Legend ... Taylor pictured at the 2005 BAFTA awards/file
Posted on 04/28/2006 5:54:50 AM PDT by yankeedame
Liz Taylor 'at death's door'
From: MX From correspondents in Los Angeles
April 28, 2006
Legend ... Taylor pictured at the 2005 BAFTA awards/file
HOLLYWOOD legend Elizabeth Taylor is reportedly on
the brink of death after her heart began to fail.
The Oscar winner, 74, is believed to be bedridden in her Bel Air, California, home. Taylor reportedly cancelled her annual Easter party to plan her funeral.
She is expected to be buried next to former husband Richard Burton in Switzerland.
"Liz is inching closer to death every day and she knows it," a friend said.
The actress was diagnosed with a disease known as congestive heart failure, a terminal condition where the heart weakens, pumping ever-decreasing amounts of blood through the body. Taylor has been confined to a wheelchair since 2004, having broken her back five times.
Advertisement: Taylor has been near death with pneumonia twice, endured a brain tumour removal, has had skin cancer and has been a recluse since her health started failing. "She's not leaving a lot of money to her children. She wants the bulk of her fortune to go to AIDS research."
The actress said she was at her happiest while with husbands Mike Todd and Richard Burton, and in recent months mourned the loss of her pet Maltese terrier, Sugar, of whom she said: "I've never loved a dog like this in my life. It's amazing. Sometimes I think there's a person in there."
Ms Taylor won her first Oscar in 1961 for the film Butterfield 8, following this up with another in 1967 for Mike Nichols' drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, often considered her best screen performance.
She is probably the last class act in Hollywood...........
Just checked the IMDB website to see when National Velvet was released. 1944.
But what particularly caught my eye was this Velvet Brown quote:
"I want it all quickly 'cause I don't want God to stop and think and wonder if I'm getting more than my share."
Sounds like osteoporosis to me.
When I was in the third grade, I always thought my Aunt looked like Liz. My Aunt is 80 now and her face just glows when I remind her of that!
I am sure many do not approve of the choices she has made in her life, but no one can deny she is one ballsy woman.
I don't think that's true. She has 4 children, 1 of whom she and Richard Burton adopted. She became involved with AIDS when her former daughter-in-law contracted tbe disease due to drug problems. I think she had a very rich family life, in terms of motherhood. And I think she experienced so much tragedy that you can't fairly say she was sheltered from reality. Her life took some bizarre twists, but she lived life fully, getting the very best and very worst that a person can experience.
She was a beautiful woman and a good actress at one time.
She's been over-hyped for about forty years now.
She was one of the most beautiful and best actresses ever. But what a messed up personal life. They say the one man she was crazy about was Montgomery Clift (who liked men). In later years she went overboard with booze and pills. She seemed, like a lot of big stars from that era, to be really lonely. Normal folks have a support system of family & friends. Famous people always have to wonder if friends are friends, or just hangers-on.
Loved her in Giant, A Place in the Sun, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
"She's not leaving a lot of money to her children. She wants the bulk of her fortune to go to AIDS research."
Well, at least we can be sure that Michael Jackson has an assortment of black veils...
All great movies.
I am a particular fan of Giant.
She was/is one of the most beautiful women that ever lived. Well, I for one still think she's pretty.
Her acting? Dang, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, ....Virginia Woolf....even her guest appearances on "The Lucy Show" showed someone with great acting range. Cleopatra was just plain fun to watch.
She's always seemed to be a kind person with a soft spot for misfits. She's also loved deeply in her life...her kids, grandkids, and yes, husbands. She and Burton were one of the great romances of the century.
I wish her peace and comfort in her final days.
Her greatest early love was producer Mike Todd, who died tragically in a plane crash not too many years into their marriage. Liz was supposed to be on the plane with him but she had the flu and decided at the last minute not to go. Obviously Burton was her other great love. She was great friends with Monty Clift (who by the way is related to Eleanor Clift) and in fact when Clift had a terrible car accident driving from a dinner party at Liz's house, Liz was first on the scene and pulled many of his teeth from his throat, probably saving his life. I doubt she was ever lonely, but like many in her era she drank to excess and took pills to ease chronic pain. She always had back pain because as a child actress she did her own riding in National Velvet, and was thrown very brutally. That started her lifelong back problems.
I remember when that photo was in People Magazine.
My husband literally SCREAMED and slammed the magazine shut when he saw the photo.
I loved her in "The Flintstones"
I saw Giant again recently and yes,
the whole movie was fabulous,
and she stood out.
You can't say she didn't have a rich and varied life.
It wasn't until the last 10 years or so I really started appreciating who she was and what she'd been through. I heard Mike Todd died during the filming of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (that may be wrong). Her and Burton? Something that few people experience, but when you do, you understand the whys and whats.
She wasn't perfect, but there was and still is in her a basic kindness. Giving her money to AID's research seems to twerk some folks toast, but she's dealt with it via friends and family....so I can understand and respect the choice.
My two favorite movies of hers are Giant and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
sw
"Liz is inching closer to death every day"
Aren't we all?
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