease that (at the time) no one wanted to be connected with.

Where was Larry Fortensky? WHERE WAS LARRY FORTENSKY?????

Some of the best acting you will see.

r111 Elizabeth criss-crossed most of Virginia (a large state) in support of John Warner's campaign. She wasn't snobby or detached, she was friendly with people, and she loved to sample the local cuisine.

R114, She particularly liked Clyde's ( a chain) chili and had it delivered to her Watergate residence.

[quote]She wasn't snobby or detached, she was friendly with people, and she loved to sample the local cuisine.

And yet, her image was based on her beauty and her many marriages. With this doc there is some sort of an explanation for all of that. My goodness! She was only 18 when she married Nicky Hilton who was only 23! What do you know when you're 18? SHEESH! She didn't even know how to manage the household staff properly at that age and due to her work schedule. .

[quote][R111] Elizabeth criss-crossed most of Virginia (a large state) in support of John Warner's campaign. She wasn't snobby or detached, she was friendly with people, and she loved to sample the local cuisine.

My brother worked for a Senator at that time and met her.

FYI

[quote]Elizabeth Taylor's Trust and Its Other Beneficiaries. It's rumored that the trust passed the majority of her assets to her children, grandchildren, and to various charities. It's also believed, according to Bloomberg Business, that Taylor's net worth at the time of her death was between $600 million and $1 billion.

[quote]Elizabeth Taylor's wealth, estimated to be around half a billion dollars, was primarily distributed among her children. However, a significant proportion was also funneled into The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, a clear testament to the actress's dedication to philanthropy and humanitarian causes.

Getting away from the control of MGM and her parents was exactly why she married Nicky Hilton. I'd imagine in her state of mind, she could hardly go to any of them for support or even sympathy when it quickly fell apart, having to admit she was wrong and immature.

I'd also think that she didn't want to talk about Hilton on the tapes because, in the grand scheme of things, he was just a mere teenaged indiscretion in a long life. Nothing really there to talk about; in retrospect, best forgotten.

R102, you should check out X, Y, and Zee. It's one of the best of her later films and she is terrific in it. Highly underrated.

Zee & Co.

She's really good here:

Unfortunately, Elizabeth equated great acting in Suddenly LS with rubbing a hand over her forehead.

Suddenly Last Summer is too much. A rotting flower in that conservatory. Not a great movie.

Look up the Drivers Seat. It looks like it’s on tubi. A bizarre movie she did in the 70s, filmed in Rome. It’s about a woman who’s searching for someone to murder her. Andy Warhol has a cameo. Bette Davis was supposed to have played a part but dropped out.

And who could forget BOOM!

Wow...

Her first wedding dress sold for nearly $200K at auction? The power of image and celebrity.

I was exhausted just reading that, r127.

My mother's wedding dress was a variation on the Hilton dress though it was knee-length.

Every mother's wedding dress in the 1950s was a variation on that Hilton dress.

Everything in Liz’s life set her up for disaster: she was a child star; she had countless addictions (alcohol, drugs, food, men); and, perhaps the ultimate red flag, she had an intense emotional bond with Montgomery Clift. Yet there was something grounded about her. She stayed human.

She (or her business manager) were good with money, going back to the 40s, when her art dealer father and uncle convinced her to buy art.

She had a huge private art collection, with Van Goghs, Matisses, Picassos, Renoirs, etc.

Cleopatra is not a movie to watch on a TV screen.

The person who bought this Van Gogh from her estate flipped it a couple years later for 40 million.

R75 Yeah, I remember reading about that, and I was so impressed by how fiercely Taylor protected Monty. She straight-up told the photographers at the scene that if any photos of Monty—or her in that bloodied dress—were ever published, she'd never give an interview or work with any magazine that printed them. Thanks to that, those photos never saw the light of day. It really showed how much she cared about him and the kind of power she had in Hollywood.

IIRC, there's also a bit in Bosworth's book about Elizabeth Taylor’s marriage to Senator Warner. At a fundraiser, some wealthy couple bid a ton of money to have dinner at the Warner's home with Elizabeth and him. The dinner was going great until one of the guests asked about her friendship with Montgomery Clift. Elizabeth quietly looked down and said something like, "My life is pretty much an open book, but the one thing I won’t talk about is my friendship with Monty."

It really stuck with me how fiercely loyal Elizabeth was to Monty—a guy Marilyn Monroe once said was, "the only person I know who's in worse shape than I am."

Elizabeth Taylor truly was one of a kind, diva absoluta!

Just curious, does anyone know how much Elziabeth paid for the Van Gogh and when she bought it?

[quote]Just curious, does anyone know how much Elziabeth paid for the Van Gogh and when she bought it?

