Elizabeth Taylor BBC Tribute.mp4

arguably the greatest female star ever to come out of the studio system for over half a century Elizabeth Taylor's extraordinary beauty and talent saw her make over 50 films win five Academy nominations and bagged two Oscars I don't think there'll ever be another movie star like Elizabeth Taylor she was a star of enormous worldwide magnitude I can't think of one single actress today that comes even close you've got at me you don't have to do anything George a thousand years of you has been quite enough she was one of these formidable beautiful creatures that just had a laser-like intensity when you watched her she was so bright and so smart and so intuitive in her acting and in her friendships famous for more than just her films in her turbulent private life she was a divorcee at 18 a widow at 26 and one half of the greatest love affair of the 20th century she was a collector of men and a collector of jewels and a very good friend she lived life to the fullest wore her sensuality and sexuality with grace and style there will never be a woman in film the American scene like Elizabeth Taylor the last survivor of Hollywood's golden age tonight we pay tribute to the world's most iconic film star Dame Elizabeth Taylor famed as one of the most beautiful women in the world for over half a century Elizabeth Taylor's dramatic dark looks and vibrant violet eyes captivated audiences and made an indelible impression on all who met her first time you met her you couldn't take your eyes off her it was amazing nature did her well I do remember thinking you are the most extraordinary woman I've ever been this close to she did turned to me and she's turned the the eyes full on to me and it was an extraordinary experience it was like I sort of missed the swam in front of my eyes it was just total knockout beauty all as school just thought she was so gorgeous and we all wanted to look like her she was astonishingly good looking I don't think Elizabeth ever really thought how beautiful she was she wasn't a person who was always looking in the mirror and you know saying or my beautiful hope you everybody else was saying that it was this extraordinary beauty which first caught the attention of MGM studios they signed her up and gave her a role in lassie come home at the age of 8 when Elizabeth did lassie come home I think the studio really saw her potential in that encouraged by her ambitious mother by the age of 12 Elizabeth secured her first major role in the film National Velvet she certainly had some of the key attributes for the part had to have an English accent is the grand national she had to know about horses she knew about horses but she didn't really have a box office following yet it said that people went to see the latest Mickey Rooney film but left talking about Elizabeth Taylor it's almost hard to believe looking back but Mickey Rooney was the far greater star it was his picture but the moment that Elizabeth Taylor appears on screen the picture is hers she mesmerizes the camera I think Elizabeth loved making National Velvet because she always had a passion for horses and she was a wonderful rider from the time she was a very little girl you know when she came over from England so she would have been heartbroken if she hadn't played the part although the roles seemed made for her initially the studios weren't convinced but the young and determined Elizabeth Taylor wasn't about to take no for an answer I desperately wanted the part because it was me it was my whole life my relationship and love for horses and the producer saw me and he said well I'm very sorry Elizabeth you were very sweet and you're very talented and very nice but you're just too small you know no one would believe it and I guess it was the natural time in my life or growing but I mean I was swinging from doors to make myself grow I did 40 jumps every morning I ate steak breakfast lunch dinner I exercised I literally stretched myself and I grew through injuries in three months and pound Ribera manly producer it had the marks on his door he said with that kind of tenacity honey you've got she went and did a lot of having her spine pulled to get the role in National Velvet and I think that upset her spine no you don't do that at a 12 year old or 13 and I think that that's what started her pain problems Elizabeth was fearless and in the film often did much of the riding herself but she was also accident-prone and the combination proved disastrous during the filming of National Velvet Elizabeth had what the first of many accidents on set to do with filming where she fell from her horse and broke her back it marked the beginning of a whole series of filming related and off-screen accidents and illnesses when her friend Margaret O'Brien starred with her in the film Little Women she witnessed another such accident I remember one time she broke her leg fact I think I have a picture of Elizabeth in her cast and then she had everybody signed her cast she was terribly accident-prone I mean if there was a splinter flying around on the set it would end up in Elizabeth's eye Richard Brooks the director said if you put a chair in the middle of the room and nothing else in the room Elizabeth Taylor will find a way to trip over that chair so she was accident-prone and you know it suffered terribly on some of these things but always seemed to bounce back by the age of 18 she'd already made 10 films rigidly controlled by the studio system the next step in her life also ran like an MGM production Hollywood's wedding of the year at the Beverly Hills Catholic Church as lovely british-born stream star Elizabeth Taylor arrives with her father for her marriage to Conrad Hilton jr. cranio romance everybody's been interested in