Diana reporting from TCM Film Festival's Opening Night Red Carpet. The classic stars came out and Anne Marie and I talked to them.
Oscar winner Shirley Jones with her husband and the Oklahoma! premiere. [Photo: David Buchan/Getty Images]
4 P.M. Hollywood Blvd.
The red carpet is rolled out in front of Grauman’s, but crewmembers are still finagling with the Oklahoma! stop-and-turns as the press begins to descend on the barricades. Within a few moments, we chosen not-so-few (journalists, cameramen, bloggers) swarm to our allocated spaces along the carpet, with The Film Experience smack dab in front of the Grauman’s entrance. Tip sheet in hand and audio recorder on standby, we stand and wait.
5 P.M. The Red Carpet Opens
We are told that Shirley Jones has arrived. In the distance and with some squinting, you can see the Oklahoma! songbird looking bubbly yet elegant in a dark pantsuit with Marty Ingels, her...
Oscar winner Shirley Jones with her husband and the Oklahoma! premiere. [Photo: David Buchan/Getty Images]
4 P.M. Hollywood Blvd.
The red carpet is rolled out in front of Grauman’s, but crewmembers are still finagling with the Oklahoma! stop-and-turns as the press begins to descend on the barricades. Within a few moments, we chosen not-so-few (journalists, cameramen, bloggers) swarm to our allocated spaces along the carpet, with The Film Experience smack dab in front of the Grauman’s entrance. Tip sheet in hand and audio recorder on standby, we stand and wait.
5 P.M. The Red Carpet Opens
We are told that Shirley Jones has arrived. In the distance and with some squinting, you can see the Oklahoma! songbird looking bubbly yet elegant in a dark pantsuit with Marty Ingels, her...
- 4/12/2014
- by Diana D Drumm
- FilmExperience
Nova tries to explain Hurricane Sandy with "Inside the Megastorm"
News
Starting tomorrow, you can catch up on the entirety of Suits either at USA's website or via OnDemand. I guess I should try to figure out where this business with the can opener began.
Turner Classic Movies will soon have a showcase for some of Johnny Carson's classic celebrity interviews.
TV Guide asks if The X-Factor's mentors are hurting competitors more than they're helping. Inappropriate costumes, bad song choices and unenthusiastic advice are listed as ways the mentors have turned into an obstacle contestants need to overcome.
Brian Dennehy will appear in the final season of The Big C as Cathy's father. Considering how Cathy has had cancer for three seasons and we're only now meeting him, I expect he'll be as awful as the rest of the Jamison clan has turned out to be.
EW reports that...
News
Starting tomorrow, you can catch up on the entirety of Suits either at USA's website or via OnDemand. I guess I should try to figure out where this business with the can opener began.
Turner Classic Movies will soon have a showcase for some of Johnny Carson's classic celebrity interviews.
TV Guide asks if The X-Factor's mentors are hurting competitors more than they're helping. Inappropriate costumes, bad song choices and unenthusiastic advice are listed as ways the mentors have turned into an obstacle contestants need to overcome.
Brian Dennehy will appear in the final season of The Big C as Cathy's father. Considering how Cathy has had cancer for three seasons and we're only now meeting him, I expect he'll be as awful as the rest of the Jamison clan has turned out to be.
EW reports that...
- 11/21/2012
- by LyleMasaki
- The Backlot
One year after Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor died at age 79 of congestive heart failure, her legacy is still going strong. Pinpointing the biggest roles in Taylor's storied movie career is a daunting task. She began appearing onscreen as a young girl, with her first credit being 1942's There's One Born Every Minute. Photos: Elizabeth Taylor's Life in Pictures Some of Taylor's credits included 1949's Little Women, 1950's Father of the Bride, 1951's A Place in the Sun, 1958's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1959's Suddenly, Last Summer, 1960's Scent of Mystery and 1967's The Taming of the Shrew.
read more...
read more...
- 3/24/2012
- by THR Staff
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If you’ve seen Gwyneth Paltrow’s brain dissected in Contagion, you know that Steven Soderbergh is willing to portray stars in a less than glamorous light. But in an interview with The Independent, the Oscar-winning director of Traffic and Haywire practically exuded blood lust for A-listers. Don’t worry, though: It’s all in the name of art!
“It’s always good to kill movie stars,” Soderbergh told the British newspaper. “I think that the two most important things that have happened to that aspect of movies in the last 50 years are Hitchcock killing off Janet Leigh in a...
“It’s always good to kill movie stars,” Soderbergh told the British newspaper. “I think that the two most important things that have happened to that aspect of movies in the last 50 years are Hitchcock killing off Janet Leigh in a...
- 1/8/2012
- by Christian Blauvelt
- EW.com - PopWatch
With Mother’s Day coming on Sunday (for our U.S. readers), we wanted to celebrate movies that mothers love, but not just our idea of what they love. That’s right, the staff of Disc Dish gave their mothers a job to celebrate the holiday where their kids are supposed to do all the work! We asked our moms what their favorite films are — and the results were fun, varied and even a bit provocative! See for yourself below.
And if you’re a mom, we want to know yours’ too. Tell us what your favorite movies are and why.
Today, as on every day, we thank our mothers for their enthusiasm, encouragement and awesome taste in movies!
