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troubles with Richard were related to their romance’s scandalous beginnings. “You always get back what you put forth,” she said,
“and I should have known that I’d get back exactly what I had done myself. You get what you give.” In making that observation, she was referencing what happened after she married Burton the second time. “Richard went off with another woman,”
she explained. Then, with an arched eyebrow, she added, “Sallywho-shall-remain-nameless.” (Of course, she was referring to Burton’s wife Sally Hay Burton.)
In the 1960s, Sybil and Jordan Christopher opened Arthur, one of the first discos in New York City. Since 1991, she’s been the artistic director of the nonprofit and extremely successful Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York, having founded it with Emma Walton (the daughter of Julie Andrews).
Today, Mrs. Sybil Christopher, who lives in New York, is strong, beautiful, and triumphant. As recounted in the text, she and Elizabeth reunited in Los Angeles in 1998 when their mutual friend Roddy McDowall lay dying. She long ago accepted Elizabeth’s apologies. She is seventy-seven.
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DEBBIE REYNOLDS
Debbie Reynolds continues her performing career, working as an entertainer many months of the year, around the world. Since her marriage to Eddie Fisher, she’s been wed three times. She is presently single and lives in Los Angeles.
Debbie says that she too long ago reconciled her emotions where Elizabeth is concerned. (As noted in the text, she and Elizabeth mended their relationship on a cruise ship in 1964.) “What kind of woman would I be if I held a grudge over something that happened a lifetime ago?” Debbie said when interviewed for this 476
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book. “You live, you learn, you move on. Elizabeth and I became great friends.” She and Eddie, however, are not friends. “I chose a long time ago not to have him in my life, and I think that was the right decision,” she says. “I don’t wish him ill will, though. We all got through it and went on with our lives. I just never wanted him in my life again.”
In February 2001, Elizabeth and Debbie appeared in a television movie together, These Old Broads. Elizabeth says the two
“dished and dished” about Eddie, but neither could bear to speak his name. Instead, they referred to him as “Harry Hunter.”
She is seventy-four.
Acknowledgments
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ELIZABETH TAYLOR
To begin, I would like to thank Miss Elizabeth Taylor. The first time I met her was many years ago at a reception in Los Angeles, when she was promoting her book Elizabeth Takes Off. My time with her that day was so brief, I wouldn’t want it to be misconstrued as an interview. It was more like a . . . close encounter. I remember it vividly, though, because there’s no one quite like Elizabeth Taylor, and one’s first time meeting her is bound to be memorable.
As I walked into the hotel suite in which she was welcoming visitors—journalists, friends, and others who were just curious and managed to get by security—I entered a dimly lit foyer. I then turned a corner and walked toward an area flooded by bright lights. There, surrounded by elaborate floral arrangements, stood a tiny woman talking to someone in an animated fashion, using her hands and nodding her head while laughing. At first, from a distance, I thought she couldn’t be Elizabeth Taylor. After all, she was little more than five feet tall. I figured she might be one of her handlers, maybe a publicist. However, as I got a little closer, I realized it was the lady herself, looking wonderfully thin and healthy, at least twenty years younger than her fifty-five years. She wore an ivory-colored blouse and skirt that spectacularly accentuated her tiny, cinched-in waist and set off her bronzy tan. 478
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Her hair was a soft brunette with wisps of blonde running sparingly through it, a modified upsweep that ended in an elegant and full halo. Scarlet lips framed even, snow-white teeth. The amethysts and diamonds at her earlobes fought for attention with her eyes—and lost. Indeed, much has been said and written about Elizabeth’s eyes. I can tell you that they truly are striking. Their violet beauty wasn’t all that caught my attention, though. As she introduced herself, I was struck by their almost indescribable complexity. It was as if I had been immediately presented with a great riddle: What history had those eyes taken in over the last half century, and how did she really feel about it?