it was decided partly by the stereo partly by our own family it would be very good idea if she settled down and got married and Nicky Hilton was the husband of choice it's very clear that that marriage to Nicky Hilton was one that the studio wanted and manipulated into happening Elizabeth went along very happily because Nikki Hilton seemed like a great guy as the impressive wedding cake is cut film fans everywhere join the reception guests in wishing the newlywed good luck long life and happiness the whole wedding at the church was completely staged managed by MGM down to the the bridesmaids were all MGM stock players and the MGM set design people had decorated the church so it was really quite the MGM production the world's happiest honeymooners glamorous film starred as abbath Tara and her husband Nick Hilton arrived at North Haute they've been to Paris and now hope to visit a Scott it was just wonderful we had such a gay time but the fairytale didn't last within 30 weeks of the wedding elizabeth shocked her fans by announcing their separation marriage was it was a total failure it didn't last much beyond the honeymoon stage apparently because Nikki Hilton was very rich the heir to the hotel chain was a heavy drinker and beat her up and that was it she decided she was going to have that anymore he looked very nice when you talked to him so I'm sure that she didn't see any of this in him at the time but it happened and I think she was very smart to get out of the marriage as fast as she did and I know of course the studio and her parents then did not want her to stay with him and she didn't and I think was from that moment on that Elizabeth Taylor said I am going to take control of my life not my mother not the studio not any husband demonstrating her unique ability to bounce back Elizabeth threw herself into her next film and the most challenging role to date I think the ultimate Elizabeth Taylor movie is the place in the Sun the George Stevens movie in which she was so beautiful she was 18 I think or 19 she was playing opposite Montgomery Clift they go anywhere with you I really mean you'd marry me haven't I told him I can't be in a place in the Sun she seems to have a kind of recklessness about her that's very appealing she demonstrates a complete lack of concern for her own physical safety when she executes one of the most impressive faints in cinema history the second really significant part about that film is that it it introduced her to Montgomery Clift Wow who she claims told her everything there is to know about acting my gummer cliff was our best friend ever I think male or female you see a great deal of motherly protection of Montgomery Clift Russia regarded as a brilliant actor in kind of week and she liked to hug him and feel sorry for him and he drank a lot and she felt very badly for him Elizabeth went all the way on things she loved she loved she was one of these formidable beautiful creatures that just had a laser-like intensity when you watched her act she just kind of nailed you with those eyes she had these amazing close-ups when she grabs Montgomery Clift and she says tell mama tell mama oh come on they are just so beautiful it's quite mesmerizing is the first time I'd ever said I love you except to a dog or a horse and it was the first time I really been kissed on the screen and I think it is one of the more romantic roles that I've ever been given the film opened to critical acclaim and propelled Elizabeth Taylor's career from cute child star - beautiful leading lady off-camera romance was also in the air less than a year after her divorce from Nicky Hilton her second engagement to actor Michael Wilding was announced all cameras at London Airport are focused on two people very much in love Britain's Michael Wilding and his lovely young bride-to-be Elizabeth Taylor Michael Wilding needed somebody who would boost his career and take his his name up a few notches in Hollywood and Elizabeth Taylor was exactly the right person to do that he provided her with a stable home life with a solid husband and couple of kids and of course what Elizabeth provided to Michael Wilding was a step up the ladder in Hollywood Elizabeth's marriage to Michael Wilding was sort of on the rebound from the bad marriage and he was a very nice sweet gentle person who would have been the opposite of Nikki Hilton and I think that's why she married him despite difficulties the marriage lasted for years and they had two children Michael and Christopher I think it was a very sweet positive marriage but it didn't give her that great love that she was looking for in 1956 Elizabeth's next major film would become another classic co-starring Hollywood heartthrobs James Dean and Rock Hudson giant cast her as the feisty female lead once more she plays the young sort of temperatures who seduces and wins the rock hudson character extremely well with this kind of impish cheeky sexuality part of the tension in giant is that from the East Coast and this is the rough this is rough frontier America entirely dominated by men but she takes on the men you don't feel well isn't it I feel just great my adrenaline glands are pumping beautifully oh there really was an enormous symmetry between this character and giant and the real-life Elizabeth you know what a frightful girl I was when you married me I did not deceive you soon very first moment I couldn't have been more unpleasant anyway yo stuck with me unguent both Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson we're facing similar challenges they were both known primarily for being beautiful for being kind of glamorous movie stars rather than being actors I think they came on the film under similar circumstances and of course Elizabeth adored gay men trusted gay