Remembering Elizabeth Taylor

Liz Taylor died Wednesday. She had health battles her whole life, and many recently, so I can't exactly say I was surprised to hear of her passing, but it still feels as if one of not only the old guard, but the guardians of what made Hollywood special, is now gone.

She was beautiful, a fierce and faithful friend, a woman who believed in romance, even after eight or so marriages (I lost count). She was larger than life. She was a damn good actress, with an extremely impressive resume, although her beauty probably clouded that fact for some. But all you have to do is watch Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf if you have any doubts. Yes, Cleopatra was silly and campy at times, but it's also one of the few spectacles still worth giving a look. I love the early scenes with Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar. And it gave Liz Richard Burton and vice-versa.

She is one of the few actors who had a consistently successful career from childhood. From child roles in Lassie Come Home and National Velvet to teen roles in Little Women and Father of the Bride to her adult career, Taylor was always fascinating to watch. We may have lost Liz, but thanks to cable and on-demand programming there are still plenty of opportunities to catch some her most iconic moments on film.

I grew up watching Elizabeth Taylor on television — one of my earliest memories of her is from a Here's Lucy episode where Lucy tries on the famous and ostentatious diamond ring, the Taylor-Burton diamond, and then can't get it off her finger. Co-star Gale Gordon urges her to cut it off. Lucy is horrified at first that he means to damage the ring, but he corrects her — he meant her finger, "There's only one ring like this, and you will still have nine fingers!"

TV is also where I first saw Taylor's movies, although later I was lucky to see some of her greatest films in revival houses in New York. I especially remember the epic Giant, which I saw sometime in the late '80s or early '90s in huge Cinemascope. I was there to see James Dean, but walked out loving his relationship with Taylor in the movie. She really had an amazing empathy as an actress, and also seemed to be drawn to the lost puppies in life — I think she could really relate to Dean, like she also connected to Montgomery Clift and later, Michael Jackson.

Article Author: xoxoxoe

My name is Elizabeth Periale. I am an artist, blogger, and culture critic. I write about movies, books, television, pop culture—old and new—with a feminine/feminist perspective.

Visit xoxoxoe's author page — xoxoxoe's Blog