February 7, 2002. Copyright, 2002, Graphic News. All rights reserved

HollywoodÕs grande dame celebrates her 70th birthday
By Mark Samms

LONDON, February 7, Graphic News:  SOME say that Elizabeth Taylor has had a great life interrupted by the occasional movie. Others say she is a great actress who allowed her career to drift off course in the midst of a private life outrageous even by Hollywood standards.

She has been married eight times (twice to the same man), won two Oscars and deserved at least one more, was the first actress to be paid $1m dollars for a movie role, battled her way back from substance and drink abuse and survived at least two life-threatening illnesses.

Then, when fate seemed to have exhausted itself, along came a damehood in BritainÕs Millennium New YearÕs Honours List. When the grande dame of the silver screen turned up at Buckingham Palace more than one observer pointed out that it was difficult to say which Elizabeth looked more regal.

Such adventures are more than any screenwriter would dare make up, so when Elizabeth TaylorÕs life is finally made into a movie it should be well worth watching.

It was clear when she was little more than a child that nobody that beautiful and with so much talent would be allowed to glide unnoticed through her career.

And so it proved. She seemed to go from child prodigy to leading lady without pausing for breath, and was married to her first husband at the age of 18.

There were destined to be many men in her life, but two had more impact than the others. Movie producer Mike Todd was said to be the love of her life, and she was devastated when he was killed in a plane crash a little more than 12 months after they married.

But it was her roller-coaster affair with Richard Burton which kept people enthralled for more than 12 years. They met and fell in love on the set of Cleopatra, broke up two established relationships to be together, married and divorced each other twice, and kept many high-class jewellers busy during the sixties and seventies.

The more lurid aspects of Liz TaylorÕs life have tended to overshadow both her talent and her extensive work for charity, but she approaches her 70th birthday as one of the undisputed legends of the movie industry.
/ENDS

Sources: www.geocities.com/Hollywood; www.imdb.com