Currently viewing the tag: “Elizabeth”
The U.S. Senate has passed a Boxer/Feinstein-sponsored resolution honoring Elizabeth Taylor. It reads, in part:
Whereas Elizabeth Taylor used her fame to raise awareness and advocate for people affected by HIV/AIDS;
Whereas, at a time when HIV/AIDS was largely an unknown disease and those who were affected by HIV/AIDS were ostracized and shunned, Elizabeth Taylor called for and demonstrated compassion by publicly holding the hand of her friend and former costar, Rock Hudson, after he had announced that he had AIDS;
Whereas Elizabeth Taylor testified before Congress saying, “It is my hope that history will show that the American people and our leaders met the challenge of AIDS rationally and with all the resources at their disposal, for our sake and that of all humanity.”;
Whereas, in 1985, Elizabeth Taylor became the Founding National Chairman for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (commonly known as “amfAR”);
Whereas, in 1991, Elizabeth Taylor founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation to provide direct support to those suffering from the disease;
Whereas the extensive efforts of Elizabeth Taylor have helped educate the public and lawmakers about the need for research, treatment, and compassion for those suffering from HIV/AIDS;
Resolved, That the Senate recognizes and honors the courageous, compassionate leadership and many professional accomplishments of Elizabeth Taylor; and offers its deepest condolences to her family.
(Via – LGBTPOV)
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Cover of BUtterfield 8
She was a born (1932), Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, to a priviledged American family and spent her early childhood in England. Upon her parents return to America she became a childhood star in Hollywood, appearing in movies such as the classics ”Lassie Come Home” and “National Velvet”.
Liz Taylor, grew-up to be known for her gifted acting talent and flawless beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, which included seven marriages.
A condensed view of her life depicts a talented beautiful woman who starred in many acclaimed and epic movies. Then in later years she became an “entrepreneurial empress”, with endorsements of various perfumes and jewelry lines. Ultimately, she would represent and take stands for controversial social issues such as AIDS.
HER LEGACY INCLUDES:
1. The American Film Institute named her the 7th on their Female Legends List.
2. She was a dual citizen of England and the USA (she was born in England of American parents)
3. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the death of her former costar and friend, Rock Hudson. She also created her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF).
4.She engaged in support of the Kabbalah Center in California.
5. Elizabeth is survived by 4 children – 2 sons and 2 daughters, plus 9 nine grandchildren.
6. Taylor won two Academy Awards both for Best Actress: “Butterfield 8″1960- and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?”1966.
7. She was awarded the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1992 for her work fighting AIDS.
8. She had famous violet eyes, that enchanted movie goers as well as romantic devotees.
9. Her many marriages and romantic relationships headlined the tabloids, gossip columns and entertainment news for decades.
10. In 1999, she was given the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
We…who love the movies and gutsy women will miss her!
Cover of BUtterfield 8
She was a born (1932), Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, to a priviledged American family and spent her early childhood in England. Upon her parents return to America she became a childhood star in Hollywood, appearing in movies such as the classics ”Lassie Come Home” and “National Velvet”.
Liz Taylor, grew-up to be known for her gifted acting talent and flawless beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, which included seven marriages.
A condensed view of her life depicts a talented beautiful woman who starred in many acclaimed and epic movies. Then in later years she became an “entrepreneurial empress”, with endorsements of various perfumes and jewelry lines. Ultimately, she would represent and take stands for controversial social issues such as AIDS.
HER LEGACY INCLUDES:
1. The American Film Institute named her the 7th on their Female Legends List.
2. She was a dual citizen of England and the USA (she was born in England of American parents)
3. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the death of her former costar and friend, Rock Hudson. She also created her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF).
4.She engaged in support of the Kabbalah Center in California.
5. Elizabeth is survived by 4 children – 2 sons and 2 daughters, plus 9 nine grandchildren.
6. Taylor won two Academy Awards both for Best Actress: “Butterfield 8″1960- and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?”1966.
7. She was awarded the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1992 for her work fighting AIDS.
8. She had famous violet eyes, that enchanted movie goers as well as romantic devotees.
9. Her many marriages and romantic relationships headlined the tabloids, gossip columns and entertainment news for decades.
10. In 1999, she was given the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
We…who love the movies and gutsy women will miss her!
Cover of BUtterfield 8
She was a born (1932), Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, to a priviledged American family and spent her early childhood in England. Upon her parents return to America she became a childhood star in Hollywood, appearing in movies such as the classics ”Lassie Come Home” and “National Velvet”.
Liz Taylor, grew-up to be known for her gifted acting talent and flawless beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, which included seven marriages.
A condensed view of her life depicts a talented beautiful woman who starred in many acclaimed and epic movies. Then in later years she became an “entrepreneurial empress”, with endorsements of various perfumes and jewelry lines. Ultimately, she would represent and take stands for controversial social issues such as AIDS.