Selma Chopinsky, mother of Irv Slifkin
Goldfinger (1964)
The third James Bond adventure is the one many claim is the best. It certainly has all the 007 elements going for it, from memorable...
And if you’re a mom, we want to know yours’ too. Tell us what your favorite movies are and why.
Today, as on every day, we thank our mothers for their enthusiasm, encouragement and awesome taste in movies!
Selma Chopinsky, mother of Irv Slifkin
Goldfinger (1964)
The third James Bond adventure is the one many claim is the best. It certainly has all the 007 elements going for it, from memorable...
- 5/5/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Philip French remembers the child star turned Oscar-winning actress, who was as celebrated as much for her tempestuous relationships as her movies
For people like myself, born in Britain in the inter-war years and growing up during the second world war, Elizabeth Taylor will always be thought of as the youngest of four British evacuees who brought their immaculate English accents to Hollywood and became an essential part of a corner of Tinseltown that was forever England. She and Peter Lawford were transported across the Atlantic by their parents as war clouds gathered over Europe and were put under contract by MGM in the early 1940s. Roddy McDowall followed when bombs began to fall on Britain, as did Angela Lansbury who was also signed by MGM. McDowall was the first to attain stardom, playing the Welsh miner's son in How Green Was My Valley and then appearing in MGM's children's classic,...
For people like myself, born in Britain in the inter-war years and growing up during the second world war, Elizabeth Taylor will always be thought of as the youngest of four British evacuees who brought their immaculate English accents to Hollywood and became an essential part of a corner of Tinseltown that was forever England. She and Peter Lawford were transported across the Atlantic by their parents as war clouds gathered over Europe and were put under contract by MGM in the early 1940s. Roddy McDowall followed when bombs began to fall on Britain, as did Angela Lansbury who was also signed by MGM. McDowall was the first to attain stardom, playing the Welsh miner's son in How Green Was My Valley and then appearing in MGM's children's classic,...
- 3/27/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
The life and times of Elizabeth Taylor, who will be remembered for her imperious beauty and many marriages
I had my first and final glimpse of the late Elizabeth Taylor suddenly last summer at the concert given by Julie Andrews at London's O2 centre. I was standing with a knot of other journalists by a lift, 10 minutes before the show was due to start, when the doors opened and she emerged in a wheelchair, accompanied by a nurse and a Pa. For a moment, she was at rest in the middle of us, uncertain of where she was supposed to go. Taylor had been a wheelchair user for many years, the result of accumulating infirmities and spinal disorders which had their origin in her fall from a horse during the filming of National Velvet in 1944 when she was 12 years old.
After a microsecond, we leaned away in a kind of physical shock at the recognition,...
I had my first and final glimpse of the late Elizabeth Taylor suddenly last summer at the concert given by Julie Andrews at London's O2 centre. I was standing with a knot of other journalists by a lift, 10 minutes before the show was due to start, when the doors opened and she emerged in a wheelchair, accompanied by a nurse and a Pa. For a moment, she was at rest in the middle of us, uncertain of where she was supposed to go. Taylor had been a wheelchair user for many years, the result of accumulating infirmities and spinal disorders which had their origin in her fall from a horse during the filming of National Velvet in 1944 when she was 12 years old.
After a microsecond, we leaned away in a kind of physical shock at the recognition,...
- 3/24/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Actress Elizabeth Taylor was one of the most respected and most recognized names to grace the Silver Screen. Lately she's been in the news often as her rapidly declining health became apparent to the public eye, and early Wednesday morning the iconic actress passed away at the age of 79. Taylor's cause of death was congestive heart failure, which she was first diagnosed with in 2004, and she was surrounded by her family at the time of her passing.
She started out young in the business, nabbing her first role at ten years of age in 1942's There's One Born Every Minute, and made her first big wave in 1944's National Velvet. She went on to appearances in Little Women (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Giant (1956), and her first three Oscar nominations in Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).
After these many great films, Taylor moved into...
She started out young in the business, nabbing her first role at ten years of age in 1942's There's One Born Every Minute, and made her first big wave in 1944's National Velvet. She went on to appearances in Little Women (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Giant (1956), and her first three Oscar nominations in Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).
After these many great films, Taylor moved into...
- 3/23/2011
- by The Movie God
- Geeks of Doom
Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, one of the greatest beauties to ever grace the big screen, and one of the most benevolent, died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles Wednesday. She turned 79 on Feb. 27th while in the hospital.
Her son, Michael Wilding, released this statement: "My Mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor, and love. Though her loss is devastating to those of us who held...
Her son, Michael Wilding, released this statement: "My Mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor, and love. Though her loss is devastating to those of us who held...
- 3/23/2011
- Extra
Elizabeth Taylor, the Hollywood legend who was as famous for her long movie career as she was for her notorious eight trips down the aisle, passed away this morning in Los Angeles at age 79. The late actress made headlines over the years for her health scares, humanitarian work and, of course, her marriages but for most of us it was her time on screen that will be her real legacy.
Just nine years old when she first appeared on film, in There's One Born Every Minute, it was her role in National Velvet at age 12 that made her a movie star. Unlike many child stars of the past, Taylor managed a fairly smooth transition from youthful parts to more mature roles, thanks in part to key supporting roles in films like Little Women and Father of the Bride. By the time Taylor hit her twenties, she was starring opposite some...
