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Summary
Summary
For more than six decades she has been part of our lives. An American icon, Elizabeth Taylor has been surrounded by fame and notoriety since childhood. Now acclaimed biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli looks past the tabloid version of Elizabeth's life to the person she really is -- and how she evolved from a child star to a woman in her own right. At the heart of this impeccably researched work is the first fully realized portrait of Elizabeth Taylor's family: her canny, controlling mother, who, from the moment she laid eyes on her baby, began plotting her success; and her father, often portrayed as distant, but whose connection with his daughter was far more complex than people knew. As Taraborrelli brings to life the people around Elizabeth and her rise in 1940s Hollywood, he reveals the qualities that made her a star, the associations that put her at the right place at the right time, and the ways in which she was singularly unprepared for life out on her own. While Elizabeth's eight marriages to seven men have been widely publicized, this author examines the psychological and emotional roots of each relationship, including her abusive marriage to Nicky Hilton, her attraction to swashbuckling Mike Todd, and the complex, incendiary Taylor-Burton love affair that continued for decades and never truly died. Finally, Taraborrelli chronicles Elizabeth's most bravura performance of all. Despite the highly public battles with substance abuse and chronic illness, she achieved new success and sustenance in family, friendships, and philanthropy. With never-before-published family photos by Taylor historian Tom Gates, as well as rare family photos, Elizabeth is the story of a woman you thought you knew -- and can now finally begin to understand.
Author Notes
Bestselling author and news reporter J. Randy Taraborrelli was born on February 29, 1956. His biographies have focused on celebrities such as Cher, Carol Burnett, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe. His biography called The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty, made it to the New York Times bestseller list in 2014. His latest book is Jackie, Janet & Lee: The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill, published in January 2018.
Taraborrelli has been a guest on television programs including Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Larry King Live, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, and CNN. He also contributes entertainment articles internationally to Hello!, The Daily Mail and Sunday Mail, and Australia's Women's Weekly.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Veteran diva-disher Taraborrelli, who has written about Cher, Madonna and Princess Grace, turns his pen on the silver screen starlet of the century. Elizabeth Taylor, she of nine lives and eight marriages, was born to privilege in England. She had a stunning, powerful mother intent on making her lovely daughter a Hollywood sensation. In her turbulent life, as Taraborrelli chronicles, Taylor has been (take a deep breath): the horse-loving preteen of National Velvet; the child-bride of volatile heir Nicky Hilton; the tragic young widow of hot-shot director Mike Todd; the home-wrecking vixen of Hollywood's most wholesome couple, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds; one half of Liz and Dick, twice-married Tinseltown supercouple; political trophy wife and campaign-trail eye-candy; alcoholic pill popper and walking train wreck; AIDS activist and best friend to Michael Jackson; the bloated, bleach-blonde soon-to-be ex-wife of construction worker Larry Fortensky. With all this drama, Taylor's life is a story that nearly tells itself, and Taraborelli veers from his usual catty criticism. After detailing yet another embarrassing episode or inexcusable deed, the author attempts to make excuses for his subject, consistently starting sentences with the phrase "to be fair." Where has there ever been a place for "fair" in the provocatively offensive pages of an unauthorized biography? It is to the detriment of the book that Taraborelli seems to have a reverence and sympathy for Taylor, for it lacks the bitchy bite that makes celebrity journalism so, well, Schadenfreude-y. Still, the enchanting Elizabeth does not fail to fascinate, whether we pity or revile her. As the writer characterizes her, she is unable to distinguish between onscreen and offscreen realities, always performing, while feeling deeply. Overly worshipful, but you'd have to be quite jaded to be bored by this chronicle of a miniseries life. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The breathtaking photograph on this book's cover makes it clear why no one will ever forget Elizabeth Taylor. And if her sheer beauty isn't enough, there are the details of her wild, flamboyant, and excruciatingly painful life. Taraborrelli, known for his unauthorized biographies of such celebrities as Diana Ross and Princess Grace, has done his research (or from his acknowledgments, his researchers have done their research). Certainly, there are what seem like fresh tibits of information here from a wide variety of surprising sources--family friends, guests at the Taylor-Nicky Hilton wedding (her first), and even Debbie Reynolds, from whom Elizabeth stole Eddie Fisher. But the saga of Elizabeth Taylor is practically myth at this point, so it's hard to add anything new except around the edges. Moreover, Taylor has written two autobiographies of her own, and without the cooperation of so many key figures--Taylor herself, her children, Sybil Burton--Taraborrelli isn't able to generate any insider feel to his account. (He does thank Taylor for not actively deterring people from speaking to him.) Still, despite all those built-in shortcomings, it's hard not to keep turning pages when the story you're reading is so filled with larger-than-life loves, scandals, tragedies, and, of course, stars, stars, stars. As with Lee Server's recent Ava Gardner0 (2006), Taraborrelli's take on Liz reminds us what movie stardom is all about. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2006 Booklist
Library Journal Review
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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