men so right away I think she felt oh here's somebody I can be friends with Jordan you would think somebody had spoiled you terribly I haven't any wife I live with my sister why aren't you married Jordan she had this wonderful relationship with gay men where she didn't have to worry about the the sexual tensions you'd have to worry about them hitting on her and she could trust them in a way that she felt she could do with no one else I think among her many cardinal virtues was loyalty I mean when she talked about her friends whether it was James Dean Rock Hudson once Elizabeth felt that connection with someone it stayed it was unshakable but it was her friendship with the troubled young James Dean which would have the most profound effect on Elizabeth they were set to shoot one of the last scenes of the picture James Dean had already finished all of his shots in the picture and so they were called to the set Elizabeth and rock and they got the news that James Dean had been killed in a in a car accident Elizabeth was unable to proceed that day and went home sick and was not able to come back to the studio for several days to finish making the picture Dean's death devastated Elizabeth two days after it was announced she was admitted to hospital suffering depression it was some weeks before she was well enough to return to finish the film she held up production much to the irritation of George Stevens but her later scenes drew upon some of that that depth of feeling drew upon her loss and I think gave them power her next film Raintree County gave her her first Oscar nomination and with it came the critical acclaim that had previously eluded her but it was her private life that would once again take center stage a day after the separation from her second husband was announced another suitor came knocking at the MGM door I think Elizabeth was in love with love I really do and I think she was an incredible motor romantic and she was working in this MGM since she was a child and I think she was always in search of the perfect man I think she found her perfect man in Mike Todd the difference was that if they're from the wildling marriage was that they actually were also head-over-heels in love with each other so it worked on many levels Elizabeth Taylor married the fabulous Mike Todd early in 1957 and their marriage carried with it the electricity of two exciting personalities Hollywood the world was their stage Mike Todd was a swashbuckling entrepreneur type who had thrown all his resources into making it this gigantic blockbuster movie around the world in 80 days and she he just sort of overwhelmed her he was more flamboyant than she was it was Mike Todd who started Elizabeth's lifelong love of jewels in the coming months he would shower her with millions of dollars worth any day generally there is a great story where Elizabeth swimming in the pool and Mike comes over and he says you know I have something for you and Elizabeth pregnant swimming in this grand pool opens this box and lo and behold there are these Cartier Burmese rubies and diamonds sweet and Todd hands there another box and there's the necklace and there's a ring and there's a tiara and it just goes on and on you'd be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful radiant pregnant woman and that's the dream factor about Elizabeth you know that's that is Elizabeth to a tee she's swimming she's pregnant but she's wearing the best jewelry in the world by 1958 Elizabeth Taylor had three children and was happily settled in her third marriage when she starred alongside Paul Newman to make one of the best films of her career MGM originally wanted to make Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as a black-and-white picture and Richard Brooks said you can't do this I've got the you know the most beautiful eyes on the planet Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman you can't do this to me we need color for this picture and MGM still said no and it took Mike Todd going to the MGM brass and saying this picture will be made in color for the studio to change its mind Cat on a Hot Tin Roof a Tennessee Williams play centers around the character Maggie and her troubled marriage to a man who refuses to sleep with her it was a performance that demands a lot more depth of from her than possibly anything she'd done before and she was equal to it why are you looking at me like that Ike work Maggie thank you were just lucky look at her leading men at that time you needed big people to cope with Elizabeth Taylor as an actress and if you don't have a real actor she eats them alive and Paul Newman you know is the tops and he can cope with Elizabeth Taylor but I think it says something very flattering about her acting career that they had to put Hollywood's greatest leading men opposite her do you know what I feel like I feel all the time like a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and jump off the roof Maggie jump off it I can't jump off rooves and they land uninjured do it jump jump we're in the what take a lover I don't deserve that it's a very sexy very feminine very passionate performance Lena those eyes those lips those shoulders those breasts that figure I mean that torso there is a famous poster of her in a low-cut negligee sitting on a bed that was quite a risky and a risque still to promote the film with in those days and and yeah and that too began to build the the image of the farm fatale which she was becoming in private life as well as public life but the filming of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was interrupted by a cruel twist of fate in March 1958 Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd had been married 13 months when he set off on a trip from which she would