"You really are a knucklehead!" – Elizabeth Taylor Press Conference (1999)

this is my home this is my home uh I may be buried in Wales I had to play a woman about my age there's been a lot of speculation about your relationship with Rod steigen whether there may be another marriage I mean could you tell us anything about that would you recommend marriage for those who haven't tried it 200 times going in and out being pronounced dead reading the tabloids and Liz dead that was a strange feeling because uh they were the best reviews I've ever had you really are a knucklehead do you think Beauty has its own curse oh as long as you realize it's a very superficial thing and something that can disappear in a second and means nothing my problem in marriage I think came because I was more famous than my husbands in most cases Johnny Depp oh terrible somebody says I can't do something then I'll try and do it if I have hurt anyone in my lifetime I would change that I would not choose to hurt anyone yeah thank you very much okay [Music] okay [Music] you're trying to be right okay okay that's a beautiful area excuse me please did you speak [Applause] [Music] [Music] thank you very much thank you guys thank you very much [Music] [Music] um thank you guys thank you okay ladies and gentlemen Chris thank you for attending this afternoon Express meeting a brief introduction we are honored today to welcome on Sunday as you know she'll receive the British Academy Fellowship the 51st British Academy film Awards in association with orange the British Academy of film and television Arts is most it is its most positions award and it's in recognition of her lifetime contribution to film and she such legendary names there's a little Libya group Bergman and artist recipient who is Sean Connery so just to say again we're delighted to take the Ennis Taylor to answer questions on your career here so without any further Ado I think the first question from the floor um to leave us take the phrase over there magazine congratulations on the pastor award can you tell me when we're next going to see you Gracie I will not be on the screen next uh whenever they'll have me uh I can't seem to get a job at the moment nobody wants to ensure me I'd love to act I'd love to do a film uh and I'm out there going but um I'm uninsurable I guess because I've had you know nothing here it's a mess Hi how are you nice to see you nice to see you can I ask you why we don't see you in this country so often it's been seven years and also give me a sense of how you feel about uh coming over to receive the fellowship award oh I'm through at receiving and and the reason I haven't been home for so many years is uh for one simple reason seven years ago um I was given little white Maltese dog and your laws have prevented me from coming home and that's the sole reason sole reason I don't quite understand it and I'd like this to go on record uh a rat could hitch a ride on a taxi or a truck and go through the tunnel and arrive at Paddington Station wherever I wanted to go and say hi Depot uh but dogs from America who have to have highly qualified papers just to stay in America my dog has to have rabies shots um oh what do you call them tetanus shots when we go to Mexico or when we go to anyone she goes through the whole series of shops because I don't want to take any risks with her and so I go through the same ritual wherever I take it and I take her around the world with me I even take her into restaurants and nobody objects and she's the best behaved dog in the world the most intelligent and she could come over here and explain the whole thing to some of your politicians so what have you told sugar at home what did you say to her when you left her in L.A well we both were crying so it was difficult hello Miss Taylor my name is Mabel and I'm from people weekly and I wanted to know what your impression was of the war in Kosovo and America's involvement in the war uh I wish while I was first of all that the war weren't happening um I hope it doesn't turn into another Vietnam I hope America knows what she's doing politically in this situation um I don't know enough about it to make any comments really at this particular time but it could accelerate in to something disastrous were unnecessary lies are lost and I think that would be awful and I think everybody should sort of tend to their own Wars another question yes hello you look absolutely amazing and I come from Wales about 12 miles from pontypri they live in a place called Barry and because of your Affinity with Welsh obviously do you think because your reluctance to come to Britain because of the quarantine laws that there's any chance that you could make you'd think of taking this opportunity to visit Wales as well while you're actually here you have a granddaughter there yet oh well I don't want to be away from her that long you don't seem to understand we're bonded at the hip so there's no no um no possibility as well until the law is changed I am still making my stance I changed it for bafta but I'm I'm not going to utilize the advantages that have been open to me by being here uh I'm going to go back uh the minute it's over when the law has changed I'll come back here and I'll go to myself I'll go visit the family and whale you still have a lot of love for the Welsh yeah obviously with your connection this is my home this is my home uh I may be buried in Wales I don't like the feeling that uh I can't go there because of this law especially when you know because of the tunnel give you lots of love on behalf of the Welsh people okay pardon I give you lots of love on behalf of the Welsh people I'm sorry I couldn't understand I gave you lots of love on behalf of the Welsh people I love the world and they love you too and yes next question Miss Taylor Susie cormack from Sky News um you've made 57 films in your career can you tell me what was the most important for Elizabeth Taylor uh who's Afraid of Virginia wool can you tell me why it was uh the biggest challenge I was 32 and I had to play a woman about my age and uh it was I had to wear Prosthetics and stuff it was very uncomfortable but I had to change my stance my voice um everything about myself my attitude everything and it was a real Challenge and I like challenges so I locked up 9 for your beauty but not so much so much to be acting Talent which was always there and as