Just nine years old when she first appeared on film, in There's One Born Every Minute, it was her role in National Velvet at age 12 that made her a movie star. Unlike many child stars of the past, Taylor managed a fairly smooth transition from youthful parts to more mature roles, thanks in part to key supporting roles in films like Little Women and Father of the Bride. By the time Taylor hit her twenties, she was starring opposite some...
- 3/23/2011
- by Andrea Miller and Emma Badame
- Cineplex
A Hollywood legend has passed away. Actress Elizabeth Taylor, who made her fame with glamour roles in classic movies, charity work and failed romances, died today at the age of 79. She passed away at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of a congestive heart failure. Her publicist Sally Morrison said she was in the hospital for the past six weeks and was surrounded by her four children. “My mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor and love,” said Michael Wilding, her son in a statement. “We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it. Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will forever in our hearts.” Taylor was a winner of two Academy Awards, including Best Actress for 1967’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and Best Actress for 1961’s “Butterfield 8.
- 3/23/2011
- LRMonline.com
It is very sad to announce the death of one of Hollywood’s greatest screen actresses. Elizabeth Taylor has died aged seventy-nine from heart failure.
The British-born star died at Cedar-Sanai hospital in Los Angeles, California. Her son Michael, in a press statement released shortly afterwards, described his mother as:
“… an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest. We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it. Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will live forever in our hearts.”
Elizabeth Taylor emerged at the tail end of the old Hollywood studio system and starred in plenty of iconic roles including Cleopatra, a production where she met future husband Richard Burton They shared superb on-screen chemistry despite a tempestuous real-life relationship.
Taylor was born in 1932 in London and made her name in MGM...
The British-born star died at Cedar-Sanai hospital in Los Angeles, California. Her son Michael, in a press statement released shortly afterwards, described his mother as:
“… an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest. We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it. Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will live forever in our hearts.”
Elizabeth Taylor emerged at the tail end of the old Hollywood studio system and starred in plenty of iconic roles including Cleopatra, a production where she met future husband Richard Burton They shared superb on-screen chemistry despite a tempestuous real-life relationship.
Taylor was born in 1932 in London and made her name in MGM...
- 3/23/2011
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Elizabeth Taylor passed away Wednesday (March 23) at the age of 79 of congestive heart failure. Hollywood and fans everywhere mourn. Let's take a look at some of her most famous roles.
One of our favorite Taylor roles (and an all around great movie) is Maggie the Cat in the screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams' drama "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" opposite the great Paul Newman. Taylor received her second Oscar nomination for the piece.
Taylor won an Oscar in 1960 for "Butterfield 8," in which she played Gloria Wandrous, a prostitute/model in New York opposite then-husband Eddie Fisher. It was her fourth Oscar nomination and first win.
Our very favorite Liz Taylor role was in the film adaptation of the Edward Albee play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She starred in it with her then-husband Richard Burton and both are alarmingly, terrifyingly good as Martha and George in this dark piece.
One of our favorite Taylor roles (and an all around great movie) is Maggie the Cat in the screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams' drama "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" opposite the great Paul Newman. Taylor received her second Oscar nomination for the piece.
Taylor won an Oscar in 1960 for "Butterfield 8," in which she played Gloria Wandrous, a prostitute/model in New York opposite then-husband Eddie Fisher. It was her fourth Oscar nomination and first win.
Our very favorite Liz Taylor role was in the film adaptation of the Edward Albee play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She starred in it with her then-husband Richard Burton and both are alarmingly, terrifyingly good as Martha and George in this dark piece.
- 3/23/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Elizabeth Taylor, one of the last great screen legends and winner of two Academy Awards, died Wednesday morning in Los Angeles of complications from congestive heart failure; she was 79. The actress had been hospitalized for the past few weeks, celebrating her birthday on February 27th (the same day as this year's Academy Awards) while at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with friends and family. Her four children, two sons and two daughters, were by her side as she passed.
A striking brunette beauty with violet eyes who embodied both innocence and seductiveness, and was known for her flamboyant private life and numerous marriages as well as her acting career, Taylor was the epitome of Hollywood glamour, and was one of the last legendary stars who could still command headlines and standing ovations in her later years. Born to American parents in England in 1932, Taylor's family decamped to Los Angeles as World War II escalated in the late 1930s. Even as a child, her amazing good looks -- her eyes were amplified by a double set of eyelashes, a mutation she was born with -- garnered the attention of family friends in Hollywood, and she undertook a screen test at 10 years old with Universal Studios. She appeared in only one film for the studio (There's One Born Every Minute) before they dropped her; Taylor was quickly picked up by MGM, the studio that would make her a young star.
