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.

It was all that chicken.
Life will end for all of us, live with that in mind.
Sounds like a person with too much time left. Maybe a farewell fragrance tour will be part of the pre-funeral.

She was a babe once. Me, they'll say "That boy was 24/7 fugly!"
She sure was hot in Cat on a hot tin roof.
It seems she's been at "death's door" for about three decades now...her various maladies seem to pop up a couple of times a year.
She was still pretty awesome in "Cleopatra." No one had Liz's eyes. What a rotten judge of husbands, though.
Her Oscar for 'Butterfield 8' was considered more of a sympathy vote ... Taylor had just recovered from her first life threatening malady and was still convalescing at the time of the Academy Award.
You got it! Those violet eyes were captivating.
She was "hot" in lots of movies, if you like her type (I do).
But she was also a really good actresss when she had the right material. Cat was one such role. The material doesn't stand up 100% by today's standards, but she did an amazing job wiith it. And the stuff she did in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" was remarkable. Disturbing, but remarkable.
She also had quite a career as a child actress.
It was once said "it's all about the eyes". This first began when she was a child in National Velvet, a horseracing film.
She was a star at a young age and hanging around Hollywood perverted her values. Hanging around with all those queer movie stars I believe she became a fag hag. Perhaps the fruit men she hung around with were easier for her to talk with and she didnt have to compete with them as she did the slut wannabee star women.
She didnt have much of a family life. She lived in a fantasy world .
Definitely one of the worlds most beautiful women at one time.
Congestive heart failure at her age is literally a death sentence. She'll be gone by the end of the year, for sure.
But with all that plastic surgery her body will never decompose. Maybe they can stuff her and put her in Madame Tussaud's
I think it's sort of wierd Liz Taylor, (who converted to Judaism when she married Mike Todd), has annual Easter parties.
She's broken her back about as often as she's been married.
Wondering if there's a correlation?
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?
Correct. If I recall the producers gave her a week off to mourn, then it was back to work. Todd was her match. Like her he lived very large. He was the one who started giving her extraordianary jewelry. I think she was at her most beautiful during her marriage to him.
There are still a few around. One that comes to mind is Rachel Welch. She has always strongly supported the troops.

Many a man's fantasy, she was. The epitome of beauty. - OB1

Excuse me while I go take a cold shower now. - OB1
One less hussy to idolize.
MY brother in law knew her from the Beverly Hills hotel and said she was one of the nicest and kindest person he had ever met.
Elizabeth Taylor is one of those special people who the camera loved. She looked great on the silver screen. You can't take your eyes off her when she is in a scene. She looked absolutely incredible in that gold leaf dress in the entrance into Rome scene from Cleopatra. I wish her and her family well.
I said it yesterday and I'll say it today.
What some people forget is that this was PRE-plastic surgery, pre-colored contacts etc. It's real, it's natural and that is what makes it even more jaw dropping.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.