Elizabeth Taylor, A timeless beauty

by Katrina Eusebio

As part of our requirement in Principles of Mass Communication, we are to choose one book from the SSC Library, the topics ranging through media, arts and women’s issues. I like all the topics because they are interesting and I wanted to know more from those topics so I felt excited. I’ve widen my horizon from choosing a media history book, to a mystery art fiction novel and women issues like the most influential women in the history, pornography which is in a way could be a media topic as well. I thought I can settle with any of those topics because I'm very eager to learn about those topics.

With all those topics I think my prof (Sir Nate) and I agreed to choose Elizabeth by J. Randy Taraborrelli.

The book is about the life story of Elizabeth Taylor. From its title to the cover it seems to promise a story that is worth reading because it explains a life of a famous movie star and that people always forget that she’s also a woman with her own personal life to live. She’s always seen with glamour and yet what people don’t see is behind all the fame she’s vulnerable and always looking for a love from a man. It’s not only about a movie star’s story, it is also about a woman’s struggle on how she can shine in a man’s world where she easily had surpass because of her exceptional beauty and charm. It is about change in all aspects of life. From being a self-centered person to a more concerned person to the society, the book Elizabeth will make you laugh and cry at the same time. 

It is the book where you can see a glimpse of Hollywood, a backstage pass to see behind the scenes of a movie. You will be fascinated with parties and the lavish lifestyle of celebrities. You will envy how people treat the Elizabeth Taylor of Hollywood, the diamonds she acquired all throughout her life, the numerous husbands she had and after reading it you may even want to be Elizabeth Taylor for a day because of how colorful her life was.

The book is a must read. I'm happy I have chosen this book because reading it didn't feel like a requirement. It is the one thing that keeps me up at night when I'm supposed to be sleeping. I even fall asleep holding the book and wake up with it still in my hands. Haha. What I really want to say is that it's addicting! I love the book.

          





Elizabeth Taylor was born February 27, 1932. She was the youngest daughter of Sarah and Francis Taylor. She has an older brother named Howard Taylor.

            From childhood the Taylor’s life have always been well off. In the beginning ‘til the end their life especially of Elizabeth is surrounded by riches and they never really got a problem with regards to financial matters. The Taylor’s are connected to affluent and influential people in the society and they are supported by those people.

            By the age of three, Elizabeth because of her extraordinary beauty and violet eyes her mother saw a potential of molding her to become a star. Her mother was a former theater actress and she wants her daughter to become famous someday. She has big dreams for her daughter that’s why at an early age she enrolled her to different lessons such as singing and ballet. After years passed, she trained her in acting and how to act around people. She was very serious, very determined to train her that she forgot Liz was a child. Her father noticed it but he can’t do anything about it because he was afraid of his wife. She continued training her daughter day and night, that even if Liz is already tired and sleepy she still insist her to practice lines from a script. I think with this, Elizabeth did not have a memorable childhood. She was robbed of a life that is fun and no worries just playing.

          

  Elizabeth grew up being controlled by her mother. Yes, she became an actress when she was nine her first movie that became a hit was National Velvet. That was the start of her career in the film industry, her mother got her wish. Of course Sarah was still very controlling to her daughter, she even make up a publicity to her so that she will be even more noticed by the people.

One of her mother’s propaganda so that people will talk about Elizabeth was to set up her with a date or a love affair. It worked. But then that was the turning point wherein they will have to face bigger problems and dramas in life. Because Elizabeth also wanted to get away from her very controlling mother, she thought that marrying will be the key to that. All in all, Elizabeth had seven husbands.

The first one was Nicky Hilton. He beat up Elizabeth that end up to a divorce. Elizabeth changed after that but she did not closed her doors and she met her second husband Michael Wilding, she had two children with him but they divorced because they were not happy anymore.

