Thank You Miss Taylor

I can't let the passing of Elizabeth Taylor happen without saying, "Wow, what a woman!"  She may have been the last true Living Legends from the glory days of Hollywood.  She gave much, in her talent and in  the cost to her personal life.

For all that was happening behind the camera, the marriages, divorces, illnesses, and tragedies, on screen she was electric.  I remember when my girlfriend across the street would come over to spend the night, during the mid to late 1960's.  We watched late night ( 11:30pm) movies on Friday and Saturday night.  If Elizabeth Taylor was on, we were thrilled.  We got our Pepsis and Popcorn all ready  to watch Raintree County, A Place in the Sun, Butterfield 8 or my favorite Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.


Add Paul Newman to a movie with her and we were there. Many we watched over and over, never growing tired of her.   It was during the filming of "Cat" that she lost Mike Todd.  Her performance in this movie is outstanding.  This was just one of the movies for which she received an Academy Award nomination.  There would be 5 in total with 2 wins. 

It was because of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof  that I discovered the playwright Tennessee Williams and the controversy surrounding that play.  No one does the hot, steamy south quite like Tennessee Williams.

She turned heads and dropped jaws with her affairs and marriages.  Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton, John Warner  and the one that had me scratching my head... Larry Fortensky.  For all of the negative press, she kept on going. Her charity funded hiv/aids research when it was in it's infancy.

I'd like to leave with this quote from Maggie the Cat.

"What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? — I wish I knew . . . Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can."
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

This lady will be at the top of her class for all time.