Jerry Curl pays tribute to Elizabeth Taylor
Photo caption: My personal collection of mementos.
[Editor's note] After a couple of days spent in grief-stricken, contemplative thought, I think I’m ready to add my voice to the chorus of praise for Elizabeth Taylor.
It's difficult (and perhaps a little silly) to grieve for someone you never really knew personally. I learned just how difficult when another Elizabeth died. It's even more difficult to justify that grief when the departed spent the majority of my lifetime out of the public spotlight. But nonetheless, it seems as though Elizabeth as been in my life for as long as I’ve had the abilities to think and love.
I don’t remember how or when I first came to know about Elizabeth Taylor. Her existence in my mind’s eye defies chronology. As a kid, her big lavender-colored eyes and impossibly black hair reminded me of a Disney princess. Her beauty was magical. At a department store once, I remember urging my mother to buy White Diamonds just so I could know what she smelled like.
I don’t remember which of her films I watched first. I hate to admit this, but the first was probably The Flintstones. As Pearl Slaghoople, Wilma’s mother, she delivered zingers like, “Oh, you poor, poor dear. You could have married Elliot Firestone, the man who invented the wheel. Instead you picked Fred Flintstone, the man who invented the excuse!” Ironically, this was to be her last major film role.
Choosing a favorite Elizabeth Taylor film is like choosing which Godiva chocolate you like best. What’s the point when they’re all great?! But if pressed, I would first recommend Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Based on the play by Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth plays the sex-starved wife of the equally beautiful Paul Newman. As Maggie the cat, Elizabeth's abilities to be simultaneously powerful and fragile collide and create an unforgettable Southern woman.
It's difficult (and perhaps a little silly) to grieve for someone you never really knew personally. I learned just how difficult when another Elizabeth died. It's even more difficult to justify that grief when the departed spent the majority of my lifetime out of the public spotlight. But nonetheless, it seems as though Elizabeth as been in my life for as long as I’ve had the abilities to think and love.I don’t remember how or when I first came to know about Elizabeth Taylor. Her existence in my mind’s eye defies chronology. As a kid, her big lavender-colored eyes and impossibly black hair reminded me of a Disney princess. Her beauty was magical. At a department store once, I remember urging my mother to buy White Diamonds just so I could know what she smelled like.
As a teenager (thanks to Madonna’s “Vogue”), I went through a Golden Age of Hollywood phase where I schooled myself in all the greats of the silver screen. I made lists of their names, watched their black and white films, and read their biographies. Once, I even made a cut and paste project of all their pictures and had them laminated. At the center of all this demented fandom was Elizabeth Taylor.
I don’t remember which of her films I watched first. I hate to admit this, but the first was probably The Flintstones. As Pearl Slaghoople, Wilma’s mother, she delivered zingers like, “Oh, you poor, poor dear. You could have married Elliot Firestone, the man who invented the wheel. Instead you picked Fred Flintstone, the man who invented the excuse!” Ironically, this was to be her last major film role.
Choosing a favorite Elizabeth Taylor film is like choosing which Godiva chocolate you like best. What’s the point when they’re all great?! But if pressed, I would first recommend Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Based on the play by Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth plays the sex-starved wife of the equally beautiful Paul Newman. As Maggie the cat, Elizabeth's abilities to be simultaneously powerful and fragile collide and create an unforgettable Southern woman.
In another Southern-based Tennessee Williams film, Suddenly, Last Summer brings together two powerhouse actresses: Elizabeth and Katharine Hepburn (pictured above). The film tells the story of Catherine Holly (Elizabeth), a young woman whose cousin's death on a trip to Europe under sordid circumstances results in an emotional disturbance so severe she is institutionalized. Her cousin's wealthy mother, Violet Venable (Hepburn), makes every effort to deny the truth about the death of her son (the truth being that he was gay). She attempts to bribe the State hospital's chief surgeon (played by Montgomery Clift) into lobotomizing her niece and thereby removing the reminder of her son's death. Can you say epic? You can't until you see it.
And finally, I recommend-- nay I insist-- you watch Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? In this film adaptation of an Edward Albee play, the infamous volatility between Elizabeth and Richard Burton comes to a full boiling bubble. As George and Martha, Burton and Taylor present a couple whose charged relationship is defined as much by vitriolic verbal battles as it is by the emotional dependence they have for each other. Rightfully so, this film earned Elizabeth her second Academy Award.
Legendary films aside, Elizabeth was also a tireless crusader against AIDS. Established at the height of the AIDS epidemic, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) has provided funding to AIDS service organizations throughout the world to assist those living with HIV and AIDS. Since its inception in 1993, the Foundation has provided critically needed support services and prevention education.
In closing, I realize how being gay and loving Elizabeth Taylor is practically a stereotype. But truthfully, it's a stereotype I can't escape. We
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