Forgive the recent posting drought — I’m trying to get back on track. I’m also sorry that it’s taken the passing of one of history’s greatest honest-to-God movie stars to get me back on here, but there we have it — whether you first encountered her in “National Velvet” or as the voice of young Maggie Simpson (just please tell me it wasn’t as Pearl Slaghoople in “The Flintstones”), Elizabeth Taylor’s career is one of those that has been so extensively bronzed into legend that revisiting her films first-hand can yield some real surprises.
I’d write a full obit here, but allow me some inter-site shortcutting. I was invited by The Guardian to contribute this “Career in Clips” piece, in which I trace her career trajectory through eight defining performances, ranging from deservedly legendary work in the likes of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Who’s Afraid Virginia Woolf?” to less prominent, but no less fascinating, curios like “Secret Ceremony.”
Here’s my opening gambit:
It’s difficult to think of a better argument for the separate-but-equal value of the terms “actor” and “film star” than the career of Elizabeth Taylor … If that reads as a slight on her ability, it shouldn’t. She was the rare actor who was as interesting on a bad day as on a good one, and not just for her mesmeric physical beauty: like any great film star, she was as compelled by her own screen presence as we were, aware of how it needed to be consistently adjusted and exaggerated for the camera. Taylor’s filmography ranges from the imperiously accomplished to the gobsmackingly inept, yet she never seemed entirely uninvested in the outcome of her own performance.
Of course, the eight clips selected represent just a tasting platter of her career — I wish I had more room to write about her work in “Suddenly, Last Summer,” or “Reflections in a Golden Eye,” or even “Lassie Come Home,” but it’s a start. Read the rest of my piece over at The Guardian, and share your own favourite Taylor memories in the comments.
Comments
8 responses to “Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)”
My favorite Taylor film is A PLACE INTHE SUN. I adore Montgomery Clift and he and Taylor may be the most purely beautiful and sensual screen pairing ever. Their first kiss and the famous “tell Mama all” line are as swoon worthy today as they were 60 years ago. Taylor was still in her teens when she managed to convey the obsessive and almost hysterical sexual attraction of Angela Vickers for Clift’s George Eastman.
Taylor’s loyalty to the troubled Clift is part of hollywood legend. She literally saved his life after his car crash and supported his career throughout his all too brief life.
Such a shame to see a screen legend go. Rest in peace.
One night I stumbled upon Suddenly Last Summer. The movie was almost ending but for the few minutes I saw that beautiful woman I was amazed on how talented she actually was.
Maybe people in general will remember her due tu her public love life and health issues but for me, and i guess that for the rest of the film community, she will be remembered for the power she brought to the screen.
She will be missed, no doubt.
She had such a strange, troubled, blessed life, but while it’s sad to see her go I think we all knew it was coming and that the last few years had been particularly rough on Elizabeth (don’t call her “Liz”, she hated that).
Amazing actress and star. RIP.
Top 5
1. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
2. A Place in the Sun
3. Suddenly, Last Summer
4. The Taming of the Shrew
5. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Just finished rewatching Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? One of those movies that I find myself thinking about all the time, and on every viewing it still manages to impress me. Taylor is, of course, masterful.
Butterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia is my favorite Elizabeth Taylor movie.
sad shes gone.
but kris, guy, will you pleaseee come back?