This is truly an end of an era. There will never be another Taylor. She was beautiful, glamorous, generous, talented and a force of nature. To begin to compress the tumultuous lifestyle led by Elizabeth and her huge body of work in American cinema into this one post is nigh impossible. Taylor was at once an exception and the last of the great Golden Era of Hollywood. Launching her career at the tender age of 8 and managing to succeed the precarious transition between child star to fully acclaimed stage and screen actress, Taylor made everything so seamless. Audiences got drunk on the heady combination of her passionate performances, her otherworldly beauty and her quavering voice. As Richard Burton, the love of her life and husband no 5, described his first encounter of the young Taylor: She was so extraordinarily beautiful that I nearly laughed out loud.… She was unquestionably gorgeous … She was lavish. She was a dark unyielding largesse. She was, in short, too bloody much. Her lifestyle was excessive, but she was as happy dining at The Ritz as she was in a Welsh pub with locals. A paparazzo’s dream, she was glamorous and exciting, engaging and mercurial. She was unapologetic for her insatiable appetite for life and the finer things in life, such as her numerous jewels. Yet, she was also a true friend who supported many in times of trouble and her activism in raising public awareness of AIDS during a time when it was still taboo showed how defiant a person she was.
Blighted by severe illness in the later part of her life, Liz had been a survivor but now I’m glad that she is at peace and a sentimental part of me feels that she is finally home – reunited with her one true soulmate being read Dylan Thomas poetry.