Even given the time constraints and the chatter around her, Elizabeth was eager to talk about her sobriety and weight loss, answering my few questions with self-deprecating humor and occasional laughter. I mentioned that I couldn’t fathom how a woman so obviously large in character could be so slight of frame. “Oh, I get that all the time,” she told me. “I think people expect me to be over six feet tall. Part of it is from looking up at me from a seat in a movie theater for more years than I care to remember. The rest, I guess, is from my image, my life.” Indeed, in her presence, one truly does feel that he or she is in the company of a genuine movie star. When she turned to greet someone else, I watched as she moved like a queen, serene and confident in her awareness of the impact her presence had on everyone with whom she came in contact.
When she brought up her recovery at the Betty Ford Center, I asked how she felt about therapy. It’s not for her, she said. “Because some of it has been so painful,” she explained, “I couldn’t relive it. It’s one of the reasons I’ve avoided psychiatry. I couldn’t go back to some of those places. Why, I’d go out of my mind. I look only to the future,” she said, “never to the past. I’m always moving ahead. That’s just the way I am.” She then painted her history with a wide, sweeping brushstroke. “Listen, I’ve had a lifetime of love and laughter,” she concluded, “and that, and only that, is what I choose to remember.”
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I have seen her around town many times over the years since then, at different functions in Los Angeles. She’s always been gracious and sweet—and surrounded by a troupe of menacinglooking security guards with little walkie-talkies and earpieces, lest anyone get too close. One could forget about trying to ask any probing questions of her as she whooshes by at these kinds of events. I certainly never dreamed all those years ago when I had my brief audience with her that I would one day write a book about Elizabeth Taylor. Surely, if I had known, I would have insisted that she sit down and spend many hours with me and answer hundreds of questions about a life so fantastic it can hardly be fathomed. Well . . . I can dream, can’t I? As it was, I was lucky to ask her just a few questions—and if she could have looked into the future to see that I would one day write a book about her, she might not even have answered those!
I’m being facetious, of course and, in truth, not giving her enough credit. Indeed, celebrities have understandably mixed reactions to the notion of an unauthorized biography. After all, no one sees a life quite like the person who actually lived it. However, Miss Taylor has an astute understanding of history and of her place in it. During the course of research for this book, I learned that her concern for accuracy far outweighs any interest she may have in trying to control the public’s perception of her. Of course, she has lived a life that’s been controversial. However, she long ago abandoned any emotional attachment to the public’s view of it, or of her. Interestingly, she says that it’s only because of her worldwide celebrity that she’s been able to achieve success in what she considers her most important work, as an AIDS activist—and not just the aspects of that fame that she embraces, but also the parts she would just as soon reject. “I spent fifty years protecting my privacy,” she said. “I resented my fame until I realized I could use it.”
I think that this is one of the reasons why Elizabeth did not feel the need to discourage anyone from participating in this book—
and, in fact, she actually encouraged members of her inner circle to speak for it. Because we went for balance, a point that we were 480
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able to convey to Mi
ss Taylor, we did not feel the need to sugarcoat any of the more provocative elements in her story. For that, I truly thank her.