Her second film was Lassie Come Home (1943), co-starring Roddy McDowall, who would become a lifelong friend. She assayed a few other roles (including a noteworthy cameo in 1943's Jane Eyre) but campaigned for the part that would make her a bona fide child star: the young Velvet Brown, who trained a champion racehorse to win the Grand National, in National Velvet. The box office smash launched Taylor's career, and MGM immediately put her to work in a number of juvenile roles, most notably in Life With Father (1947) and as Amy in 1949's Little Women. As she blossomed into a young woman, she began to outgrow the roles she was assigned, often playing women far older than her actual age. She scored another hit alongside Spencer Tracy as the young daughter preparing for marriage in Father of the Bride (1950), but her career officially entered adulthood with George Stevens' A Place in the Sun (1951), as a seductive rich girl who bedazzles Montgomery Clift to the degree that he kills his pregnant girlfriend (Shelley Winters). The film was hailed as an instant classic, and Taylor's performance, still considered one of her best, launched the next part of her career.
Frustrated by MGM's insistence at putting her in period pieces (some were hits notwithstanding, including 1952's Ivanhoe), Taylor looked to expand her career, and took on the lead role in Elephant Walk (1954) when Vivian Leigh dropped out after suffering a nervous breakdown. As her career climbed in the 1950s, so did Taylor's celebrity: she married hotel heir Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr. in 1950, and divorced him within a year. She then married British actor Michael Wilding in 1952, with whom she had two sons, though that marriage ended in divorce in 1957, after she embarked on an affair with the man who would be her next husband, producer Michael Todd (who won an Oscar for Around the World in 80 Days). As her personal life made headlines, she appeared alongside James Dean and Rock Hudson in Giant (1956), and received her first Academy Award nomination for Raintree County in 1957. Roles in two Tennessee Williams adaptations followed -- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly Last Summer (1959), both considered two of her best performances -- earning her two more Oscar nominations, just as tragedy and notoriety would strike her life.
Todd, whom she married in 1957 and had a daughter with, died in a plane crash in 1958 in New Mexico, leaving a bereft Taylor alone at the height of her stardom. Adored by millions, she went from lovely widow to heartless home-wrecker in the tabloids after starting an affair with Eddie Fisher, Todd's best friend and at the time husband of screen darling Debbie Reynolds. The relationship was splashed across newspapers as Fisher left Reynolds and their two children (including a young Carrie Fisher) for Taylor. The two appeared together in 1960's Butterfield 8, where Taylor played prostitute Gloria Wandrous in a performance that was considered good but nowhere near her previous films, and earned her another Oscar nomination. As the Academy Awards ceremony approached, Taylor was thrust into the headlines again when a life-threatening case of pneumonia required an emergency tracheotomy, leaving her with a legendary scar on her neck. Popular opinion swung yet again as newspapers and fans feared for her life, and the illness was credited with helping her win her first Oscar for Butterfield 8.
Taylor was now the biggest female star in the world, in terms of film and popularity, and her notoriety was only about to increase. Twentieth Century Fox, making a small biopic about the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, tried to offer Taylor the part; she laughed them off, saying she would do it for $1 million, a then-unheard of sum for an actress. The studio took her seriously, and soon she was signed to a million-dollar contract (the first for an actress) and a movie that would soon balloon out of control as filming started. Initially set to film in England with Peter Finch and Rex Harrison as Marc Antony and Julius Caesar, the movie encountered numerous problems and after a first shutdown was moved to Italy, with director Joseph L. Manckiewicz at the helm. Finch left and was replaced by acclaimed stage actor and rising movie star Richard Burton.
The rest was cinematic and tabloid history, as Taylor and Burton, whose electric chemistry was apparent to all on set, embarked on quite possibly the most famous Hollywood affair ever, while the filming of the epic movie took on gargantuan proportions and its budget increased exponentially. After the dust settled, Fox was saddled with a three-hour-plus film that, despite starring the two actors whose every move was hounded by photographers and reporters, was considered a bomb. The 1963 film almost sunk the studio (which only rebounded thanks to the megahit The Sound of Music two years later), while Burton and Taylor emerged from the wreckage relatively unscathed and ultimately married in 1964.
However, despite carte blanche to do whatever they wanted, the newly married couple made two marginally successful films, The V.I.P.s (1963) and The Sandpiper (1965), both glossy soap operas that made money but hardly challenged their talents. That opportunity would come with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), the adaptation of the Edward Albee play directed by first-time filmmaker Mike Nichols. As the beleaguered professor George and his shrewish wife Martha, whose mind games played havoc one fateful night with a younger faculty couple (George Segal and Sandy Dennis), the two gave perhaps their best screen performances ever, tearing into the roles -- and each other -- with a gusto never seen in their previous pairings. They both received Oscar nominations, but only Taylor won, her second and final Academy Award.
A successful adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew (1967) followed, but the couple's next films were a string of notorious bombs, including Doctor Faustus, The Comedians, and the so-bad-it's-good Boom. Though still one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Taylor's cinematic output in the 1970s became somewhat dismal, as her fraying marriage with Burton took center stage in the press, as did her weight gain after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The couple divorced in June 1974, only to remarry briefly in October 1975; by then, Taylor was more celebrity than movie star, still appearing occasionally onscreen and in television, but to less acclaim.
Taylor married U.S. Senator John Warner at the end of 1976, and during the late 1970s and 1980s played the politician's wife, and her unsatisfying life led her to depression, drinking, overeating and ultimately a visit to the Betty Ford Center. After TV and stage appearances during the 1980s (including a reunion in 1983 with Burton for a production of Private Lives), Taylor found another, surprising role, that of social activist as longtime friend Rock Hudson died of complications from AIDS in 1985. She threw herself into fund-raising work, raising by some accounts $50 million to fight the disease, helping found the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR).