far as you can see it was that what maybe spread you on probably I like to be controversial if somebody says I can't do something then I'll try and do it one from the back exercise hello I'm John hamling from Access Hollywood can you tell us when the last time you visited the baftas was have you been before no no I haven't this will be my first time and how does it feel like to be getting this award oh it's a great thrill I'm very honored and the list of people who want it before is awe-inspiring can you briefly tell us how do you visited Johnny Carson I know he's unwell have you spoken to him and you know how he is Johnny Carson no I didn't know he was on one oh um they've asked me to ask you from America and they thought you might have spoken to him no I didn't even know he was unwell yeah he's had a triple heart bypass I think so I'm sorry I didn't know no it didn't suck it thank you I helped with all my hearties fine uh a lot of my friends have had that operation and get through it stunningly but my heart and prayers are with him thank you I'm still Amanda he's saying he's direct I was wondering since you were born over here whether this bafta award had special meaning to you because I was born here of course yes and is it good to be back in London is it nice to be back in London I mean how do you find them yes there's so much I want to do and there's just not enough time yes that's it hi there it's Matthew Wright from The Daily Mirror um you know what these scandalous gossip mongering journalists alike I mean there's been lots of stuff coming from America not me definitely dream of it um but there's there's been a lot of speculation about your relationship with Rod steigen whether there may be another marriage I mean could you tell us anything about that we're getting married again ever never ever again would you recommend marriage could I what would you recommend marriage for those who haven't tried it 200 times yes hi Vanessa Langford independent radio news you said um you weren't going to be on the screen for some time but there were some stories that you were going to appear in a movie based on The Wizard of Oz is that just rumors or but I hope it comes through it depends it depends again on the insurance and can you shed any more light on what the story's about or what who you might be playing uh it is a sort of unfantasized version of The Wizard of Oz with all the characters being real people I would be Dorothy with a dog [Music] and the straw man would be a real man with the same kind of flaws but not made of straw and he wouldn't throw away in the window oh and uh it would just be a story about real people with the same qualities and flaws and how it's worked out how they work themselves on hi I'm Jeff Moody from Channel 5 News um A lot's been made of Gwyneth Paltrow and the fact that in her Oscar speech she cried do you think tomorrow night when you or Sunday night when you get the award you might cry as well I hope not worrying water how does it compare winning this award to say getting an Oscar ah um does it mean as much to you yes probably thank you very much thank you get to get over please just a question from radio one of them hi Michelle it's Samsung from Radio 1 Radio 5 live I wondered do you ever get bored of being a legend well you seem to meet a legend sounds like something dead and you know Alexander the Great was a legend and I don't feel dead at all so I don't know what it feels like to be a legend another question over here hello Miss Taylor it's Lydia Wilson from World Entertainment News Network um is there somebody in Hollywood a star that reminds you of yourself is there somebody favorite you have in Hollywood a young actress or a young actor that reminds me of myself when you were younger but they all seem a little sailor in what way well I don't know they're more serious than I was I was um I enjoyed doing other things I was never totally dedicated to making Motion Pictures I love doing other things as well my life was not just one road with you know no vision on the side um what do you like doing in your spare time at the moment the same things I enjoy doing now and traveling uh playing being silly um just uh being a little unknown orthodox has another question you said earlier that you didn't have you don't have time hi to do everything you'd like to do I think the last time you were here you said you wanted to go to have fish and chips or sausage and mash and that uh yesterday uh I thought I was going to be ill but I have survived and I'm looking forward to another meal Elizabeth Once Upon a Time you know the daughters was almost your home you stayed here so many times over the years what sort of memories you know you and Burton and other people can you give us a sense of those days oh well God I almost died in the Oliver messel Suite uh there's that memory that kind of sticks out and will never go away and They Carried me out on a stretcher through the Oliver messel banquet room and there was a young Welsh run in there the party was being given for his engagement and Lord Evans was attending the party the Queen's anesthetist that's the right way to pronounce it is that the right word yeah and They carried me through I was blue and I wasn't breathing and the young man they were giving the party for was Richard's nephew it's like six degrees of separation and I was put in the ambulance and they did a tracheotomy in the ambulance then they put me on the operating table for 18 hours and I remember hearing them talking and I was trying to communicate and say like with my eyelashes or my finger or something I was trying to let them know that I could hear that they were talking about me in the past tense and it was like Hey I'm Not Dead so could you kind of like talk about me as if I were alive because it would make me feel much better and uh 18 hours is a long time anyway uh that was six weeks kind of going in and out being pronounced dead reading the uh tabloids and Liz dead that people had saved for me and that was a strange feeling because uh they were the best reviews I've ever had this question on the right I'm from religious broadcasting BBC and I just wondered whether God featured in your life at all oh my my God yes I don't think I'd be here if I didn't believe in God uh I don't believe in I've studied so many religions and I believe in them all and I think my sense of spirituality