never return in the private plane named for his wife the drama of the showman reaches finis he was rarely without her as in these last films of him alive Mike Todd left Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood and flew to his death in an isolated Mountain Valley 22 miles southwest of Grant's New Mexico a writer art Cohen a pilot and co-pilot lost their lives with mr. Todd unofficial theory blames the crash on icing which it is said the pilot reported a few minutes before the crash I felt terrible for Elizabeth because I felt that was probably the right man she finally met for her and that this was a good marriage and you know what a tragedy this was to finally meet the right person and then he was taken from her later on Elizabeth would say that if Mike hadn't died they would have been married for the rest of their lives she told me that she never stopped thinking about Mike Todd every day of her life till the end of her life when Mike Todd died filming for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was postponed but only two weeks later the brokenhearted actress was forced back to work it was hard to do the film because of the emotional pain I was under it was doubly hard for me some of the lines hit home so badly I know what it's like to lose somebody you love careful Maggie your claws are showing I thought it was fabulous in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof she made that when she was really upset and I think the the drama in her life was able to be transcended onto the screen even under such emotional strain Elizabeth managed to turn in a performance that would win her a second Oscar nomination it would also send her into the arms of her late husband's best friend singer Eddie Fisher Eddie was called Todd's best friend whether he was his best friend or not he was certainly very much entrenched in the Todd organization so it's very natural that he would have been around to look in on Elizabeth and take care of her many fish have befriended her during the whole episode following Todd's death Fisher was a very good friend to her Eddie Fisher of course admitted later on that he had had the hots for Elizabeth for some time and you know it from you know taking care of her to consoling her quickly led to romantic feelings on his part and eventually on her part as well not only was Eddie Fisher Mike Todd's best friend he was also married to Hollywood sweetheart Debbie Reynolds news of the affair with Elizabeth became the scandal of the decade Debbie Reynolds everybody adored because she was in singing in the rain and she seemed so innocent lovely they were an ideal couple and this woman goes and breaks up this ideal Hollywood marriage I know Elizabeth was looked at as the painted lady that you know stole Eddie Fisher from Debbie Reynolds but I I don't think Elizabeth with was really thinking at that time because she was still getting over my Todd Oscar night in Hollywood when the motion picture world names its top performers of the year and the greatest picture in 1959 Elizabeth was the firm favorite to win the Best Actress Oscar for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof but once again she was overlooked by the Academy there were certainly people who felt that she should have got the Oscar but that the Oscar hopes were blighted by her off screen scandal which was a huge scandal by the age of 28 Elizabeth Taylor had divorced two husbands and tragically lost a third with her private life playing out like one of her celluloid sagas she went from Hollywood royalty too scandalous homewrecker but again Elizabeth's fighting spirit saw her through and the next film would elevate her to superstardom once more Cleopatra marked a huge stage in this Taylor's career personally and professionally Cleopatra was the biggest movie that Fox began to make let's 20th Century Fox and they decided that I was going to play the about truck and they were going to go ahead and make the movie with me don't you love me don't you want a gypped don't you want the world so I did all these tests and I thought I was going to get the part and then the budget climbed and climbed and climbed I have no idea where I climbed I think they decided to make sets in England at Pinewood or something and they cost a lot so they told me well they didn't tell me my agent told me yeah they're not gonna use you they're gonna use Elizabeth Fox wanted Elizabeth Taylor to play Cleopatra so they said sure that's great she'll play the part she wants a million dollars for it it was unheard of I think the most that actors ever got in those days was like one hundred and fifty thousand two hundred and fifty thousand maybe fewer Marlon Brando or Gregory Peck the million dollar deal made history the studio's even set up a press conference when the contract was signed Elizabeth Taylor had become the highest-paid star in the world she went on to film Cleopatra in London which was madness in itself because film set in Egypt and Rome and the filming in London where the hell they're going to get the weather from so and and the weather actually played an important part in what happened next because she was fluently dressed as Cleopatra in rather cold conditions of Pinewood Studios and she contracted pneumonia very very bad humor and she had a tracheostomy and indeed she nearly died over a three-week period Elizabeth Taylor fought for her life while the eyes of the world looked on amongst the many news reports one even prematurely announced her death my agent Jay Cantu called and he said Elizabeth has been taken very ill she's been rushed to the hospital she's not expected to live so I want you to stay by the phone all day because if she dies you're gonna have to take the night plane to London and they're