Though later generations only saw Taylor on television in films like Malice in Wonderland, and the mini-series North and South, and in her final screen appearance as the mother of Wilma in the live-action movie adaptation of The Flintstones, she remained a tabloid fixture through her marriage to construction worker Larry Fortensky (her eighth and final husband), her friendship with singer Michael Jackson, and her continual charity work, which was only sidelined by hospital visits after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004. She is survived by four children -- two sons with Michael Wilding, a daughter with Michael Todd, and another daughter adopted with Richard Burton -- and nine grandchildren.
--Mark Englehart...
A striking brunette beauty with violet eyes who embodied both innocence and seductiveness, and was known for her flamboyant private life and numerous marriages as well as her acting career, Taylor was the epitome of Hollywood glamour, and was one of the last legendary stars who could still command headlines and standing ovations in her later years. Born to American parents in England in 1932, Taylor's family decamped to Los Angeles as World War II escalated in the late 1930s. Even as a child, her amazing good looks -- her eyes were amplified by a double set of eyelashes, a mutation she was born with -- garnered the attention of family friends in Hollywood, and she undertook a screen test at 10 years old with Universal Studios. She appeared in only one film for the studio (There's One Born Every Minute) before they dropped her; Taylor was quickly picked up by MGM, the studio that would make her a young star.
Her second film was Lassie Come Home (1943), co-starring Roddy McDowall, who would become a lifelong friend. She assayed a few other roles (including a noteworthy cameo in 1943's Jane Eyre) but campaigned for the part that would make her a bona fide child star: the young Velvet Brown, who trained a champion racehorse to win the Grand National, in National Velvet. The box office smash launched Taylor's career, and MGM immediately put her to work in a number of juvenile roles, most notably in Life With Father (1947) and as Amy in 1949's Little Women. As she blossomed into a young woman, she began to outgrow the roles she was assigned, often playing women far older than her actual age. She scored another hit alongside Spencer Tracy as the young daughter preparing for marriage in Father of the Bride (1950), but her career officially entered adulthood with George Stevens' A Place in the Sun (1951), as a seductive rich girl who bedazzles Montgomery Clift to the degree that he kills his pregnant girlfriend (Shelley Winters). The film was hailed as an instant classic, and Taylor's performance, still considered one of her best, launched the next part of her career.
Frustrated by MGM's insistence at putting her in period pieces (some were hits notwithstanding, including 1952's Ivanhoe), Taylor looked to expand her career, and took on the lead role in Elephant Walk (1954) when Vivian Leigh dropped out after suffering a nervous breakdown. As her career climbed in the 1950s, so did Taylor's celebrity: she married hotel heir Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr. in 1950, and divorced him within a year. She then married British actor Michael Wilding in 1952, with whom she had two sons, though that marriage ended in divorce in 1957, after she embarked on an affair with the man who would be her next husband, producer Michael Todd (who won an Oscar for Around the World in 80 Days). As her personal life made headlines, she appeared alongside James Dean and Rock Hudson in Giant (1956), and received her first Academy Award nomination for Raintree County in 1957. Roles in two Tennessee Williams adaptations followed -- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly Last Summer (1959), both considered two of her best performances -- earning her two more Oscar nominations, just as tragedy and notoriety would strike her life.
Todd, whom she married in 1957 and had a daughter with, died in a plane crash in 1958 in New Mexico, leaving a bereft Taylor alone at the height of her stardom. Adored by millions, she went from lovely widow to heartless home-wrecker in the tabloids after starting an affair with Eddie Fisher, Todd's best friend and at the time husband of screen darling Debbie Reynolds. The relationship was splashed across newspapers as Fisher left Reynolds and their two children (including a young Carrie Fisher) for Taylor. The two appeared together in 1960's Butterfield 8, where Taylor played prostitute Gloria Wandrous in a performance that was considered good but nowhere near her previous films, and earned her another Oscar nomination. As the Academy Awards ceremony approached, Taylor was thrust into the headlines again when a life-threatening case of pneumonia required an emergency tracheotomy, leaving her with a legendary scar on her neck. Popular opinion swung yet again as newspapers and fans feared for her life, and the illness was credited with helping her win her first Oscar for Butterfield 8.
Taylor was now the biggest female star in the world, in terms of film and popularity, and her notoriety was only about to increase. Twentieth Century Fox, making a small biopic about the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, tried to offer Taylor the part; she laughed them off, saying she would do it for $1 million, a then-unheard of sum for an actress. The studio took her seriously, and soon she was signed to a million-dollar contract (the first for an actress) and a movie that would soon balloon out of control as filming started. Initially set to film in England with Peter Finch and Rex Harrison as Marc Antony and Julius Caesar, the movie encountered numerous problems and after a first shutdown was moved to Italy, with director Joseph L. Manckiewicz at the helm. Finch left and was replaced by acclaimed stage actor and rising movie star Richard Burton.
