Violet Eyes

Liz is gone… another icon from the era of the big Hollywood studios has died. I suppose to many succeeding generations this will mean little and go unnoticed . I for one grieve for the loss, I remember well the influence that these megastars exerted on the culture of the 50s and 60s. It was not only her beauty that made her renown, it was also her blatant casting off of husband after husband. Elizabeth’s two stormy marriages to Richard Burton were fodder for the tabloids for decades. A woman with her own mind.

My mother was married in 1952 two years after the “The Father of the Bride” with Spencer Tracy was released. The film had an immense impact on the style of weddings. I recall years later once telling my mom how her wedding dress looked just like the one Liz wore, she replied, “Of course it did we all wanted to look like Liz” Despite the 50’s mania for blonds, Liz made brunettes just as “de’riquer” a fact that my Mom reveled in.

I suppose most of you know that Ms. Taylor also had a thing for men of a certain persuasion . Her long relationship with Montgomery Clift is legendary, as well as her long friendship with Rock Hudson. It seems to me that she found a bond in her ties to gay men that she could never find with her husbands.[although she did score the Big diamond] Taylor’s advocacy of the fight against AIDS at a time when no public personalities would dare “speak the word” is proof of her self-less understanding of the magnitude of the AIDS epidemic.

As another icon of my life passes from the scene I say,Good for you Liz…. thanks for sharing a life well lived …. we will miss you.