About which Taylor herself is supposed to have said, “I don’t have affairs. I have marriages.”
Sorry, but Fear Itself beat you by 4 minutes over in the Celebrity Death Pool 2011 thread.
The great beauties all have a little quirkiness to their looks. It’s what distinguishes them from Stepford Wives the movie industry churns out.
Dammit! The only thing we had to fear…
Not to nitpick, since Liz was a hugely talented actress and beloved by millions, but shouldn’t each marriage to Burton be counted separately? There was a year’s separation between the two marriages:
Conrad Hilton, Jr. (1950–1951)
Michael Wilding (1952–1957)
Mike Todd (1957–1958)
Eddie Fisher (1959–1964)
Richard Burton (1964–1974, 1975–1976)
John Warner (1976–1982)
Larry Fortensky (1991–1996)
So, eight marriages, but to seven spouses.
I also thought that it was wonderful that all four of her children were at her bedside.
With her passing, once one of the most beautiful of the Hollywood stars, very few of the old A-List stars are left. This is the short list I came up with:
Maureen O’Hara – The last of the great stars?* born August 17, 1920
*** Still Alive after all these years:**
Luise Rainer 101 01/12/1910
Mickey Rooney (born September 23, 1920)
Shirley Temple (born April 23, 1928)
Olivia de Havilland 94 born 07/01/1916
Joan Fontaine 92 born 10/22/1917 *(BTW, Olivia and Joan are sisters) *
Esther Williams 89 08/08/1921
Borderline
Nanette Fabray 90 10/27/1920 Entertainment
Eva Marie Saint 86 07/04/1924
Many of the other A-Listers I found here a handy list of the Grand Old Stars of the studio days.
Ingrid Bergman - Died: August 29, 1982 (aged 67) in London, England
Humphrey Bogart - Died: January 14, 1957 in San Francisco, California
Charles Boyer - Died: 26 August 1978
Gary Cooper - Died: May 13, 1961
Linda Darnell - Died: April 10, 1965
Marlene Dietrich - Died: May 6, 1992 in Paris
Errol Flynn - Died: 14 October 1959
Clark Gable - Died: November 16, 1960 Los Angeles, California, USA
Greta Garbo - Died: April 15, 1990 (aged 84) in New York City, New York
Ava Gardner - Died: January 25, 1990
Paulette Goddard - Died: April 23, 1990
Cary Grant - Died: November 29, 1986
Jean Harlow - Died: June 7, 1937
Rita Hayworth – Died: May 14, 1987
Audrey Hepburn - Died: January 20, 1993, (aged 63) in Tolochenaz, Switzerland
Kate Hepburn - Died: June 29, 2003, (aged 96) in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, USA
Grace Kelly - Died: September 14, 1982, age 52 in Monte Carlo, Monaco
Hedy Lamarr - Died: January 19, 2000
Vivien Leigh - Died: 7 July 1967
Carole Lombard - Died: August 3, 1995 in Los Angeles, California, USA
Ida Lupino - Died: 3 August 1995
Marilyn Monroe - Died: August 5, 1962 (aged 36)
Maureen O’Hara – The last of the great stars?* born August 17, 1920
Laurence Olivier - Died: 11 July 1989 (aged 82)
Gregory Peck - Died: June 12, 2003
Barbara Stanwyck - Died: January 20, 1990
Jimmy Stewart - Died: July 2, 1997
Elizabeth Taylor - Died: Today
Gene Tierney - Died: November 6, 1991
Ones I added
William Powell - Died: March 5, 1984
Myrna Loy - Died: December 14, 1993
John Wayne – Died: June 11, 1979
Gene Kelly – Died: February 2, 1996
Fred Astair – Died: June 22, 1987
Judy Garland – Died: June 22, 1969
Robinson, Edward G. 01/26/1973
Rogers, Ginger 04/25/1995
Cyd Charisse 06/17/2008
Henry Fonda 08/12/1982
James Cagney 03/30/1986
I assume by this that the death was one of those things anticipated for some time, and that the former noted obit person wrote an obit to have ready, and then preceded their subject. So someone had to take the existing obit out of the file and add the finishing touches. That certainly fits in both these cases.
Yes, I agree that’s what happened in both cases. I just think it’s a little funny to have outlived the person who wrote your obit.
Joan Rivers has never struck anyone as a class act I suppose, but does anybody else find her tweet exceptionally tacky?
I’m not sure how much Rivers did for AIDS but if she was a groundbreaker then all props due her, but she has to take Taylor’s death and makes it about herself. (For those too young to remember, fat jokes about Liz Taylor were the mainstay of Joan’s act at one time.)
Liz was a frequent subject of her Rivers’ scathingly bitter “comedy” back in the day. Given some of the bitchy comments Rivers has made about Liz (mostly about her weight gain), she’s seems to be showing some restraint.
For any of you young’uns who only know Liz as “Michael’s old lady friend”, put these flicks on your netflix cue NOW:
Butterfield 8
Giant
A Place In the Sun
Suddenly, Last Sumimer (a bit campy, but still fun)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?
You can skip “Cleopatra”, which is as big a disaster as its’ reputed to be. Also “National Velvet”, it’s too goody-twoshoes.
RIP, Liz.
Actually I rather love “Ivanhoe” and “Taming of the Shrew”
I really liked Liz. She was a great actress (and very much underrated, I think, in spite of her Oscars) and a great beauty. She had some weird choices for friends, but I have to admire her loyalty to them. She clearly had a good heart, at least in the figurative sense.
She and Roddy McDowell were best friends for more than 40 years and she said she missed him more than any of her husbands. He used to give intimate dinner parties famous for their odd-strange-and-curious guest list, which might include (not making it up- these are actual attendees) Johnny Depp, Leni Riefenstahl, a visiting titled aristocrat, a Spice Girl, a Mexican janitor he met on the set of his latest film, a Catholic priest and Vidal Sassoon. The less famous weren’t there for a “Dinner for Schmucks” thing but people chosen because he thought they were interesting. Even in her reclusive and bad health ridden phase (that lasted for many many years- how many decades have the tabloids been running “Liz Taylor on her deathbed” stories?) she was a fixture at these.
“But enough about me - what do YOU think about me?” Yeah, tacky. It could easily have been phrased in a way to not be tooting Joan Rivers’ horn.
RIP, Ms. Taylor.
The odd thing about Liz Taylor is how long she remained a superstar after she stopped working. I’m 44 and even I don’t recall ever having seen her on the big screen, yet people half my age- who probably aren’t familiar with Ava Gardner or Lana Turner except as names- know Liz Taylor.
What do you think Liz’s secret was for remaining such a superstar a generation after her last starring role in a major motion picture?
Lots of cameos all over. Starting up the first major aides foundation, friendship with Michael Jackson, things like that.
She kept her hand in. Besides the White Diamonds ads, she was also a semi-regular for a while on…General Hospital? I think. She was also in North and South, The Flintstones movie, and did voice work for the Simpsons (Maggie’s first word, no less!) and Captain Planet. She was doing TV work up until about 10 years ago.
I didn’t know until recently she made an episode of The Nanny.
The fact she was filthy rich- easily in the nine figures- meant she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do or that would be embarassing, which probably also helped.
I’d say Lauren Bacall (born September 16, 1924) belongs on that list - and IMHO, she ranks above O’Hara.
I forgot Lauren and Kirk Douglas. I realized that later. I think you’re right about Lauren over Maureen.
When did she die exactly? I ask as I watched TMZ tonight and they didn’t say a word about it