gonna put you in her costumes and they're gonna start shooting with you I said that's terrible how awful I don't want her to die I mean and I would just feel so dribble he said look honey that showbiz of course crowds collected outside the London clinic when it was known that Liz Taylor would soon be leaving they waited hours to see her and to film the scene and what an amazing scene it was when she was brought out in a wheelchair everyone knows the story of her very grave illness and now there were so many well-wishers crowding around it was an impossible job getting out of the realm soon after her recovery the next Oscars were announced again Elizabeth was in the running for Best Actress for a film she'd made the previous year Butterfield 8 there was a groundswell of public sympathy for her for having having survived which she thinks and a lot of other people think the counter for the fact that she absolutely walked away with the Oscar for Butterfield 8 things moved to a climax as all eyes are on you Brenner and the best actress of the Year award Elizabeth Taylor I'm blessing from her recent grave illness Elizabeth Taylor receives a prolonged accolade from the audience it's a popular choice Oscar for the beauty who is a winner after four successive trials in Butterfield 8 she plays an alcoholic prostitute a role that Elizabeth was initially reluctant to take I think Elizabeth's performance in Butterfield 8 is one of the most honest portrayals of a woman's sexuality that had been on screen up into that time she plays a young woman who is enjoys having fun who enjoys having sex who has her life in her own hands and I think audiences would have been quite surprised by such honesty from a picture and because it's also what they perhaps suspected was about about Elizabeth in real life as well help you with anything after she got the Oscar for Butterfield age she went back to filming Cleopatra which now very sensibly they moved to Rome and the cast had changed originally Peter Finch was supposed to play Mark Antony but he'd had to drop out because of other commitments and so Richard Burton came in I asked it of Julius Caesar I demanded of you with Richard Burton came leave the big big what Burton always referred to was in the scandal the big big love affair he was married to Sybil she was married to Eddie Fisher but I think once they got together on the stage of Cleopatra Powell when they met she said she saw him for the first time he had a terrible hangover and his hand was shaking and she found this endearing but then when they did their kiss their first kiss the director had to say okay it's time for lunch can you stop that no they wouldn't stop the kiss it was obvious to everyone on the set that these two people were falling in love that the the chemistry between them was so thick and they would disappear they turned me into where are they they're not here to shoot this scene while they're off in the dressing room together I was very young when they were together but I do remember seeing them together quite a lot I think Burton felt that to have the most beautiful glamorous woman in the world showering a passion on you was just completely intoxicating he couldn't do anything about it hit him like a ton of bricks anything again Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were the two most extraordinary people that I ever met I think she found in him a match and Richard loved being the one who was adored by the one and only Elizabeth it didn't take long for the press to get wind of the adulterous affair again Elizabeth found herself at the center of a scandal Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton didn't apologize for falling in love and that's what made them so different and that's what made them so subversive in some ways and and it frightened a lot of people the Vatican called them moral vagrants and they were denounced in the halls of Congress and in Parliament and it was this sense that that they were they were flouting the very rules of society I remember the first picture that I saw was on the cover in a matter of a Italian magazine called novella do Amelie and it was Elizabeth and Richard lying on a yacht together apparently they could not go anywhere without the paps there two years after finishing Cleopatra the pair finalized their divorces and married in March 1964 everybody was fascinated by them and on their own they had been together there was just something they were just this wonderful double act of a sort of moody and poetic sort of literary Shakespearean actor and this tempestuous Hollywood goddess they became the template for the modern celebrity now their lives were no longer protected and they had to have an entourage to protect them and everything they did became public knowledge with Richard Elizabeth was able to lead the life of a Hollywood superstar once more Elizabeth and Richard thought nothing about spending money you know they were just living this outrageous lifestyle that everybody could see if diamond rings fur coats you know Elizabeth loved living large there's no denying that like we'd be flying from one country to another country in midair and all of a sudden would decide to fly to Venice for lunch original hijackers during their 10-year marriage the Burton's spent approximately 65 million dollars on their champagne lifestyle richard showered Elizabeth with jewelry and his first big purchase was the famously flawless Krupp diamond Elizabeth Taylor here was no Akkad if the bride's daughter that she was wearing that ring Richard rung me up and said this was not very well and you ought to go and see us she would love it if you went so so I did and I went into her room and she wasn't looking very well she was completely covered in dead toes