The rest was cinematic and tabloid history, as Taylor and Burton, whose electric chemistry was apparent to all on set, embarked on quite possibly the most famous Hollywood affair ever, while the filming of the epic movie took on gargantuan proportions and its budget increased exponentially. After the dust settled, Fox was saddled with a three-hour-plus film that, despite starring the two actors whose every move was hounded by photographers and reporters, was considered a bomb. The 1963 film almost sunk the studio (which only rebounded thanks to the megahit The Sound of Music two years later), while Burton and Taylor emerged from the wreckage relatively unscathed and ultimately married in 1964.
However, despite carte blanche to do whatever they wanted, the newly married couple made two marginally successful films, The V.I.P.s (1963) and The Sandpiper (1965), both glossy soap operas that made money but hardly challenged their talents. That opportunity would come with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), the adaptation of the Edward Albee play directed by first-time filmmaker Mike Nichols. As the beleaguered professor George and his shrewish wife Martha, whose mind games played havoc one fateful night with a younger faculty couple (George Segal and Sandy Dennis), the two gave perhaps their best screen performances ever, tearing into the roles -- and each other -- with a gusto never seen in their previous pairings. They both received Oscar nominations, but only Taylor won, her second and final Academy Award.
A successful adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew (1967) followed, but the couple's next films were a string of notorious bombs, including Doctor Faustus, The Comedians, and the so-bad-it's-good Boom. Though still one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Taylor's cinematic output in the 1970s became somewhat dismal, as her fraying marriage with Burton took center stage in the press, as did her weight gain after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The couple divorced in June 1974, only to remarry briefly in October 1975; by then, Taylor was more celebrity than movie star, still appearing occasionally onscreen and in television, but to less acclaim.
Taylor married U.S. Senator John Warner at the end of 1976, and during the late 1970s and 1980s played the politician's wife, and her unsatisfying life led her to depression, drinking, overeating and ultimately a visit to the Betty Ford Center. After TV and stage appearances during the 1980s (including a reunion in 1983 with Burton for a production of Private Lives), Taylor found another, surprising role, that of social activist as longtime friend Rock Hudson died of complications from AIDS in 1985. She threw herself into fund-raising work, raising by some accounts $50 million to fight the disease, helping found the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR).
Though later generations only saw Taylor on television in films like Malice in Wonderland, and the mini-series North and South, and in her final screen appearance as the mother of Wilma in the live-action movie adaptation of The Flintstones, she remained a tabloid fixture through her marriage to construction worker Larry Fortensky (her eighth and final husband), her friendship with singer Michael Jackson, and her continual charity work, which was only sidelined by hospital visits after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004. She is survived by four children -- two sons with Michael Wilding, a daughter with Michael Todd, and another daughter adopted with Richard Burton -- and nine grandchildren.
--Mark Englehart...
- 3/23/2011
- IMDb News
Legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor passed away early Wednesday morning, surrounded by her four children, ABC confirms. Rumors of Liz Taylor's failing health have increased over the last few weeks, so while her death of congestive heart failure may not come as a surprise, it is certainly a tragedy.
Taylor, born February 27, 1932, appeared in her first film at the age of nine after her beauty intrigued the chairman of Universal Pictures in Hollywood. Taylor was well known for her glamorous eyes -- a genetic mutation caused her to have two rows of eyelashes, which combined with her nearly violet irises gave her a striking appearance on and off camera.
She shot to fame at age 12 as Velvet Brown in MGM's "National Velvet." After appearing as Amy in 1949's "Little Women," Taylor began to transition into more adult roles, like the original "Father of the Bride" alongside Spencer Tracy.
Perhaps her...
Taylor, born February 27, 1932, appeared in her first film at the age of nine after her beauty intrigued the chairman of Universal Pictures in Hollywood. Taylor was well known for her glamorous eyes -- a genetic mutation caused her to have two rows of eyelashes, which combined with her nearly violet irises gave her a striking appearance on and off camera.
She shot to fame at age 12 as Velvet Brown in MGM's "National Velvet." After appearing as Amy in 1949's "Little Women," Taylor began to transition into more adult roles, like the original "Father of the Bride" alongside Spencer Tracy.
Perhaps her...
- 3/23/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Elizabeth Taylor, the iconic Hollywood star whose tumultuous romances and precarious health challenges often played out as larger-than-life Elizabethan dramas, died of congestive heart failure at Los Angeles's Cedars-Sinai Hospital. She may have been 79, but with more than 65 years of screen time preserved for all time, she will remain a glorious, glamorous and full-blooded image. Revered for her generous charity work but sometimes controversial for her turbulent personal life, the three-time Oscar honoree, fragrance and jewelry mogul and tenacious AIDS activist possessed many talents, including a remarkable gift for self-appraisal. Just before turning 60 in 1992, she summed herself up for Life magazine,...
- 3/23/2011
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Very sad news is breaking – Dame Elizabeth Taylor has died in Los Angeles at the age of 79.
As is so often the case now Twitter broke the news to many, with confirmation following from ABC, CNN and the BBC that the Hollywood icon had passed away following complications during treatment for congestive heart failure.
She began her acting career at ten and was soon picked up by MGM, where two years after her screen debut she became a sensation with her role in National Velvet, a film which ensured her star status for years to come. It is a testament to her talent and her strength that her off-screen affairs never once threatened to overshadow her work in film, and her place in the Hollywood hall of fame is assured.