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THE AUTHOR’S SUPPORT TEAM
I would like to thank my venerable editor, Maureen Mahon Egen, president and COO of Warner Books. Elizabeth is our third book together, the first being Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot, followed by Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier. It’s so wonderful to have an editor who truly believes in me as a writer and allows me to express myself freely. Writing a book such as Elizabeth is a collaborative effort. It’s not just the author sitting down in front of his keyboard and hoping for the best. During the course of years of production on a project such as this one, many people become invested in the project, from copy editors and fact-checkers to lawyers and designers, and that chain of command at Warner Books starts with Maureen Egen. I also owe a debt of gratitude to those talented people who have contributed to this work, beginning with Warner Books publisher Jamie Raab, who has such brilliant vision. I’m so lucky to be even a small part of it. I am also grateful to the wonderful production team, which includes Michelle Bidelspach and Eve Rabinovits. Bob Castillo was the managing editor of this book and Roland Ottewell was the copy editor, and both did a wonderful job, as always. Thomas Whatley managed the interior production, and Anne Twomey designed the cover (and what a cover it is!), with help from her assistant, Elaini Caruso. Thanks also to those in Publicity, including Emi Battaglia and Jimmy Franco and Evan Boorstyn; and to those in the Rights departments, including Nancy Wiese and Rebecca Oliver. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to Harvey-Jane Kowal. Once again, I was so fortu-Acknowledgments 481
nate to work with Warner’s counsel, Heather Kilpatrick, a dedicated and precise attorney. In all, I just couldn’t ask for a better environment for my work than the one I have at Warner Books. I look forward with great anticipation to our next project together. My deepest appreciation also goes to my domestic agent, Mitch Douglas. He has been an important person in my life and career for ten years, and I thank him for his constant and enthusiastic encouragement. He went the extra mile for me, especially in the final stages of production of this book in dealing with photographs, and I want him to know how much I appreciate it. Dorie Simmonds of the Dorie Simmonds Agency in London is always there for me when I most need her during the development and writing of any of my books. As well as being my capable representative in Europe, she is a good and trusted friend and I so appreciate her dedication to me and to my work. Truly, she’s a resourceful woman who can get anything accomplished for me, and she does . . . daily!
Without my extremely capable fact-checker and editor, James Pinkston, I can’t imagine what kind of book we would be publishing. Jim is tireless in his quest for accuracy, and working with him on Elizabeth has been a true honor and joy. As always, Jim went the extra mile on this, our fourth book together, and I am grateful to him. As I often say, I would never consider writing a book without having Jim in my corner for it.
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THE TRUE EXPERTS
Whenever I am at a book signing for one of my publications, inevitably a person best described as a wise guy will point a finger at me and say, “Hey! What makes you think you’re such an expert on the life of [insert biography’s subject here].” Once and for all, I’d like to dispel the notion that I am an expert on anyone’s life. I’m 482
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just a writer who’s been fortunate enough to be able to tell true stories about people who matter to me and to others. Where Elizabeth Taylor is concerned, this book is about her life as I see it and can report it, based on my years of research. I focused on the parts of her life I thought were the most telling, the aspects that told the best stories and illuminated her ever-evolving character and personality. However, during the course of researching this book, as with every one of my books, I actually did meet people who truly are, for lack of a better word, “experts” at understanding all things Taylor. In that regard, there are five gentlemen I would like to recognize. Each has a busy life and career and had better things to do, I am sure, than respond to my telephone calls and e-mails asking questions like, “How was the wedding gown she wore in Father of the Bride different from the one she wore in real life when she married Nicky Hilton?” However, respond they did, and without them this would be a very different—and, doubtless, not as accurate—
book.
Thank you, first, to Denis Ferrara for his assistance in so many tangible and intangible ways, and for sharing his vast knowledge of Miss Taylor’s life. Denis began as a fan chasing after Elizabeth’s limousine, eventually becoming a journalist in 1981, writing with columnist Liz Smith, one of Taylor’s chief chroniclers. In many ways, Denis has helped Ms. Smith continue the legend. His work with me and with Cathy Griffin on this book was invaluable, and I am deeply grateful to him.
Thank you, also, to Brad Geagley, a magnificent historian who shed light on so many elements of Taylor’s career, and in particular, the history of Cleopatra. Brad also shared his memories of the many interviews he did over the years, including those with Richard Burton, Roddy McDowell, and Eddie Fisher. What a wonderful interview he gave to us!
