Elizabeth Taylor, The Grit and Glamour of an Icon, by New York Times best-selling author Kate Andersen Brower, which I received from Jonathan Ball Publishers, is the first-ever authorised biography and a thorough, fascinating portrait of icon Elizabeth Taylor.
Growing up in the sixties, I, like many of my peers, was a Liz Taylor devotee and worshipped her every move, from her first film, the famous 1945 National Velvet, and every one of her subsequent 57 films and shows. In 1975, I was a young reporter and one of the ‘paparazzi’ in the wings when Richard Burton and Liz arrived at the then Landdrost Hotel in downtown Johannesburg after getting married for the second time in Kasane, Botswana. During this visit, I also got a front-row seat to one of the pair’s famous shouting matches.
Little wonder, then, that I felt compelled to read Browder’s 500-plus page tome, which, though long, grabbed me from the get-go and held my attention to the last sentence. (If you want some jaw-dropping ‘did-you-know’ factoids about Liz – and some other hot Hollywood gossip from the early ‘60s and ‘70s – to share at dinner parties, this one is for you.)
Of course, Taylor was stunningly beautiful, but it was also her astonishing talent as an actor, her glamour, and her chutzpa that brought her so much fame. What sets this biography apart is that it gives us an almost first-person point of view of the world through Elizabeth’s eyes. The author waded through some 7,358 personal letters and conducted 250 interviews with some of Taylor’s closest friends and family in order to tell the full, unvarnished story of this remarkable woman and her illustrious career. It also includes intimate details of her explosive private life and lends perspective of the human behind the polished smile.
It is well recorded that she was the first major celebrity activist to throw her weight behind the fight against HIV/AIDS in the ‘70s and ‘80s. But the story behind this headline – about the many challenges she faced and the courage it took to stand up against societal prejudice and the stigma that was attached to AIDS – reads like a novel in itself. As co-founder of amfAR (the American Foundation for AIDS Research), Liz raised more than $100 million for research and patient care and donated vast amounts of her own wealth to this cause.
Without divulging too much, The Grit and Glamour of an Icon also delves into fascinating details surrounding the actor’s lifelong struggle with addiction, her many love affairs and marriages, her vast jewellery collection, and her success as a businesswoman who made a fortune as the first celebrity perfumer and who always demanded to be paid what she was worth.
What I enjoyed most was the sense of sharing in Liz’s innermost thoughts, her dark and lonely moments and her inherent goodness and zest for life. As Demi Moore, a close friend of Taylor, noted, “Elizabeth’s life was more captivating than any film could be.”
A marvellous, inspiring read and one that I highly recommend.
Comments