Each of us will have our favourite of her screen roles, Cleopatra in particular is a fierce performance which retains...
As is so often the case now Twitter broke the news to many, with confirmation following from ABC, CNN and the BBC that the Hollywood icon had passed away following complications during treatment for congestive heart failure.
She began her acting career at ten and was soon picked up by MGM, where two years after her screen debut she became a sensation with her role in National Velvet, a film which ensured her star status for years to come. It is a testament to her talent and her strength that her off-screen affairs never once threatened to overshadow her work in film, and her place in the Hollywood hall of fame is assured.
Each of us will have our favourite of her screen roles, Cleopatra in particular is a fierce performance which retains...
- 3/23/2011
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Good afternoon my flaky scones and clotted creams (blech to that one). British magazine "Time Out" amassed a panel of 150 film industry experts who voted on "The 100 Best British Films." I tell you what, even a hoity-toity anglophilic film snob like me hasn't seen half of the films on this list, and I've only seen two out of the top ten. But a) the inclusion of #15 makes me very happy, indeed and b) I watched the Death At A Funeral remake last night, so I may be losing my hoity-toity edge. (Time Out)
Check out this interview where Matt Lauer questions Michelle Obama on the advisability of raising children in the White House. Matt, buddy, they served homebrew at their Superbowl party made of honey from Michelle's garden. The White House is the Best house. (Double Ex)
Here's a recap of some of the mind-boggling costs associated with last weekend's Super Bowl.
Check out this interview where Matt Lauer questions Michelle Obama on the advisability of raising children in the White House. Matt, buddy, they served homebrew at their Superbowl party made of honey from Michelle's garden. The White House is the Best house. (Double Ex)
Here's a recap of some of the mind-boggling costs associated with last weekend's Super Bowl.
- 2/9/2011
- by Joanna Robinson
Little Women and The Three Musketeers star Richard Stapley has died at a Palm Springs, California hospital. He was 86.
The British-born actor found success in Hollywood in a string of films in the 1940s and 1950s and became a TV star in his native England, under the name Richard Wyler.
One of his most famous TV roles was the lead in Man From Interpol.
Stapley also made his mark as a novelist when Naked Legacy was published in 2004.
The British-born actor found success in Hollywood in a string of films in the 1940s and 1950s and became a TV star in his native England, under the name Richard Wyler.
One of his most famous TV roles was the lead in Man From Interpol.
Stapley also made his mark as a novelist when Naked Legacy was published in 2004.
- 3/7/2010
- WENN
June Allyson, the perenially perky actress who played wife, girlfriend and girl-next-door to a long line of leading men in the 40s and 50s, died Saturday at her home in Ojai, California; she was 88. The actress died of pulmonary respiratory failure and acute bronchitis complicated by a long illness, with her husband of 30 years, David Ashrow, at her side. Born Eleanor Geisman in the Bronx, the actress grew up in near-poverty, raised by her divorced mother. After a serious injury at age eight, she spent years confinded in a steel brace, and began both swimming and dancing lessons to increase her mobility. The dancing paid off: in 1938, at age 21, she was cast in the Broadway production Sing Out the News. A prominent role in George Abbott's Best Foot Forward brought her to the attention of Hollywood, and she was later cast by MGM in the 1943 film version, and signed to a contract by the studio. With her raspy voice, sunny disposition and wholesome good looks, she stood apart from other more glamorous actresses yet endeared herself to both women, who identified with her, and men, who saw her as the "perfect wife." Her appeal was epitomized in such films as Little Women, where she played the tomboyish Jo opposite Peter Lawford, and baseball drama The Stratton Story, her first film with James Stewart. Offscreen, Allyson caused concern from her studio bosses when she married Dick Powell, her occasional co-star; the actor had been married twice before and was 13 years her senior, and by most reports their marriage was often tumultuous. In the 50s, Allyson most often played the steadfast wife, most famously opposite previous co-star Stewart in The Glenn Miller Story and Strategic Air Command. Other films during the decade included Executive Suite (with William Holden), The Opposite Sex, The Shrike (a rare unsympathetic role), Interlude, and a remake of My Man Godfrey alongside David Niven. As husband Powell's health began to decline (he died in 1963), Allyson began her retirement from films, and through the 60s worked mainly in television, including her own show, The Dupont Show with June Allyson. Her later career consisted mainly of TV movies and guest star appearances on shows ranging from The Love Boat to The Incredible Hulk, and she underwent another turbulent marriage, to Glenn Maxwell, her former husband's barber. In 1976, she married current husband Ashrow, with whom she traveled extensively. To most recent generations, Allyson was known as the upbeat spokeswoman for Depends undergarments, a role she undertook with aplomb as she helped pioneer research for urological and gynecological diseases in senior citizens. Allyson is survived by her husband and two children, daughter Pamela and son Richard, from her marriage to Powell. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff...