HER LEGACY INCLUDES:
1. The American Film Institute named her the 7th on their Female Legends List.
2. She was a dual citizen of England and the USA (she was born in England of American parents)
3. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the death of her former costar and friend, Rock Hudson. She also created her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF).
4.She engaged in support of the Kabbalah Center in California.
5. Elizabeth is survived by 4 children – 2 sons and 2 daughters, plus 9 nine grandchildren.
6. Taylor won two Academy Awards both for Best Actress: “Butterfield 8″1960- and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?”1966.
7. She was awarded the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1992 for her work fighting AIDS.
8. She had famous violet eyes, that enchanted movie goers as well as romantic devotees.
9. Her many marriages and romantic relationships headlined the tabloids, gossip columns and entertainment news for decades.
10. In 1999, she was given the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
We…who love the movies and gutsy women will miss her!
Elizabeth Taylor, RIP
A 1977 report by the JTA unearthed in the aftermath of Elizabeth Taylor’s death reveals that the actress, “…offered herself as a hostage for the more than 100 Air France hijack victims held by terrorists at Entebbe Airport in Uganda during the tense days before the Israeli rescue raid.”
Benjamin Weinthal further reminds us that Taylor co-signed a telegram by prominent women addressed to the ex-Nazi and then U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim protesting the morally obscene 1975 U.N. resolution equating Zionism with racism. She also cancelled a 1967 trip to the Soviet Union because of its virulent anti-Israel stance.
Many other activities in support of Israel by Elizabeth Taylor could be enumerated.
May G-d bless her soul.
Cover of BUtterfield 8
She was a born (1932), Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, to a priviledged American family and spent her early childhood in England. Upon her parents return to America she became a childhood star in Hollywood, appearing in movies such as the classics ”Lassie Come Home” and “National Velvet”.
Liz Taylor, grew-up to be known for her gifted acting talent and flawless beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, which included seven marriages.
A condensed view of her life depicts a talented beautiful woman who starred in many acclaimed and epic movies. Then in later years she became an “entrepreneurial empress”, with endorsements of various perfumes and jewelry lines. Ultimately, she would represent and take stands for controversial social issues such as AIDS.
HER LEGACY INCLUDES:
1. The American Film Institute named her the 7th on their Female Legends List.
2. She was a dual citizen of England and the USA (she was born in England of American parents)
3. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the death of her former costar and friend, Rock Hudson. She also created her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF).
4.She engaged in support of the Kabbalah Center in California.
5. Elizabeth is survived by 4 children – 2 sons and 2 daughters, plus 9 nine grandchildren.
6. Taylor won two Academy Awards both for Best Actress: “Butterfield 8″1960- and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?”1966.
7. She was awarded the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1992 for her work fighting AIDS.
8. She had famous violet eyes, that enchanted movie goers as well as romantic devotees.
9. Her many marriages and romantic relationships headlined the tabloids, gossip columns and entertainment news for decades.
10. In 1999, she was given the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
We…who love the movies and gutsy women will miss her!
Elizabeth Taylor has died at 79 without publishing her memoirs, but that would have been redundant. Everything about her, from the age of ten, is on film and in old magazines.
We never met but, in 1958, she saved my best friend’s life. I had sent Bob Levin to interview her and her then-husband Mike Todd for Redbook. He was to see her on a Saturday morning, but the day before she was in bed with bronchitis and Todd suggested that Bob come with him on a flight from L.A. to New York on his private plane instead.
Just before takeoff, she called to say she was feeling better, and my friend stayed behind. Mike Todd’s plane crashed that night.
In a life that seemed scripted by a bad writer, Elizabeth Taylor was the 20th century’s most enduring celebrity-eight marriages to seven husbands, headline scandals, and a career as an actress that veered from fine acting to self-parody. But she did it all in high style.
In 1959, she had won an Oscar nomination, essentially for screaming at Paul Newman through “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” but she had rehearsed the part privately, as I learned on my first trip to Hollywood that year as a magazine editor.
Staying at the Bel Air with a six-month-old, my wife and I apologized to the manager for the baby’s crying. “No need,” he assured us, “your suite was soundproofed after Elizabeth Taylor’s honeymoon with Nicky Hilton.”
That was the start of her first marriage to a hotel heir that lasted nine months. She kept marrying, not always wisely or well…
With the passing of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor’s passing a few days ago, her pro-Israel record has been revealed.
In the coming months, we will be launching the JTA Jewish News Archive — a treasure chest of nearly a century of reporting around the globe. We thought today would be an appropriate time to share some gems on Liz Taylor. My favorite so far:
Elizabeth Taylor Offered to Be Hostage, Dinitz Discloses
June 16, 1977
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Movie actress Elizabeth Taylor offered herself as a hostage for the more than 100 Air France hijack victims held by terrorists at Entebbe Airport in Uganda during the tense days before the Israeli rescue raid last July 4. That disclosure was made here by Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Simcha Dinitz, at a Jewish National Fund gala honoring Ms. Taylor and her husband, John W. Warner, for their devotion to the land reclamation work of the JNF and other humanitarian causes.Dinitz, who presented the couple with a certificate for a forest to be planted in their names within the American National Bicentennial Park near Jerusalem, said that Ms. Taylor’s offer was “appreciated” and “the Jewish people will always remember it.”