is probably stronger than say my sense of Judaism of which I still have uh it's just a sense of communication of well spirituality yes but again my my prayers are sort of in the take form in a kind of conversation with god questions uh Miss Taylor Victor Oliver teletext hello um about your employment prospects would you ever consider buying the rights to a novel and producing it as a movie and if so which novel or story would most Fascinate You I suppose the kind of role that you would like to play ah I I don't really understand that would I buy a book the rights to it if there is a novel or a story um some formers do this they no first of all I'd get somebody else to buy it and pay for it but you'll become empowered as a result well hi you become even more powerful than you are already in the sense of producing the movie I could do that if I wanted to but I don't right um would there be a novel story that at the moment would Fascinate or interest you in any way there's been talk of my doing a remake of a visit that interests me thank you now well everybody shut their microphones off please turn your cameras away this is going to sound like Mom presume is perfect no pictures of the kleenex up my nose yeah okay thank you excellent wilbury James Miss Taylor it's often said that beauty is a curse and you have had health problems what do you do you think that's partly you paying for the for being one of the most beautiful women in the world do you think Beauty has its own curse oh I think to be considered pretty or beautiful however you want to put isn't lovely as long as you realize it's a very superficial thing and something that can disappear in a second and means nothing it's just uh we all have the same features that throw them together in different ways and uh they have nothing to do with life oh I think Ava Gardner was the most beautiful woman in the world just another hello Miss Taylor um I was wondering what did you think of Sophia Lauren's glamorous appearance at the Oscars this uh past didn't she looked glorious yes oh she looked fabulous as a woman I was very proud of her yeah okay I mean on the going on with beauty as it were I mean who are the young actresses around today who you admire if at all we might not like any of them I don't know I think I'm very negative no I'm joking ah Demi Moore Julia Roberts um Natasha Kinski uh oh Lord help my poor poverty sturton brain see I had brain surgery and some of it was left on the table um oh there's so many beautiful uh actresses around really stunning and that can act uh and the English girls I'm sorry ladies uh I have difficulty with the names of the new uh sort of Virgin crop of actresses that have arisen out of uh England in the last year or two um and I'm very bad at names but they're all beautiful they're all talented I mean the Oscars all you had to do was look at the list it was you know we'll be Italian yes I'm Miss Taylor it's me again sorry about that um uh you're wearing velvet you're in a film called National all those years ago tomorrow is Grand National Day ironically are you going to be watching the race and have you got any tips for us thank you that's one of the kind of things that's been said about I'll leave here to figure hello Miss Taylor Rosie Millard from the BBC you've had an interview long film career in what is a very harsh business what do you put your longevity in Hollywood down to what are your tips I have no idea because I haven't worked in ages um I don't do anything to try and make myself visible to the public whatever public you know you can go into Westward or any Santa Monica you can do anything nobody pays any attention to you at all it's wonderful uh but you're still regarded as a huge huge star just had a good text do you ever visit your hometown this is my hometown uh the house that I was born in is in Hampstead Heath I think somebody should put a plaque up on that wall A.T 8 Wildwood Road uh if you could give women today younger women any tips about men of marriage over with your past experience what might they be hahaha uh don't be such suckers for us so then uh the women I think in when I was young would do anything to please their husbands and we didn't have a sense of Independence there was no kind of equal rights uh we did uh it did it didn't affect me I'm talking about watching and observing other women um my problem in marriage I think came because I was more famous than my husband's in most cases and that caused difficulty but for women in in general I think you can look at the old magazines and see them with an apron and washing the dishes and they took the back seat uh to the husband to such an extent they kind of lost their identity and women don't do that now do you think that men today in the 90s still have a problem when women are more successful than them today if you were getting married you'd have the same problems no I think that there's more I think because of more equality um men look up to women more and women have more of a say in the marriage and raising of the child children and it's more of a healthy Mutual goodness look how we've come the house where I'm staying is all Victorian art wow and being a wife then thank you I'm Jeff Moody channel five we talked a lot about the beauty of women who do you think is the most attractive man in Hollywood at the moment hmm Sean Connery uh all the young ones are cute Johnny Depp oh um Brad Pitt oh yeah oh yeah Antonio Banderas yes Leonardo yes thank you I'm very bad at names keep coming I think it's gonna call her last question Tony something really intelligent yeah if you had a high unique broadcasting if you had to live your life again what would you change if I had my life as Elizabeth Taylor to live over again what would I change nothing except if I have hurt anyone in my lifetime I would change that I would not choose to hurt anyone but other than that I wouldn't change anything so it might be a nice notification just one last thing we should always use to say you were a bit about Hellraiser are you still [Music] except I don't drink anymore thank God otherwise I'd probably be dead sure and after that we'll definitely wrap it up okay it's not saying something special okay [Applause]

Channel: ITN Archive

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Id: XSU8CBtUvPo

Length: 38min 11sec (2291 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 25 2023