and then I look shy and little hand came out and said look I never take it off and there on her hand was this mighty rock diamond which Richard had given her I think it cost him a million pounds or a million dollars which and in those days was simply frantic the pressures of a celebrity lifestyle pushed the burton's into a period of heavy drinking and partying Elizabeth and Richard were both passionate people and they loved to go out and have a drink and party and and Elizabeth wasn't that much of a drinker that I remember but I think if you put the two together they would drink more and and party more together than if they were separated Elizabeth could be common as muck yes absolutely enormous vulgarity she commanded when she wanted to I enjoyed her company and she was vivacious and she was bubbly and she told a good joke and she swore a lot she used to say that a Burton was you know he was worth having a row with because he gave us good obviously and he resorted to very colorful but also rather poetic language Burton and Taylor made 11 films together but it was the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf that best captured their powerful on-screen chemistry the way that they played Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf which undoubtedly was her finest moment maybe his on the screen it's about this warring couple and academic and his wife and they're drunk and they're always tearing each other apart in fact he was sort of a flat a great big that was an empty bottle George you can't afford to waste good liquor not on your salary not on an associate professors salary to play the middle-aged Martha Elizabeth used prosthetic makeup and gained nearly two stone in weight no one expected that Elizabeth Taylor would even get that part Mike Nichols the director originally wanted Betty Davis for the part he wanted an old middle-aged shrewish woman and Elizabeth Taylor was still young and beautiful at this point she was 32 when she got the part it was quite thought I heard of in those days for an actress as good-looking as she was to put on all that weight and play that blousy person who's supposed to be 20 years older than her and I thought she was brilliant she was terrific in that movie damn day I trout stand it you can stand it you married me for it there was only one funny moment in that scene and it wasn't too funny at the time where Richard takes me and throws me up against the car you can hear in the soundtrack be kind of thundering so that was my head against the back at the car and I kept on going and that was the take that Mike Nichols chose to use in the film oh boy you really are having a field day aren't you in a way it's almost like a an awful rehearsal for the relationship they had later when they were both drinking too much and they couldn't live together anymore after nearly 10 years of marriage the superstar couple filed for divorce in 1974 Liz Taylor was leaving town following her breakup with Richard Burton and this is the mob scene that greeted her there is no question about it that they were still in love with each other so it must have been a big wrench for them to a party and I think it was just the nature of their personalities that they they couldn't live together but just 16 months later Burton and Taylor were back together they remarried this time in Botswana they've been invited to a kind of second honeymoon a tour of this splendid Game Reserve and they're seeing it in the best way of all on a helicopter Safari by the second marriage it really became where he had a drinking problem Elizabeth really wasn't into the drinking very much because Elizabeth was also a mother and had children and she was a very good mother and I just don't think she wanted to live with that so they did part but I think they always kept in touch and they always loved each other the reconciliation only lasted eight months the love affair of the century ended in divorce for the second time by the mid-1970s Elizabeth wasn't really sure where she belonged anymore she certainly wasn't making movies in the same way that she had been Burton was gone and there was a kind of a void it was kind of a big question mark where do I go from here Elizabeth thought she'd found the answer in Washington when she married her sixth husband a very respectable Republican politician John Warner had been campaigning for 18 months now and now you're just not to face the crowd she really enjoyed the campaign trail there was getting out meeting people and she was wildly popular people came to see Warner it's really to see Elizabeth Taylor senator Warner would be in Washington most of the time an Elizabeth would be in a house in Virginia which he didn't grow up there she didn't know many people there and she found herself sitting around their house in Georgetown eating chili all day and sweets and candies and cakes and drinking too much Elizabeth Taylor always claimed that the marriage there was where her weight problems really started all those political lunches you know wining and dining members of the Senate she was the senator's wife which i think she was quite bored with that's when she put on a lot of weight she put on about 50 pounds a year later Elizabeth had slimmed down for what would be her final film an Agatha Christie thriller called the mirror Crack'd she was reunited with her old friend Rock Hudson and with some irony played the part of an aging movie Queens Brewster dress she spread the script idea blister on my finger getting his first break was an unknown Irish actor the mirror Crack'd was my debut him movies which just happened to be with Liz Taylor then I was 25 fresh out of drama school my agent called me up one day said oh I've got you two jobs once called the mirror Crack'd