My grandmother lived with us until I was 13 then we moved far away and she chose to stay with my uncle rather than move with us “to the sticks” as she called it. Years later when my uncle passed away my poor grandmother had to move “to the sticks” after all to live with us once more. She never liked it. It only had one theater and a drive-in, which she found barbaric. However, before the family split, geographically, my grandmother took me to every movie produced for the silver screen. “National Velvet” was my favorite followed closely by “Little Women.” Years later she starred in one of my favorite movies of all times with Montgomery Clift (Elizabeth Taylor, not my grandmother), “A Place in the Sun.”
I was a mere tot when we started going to the movies. We always went on Saturdays, after Catechism, and it was an all-day event. There were always two movies---an “A” film and a “B” film---news reels, cartoons, coming attractions, and sometimes the theaters had contests and the theater managers would appear on stage before the main feature and would give away prizes. The theaters did not reek of nacho cheese, just buttered popcorn. We never won a prize but just going to the movies in those days was prize enough. Occasionally a celebrity appeared to promote their film.
During our movie days we lived in a large metropolitan area with many theaters and some movies played for long periods of time, especially popular films, i.e., any film with Elizabeth Taylor. I’m fairly certain I’ve seen every film she ever made and “National Velvet” was the beginning of my lifelong love of horses.
Elizabeth Taylor was certainly beautiful, but she had something else. Beauty isn’t enough. There are lots of beautiful people with bland personalities. The special ones, however, have charisma as well. The combination of beauty and charisma is life altering for the owner of those attributes as well as for the beholder of the one with the good genes. It was hard to determine which was more beautiful in “A Place in the Sun,” Montgomery Clift or Elizabeth Taylor. When they were on the screen together people stopped breathing. They both had that special beauty/charisma combination and that movie made people weak in the knees. They remained close until his death in 1966.
Montgomery Clift was bisexual and filled to the brim with sexuality. Rock Hudson was gay and tremendously macho and sexual on the screen. Elizabeth Taylor loved them both and they loved her. The scenes between these men and Elizabeth Taylor were flat out sizzling. Beauty and charisma seek beauty and charisma. And the rest of us just swoon. I didn’t know then that Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson had sexual orientations that would not have been popular for the masses. I wouldn’t have cared because I adored them both, before and after learning of their inclinations.
The remainder of Elizabeth Taylor’s years after the discovery of Rock Hudson’s illness turned her into a fierce advocate for AIDS research in the form of powerful fund-raising to help the millions of people afflicted worldwide with the disease. She brought awareness to the disease and debunked myths and ignorance about what AIDS really is: a disease that can affect everyone regardless of sexual orientation. I heard on the evening news on the day of her death that she raised more money for AIDS than she ever earned as a movie star. That’s a hunk of change.
I have long sense gotten over movie star adulation. Partly it’s because I grew up and stopped such silliness but partly it’s because movie stars and other celebrities have been degraded with the advent of tabloid exploitation. Some celebrities soak it up and create outlandish opportunities for over-exposure while others hide to the best of their abilities. Some poor soul can be sunbathing in their private yard and paparazzi can photograph them from trees a mile away. This behavior existed when I was a girl but not to the extent it does now.
Movie studios were known to create elaborate untrue stories about their contract actors to create public personas that would appeal to middle class America. To control rumors about Rock Hudson’s homosexuality they made him marry a woman. (It must have been hard for movie stars to stay on their pedestals.) But today, we as fans have created monsters of our favorites by purchasing and viewing what the tabloids have to offer and we demand more. We have ruined our celebrities.
I’ve never been one to dwell on the good ole’ days. Times change and we change with them. I don't look longingly at some of the crazy things we had to cope with “back then.” I might find them amusing but I’m glad we no longer have the difficulties we had when I was a child. When emails are circulated about “the good old days” I remove my rose-colored glasses. But one thing I’m sorry about is that the mystique of our celebrities is gone forever.
We can now see them dirty and unshaven, climbing all over their mates and sometimes even videos of them having sex indiscriminately. We see them in their underwear, scratching, their guts hanging out and their cellulite exposed and watch them staggering down sandy beaches drunk and/or stoned out of their minds. We watch their mistreatment of waiters and sales clerks and wives and husbands and nannies and children and strangers. We gasp at their exposed private parts winking at us as they exit limousines, and we have in-depth details of their anger management issues, their poor parenting, their divorces, squabbles with parents who use and abuse them, and frankly, I don't want any of it.
Elizabeth Taylor lived a “full” life and we all knew about it but that’s all. We knew about it. It wasn’t thrust in our faces all day long and we didn’t see her cavorting with her indiscretions all over the planet. There seemed to be more dignity to the rumors about their lives. No one outside of Hollywood knew Rock Hudson was gay until he announced he was dying of AIDS, because being gay during the era of Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor was a career killer. Fortunately, today it’s so much easier to have a full career regardless of sexual preference and I believe we have grown up and can accept the fact that actors act and their personal lives have nothing to do with their film roles. When I watch old Rock Hudson movies I completely buy that he’s an adorable hunk in love with Doris Day. I was thrilled to learn Montgomery Clift was bisexual, though it never did me any good. Sigh.
Today if a celebrity gets a hangnail it’s on the news all day and we can’t go online without pop-ups showing a magnified view of the infected finger. I’m so happy that Elizabeth managed to mostly escape this craziness to the end of her life. She certainly did get a lot of attention but somehow it remained dignified.
Many years ago a friend was vacationing in New York and happened to hop on an elevator already occupied by Elizabeth Taylor and two women. Though bigger than life on a movie screen, Elizabeth was tiny. She was dressed casually but nicely. She wore makeup but not much. She looked young and her freckles were exposed making her appear even younger. She smiled warmly and genuinely because my friend was probably drooling. The elevator was electrified by her presence. Sparks bounced off the walls.
The ride was short and Elizabeth Taylor left the elevator with her friends all too soon. My friend’s memory of the event is that when she first stepped onto the elevator and saw Elizabeth Taylor standing there, Ms. Taylor smiled at her. This froze my friend in place making her unable to turn around and face the doors, as is the custom when riding in an elevator. Instead, my friend stood gaping at Elizabeth Taylor full on until they reached Elizabeth’s floor. Only then did my friend move and turn around to watch Elizabeth exit and walk down the hallway with her companions.
My friend moved forward to stare at them and the doors almost closed on her head. She forced the doors to remain open and watched Elizabeth slowly walk out of sight. My friend was enraptured by the fact she was so close to celebrity royalty but then Elizabeth was gone and my friend regrettably allowed the doors to close. She was uninjured but it wouldn’t have mattered because she was forever grateful she had personally gazed upon (and was given a sweet smile by) the most beautiful woman in the world.
R.I.P. Elizabeth.
[No part of this content may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author. Blog series began in March 2009.]
