Table of Contents

Section - i: Prologue Unit - i: Part One: CHILDHOOD Chapter - 1: Sara and Francis Chapter - 2: A Change in Sara Chapter - 3: A Family Held Hostage? Chapter - 4: “Bravo!” Chapter - 5: “Missing a Father’s Love” Chapter - 6: “I Think I Might Want to Be an Actress” Chapter - 7: A New Life in America Chapter - 8: “But I Want to Be with MGM!” Chapter - 9: National Velvet Chapter - 10: Making a Star . . . a Star! Unit - ii: Part Two: FINDING HER WAY Chapter - 11: Early Suitors . . . and Howard Hughes Chapter - 12: Nicky Hilton Chapter - 13: Elizabeth’s Anger Chapter - 14: Uncle Howard Gets Rid of Nicky Hilton Chapter - 15: Michael Wilding Chapter - 16: A Marriage Devoid of Passion Chapter - 17: Movies Chapter - 18: Mike Todd Chapter - 19: Mike Todd’s Sudden Death Chapter - 20: Eddie Fisher Chapter - 21: Elizabeth and Eddie Marry Chapter - 22: Butterfield 8 Chapter - iii: Part Three: HER DESTINY Chapter - 23: A False Start for Cleopatra Chapter - 24: A Near-Death Experience and Then an Oscar Chapter - 25: Cleopatra Begins Filming Chapter - 26: Richard Burton Chapter - 27: Elizabeth Adopts a Baby Chapter - 28: “Love, in All of Its Mystery, Unfolds” Chapter - 29: Elizabeth Confesses to Eddie about Richard Chapter - 30: Unadulterated Drama Chapter - 31: Elizabeth Attempts Suicide? Chapter - 32: “Le Scandale” Chapter - 33: The Taylor-Burton Sexual Revolution Chapter - 34: Cleopatra Arrives Chapter - 35: Elizabeth as a Mother Chapter - 36: Nightmare in Porto Santo Stefano Chapter - 37: Finishing Cleopatra Chapter - 38: A Turning Point in Gstaad Chapter - 39: Richard Chooses Chapter - 40: True Love in Mexico Unit - iv: Part Four: “LIZ AND DICK” Chapter - 41: Elizabeth and Richard: “We Will Have No More Marriages” Chapter - 42: The Boston Brawl Chapter - 43: Richard’s Hemophilia Chapter - 44: “Even Our Fights Are Fun” Chapter - 45: Elizabeth Apologizes to Debbie Chapter - 46: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Chapter - 47: Bad Movies, Great Riches, and Another Oscar Chapter - 48: “Francis L. Taylor—All Our Love—1897–1968” Chapter - 49: “Learning from Each Other” Chapter - 50: “I Sometimes Curse the Day . . .” Chapter - 51: “Pray for Us” Chapter - 52: And What of the Children? Unit - v: Part Five: CONFUSION REIGNS Chapter - 53: “What Makes Us Women” Chapter - 54: Henry Wynberg Chapter - 55: Elizabeth Divorces Richard Chapter - 56: Elizabeth Marries Richard . . . Again! Chapter - 57: A Diversion before Divorce Chapter - 58: Richard Asks for Another Divorce Unit - vi: Part Six: COMING TO TERMS Chapter - 59: John Warner Chapter - 60: Elizabeth Marries John Chapter - 61: An Important Transition Chapter - 62: The Little Foxes Chapter - 63: Sifting Through the Wreckage Chapter - 64: A Birthday Reunion with Richard Chapter - 65: “God Has Kept an Eye on My Children” Chapter - 66: Elizabeth Gets Her Way Chapter - 67: Private Lives and Private Miseries Chapter - 68: Richard Marries . . . Someone Else Chapter - 69: Intervention Chapter - 70: Betty Ford Center Chapter - 71: Richard Burton Dies Chapter - 72: Transition Unit - vii: Part Seven: THE GLORY YEARS Chapter - 73: “I Will Not Be Ignored” Chapter - 74: Elizabeth Taylor’s Passion Chapter - 75: Back at Betty Ford Chapter - 76: Larry Fortensky Chapter - 77: Michael Jackson Chapter - 78: Elizabeth Marries Larry Chapter - 79: Re-creating Her Mother’s Marriage . . . but Not Quite Unit - viii: Part Eight: ALL WOMAN Chapter - 80: “Sara S. Taylor—Loving Mother, Devoted Wife—1895–1994” Chapter - 81: Elizabeth and Larry End Their Marriage Chapter - 82: Facing Her Mortality . . . Again Chapter - 83: Dame Elizabeth: Honor at Last Section - ii: Selected Cast of Characters Acknowledgements - iii: Acknowledgments Section - iv: Sources and Other Notes Section - v: Elizabeth Taylor Filmography Index - vi: Index

About the Author

Taraborrelli is the noted biographer of Sunday Times bestsellers Madonna, Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness, and the forthcoming Diana Ross. Consistently sought as an authority on celebrity culture, he makes regular appearances on television.

Reviews

Ordinarily, readers might question the logic of a new tome on a celebrity who already has at least six full-length biographies (and four self-penned books) devoted to her life, but Elizabeth Taylor has never been ordinary. Readers will easily understand why tabloids have chronicled her escapades for six decades: her roller-coaster life could easily read like a high-sheen soap opera (the eight marriages, two Oscars, suicide attempts and innumerable life-threatening illnesses that led to years of alcohol and prescription drug addiction before she became the first celebrity to check into the Betty Ford Clinic). But Taraborrelli, a sympathetic biographer, rescues the subject by looking for psychological and emotional motives behind her actions. Taraborrelli can be overprotective of Taylor (he notes her reviews for Cleopatra were "so vicious that they are not even worth memorializing here") but more often, he's a superb storyteller who is also an enthusiastic fan. The book is a fitting tribute to a woman who has lived and loved with abandon but who found real passion and purpose when she embraced AIDS activism in 1985, helping to destigmatize the disease and creating her own AIDS foundation. Taraborrelli's chatty prose (and bite-size chapters) perfectly complement Taylor's glamorous life of highs and lows to create an irresistible and inspiring tale. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Elizabeth Taylor's celebrated career and dramatic life have been chronicled by innumerable biographers as well as by Taylor herself twice (see Elizabeth Taylor Her Own Story and Elizabeth Taylor Takes Off: On Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Self-Esteem, and Self-Image). While not neglecting Taylor's professional career, best-selling author Taraborrelli (Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier) necessarily spends much time on her romances, especially her eight marriages; of these, the centerpiece is, of course, her explosive but loving relationship with fellow actor Richard Burton. Readers interested in the woman behind the celebrity will find especially satisfying the book's final sections, in which Taylor struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, becomes an AIDS activist, and revels in her roles as mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Taylor emerges from Taraborrelli's objective albeit sympathetic treatment a true survivor, facing the vicissitudes of aging with courage and humor. Considering the popularity of both the subject and the author, this is an essential purchase for all public libraries and highly recommended for academic libraries with strong film studies collections. A photo insert features several previously unpublished photographs. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/06.] M.C. Duhig, Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.