2. The Violet-Eyed Temptress

“When the sun comes up, I have morals again.”

A star from all sides - causing controversy throughout her entire career, (and even now, post retirement) enlightening the world with her talent, lifestyle and love affairs; Elizabeth Taylor, the most beautiful woman ever filmed, made the world her playground... and we cheered her for it.

Favourite performance: Suddenly, Last Summer
Favourite films: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cleopatra
Leading men of choice: Montgomery Clift, Richard Burton

Five things I love about Liz

Seeing as Elizabeth Taylor is my favorite movie star of all time, seemed only natural to dedicate a post to her... so I'm making a tiny list of things and mention only 5 things that make me love her:




Her beauty
Call me shallow, but I can't help but loving someone who looks the way Elizabeth did about 50 years ago (yes, did, I'm not going to pretend she's maintained her good looks up to this point) Wasn't she just lovely? Elizabeth's face looks like a portrait: flawless skin, great bone structure, gorgeous and well-defined features (the cute little nose, sensuous lips, her very soft face in general), thick eyebrows... and, of course, her eyes, those famous, big [blue-green-violet?] eyes of hers.






Her ability to show emotions on-screen
While I'll be the first to admit that when Elizabeth had just started out there seemed to be a sense of under achievement in her acting, as she matured so did her talent, as she exploded with emotion - particularly in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, BUtterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, she was just splendorous.






Her determination to find love
Might seem a tad too obvious, but I really admire this in Elizabeth: she spent a good portion of her life falling in love, and idealizing romance enough to marry eight times. Fine, it's not exactly a very grown-up thing to do, have more weddings than shoes, but I love her to death for trying. She's probably known more happiness than most people thanks to this idealization of love - and isn't happiness the whole point of life?




Her cheerful approach at her own life
While almost completely out of the spotlight nowadays, Elizabeth still makes a random public appearance every now and then - and there's not yet an interviewer that doesn't attempt to poke at the old "Liz" clichés... and she merrily changes the subject. Just last year, Larry King interviewed her and, in his endless [un]eloquence, randomly said something about her eyes being pretty: "are they violet?" Elizabeth calmly smiled and replied "oh, are they? I always thought they were red". Now, that's class. Not to mention her many quotes of the style of "Some of my best friends have been dogs and horses" - gotta love someone who takes things lightly.





Her off-centerness Doesn't this picture speak for itself? While Elizabeth's days of glory might be long past, she's still lovably quirky. Now, being best friends with Michael Jackson is odd enough (however understandable it might be; after all, there are obvious connections between the two, like both being practically pushed into the entertainment media while extremely young), but something like this... maid of honor in Liza Minnelli's last wedding? Pure Elizabeth! Oh, and of course, it's not exactly the best of signs to have the queen of unsuccessful marriages as your matron of honor.