you got to show up Monday morning at the studio so for me you know nice I started my cinematic career with Liz Tanner doesn't get better than that really how I've longed for you to take you in my arms and class fuchsia my boys I had a great day I had had a wonderful time in her company and on the movie and I have a photograph in my office at home clasp to her bosom Jason will you get that creep out of my eye line cut back in Washington cracks were starting to appear in her marriage to John Warner he would be in Washington most of the time and I think Elizabeth needed somebody there was companions that was exciting that would be her lover that she could be with a lot not somebody that was away most of the time she was the least likely Washington wife she was not a Washington month after divorcing Warner Elizabeth courageously acknowledged her addictions I was a mess and I admitted to myself that I was an alcohol they can I had a problem with prescription pills and in order to survive in order to live I had to change that and I wanted to live and be a whole complete human being Elizabeth was the first Hollywood star to be treated at the now-famous Betty Ford rehab clinic when she did go to the Betty Ford Clinic just like everything else in her life she wasn't going to pretend or hide or or make up stories to cover it up she also wasn't going to apologize for it she's never been want to apologize for anything she said hey I've got a problem I'm going in to take care of it refreshed from rehab Elizabeth needed a new exciting challenge so at the age of 55 the actress became the first star to launch a range of signature perfumes white diamonds the intriguing fragrance from Elizabeth Taylor Elizabeth was extremely involved with her perfumes like everything else that was important to her in her life she was extremely hands-on about it I think she'd always wanted to design a scent she talked about it for a long time because she was someone who loved perfume always wore perfume even for herself at home it was it was part of who she was John Dryden wrote where passion rules how weak does reasoning prove you'll see Elizabeth Taylor's passion her fragrance Empire is incredibly successful to date it's a billion-dollar industry it continues to be the top seller for Elizabeth Arden and it's consistently one of the top sellers of all fragrances in the 1980s Elizabeth's business empire flourished but her success would be tainted by personal tragedy the actor Richard Burton has died in Switzerland at the age of 58 he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at his home near Geneva and died later in hospital their relationship which had started like a great could fool a flash of lightning continued flashing burning searing liberating right through their relationship until rich died Miss Taylor flew to Switzerland for what was supposed to be a private visit just to have a few quiet moments by her former husband's grave in the churchyard at Cellini but the foreign press were waiting Fleischer came just back off give her five minutes the appeals went unheeded and Miss Taylor then decided to give up just a year later Elizabeth suffered another blow it triggered one of the most significant turning points in her life within the past half-hour we've heard that the film star Rock Hudson has died at his home in California he was 59 it had been learned just over three months ago that mr. Hudson had been suffering from the disease AIDS Elizabeth Taylor became involved with AIDS first through of course her friend Rock Hudson and when he got sick and died I think she was obviously devastated I think there's no question that rock Hudson's illness and death is what got Elizabeth Taylor involved they were extremely close friends I think the commitment to HIV totally gave Elizabeth a completely new focus in her life she'd gotten bored with making movies I think she wasn't that interested in it anymore I think she wasn't that interested in having to make her living from the way she looked she realized that there was a useful part to frame that she could actually use it in a way that would you know contribute to really cultural dynamic change and that made her feel good about being famous which had not been such a big deal to it before all we can do at this point is help our friends who have AIDS and the only way we can do that is by doing what you are doing by giving giving of support money and love she I think was courageous in standing up there and giving a face to this insidious disgusting disease at a time where people have been banished and shamed by society she had the balls to say look at this this is what's happening to these poor people's lives and pay attention she took the risk of this disease which nobody would talk about and nobody wanted to hear about and stood up and said I'm talking about it you can ignore me what are you gonna say to me gonna ignore me I don't think so is this something that we can bear No the AIDS crisis is not over she did this press conference and she was asked specifically about Bush senior's HIV policies and she just sort of said I don't even think President Bush knows how to spell aids and made the front page of the newspapers back in New York and all this and when you work with her for a long time you sort of forgot how famous she was but suddenly you'd sort of be reminded of it sort of when she said something like that and it was reported everywhere and it really really changed the way people viewed how the US was treating HIV let's support the programs that work whatever the cost she was a very kind woman I mean that was that was a thing that's often often overlooked I mean I suppose the her charity work indicates that you know she was a very kind woman but she was personally