And then she married her third husband, Mike Todd. He was the love of her life at that time. Mike was a loving husband and he shower Elizabeth with diamonds as his gift to her. One of it was a tiara because Mike said she was his queen. They love each other until one day Mike’s private plane crushed and he died. Elizabeth was horrified. She could not believe what happened. That must have been her greatest love and yet it ended without her knowing it. That was one of the tragic moments of her life. But then, because she could not bear not having a man in her life she married once more to Eddie Fisher who was then married to Debbie Reynolds. Even if Eddie was still married, he chose to have an affair with Elizabeth because that’s Elizabeth Taylor! She always get what she wants. Later on they married and their marriage caused scandal to the public.

Her fifth husband who was Richard Burton was also married. She met Richard in filming Cleopatra, one of the greatest movie Elizabeth has portrayed. The affair was inevitable. They fall in love with each other and not even the world can stop them. When they were in Rome filming Cleopatra, they were criticized by the pope in Vatican because they were being bad images to the public. They thought the people also hate them but they could not hate Elizabeth Taylor. They still love her. And so the two got married. One of her longest marriages. At first they were really having fun with each other, just being carefree, running from the press and watch a movie, go to the club. But then Richard has some serious drinking problem. Elizabeth was also affected so she drink with Richard. It affected their shooting of movies. They divorced because they could not stand each other anymore.

Senator John Warner was the sixth husband of Elizabeth Taylor, the good that brought Liz in marrying Warner is that later on she will be able to use the things she learned in one of the most important contribution she will make in the world. Meanwhile, their marriage didn’t last and so she married Larry Fortensky, her last husband but then they also divorced because Larry has some outrage problem.

Elizabeth has been through a lot of dramas in life and yet she is still loved by the people. People loved watching her in movies. All in all, she made 55 movies in Hollywood. She was named the most beautiful woman in the world. No wonder men fall down to her feet once they meet her. Everybody is always fascinated by Elizabeth Taylor when they see her.

The remaining days of her life was spent on making some more legacy. When AIDS spread all over U.S. and the world, Liz was one of the people who supported on conducting awareness to the deadly disease. This was triggered because many of her friends from the industry died because of this disease. She said she wanted to do something. During that time people do not talk about the disease, they are not aware of it to the point that the case of people having the disease got worse. Elizabeth pushed through helping in the funding of research for AIDS cure. She asked help from her colleagues and it became a success. She was an AIDS activist and that allowed her to step outside from her own world. She became more aware of the condition of others apart from her. One of also the prestigious things that happened to Elizabeth is that she became a dame declared by the queen of England.

Truly, Elizabeth’s life was wonderful. She did not only contribute to Hollywood with her films but also to the entire world when she became an activist to the awareness of AIDS.

After reading the book I learned a lot of things about facts of life such as it doesn’t mean when you have everything, the fame and money you are a happy person. Sometimes their lives are a lot complicated than ours who are just living ordinary lives. Also, I’ve learned that family is important. As well as forgiveness.. I learned that a good childhood is important to the life stage of a person because it will definitely affect the future. Things like that..

On the other hand, as a student of media the book became the medium where I was able to see Hollywood and meet the greatest film actress in the film history. I saw that if the actor in the film has a problem there will be a delay in the making of film. I saw how rarely it is that the actor/actress apologize to the crew or the film makers. In the book when Elizabeth apologized to the entire set they were all shocked. And with that, I think there is still a line that separates the people who acts in front of the camera and the ones who operates the camera and make it work, although both are important in making a film. I hope that someday the gap between will be filled in and that everyone who contribute to the film are treated equally and when that part is missing it won’t be complete. I also share the same sentiment with Liz about the lives of the movie stars when she said, "I've done a lot of thinking and I realized my whole life is being in motion pictures." It's not easy for her than the rest of them. Actresses spend their own private lives like they are still being recorded. They don't have a privacy and that's kinda hard.

Honestly, the book is very long but it covers everything about the life of Elizabeth Taylor. It is written in such a way that readers will feel the urge to read more because it is very interesting and in a way controversial. I like it when the author included verbatim messages of Elizabeth because I was able to know her more. Overall, the book is entertaining and educational. After reading it, I fell in love with Liz. I admire her with her talent and the passion she have in making films. She will be forever remembered because of her contribution to Hollywood, her films are her legacy and whenever we want to get inspired we can always watch her film.