A very special thank-you to Tom Gates, a wonderful friend of mine who has photographed Elizabeth for the last forty-plus years and whose work adorns the end pages of this book, as well as many of the interior photo spreads. Tom, who is New York editor for Acknowledgments
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Palm Beach Society and editor at large for TravelSmart, read this entire manuscript before it was copyedited and dutifully pointed out any errors in it before the ink had a chance to even dry. I am so grateful to him. He really devoted himself to this work, and all out of his deep affection for Elizabeth. His love and respect for Elizabeth is evident, I believe, in many of his photographs of her. Thank you to Bill Goulding, who has followed Elizabeth’s career since 1964 when she accompanied Burton to New York for Hamlet. He was very helpful in providing material and observations for background purposes. Thank you, finally, to Michael Stevens, who sat with me for many, many hours going over seemingly countless interview transcripts to determine what mattered and what didn’t in the telling of this story. Truly, if there is an expert on 1950s and 1960s pop culture, Michael is it, and I thank him so much.
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THE RESEARCHERS
It is impossible to write accurately about anyone’s life without many reliable witnesses to provide a wide range of viewpoints. I believe that a biography such as Elizabeth stands or falls on the cooperation and frankness of those involved in the story. I first started this book in 1995 and, as I do some of my books, put it aside in order that I might have a chance to consider the research and the angle of the story. I picked it up again in 1997 (right after I interviewed Elizabeth’s first fiancé, William Pawley), in 2000 (when I first pitched the idea to Warner Books), and then finally in 2003, which is when I began to fine-tune the edition you now hold in your hands. Over the course of all of those years, a great number of people went out of their way to assist me in this endeavor: hundreds of friends, relations, entertainment journalists, socialites, lawyers, celebrities, show business executives and for-484 Acknowledgments
mer executives, associates and friends as well as foes, classmates, teachers, neighbors, friends, newspersons, and archivists who were contacted in preparation for this book. It would be impossible for me to mention them all, but I am deeply indebted to them. Some are no longer with us; I pray that their memory is served well with their remembrances in this book.
Imagine the life of a person such as Elizabeth Taylor, and then try imagining how many people she must have touched along the way in a career that has spanned sixty years. It was a daunting task just to figure out who was who, and I never could have done it without so much help from my researchers. Though we had the opportunity to interview a wide range of sources, as always with my books, we decided to focus on those who had not previously
told their stories. These people were interviewed for this work over a ten-year period either by me or my researchers. I’ve had many investigators and researchers over the years, but none who have been as consistent as Cathy Griffin. Cathy is also a fine journalist in her own right. It would be easy with a subject as popular as this one to simply reinterview those who have told their stories to others, and hope for an occasional new angle. However, Cathy always manages to locate people who have new, previously untold stories. This particular work represents our sixth book together. I thank her for her assistance over the years, her tenacity, and, most of all, her friendship.
Also, I would like to thank Juliette Burgonde, Cloe Basiline, Maxime Rhiette, Suzalie Rose, and, especially, Babette Valmonde in France; Clarette Olsen-Smith and Mary Horby in South Wales. I want to thank all of the people in Italy who assisted me in researching the Cleopatra years, including Nunziata Stornella, who organized the research team devoted to this work. Of that team, I must acknowledge Anne Edita and Elizabetta Renata for all of their assistance in Italy and for finding people to talk to me who were so difficult to locate. Also, regarding Cleopatra, thanks to Anthony Patrizia, Arnaldo Fiorella, Ysabella Donato, Stefano Rufina, and Anna and Giancarlo Oria for all of their help. I had Acknowledgments
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such a wonderful Italian research team on this book, and I thank them all.
Some people we talked to have certainly told their stories from time to time but simply had to be included again in these pages. For instance, what would an Elizabeth Taylor biography be without Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds? I do think, though, that even people such as Fisher and Reynolds who have been interviewed before were a little more forthcoming in this biography than they’ve been in the past.
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LIBRARY AND
MISCELLANEOUS RESEARCH
To begin with, of course, I reviewed every one of Elizabeth Taylor’s films, as well as all of her made-for-television movies and miniseries. I would not have had access to all of this material had it not been for Nick Scotti in the United Kingdom. I owe him a debt of gratitude for providing me with all of this material, much of which is simply not commercially available.
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