Elizabeth Taylor has Passed Away RIP

[VALuvsMKwan]

Legend!

I'll have to watch my favorite movie of hers tonight...A Place In The Sun.

My mother was one of those many women that had to go out and buy the famous dress Ms Taylor danced in with Mr Clift.

IIRC the designer Helen Rose established her ready-to-wear collection with a version of the white cocktail dress that Elizabeth wore as Maggie the Cat in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".

I guess a lot of ladies thought that buying and wearing that dress would make them look as gorgeous as she was.

[liv]

Rip, Liz. One of the last Hollywood legends.

We don't have many real movie stars left anymore. We have stars who are in movies, but they aren't as like those from the golden age of hollywood.

Instead of being famous for being famous, like so many stars now, she was famous for her acting and for being an activist who raised lots of money for her charities...but of course her personal life can't be excluded, lol.

[Cheylana]

I was just looking at the AFI list of top 25 female screen legends. I believe only 3 of them are still alive now (in bold below), but someone please correct me if that is wrong:

1. Katharine Hepburn
2. Bette Davis
3. Audrey Hepburn
4. Ingrid Bergman
5. Greta Garbo
6. Marilyn Monroe
7. Elizabeth Taylor
8. Judy Garland
9. Marlene Dietrich
10. Joan Crawford
11. Barbara Stanwyck
12. Claudette Colbert
13. Grace Kelly
14. Ginger Rogers
15. Mae West
16. Vivien Leigh
17. Lillian Gish
18. Shirley Temple
19. Rita Hayworth
20. Lauren Bacall
21. Sophia Loren
22. Jean Harlow
23. Carole Lombard
24. Mary Pickford
25. Ava Gardner

Elizabeth Taylor was the only one in the top ten who had been living - now the top seventeen are all gone

[skatingfan5]

RIP, Ms. Taylor. You did a lot of great work, both on and off the screen. You will be missed, but your memory will live on.

[Wiery]

RIP, Ms. Taylor. You lived life to its fullest. I certainly will miss you.

[shah]

goodbye, Cleopatra...

[duane]

Suddenly Last Summer was considered as 'pushing the envelope' back in 1959.

Homosexuality, cannibalism, incest, lobotomies...the subject matter of this movie pushes the envelope today!

This, and A Place In the Sun, are my favorite Taylor movies.

Elizabeth Taylor was a true star in every sense of the word. She was a huge box-office star, was the first celebrity to make a million dollars for a movie, and had a private life that was more newsworthy than her movie life:

She becomes a child star who grows up to be beautiful beyond belief, marries a rich playboy as almost a child bride, divorces him and becomes a wife and mother to a boring englishman, divorces him to marry a flamboyant older producer in a loving but stormy union, loses that husband in a plane crash, "steals" his best friend and destroys the "perfect" marriage, marries him and becomes public enemy #1, almost dies of pneumonia and becomes public survivor #1, gives her husband a dose of his own medicine by leaving him for a costar, marries him--twice--giving the tabloids stories to tell for years, becomes a senator's wife and gains 200 pounds, divorces him and loses the weight (and again looking absolutely fabulous), becomes best friends with wacko jacko, marries a man she met in rehab, becomes an activist of the "taboo" disease at a time when no one else would, becomes more wealthy than she's ever been with the launch of her perfumes...

There will never be another Elizabeth Taylor.

[ilovepaydays]

Are you KIDDING me! Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Protest Elizabeth Taylor's Funeral

[VALuvsMKwan]

Are you KIDDING me! Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Protest Elizabeth Taylor's Funeral

Yes, ilovepaydays, I saw that earlier and almost posted it here.

I wonder what makes me think Elizabeth could be checking out her press from whatever reward she has gone to and saw this and is screaming at the top of her lungs, "Bring it on, you motherbleeps!!" (though no doubt "bleep" would be replaced by the real thing)?

[mrinalini]

RIP. I never thought she was much of an actress till I saw Virginia Woolf in which she blew me away. Really, she was such a humongous celebrity that her death leaves such a void in the entertainment world - she's one of the first names that comes to mind when you think of a MOVIE STAH! I guess one of the differences between her and today's big names is that one could say her private life was rather trashy yet she is still associated with classiness.

I think Olivia de Havilland is now the only big star (two-time Oscar winner for Best Actress just like Liz) left from Hollywood's Golden Age. Loren didn't hit her peak in the 40s and 50s, Bacall was never as big a name as Taylor and others, and Temple was successful only as a child actress.

[HeatherC]

RIP Elizabeth

[jenny12]

RIP to a great talent, beauty, and humanitarian.

[Nan]

She was an amazing woman. There were few her equal. RIP

[manleywoman]

As for that list, I really don't know why Hepburn is #1. But that is JMHO.

[gingercrush]

As for that list, I really don't know why Hepburn is #1. But that is JMHO.

Katherine Hepburn's later film success and award wins certainly helped her reputation. But I agree. In her time she was a good actress and people watched her films and her and Tracey made a great comedic duo. But not to the extent that she's now heralded. Personally I've never understood Lauren Bacall's entry. I love her but top 25? Hell no. Poor Norma Shearer couldn't even make the list.

[a56]

As for that list, I really don't know why Hepburn is #1. But that is JMHO.

This is why I think Hepburn was ranked #1 in that list (and I agree with you, I think that ranking is debatable):
I think Hepburn is extremely well regarded within the film community. She is the only actress or actor ever to win more than 2 Lead Acting Oscars - she won 4 Lead Actress Oscars (one was a tie with Barbra Streisand in 1968). This despite the fact that she never even accepted any of the Oscars in person; she only attended the Oscars once and that was to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to her producer friend Lawrence Weingarten in 1974. She had an acting career lasting 62 years, from 1932 to 1994. She was not a controversial actress, and so she was a safe choice.

[Wyliefan]

Katherine Hepburn's later film success and award wins certainly helped her reputation.

Not just her later films. She was magnificent all through her career, and had a truly impressive range. (Try watching Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story back to back sometime -- and those were both fairly early in her career.) Speaking subjectively, I wouldn't call her my own absolute favorite -- that would be Audrey -- but I think she deserves that #1 spot.

[manleywoman]

I wish Taylor had played Bonnie butler in GWTW. I read in one of the obits she was up for yhe part, and was the perfect age at the time. She looked so much like Vivien Leigh, especially younger, and I always thought that the girl they did cast was so weak as an actress. I always find those parts of GWTW distracting. And how cool would that have been to have been her first role!!

[Rex]

As for that list, I really don't know why Hepburn is #1. But that is JMHO.

Personally, as much as I admire Hepburn, I always thought that she was a triumph of personality over part. No matter who she portrayed, you never forgot she was Kate. She was once quoted as saying, "She me an actress without a personality and I'll show you a woman who isn't a STAH! An actress' personality HAS to shine through.". She was good at most of her rolls, but like a lot of the greats, she had her share of miscast parts. So did Liz.

[IceAlisa]

I wish Taylor had played Bonnie butler in GWTW. I read in one of the obits she was up for yhe part, and was the perfect age at the time. She looked so much like Vivien Leigh, especially younger, and I always thought that the girl they did cast was so weak as an actress. I always find those parts of GWTW distracting. And how cool would that have been to have been her first role!!

I didn't know that she was up for Bonnie Butler but I've often thought that the young Elizabeth Taylor did look like Vivien Leigh. I agree that the girl they chose wasn't a good actress and certainly, Elizabeth would have done a better job AND would have looked the part.