The Thing About Elizabeth (Part One)

8/7/2019 The Thing About Elizabeth (Part One)

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The Thing About Elizabeth(Taylor-Hilton-Wilding-Todd-Fisher-Burton-Burton-Warner-Fortensky)

PART ONE

Like many people these past few days, I am pondering the meaningof Dame Elizabeth Taylor-Hilton-Wilding-Todd-Fisher-Burton-Burton- Warner-Fortensky.

I have, on

occasion,shared mythoughts onone or twonotable lossesin the world of"ClassicHollywood".But this one is

different. Thisone calls forsomethingmore. To put itbluntly-- thisone is the bigone.

Elizabeth Taylor was her own one-woman epic. She lived her life inproportions that dwarfed Cleopatra, (both the woman, and theinfamous 1963 film) and went so far beyond the parameters ofHollywood stardom that a new term - "superstar"- was invented todescribe her. Never settling for enough when she could have it all,conversely, she never gave enough if she could give it all. And forDame Elizabeth, allwas everything. At the end, even a career that


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garnered three Academy Awards, voluminous wealth, world wideacclaim and infamy, condemnation from the U.S. Congress and aPope, and a Royal Order of the British Empire did not define her.She saved her greatest achievements for her last act: those of a

fearless crusader who brought a horrific disease out of the closet ofshame and into the light of compassion and understanding. It isdifficult not to speak in hyperbole when you are discussingElizabeth Taylor, because Elizabeth Taylor was hyperbole.

The thing about Elizabeth Taylor was that she was a child starwho was never really a child. From the first moment she firstappeared on the screen, she was simply a miniature version of heradult self. Possessed of an un-

earthly beauty and poise, shegave veteran MGM filmproducer Samuel Marx pausewhen he first encountered theprecocious ten year old, andafter an acclaimed supportingrole in Lassie Come Home(1943) led to her breakout

performance in NationalVelvet (1944) she entered thelegendary MGM star-makingmachine. Yet the thing aboutElizabeth Taylor was that shewas never just a cog in its well-oiled wheels. Her languorouslydemure physical appearancebelied a headstrong nature that would develop notoriously as she

grew into adulthood, and would cause her "home" studio much griefand consternation in later years. At age 15, she famously told anapoplectic Louis B. Mayer to "go to Hell" after he berated hermother in her presence. Taylor remembered this moment as aturning point in her life; the moment when she realized that "I was acomplete, free individual". This belief in the rightness of her own


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moral compass would dictate her actions for the rest of her life.The thing about Elizabeth Taylor Hilton was that she was themost beautiful young woman in the world. At least, that is whatfamed columnist Hedda Hopper declared, and most other accounts

followed suit. Her splendor was, by the age of 17, such anoverpowering visceral experience that in her best films of the era

it became as integral a part as the story itself. As socialite AngelaVickers in George Steven's A Place In the Sun (1951), her outrageousbeauty is as much an impetus for Montgomery Clift's actions as thesocial position he longs to attain through her, and the tragicconsequences of these actions become doubly devastating for theloss of it. Moreover, the chemistry she shares with Clift (perhaps theonly actor in Hollywood who could approach her physicalperfection) not only hints at the emotional fires banked beneath her"Park Avenue" exterior, it portends her performances to come laterin the decade.


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The thing about Elizabeth Taylor Wilding was that she wasdiscovering the strength within herself. Forever altered after thenear fatal car crash of her soul mateClift (she saved his life by reaching into

his mangled throat and pulling out theshattered teeth that were obstructinghis airway), Taylor began to wanderbeyond the shallow waters of MGMglamour girl and into more challengingdepths that lay beyond. In Giant(1955),she stretched outside her comfort zonefor the first time to explore the life of awoman in a conflict of morality,

desire and prejudice. It is a tenuous exploration, to be sure, but herperformance rings true in moments of absolute faith in characterand intent. Surrounded by a cast as overpowering as the Texaslocale itself, including titans Rock Hudson, Mercedes McCambridgeand James Dean, she emerges as the film's emotional core. It is in


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Giant, that Elizabeth Taylor Wilding became an actress.

The thing about Elizabeth TaylorTodd was that she was a passionate

force of nature. In the most creativelyfertile and rewarding period of herfilm career, she found her artistry firstthrough joy, then through anguish.Marrying impresario Mike Todd, shewas rapturous in the glow of love, andthen despondent after Todd's tragicdeath in a plane crash. Midwaythrough filming Cat On A Hot Tin

Roof (1958) director Richard Brooksconvinced an emotionally shatteredTaylor to return to work, where shechanneled her all consuming grief intoa searing portrait of "Maggie the Cat".In doing so, Taylor fulfilled the early promise of Angela Vickers andher suspected fires of passion, sexual frustration, and fury. AsMaggie, she screeches - she paws - she seethes -but she still

manages to hold on tenaciouslyto the hot tin roof of heremotions, never allowingherself to fall into thedesolation below. Herperformance of fire and iceearned her an Oscarnomination. Exhilarated fromthe experience, she delved even

further into the dark depths ofher psyche in Suddenly, LastSummer (1959), TennesseeWilliams unsettling exploration

of repression, mental illness, and questionable motherly love. Toolurid for many at the time of its release, it none-the-less garnered


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Taylor another Oscar nomination, as well as condemnation for itscontentious subject matter. For its emotionally liberated star,however, the controversy was merely an appetizer for the maincourse of reprobation that was to come...for just after its release,

Elizabeth Taylor Todd became Mrs. Eddie Fisher.

The thing about Elizabeth Taylor Fisher was that she wasfearless. As if liberated by the grief over the death of Mike Todd, sheflew in the face of public censure and married Todd's best friend,singer Eddie Fisher, three hours after his divorce from her friendDebbie Reynolds was final. She was a hellion unleashed and readyfor battle; and battle she did, particularly with her "home" studio,MGM. Tasting sweet freedom, she chafed at the artistic and

financial restraints of her long term contract and longed to breakfree...particularly when Twentieth Century Fox began courting herto star in their planned remake of Cleopatra. At first thinking theidea ridiculous, Taylor half-jokingly told them she would do it -- fora salary of ONE MILLION DOLLARS. To her stunned surprise, theyagreed. But there was a stumbling block: her MGM contract. In

order to gain her freedom,Taylor agreed to star in a

project which she loathed:the film version of thesalacious novel,Butterfield 8. Frequentlyreferring to the film as"Butterball 4", her disdainfor the project wasapparent to all involved,especially during an early

preview when sheallegedly offered her own

critical assessment of the film by taking off her shoes and throwingthem at the screen. But, free at last from the studio that had beenher home for 17 years, she and Fisher headed to London to beginfilming on the (then) modestly-budgeted Cleopatra. The swirl of


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negative press that enveloped the unapologetic star and herhusband as they left for England was nothing, however, compared tothe harsh English weather that greeted her, as well as the ever-present dampness of London's Pinewood Studios. She was soon

plagued by one malady after another, and was unable to appear onthe set but for a few days of tests before she fell ill with an infectionthat quickly developed into a rare and virulent strain of pneumonia.After collapsing in her hotel room, she was rushed to The LondonClinic where an emergency tracheotomy was performed. As shehovered for hours between life and death, many overeager pressreporters declared that Elizabeth Taylor, screen beauty, had died atthe age of 28.

What they didn't know was this: the thing about ElizabethTaylor Fisher was that she was also a survivor.

To be continued..

The Thing About Elizabeth (Part One)

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