How many glamorous women die and are eulogized in the Daily Racing Form? Few. But Dame Elizabeth Taylor began her film career on a horse and suffered a fall from him that would give her severe back pain for the rest of her life. She stared in National Velvet in 1944 at the age of 12. The horse that played Velvet was a son of Man-O-War named King Charles. [Daily Racing Form]
Those who remembered her today remarked on her kindness, her keen sense of humor and her zest for life. We hear a lot about her 8 marriages ( 2 to actor Richard Burton) and we know that she has had almost 20 surgeries and broken bones and 2 life-threatening bouts with pneumonia. She also liked diamonds and other women’s husbands.
But with all of the above, Elizabeth Taylor bore 3 children – no small feat for a woman with chronic back pain. She loved life so much that creating it came naturally to her. She had two sons with actor Michael Wilding and a daughter, Liza, with the love of her life, Mike Todd. She and Richard Burton adopted Maria.
Those closest to her say that she was not just in pain at the end of her life but being confined to a wheel chair and having to spend hours in bed preyed upon her and sapped her spirit. They are relieved she has escaped the pain and confinement of her existence.
So one last look at those famous violet eyes and raise a class to a woman who saw it all, did it all and yet remained a quintessential “star.”
DarcsFalcon
March 24, 2011
I was just saying on Steve’s blog that she was one of the last of the movie stars.
Those eyes – is there any female alive that didn’t envy those eyes? She was so lovely! Hearing news of her death was surprising, and sad. I didn’t know she’d been ill lately.