Remembering Elizabeth Taylor

By Bryan Cain-Jackson

The face of beauty and glamour in the limelight will be forever changing from generation to generation.  Each and every single one will recognize the quintessential picture of glamour, Elizabeth Taylor; the last star from the glitzy old Hollywood studio system died yesterday of heart failure at the age of 79.

Blogs and articles all over the world will focus on the movie star, as well as her multiple marriages two of which being to Richard Burton.  I would like to talk about Liz the woman and friend.  Was she a friend to me?  Yes, but not in the personal sense.  She was a friend to any movie buff who had the chance to watch her grace the screen with her mass sex appeal, proper and delicate speaking voice, and her ability to captivate with just a simple glance.  There I go, talking about Elizabeth Taylor the movie star.  This is the woman who brought us memorable performances in “Cat on a Tin Roof,” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?”  Liz was so much more than the sum of her beauty and stardom.  Of those who knew her personally, other movie stars and regular folks like us will describe her devotion to her friends as everlasting.

To my knowledge, I cannot ever think of a single word written about Liz that talks about how truly great of a friend she has been to so many people.  Amongst her most memorable acts of friendship to many, Liz helped raise nearly $400 million for research into a cure for AIDS.  It was a passion she held dear in her later years.  She cultivated a number of particularly close friendships with uniquely iconic people known and remembered to the world.  Coincidentally, all of these icons left us much too soon.

Among those friends was James Dean.  Liz and James were very close, she was his confidant and they had an immense understanding of each other.  He trusted her with life details that he would not entrust to anyone else.  Liz repeatedly pleaded with him not to race in the Porsche that he eventually suffered a fatal accident in on September 30, 1955.  He was 24.

 On May 12, 1956, Liz’s best friend movie star Montgomery Clift crashed his car into a telephone pole leaving a party held at her house.  Liz raced to his side and pulled a tooth out of his throat to prevent him from choking to death.  Clift suffered injuries so severe that he would eventually need to have reconstructive plastic surgery.  He was never the same after the surgery; his classic movie star looks were permanently marred.  He turned to alcohol and painkillers; as a result his career was on the rocks.  Liz got him jobs, stood up for him to studio heads and even offered to insure him with her own money when studios would not for liability purposes.  Clift would confide only in Liz until his final day, he died of heart failure in 1966.  He was 46 years old.

Liz’s closest friendship was to pop icon, Michael Jackson.  It was Liz who first introduced the world to a crowning phrase that she herself bestowed upon Michael; the world would later adopt this name for him as well.  Thanks to Liz, Michael Jackson would forever be known as The King of Pop.  Jackson led a turbulent life before the public.  The insecurity he had about himself showed in the seemingly endless cosmetic surgeries he underwent.  The fact that he chose to live his life as a child had him being targeted for multiple claims of child molestation.  It was often said by Michael that Liz was the only person in the whole world who understood him.  She stuck by his side and fought to defend him vigorously against claims that she believed were outrageous and unbelievable.  Though the circumstances surrounding Michael’s death are unclear, it is apparent that he died of a drug overdose in 2009.  He was 50.  Those close to Liz say they believed this event put her in a deep state of depression.

Elizabeth Taylor:  Movie star, friend to all.

She will be remembered by movie goers all over the world; she will be known as the everlasting face of Hollywood at its most glamorous.  To me, this makes perfect sense.