Elizabeth

Elizabeth Taylor is known internationally as one of the most beautiful and talented women ever to grace the silver screen. She has won two Academy Awards and starred in over sixty films. She is just as well known for her tempestuous personal life, marrying eight times and suffering through innumerable health problems. A cultural icon, she has been written about before . . . but never like this. This moving book traces for the first time Elizabeth's journey through the dark and often lonely world of a fame unparalleled in the 1960s and 1970s, a time during which alcohol and drugs played a major part in her life. It would be with her fifth (and sixth) husband Richard Burton (with whom she made twelve movies, including Cleopatra) that she would learn life lessons about love and loyalty that would inform the rest of her life and, finally, be the catalyst for her recovery from alcoholism in the 1980s. This book also details her philanthropic work as an AIDS activist in the 1990s as well as her stunning success as a business woman today (with a multi-million-dollar fragrance). Based on years of research, this is not just a star's biography . . . it's an unforgettable woman's story.

J. Randy Taraborrelli

Section - i: Prologue Unit - i: Part One: CHILDHOOD Chapter - 1: Sara and Francis Chapter - 2: A Change in Sara Chapter - 3: A Family Held Hostage? Chapter - 4: "Bravo!" Chapter - 5: "Missing a Father's Love" Chapter - 6: "I Think I Might Want to Be an Actress" Chapter - 7: A New Life in America Chapter - 8: "But I Want to Be with MGM!" Chapter - 9: National Velvet Chapter - 10: Making a Star . . . a Star! Unit - ii: Part Two: FINDING HER WAY Chapter - 11: Early Suitors . . . and Howard Hughes Chapter - 12: Nicky Hilton Chapter - 13: Elizabeth's Anger Chapter - 14: Uncle Howard Gets Rid of Nicky Hilton Chapter - 15: Michael Wilding Chapter - 16: A Marriage Devoid of Passion Chapter - 17: Movies Chapter - 18: Mike Todd Chapter - 19: Mike Todd's Sudden Death Chapter - 20: Eddie Fisher Chapter - 21: Elizabeth and Eddie Marry Chapter - 22: Butterfield 8 Chapter - iii: Part Three: HER DESTINY Chapter - 23: A False Start for Cleopatra Chapter - 24: A Near-Death Experience and Then an Oscar Chapter - 25: Cleopatra Begins Filming Chapter - 26: Richard Burton Chapter - 27: Elizabeth Adopts a Baby Chapter - 28: "Love, in All of Its Mystery, Unfolds" Chapter - 29: Elizabeth Confesses to Eddie about Richard Chapter - 30: Unadulterated Drama Chapter - 31: Elizabeth Attempts Suicide? Chapter - 32: "Le Scandale" Chapter - 33: The Taylor-Burton Sexual Revolution Chapter - 34: Cleopatra Arrives Chapter - 35: Elizabeth as a Mother Chapter - 36: Nightmare in Porto Santo Stefano Chapter - 37: Finishing Cleopatra Chapter - 38: A Turning Point in Gstaad Chapter - 39: Richard Chooses Chapter - 40: True Love in Mexico Unit - iv: Part Four: "LIZ AND DICK" Chapter - 41: Elizabeth and Richard: "We Will Have No More Marriages" Chapter - 42: The Boston Brawl Chapter - 43: Richard's Hemophilia Chapter - 44: "Even Our Fights Are Fun" Chapter - 45: Elizabeth Apologizes to Debbie Chapter - 46: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Chapter - 47: Bad Movies, Great Riches, and Another Oscar Chapter - 48: "Francis L. Taylor-All Our Love-1897-1968" Chapter - 49: "Learning from Each Other" Chapter - 50: "I Sometimes Curse the Day . . ." Chapter - 51: "Pray for Us" Chapter - 52: And What of the Children? Unit - v: Part Five: CONFUSION REIGNS Chapter - 53: "What Makes Us Women" Chapter - 54: Henry Wynberg Chapter - 55: Elizabeth Divorces Richard Chapter - 56: Elizabeth Marries Richard . . . Again! Chapter - 57: A Diversion before Divorce Chapter - 58: Richard Asks for Another Divorce Unit - vi: Part Six: COMING TO TERMS Chapter - 59: John Warner Chapter - 60: Elizabeth Marries John Chapter - 61: An Important Transition Chapter - 62: The Little Foxes Chapter - 63: Sifting Through the Wreckage Chapter - 64: A Birthday Reunion with Richard Chapter - 65: "God Has Kept an Eye on My Children" Chapter - 66: Elizabeth Gets Her Way Chapter - 67: Private Lives and Private Miseries Chapter - 68: Richard Marries . . . Someone Else Chapter - 69: Intervention Chapter - 70: Betty Ford Center Chapter - 71: Richard Burton Dies Chapter - 72: Transition Unit - vii: Part Seven: THE GLORY YEARS Chapter - 73: "I Will Not Be Ignored" Chapter - 74: Elizabeth Taylor's Passion Chapter - 75: Back at Betty Ford Chapter - 76: Larry Fortensky Chapter - 77: Michael Jackson Chapter - 78: Elizabeth Marries Larry Chapter - 79: Re-creating Her Mother's Marriage . . . but Not Quite Unit - viii: Part Eight: ALL WOMAN Chapter - 80: "Sara S. Taylor-Loving Mother, Devoted Wife-1895-1994" Chapter - 81: Elizabeth and Larry End Their Marriage Chapter - 82: Facing Her Mortality . . . Again Chapter - 83: Dame Elizabeth: Honor at Last Section - ii: Selected Cast of Characters Acknowledgements - iii: Acknowledgments Section - iv: Sources and Other Notes Section - v: Elizabeth Taylor Filmography Index - vi: Index