kind to people as I had reason to know she was stubborn and she was dedicated and she really put her whole heart into saving people's lives but she fought battles that were incredible you know and she changed history she really did tonight you wonderful people have raised in excess of over 1 million dollars she didn't have to do any of this she was a millionaire she was a movie star she had a wonderful life in Bel Air yes Rock Hudson got her going but why did she continue I think because she was the real deal I mean she really truly cared about this there'll be many people that would not be alive today if it was not for Elizabeth Taylor Elizabeth's humanitarian work was recognized all over the world in England the Queen made her a dame of the British Empire Dame Elizabeth Taylor for services to acting and to charity and Hollywood paid tribute with an honorary Oscar in 1993 even though Elizabeth adored getting her first two Oscars I think it was the third Oscar the one for her humanitarian work that really meant the most to her because that was really how she always said she wanted her legacy to be remembered what Elizabeth was tirelessly campaigning her health was deteriorating in 1988 she was back at the Betty Ford Clinic with a renewed addiction to painkillers but during recovery she fell in love the actress Elizabeth Taylor has married for the eighth time to a California builder Larry for ten ski it was 20 years her junior the wedding was held at the secluded ranch of the pop star Michael Jackson the cameras did get a glimpse first of the guests around the purpose-built summer house and finally the couple themselves and the bride's $30,000 gown as Taylor said I thought I'd try it once more before I died Elizabeth sold her exclusive wedding pictures for three million dollars in order to set up the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation this check arrived at her house pay to the order Lizabeth Taylor three million dollars and she decided that she was gonna go down to the bank herself to personally deposit that check and open the account for her foundation so she got dressed and she called her driver and she got in the car and she drove down the hill from bel-air and went to the bank in Beverly Hills and she told me she said I walked in the bank and I looked around and I realized David I had never been in a bank before in my entire life can you imagine that yeah I can't imagine that you're Elizabeth Taylor why on earth would you ever have to go to a bank in 1996 her eighth and final marriage came to an end her health also continued to decline she then endured two hip operations and brain surgery to remove a benign tumor but Elizabeth courageously continued to raise millions of dollars for her AIDS Foundation Elizabeth had lots of health problems as everybody knows and it did impact her AIDS work there were times when she had to cancel events because of poor health and we would scramble to get a substitute but there were times when she literally got out of a sickbed I have done this every year for 30 years tradition in 2010 Elizabeth came to Britain for a special event at Buckingham Palace she'd flown over with her medicals and people from Los Angeles to be there to see a new head of Richard which was unveiled on that occasion Prince Charles comes in and is introduced to us and then of course late making entrance through Queen Elizabeth's back passages Elizabeth is wheeled into the room and as if as if she is the royalty in the her she's wheeled in front of the bust of Richard and she looked at it and started crying and it was terribly terribly moving I think deep down in Elizabeth's heart was a very special flame for rich which lasted right through to the end I think I think she probably had a secret yearning for Burton that went on way beyond the first two marriages maybe to the end of her life I remember thinking this is she's near the end I thought the spark was flickering at the very best I never saw her again and it was a sad last see in March 2011 at the age of 79 surrounded by her four children Dame Elizabeth Taylor died of heart failure she was always a fighter and she always got over her illnesses and that's why I was so shocked and surprised to hear that Elizabeth did not get over at this time Elizabeth always knew how to make an entrance and her funeral was no exception what she said in her will about a funeral says so much about her you know she was famous for some house being late on the set she was also famous for sending herself up so she said in her will she wants the body to arrive late for her own funeral I just love that as the last laugh you know from beyond the grave Liz Taylor is late for her own funeral I think that's fantastically stylish actually she certainly has a legacy of amazing films and the legacy of being the last superstar the last legend the last icon she was abroad and she told you what she felt and she was spunky and she was the last of the great Hollywood stars I think courage is the words I would most associate with them and it wasn't by any means easy I've heard since the phrase drop-dead gorgeous and that's what she was she really connected with people and she really touched people's lives people didn't realize what an extremely nice woman she was she was very funny she was witty she was very intelligent and she was very kind the truest loyalist funniest friend that anybody could ever wish for I really loved her but more than that I really liked her she was fun

Channel: wilsol70

Views: 1,241,811

Rating: 4.6162071 out of 5

Keywords: BBC (TV Network), Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor (Film Actor), Volt MediaFix

Id: oTjZ58cjC2s

Length: 61min 0sec (3660 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 03 2012