Elizabeth Taylor

Glamorous Elizabeth Taylor recently passed away at 79 years old. She has been hailed as the last great movie star...also, she has been known as a humanitarian and a champion for AIDS research. According to many accounts, she was the type of person who stood by her friends no matter what. Surprise, surprise, she was also a mom to four children (two boys and two girls)! She also converted to Judaism in 1959. Oh yeah!

Elizabeth Taylor was known and appreciated for her breathtaking beauty and acting talent. She won two Oscars. I will never forget her in A Place in the Sun with co-star Montgomery Clift. What a pair! It is part love story, part murder mystery, part American classic. She exuded a dangerous sexuality even at the ripe age of 17 years old! I read once that Clift and Taylor fell in a platonic sort of love during that movie. Clift, who was bisexual, had conflicting feelings about men and women. Though they were never lovers, they remained close friends for life.

My daughter is a big fan of Elizabeth in National Velvet. Throughout the movie, Elizabeth plays Velvet Brown, a young girl who believes in the ability of her horse "Pie" so much, she disguises herself and pretends to be a (male!) jockey to ride in the "Nationals". I swear that in almost every scene, a 12 year old Elizabeth has tears in her eyes. She is so full of love and passion for her horse that it is contagious. I won't tell my daughter, however, that after the film was completed, Elizabeth was given "The Pie" as a birthday present. That is since my daughter is campaigning for a horse of her own...

Elizabeth was known for her passions...food and men being among the top two! (And who can blame her?) She married eight times, and twice to actor Richard Burton. Burton called her "an erotic legend...whose breasts would topple empires." Awesome! She loved diamonds and red lipstick. I once read that her favorite roses were lavender ones, because they matched her famous violet eyes. (Since my eyes are brown, I am thinking that the only flower that would match mine would be a dead one! Okay, so chocolate would match my eyes...that is an even trade!)

She even created her own perfume, "White Diamonds." I couldn't help but sample some of White Diamonds recently when I was at the perfume counter. The perfume starts strong and almost takes your breath away. After a bit, though, it softens and smells paradoxically clean and luscious. My curiosity piqued, I went online to see what other women thought about White Diamonds, and most were very positive about it -- often receiving compliments from men and women. Sold on the scent, I went back and bought a small bottle of the eau de toilette. I must admit that I have not been disappointed with it. In fact, I love it! It is a little old fashioned, but brazen, soft and sensuous. I think it is also fun channeling Elizabeth into my own life in a small way.

Talent, beauty, perfume, and a lust for life aside, people love Elizabeth Taylor (and all of the GREAT movie stars for that matter) because of their larger than life quality. Metaphorically speaking, movie stars embody the hero's -- ahem, heroine's --journey for truth, happiness and beauty. There is no doubt that Elizabeth led the life of a goddess. But she was human, too. A great-grandma, even! In the end, like any mortal, she was scared. Her friend, Debbie Reynolds (who forgave Elizabeth for stealing Reynold's husband away from her!) said Elizabeth "expressed how scary it was, when you can see that it's perhaps the end, to find a way to leave this world and go on to the next." In fact, Elizabeth had her bedroom redecorated recently, hoping that she would not succumb and would return home.

When she died, she was neither a glamorous movie star nor a goddess. She was surrounded by her children. She was a mom. Alright, then, a very, very famous mom.