- 7/11/2006
- WENN
June Allyson, the perenially perky actress who played wife, girlfriend and girl-next-door to a long line of leading men in the 40s and 50s, died Saturday at her home in Ojai, California; she was 88. The actress died of pulmonary respiratory failure and acute bronchitis complicated by a long illness, with her husband of 30 years, David Ashrow, at her side. Born Eleanor Geisman in the Bronx, the actress grew up in near-poverty, raised by her divorced mother. After a serious injury at age eight, she spent years confinded in a steel brace, and began both swimming and dancing lessons to increase her mobility. The dancing paid off: in 1938, at age 21, she was cast in the Broadway production Sing Out the News. A prominent role in George Abbott's Best Foot Forward brought her to the attention of Hollywood, and she was later cast by MGM in the 1943 film version, and signed to a contract by the studio. With her raspy voice, sunny disposition and wholesome good looks, she stood apart from other more glamorous actresses yet endeared herself to both women, who identified with her, and men, who saw her as the "perfect wife." Her appeal was epitomized in such films as Little Women (1949), where she played the tomboyish Jo opposite Peter Lawford, and baseball drama The Stratton Story, her first film with James Stewart. Offscreen, Allyson caused concern from her studio bosses when she married Dick Powell, her occasional co-star; the actor had been married twice before and was 13 years her senior, and by most reports their marriage was often tumultuous. In the 50s, Allyson most often played the steadfast wife, most famously opposite previous co-star Stewart in The Glenn Miller Story and Strategic Air Command. Other films during the decade included Executive Suite (with William Holden), The Opposite Sex, The Shrike (a rare unsympathetic role), Interlude, and a remake of My Man Godfrey alongside David Niven. As husband Powell's health began to decline (he died in 1963), Allyson began her retirement from films, and through the 60s worked mainly in television, including her own show, The Dupont Show with June Allyson. Her later career consisted mainly of TV movies and guest star appearances on shows ranging from The Love Boat to The Incredible Hulk, and she underwent another turbulent marriage, to Glenn Maxwell, her former husband's barber. In 1976, she married current husband Ashrow, with whom she traveled extensively. To most recent generations, Allyson was known as the upbeat spokeswoman for Depends undergarments, a role she undertook with aplomb as she helped pioneer research for urological and gynecological diseases in senior citizens. Allyson is survived by her husband and two children, daughter Pamela and son Richard, from her marriage to Powell. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff...
- 7/10/2006
- WENN
Actress Janet Leigh, whose ill-fated shower in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho became one of the most frightening moments in cinema, died Sunday at her home in Beverly Hills; she was 77. According to a spokeswoman for Leigh's daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Leigh "died peacefully" at her home on Sunday afternoon, and had been battling vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, for the past year. A California native, Leigh (birth name Jeannette Helen Morrison) was reportedly discovered by actress Norma Shearer, who saw a photo of a young girl on the desk of Leigh's father and asked if she could borrow it. A screen test for MGM followed, and Leigh was cast in 1947's The Romance of Rosy Ridge. A number of ingénue rolls followed, most notably Little Women, Angels in the Outfield, and The Naked Spur. In 1951, Leigh married the equally photogenic Tony Curtis, and their romance and marriage was press fodder for years, even as they appeared in less-than-memorable films together, including Houdini, The Perfect Furlough, and The Vikings; the two divorced in 1962 after having two daughters, Kelly and Jamie Lee. Leigh's roles improved with her age, and she graduated from maidens in costume dramas to more contemporary heroines, and throughout the 50s she starred in My Sister Eileen, Pete Kelly's Blues, and Jet Pilot, among other films.
Leigh had one of her most memorable roles as Charlton Heston's abducted wife in Orson Welles' 1958 noir classic Touch of Evil, but just two years later she made film history by playing the doomed heroine Marion Crane in Psycho. Her brief but memorable turn in the Hitchcock film, punctuated by the classic shower scene in which the actress was slashed to death by Anthony Perkins, earned Leigh a Golden Globe and her only Academy Award nomination. Though she also appeared opposite Frank Sinatra in the now-classic The Manchurian Candidate, Leigh's Psycho turn overshadowed the rest of her career, a fact that she happily embraced, writing a book about the film's making, Psycho: Behind the Scenes in the Classic Thriller, in 1995. Leigh worked sporadically through the 70s, and appeared with daughter Jamie Lee in 1980's The Fog, but went into semi-retirement in the 80s and 90s; she appeared again with her daughter in the 1998 sequel Halloween: H20. Leigh is survived by her fourth husband, Robert Brandt, and daughters Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis. --Prepared by IMDb staff...
Leigh had one of her most memorable roles as Charlton Heston's abducted wife in Orson Welles' 1958 noir classic Touch of Evil, but just two years later she made film history by playing the doomed heroine Marion Crane in Psycho. Her brief but memorable turn in the Hitchcock film, punctuated by the classic shower scene in which the actress was slashed to death by Anthony Perkins, earned Leigh a Golden Globe and her only Academy Award nomination. Though she also appeared opposite Frank Sinatra in the now-classic The Manchurian Candidate, Leigh's Psycho turn overshadowed the rest of her career, a fact that she happily embraced, writing a book about the film's making, Psycho: Behind the Scenes in the Classic Thriller, in 1995. Leigh worked sporadically through the 70s, and appeared with daughter Jamie Lee in 1980's The Fog, but went into semi-retirement in the 80s and 90s; she appeared again with her daughter in the 1998 sequel Halloween: H20. Leigh is survived by her fourth husband, Robert Brandt, and daughters Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis. --Prepared by IMDb staff...
- 10/4/2004
- IMDb News
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