Elizabeth Taylor, one of the all-time great Hollywood stars, a breathtakingly beautiful woman with eight marriages and seven husbands, a tabloid favorite for gossip and a life full of glamour, romance, jewels and tragedy, passed away today.
The media cannot come up with enough descriptive words to mark her death; unparalleled beauty, hopeless romantic, legend, icon and more. What Elizabeth will most be remembered for is her dedication in championing research for AIDS, doing so while others reacted by backing away and acting negatively towards those suffering with the disease.
She hated being called “Liz” but, for all her fans, referring to her as just Elizabeth made the actress seem distant; everyone who followed her and loved her performances felt a more personal relationship and “Liz” made it seem so real.
What I remember most are some photos that need no catchy phrases…. 
The original “Father of the Bride” from 1950..
Ahhhh, the infamous…Maggie the Cat from “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof” from 1958 with Paul Newman – two sets of magnificent eyes that made fireworks on the big screen
Tell me, could anyone else have worn only a slip and look as if they were ready for a night on the town, needing just a few accessories?
Well, in “Butterfield 8”, this was the only “accessory” Elizabeth needed…
Richard Burton was probably the only man to ever downplay Elizabeth’s beauty, once saying that calling her ““the most beautiful woman in the world is absolute nonsense; she has wonderful eyes but she has a double chin and an overdeveloped chest, and she’s rather short in the leg.”
Elizabeth was married eight times, regarding just two of her husbands as true soul mates.
Although twice wed to actor Richard Burton, the one love that broke her heart forever was when husband, famed movie producer, Mike Todd, died suddenly in a tragic air crash; they had one child, a daughter, together and Todd’s death left her devastated, something from which she never fully recovered.
Elizabeth was planning on making the flight to New York with her husband but stayed home with a cold, as Mike, an excellent pilot, flew his private plane The Lucky Liz. Todd’s plane, a twin-engine Lockheed Lodestar, suddenly suffered engine failure after icing up at a dangerously high altitude. The plane pitched went out of control, fell into a dive and crashed near Grants, New Mexico, killing Todd instantly. Ironically, Todd spoke about the plane being safe and had told friends, just hours before the fatal crash: “Ah, c’mon, It’s a good, safe plane. I wouldn’t let it crash. I’m taking along a picture of Elizabeth, and I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”
If it weren’t for the cold that prevented her from flying, she may very well have died that tragic day.. March 22, 1958.
She earned a second Oscar in 1966 for her brilliant portrayal as the shrewish Martha in what I always regarded as a deeply disturbing motion picture, “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?”, one of her best performances.
Her passionate relationship with Richard Burton sparked a worldwide paparazzi frenzy and became one of the great love stories of the 20th century. Yet, given all their love for each other, they couldn’t live together and got married and divorced twice over in a ten year period, finally ending their partnership in 1976
She was a true professional, who once humorously provided the words for her own epitaph:
Yes, Elizabeth, you did.
And we lived vicariously along with you.