[quote]Taylor's father bought the Van Gogh on her behalf at an auction in 1963, paying £92,000.Feb 3, 2012

What a bargain, r137!

R135 Liz loved Monty because he was as hairy as her.

[quote]Was there no one there, or anywhere to go, to avoid and be protected from such abuse?

At MGM? Ask Judy.

Elizabeth is heard in the new documentary claiming that she felt "so lost" during her marriage to Eddie because he didn't like to socialise.

Eddie made sure that I felt lonely. We never went out. It’s like he didn’t like me to mingle with other people… I started to sleep 14-15 hours at once. I was trying to avoid everything. I was trying to avoid life. But I was so desperate at one time that I did take some sleeping pills. I did it deliberately, calmly and in front of Eddie. I was fed up with everything. I couldn’t face the thought of divorce. I’d rather be dead than face going through a divorce!"

At one point he put a gun to her head then said, ‘You’re much too pretty to shoot.’

Then she grabbed the gun and told him, You're not.

Does anyone care about this pudgyfaced frau anymore? She was the essence of 80s vulgarity. Yes I know she’s been beatified because of the AIDS thing. Still, ew.

R143 = Kate Burton

R32, Carole Bayer Sager was her best female friend.

Met her at the reception before the National AIDS Candlelight March in the 90's. She seemed drugged up on something, but those violet eyes were beautiful.

R102, this documentary barely covers her greatest achievements, founding AMFAR in the mid-‘80s - filling a leadership void in a time of crisis, like a world leader herself.

There are a lot of reasons to love Elizabeth Taylor, her incredible humanity and unyielding loyalty to the gay community which she demonstrated fearlessly is perhaps the best one. Her humanitarian legacy lives on.

What a bitch, R143. WHAT A BITCH!!!

Let me tell you something, Missy...

I guess you had to be one of the lucky ones who did not experience friends (note the plural) who died within weeks of each other. I suppose you never had to be one of those who attended 2-3 funerals a week --every week, which seemed as if they would never end. Or calling all over and running around trying to locate any funeral home that would accept the dead body and perform the service.

I guess you never attended a number of parties where if an AIDS/HIV diagnosed individual--even suspected, ate off of a plate and used utensils, those items were destroyed--and sometimes right in front of their face. I suppose you 've never experienced those babies born with the virus that no one would touch and in many cases that included their own mothers.

No one wanted to talk about AIDS/HIV except the Jerry Falwells of the time who were overcome with glee because the gays--THE FAGS--THE FAGGOTS were justly getting all that they deserved. Therefore, since it was ONLY affecting the faggots then why should anyone do anything about it? They're dropping worse than flies and therefore this is a GOOD thing! HALELLUJAH!!!

Unfortunately, it took the death of Rock Hudson and the celebrity of Miss Taylor to even get people to lift their eyes just to bless this issue with 5 minutes of their time. But Miss Taylor was persistent and very demanding! YOU WILL LISTEN!

Did you know that Miss Taylor stipulated that 20% of all sales in perpetuity be directed to her charity, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation? As of 2018, its total sales were estimated at US$1.5 billion. Sales in 1993 were estimated at $48 million, and at $60 million in 2010. You do the math...

So, before you go off calling someone "pudgyfaced frau", etc... take a moment and reflect upon how the actions of that person has directly affected you and/or someone that you love/loved.

Now, go fix your face...

[quote]Did you know that Miss Taylor stipulated that 20% of all sales in perpetuity be directed to her charity,

This is referring to her "Passion" and "White Diamonds" perfumes

I want r148 cheered, quite loudly.

[quote]She seemed drugged up on something, but those violet eyes were beautiful.

In the doc, she considers her eyes to be blue and said that the violet color was something that was created by some journalist.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Bravo, R148

Some of her grandkids honor Whoopi for her work with Elizabeth.

[151] Yes, she says that in the doc. I saw violet. Gorgeous. She then got in her golf cart and led the candlelight march from Rayburn HOB to the Lincoln Memorial, where speeches were held.

That was a beautiful video clip, R154! What a tribute!

R154, thank you for sharing that deeply moving and glorious video clip.

R148, thank you!

Okay, I'll admit it.

So many great performances but I also LOVED her in "Father of the Bride" and "Father's Little Dividend". They're just really enjoyable films (even to this day) when it is gray, gloomy, and raining, outside.

R27 You copied and pasted this comment from LSA.

I love Liz. I loved it when she said, about her "violet" eyes, "They're dark blue, they're not violet. Violet is something they made up."

Some children’s organization in Harlem needed a hostess for their fundraising gala. They asked Diana Ross, who didn’t even return their calls. They asked Liz, and she showed up and even took photos with the children and ate soul food. She was a very gracious lady.

And Diana is a cunt.

^^ that’s MISS ROSS to you!