I read a report the other day which gave me the feeling I would be writing yet another obit - and for one of the greatest screen legends of them all…Dame Elizabeth Taylor.
La Liz was reported to be on life support suffering from congestive heart failure following a bout of pneumonia. I thought ‘uh oh’ - surely she would rally and pull through yet again…?
Well, the great lady has done it again it seems and is back at home ‘ surrounded by family, friends and fabulous jewels ‘ - don’t you just love that statement? what a woman - what a legend. Maybe the past few years have not been so kind to her but she still has that tough, fighting spirit which has seen her through so many tragedies and illnesses.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that she will continue to improve and stick around for a long time yet - the world needs stars like her!
Read about the update on her health here.
Elizabeth Taylor trivia and facts:
* Liz was born Elizabeth Rosamund Taylor in Hamstead, London, England
* Her parents were American. Her father Francis was an art dealer, mother Sara was a small-time actress by the name of Sara Sothern.
* She was first spotted at an art gallery at the age of eight by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper who suggested her father put her into films. He turned the idea down at the time.
* She almost auditioned for the role of Bonnie Blue, the child of Scarlett and Rhett, in Gone with the Wind.
* Her mother was the force behind putting the young Elizabeth into movies after everyone who saw the child remarked on her stunning beauty. At her first photo sitting the photographer said ” her eye’s are that of a grown woman “.
* He first film was ‘Lassie Come Home’ - co-star Roddy McDowell, also a child actor, became a close life-long friend.
* At the age of twelve she penned a children’s book ‘Nibbles and Me’ about her pet hamster.
* During the filming of ‘National Velvet’ she fell off the horse and sustained a life long back injury.
* Her first marriage, to heir Nicky Hilton, was a disaster as Hilton was a drug addict and was unable to consummate the marriage on their wedding night.
* Her wedding to Hilton coincided with the filming of ‘Father of the Bride’ - during filming of the remake ‘Father’s little Dividend’ , after he marriage, she suffered a miscarriage on set.
* She fell in love with actor Montgomery Clift, her co-star in ‘A Place in the Sun’. She tried for years to persuade the actor to marry her but Clift was rampantly gay - they remained the closest of friends until his death though.
* Clift never called her ‘Elizabeth’, he always called her ‘Bessie Mae’.
* She was credited with saving Clift’s life when he drove his car off the road after leaving a party at her house during the making of ‘Raintree County’. She ran down the road in the pitch dark and found the actor horrifically injured and choking to death on some teeth lodged in his throat. She reached down and pulled the teeth out and thus saved his life; she cradled his head in her arms until paramedics arrived.
* She married English actor Micheal Wilding - their Hollywood house was said to be a mess due to her dogs not being house trained…
* Billionaire Howard Hughes had his eye on her for years.
* Husband No 3. Mike Todd was killed in a plane crash in 1957. He was the father of her daughter, Liza. His private plane was named ‘The Lucky Liz’.
* Her romance with Debbie Reynold’s husband, Eddie Fisher, began when Fisher comforted her after Todd’s death. Fisher was a close friend of Todd.
* Richard Burton, husband No 5, is said to be the great love of her life. She wants her ashes to be scattered in Wales after her own death. They adopted a German baby named Maria.
* Before beginning filming of ‘Butterfield 8′ she collapsed and had to have a tracheotomy tube inserted so she could breathe. You can see the vertical scar on her throat in some scenes.
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