I’ve always liked having the name ‘Elizabeth;’ I always like fellow Elizabeths, especially those who prefer, as Elizabeth Taylor did, to go by their full name. She disdained ‘Liz.’ No, Elizabeth Taylor was/is an Uber Elizabeth– exemplifying the name’s regal flowing syllables centered by a zippy ‘z.’
While Elizabeth Taylor looked every inch the movie queen, she earned her Elizabethan ‘z’ with her unladylike zest for life and her sly sometimes zany sense of humor. Celebrated friends of hers remember her rowdy cackling laugh as well as her generous nature and good works. A detail that sticks in my mind from an interview years ago: while Elizabeth Taylor chatted away with the interviewer, one of Taylor’s infant grandchildren gnawed on one of Taylor’s oversized diamond rings.
Elizabeth Taylor acknowledged in the later years of her oversized life that she was ‘tacky’ then added slyly, ‘You wouldn’t want me any other way, would you?’
Of course not. 
Yet this gawdiest of stars had– onscreen, in her early star-making roles– a luminous ethereal quality. Did two earthlings ever look more lovely than young Elizabeth Taylor and young Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun? Elizabeth Taylor will always have a place in the stars. RIP, Elizabeth.
(photos: cullentarikbeck.blogspot.com; movieeye.com, community.livejournal.com, calstatela.edu)
i know what you mean about the name thing, it suited her.
rip to a true elizabeth
Thanks Livvy. Glad you agree about the name and I love it that she always wanted her name in full. Cheers– Elizabeth S.
And the indescribable beauty of her youth made way for charitable greatness in old age.
Very true and a good point– yes, she was a person of substance as well as style–
will add in a reference to that and thanks for stopping by ‘for Elizabeth’–
E
I have been a big fan of Elizabeth Taylor for over 60 years and consider her one of the greatest actresses of all time. I would NEVER use the word GAUDIEST to describe her. “Gaudy implies a tasteless use of overly bright often clashing colors” or excessively ornamentation-…sounds more like Lady Gaga than Elizabeth! Her performances in “A Place in the Sun” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf” and “Suddenly Last Summer” are not gaudy, but serious sensitive productions that involve superb acting! . For the record, my favorite movie is “A Place in the Sun” and my greatest admiration for Elizabeth is her effort to raise money for Aids when it was daring to even talk about the subject.
Hi Barb–
Good to hear from a true Elizabeth T. fan– i love A PLACE IN THE SUN too and that would be my favorite ET as well, also a great performance by Montgomery Clift.
On ‘gaudy,’ I wasn’t referring to her acting so much as her style later in her life, when she would go in for very extravagant glittery jewels, hair, etc. But I agree as an actress she was always a Natural in front of the camera and had such class and grace in her movements and her voice.
Yes, I admire her work for AIDS too and for being one of the first to take that on publically. Will have to check out Suddenly Last Summer which I’ve never seen.
Cheers and thanks as always for stopping by– Elizabeth (S.)