Elizabeth Taylor wore many hats. First and foremost, she was an actress par excellence. She went on to become an ace businesswoman, activist, and advocate. Actress Kim Kardashian will feature in the three-part series based on Liz’s life (as she was popularly called). Kim has also been named as the producer of the BBC documentary. The docu-series has been named Elizebeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar.
Liz was indeed a rebel superstar, and her two marriages at different periods with fellow actor Richard Burton became a record that has perhaps not been duplicated in Hollywood or any other place. She said “I do” on eight occasions with different men. She was probably the most married woman in Hollywood!
The series will analyse Liz’s craft and technique as one who was mesmeric on screen. She is said to have reinvented the very nature of fame. Kardashian said, “Elizabeth Taylor was unapologetically herself, a fighter.” Kim enjoys the honour of having conducted the last interview with Taylor. “She is proof that you can keep evolving and changing and have different chapters in your life – and she paved the way for all of us who came after her with that blueprint.”
The docuseries will also include comments from and interviews with Liz’s close friend Dame Joan Collins, who famously competed for the role of Cleopatra — and lost. Liz was brilliant in that film. and with Burton created a magical chemistry. And then, we would also have Margaret O’Brien, who went to school with Liz on the MGM backlot, friend Carole Bayer Sager, and leading scientist Dr. Anthony Fauci, who worked with Elizabeth in the fight against AIDS.
Alistair Pegg, Commissioning Editor at the BBC added, “This exciting series promises a new understanding of Elizabeth Taylor – both her technique and power as an actor, and her capacity for reinventing herself.”
Liz spent most of her life entertaining audiences. Her big Hollywood breakthrough, National Velvet in 1944, came when she was barely 12! And there was no stopping her after that. Have we not seen or at least heard of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1996), and not to forget Cleopatra in 1963? She has always been famously identified with Cleopatra. Of course, she had plenty of gossip around her. And some fascinating events too. She and Rock Hudson are said to have invented the chocolate martini on the set of Giant.
Finally, her life had as much drama and excitement as there were tragedy and heartbreaks. Some of them mimicked her characters on screen. Will there ever be another Liz? I wonder and hope that the BBC series will do justice to her many-faceted life and times.
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