More than 1200 friends and supporters of the JNF attended the event which was addressed by Moshe Rivlin, the JNF’s new world chairman who flew in from Jerusalem for the occasion. “We hate to destroy, we love to build, and it is the common desire of the people of Israel for peace no matter what party is in power,” Rivlin said.
Ms. Taylor said “The trees we planted with our own hands in Israel symbolize a new hope that the whole world, Christian, Jew and Arab, will live as one in harmony and under one God.”
Here’s a bunch. We’ll be updating as we find more:
* Over $ 1,000,000 in Israel Bonds Sold at Opening of West Coast Drive
Feb. 2, 1959
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — A total of SI. 250. 000 in State of Israel Bonds was fold here at a dinner last night opening the bond campaign in this area. Many Hollywood stars were present, among them actress Elizabeth Taylor, singer Eddie Fisher, and actors George Jessel, Eddie Cantor and Jack Benny. Miss Taylor purchased $ 100,000 worth of bonds, and Mr. Fisher bought $ 10,000 worth. A number of businessmen made up a “golden dais, ” each member of this group purchasing a minimum of $ 50,000 worth of bonds.* Arabs Ban Eliza Beth Taylor Films; Irked over Her Buying Israel Bonds
March 18, 1959
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The State Department today received word that authorities of the United Arab Republic have officially banned all motion pictures featuring Hollywood cinema star Elizabeth Taylor. The U.A. R. took this action today because Miss Taylor recently purchased $ 100,000 worth of Israel Bonds, the report said.* Actress Elizabeth Taylor Adopts Jewish Religion; Was a Protestant
March 3, 1959
HOLLYWOOD (JTA) — Actress Elizabeth Taylor, widow of the late Jewish producer Mike Todd, was converted to Reform Judaism, it was announced here this weekend by Temple Israel, of which Rabbi Max Nussbaum, a leading Zionist, is spiritual leader. The announcement was made at the request of Miss Taylor, who was a Protestant.* Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher Sing Hebrew Duet at Moscow Concert
July 18, 1961
LONDON (JTA) — United States servicemen stationed in Moscow were treated yesterday to a performance by Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher in which the husband-and-wife film stars included a duet rendition of a Hebrew song. The film couple, who are in the Soviet capital for the Moscow Film Festival, dropped in at the American House to put on a show for the U.S. enlisted men.* Elizabeth Taylor Barred from Egypt; is Blacklisted As Jewish
July 20, 1962
LONDON (JTA) — Elizabeth Taylor has been barred from entering Egypt and, as a result, the multimillion dollar film, “Cleopatra,” practically completed in Rome except for Egyptian location shots, may have to be finished in some other country, according to a Cairo dispatch received here today. Gen. Essam Elmasri, head of the Cairo regional bureau of the Israel Boycott Office, said in the Egyptian capital that Miss Taylor will not be allowed to come to Egypt because she has adopted the Jewish faith and “supports Israeli causes.” Miss Taylor is the wife of Eddie Fisher, the singer, who is Jewish. Officially, Miss Taylor’s movies have been on the Egyptian blacklist for a long time. However, some of her films are shown occasionally in Egypt, and receive enthusiastic support from Egyptian audiences. Gen. Elmasri said the actress is being barred in accordance with the Arab League’s ban on all persons aiding Israel.* Egypt Removes Name of Elizabeth Taylor from Arab Blacklist
Jan. 23, 1964
LONDON (JTA) — The name of film star Elizabeth Taylor has been removed from Egypt’s blacklist of pro-Zionist personalities after Egyptian officials saw a private run of her new film, “Cleopatra,” it was reported here today from Cairo. The officials decided the film was good publicity for Egypt which is mentioned 122 times in the movie. The film will be shown in Cairo in a few days, according to government reports.* Jewish and Non-Jewish Actors Raise $ 840,000 in London for Israel
June 12, 1967
LONDON (JTA) -More than 600 Jews and non-Jews of the entertainment world packed the Cafe Royal here and in 15 minutes raised a total of 300,000 pounds sterling ($ 840,000). Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton promised a gift of 200 pounds. Another rally, held in East London, brought 100 pounds in gifts that included wedding rings and candy allowances from Jewish day school pupils.* Elizabeth Taylor Cancels Visit to Moscow Because of Soviet Anti-Israel Stand
June 28, 1967
NEW YORK (JTA) — A spokesman for Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Richard Burton confirmed yesterday reports that they had cancelled plans to attend the July Moscow Film Festival because of opposition to the Soviet diplomatic offensive against Israel. Tony Curtis, another film star, also dropped plans to attend the July 9-20 festival for the same reason. Miss Taylor is a convert to Judaism and Mr. Curtis is Jewish. Several years ago Miss Taylor’s films were barred from Arab countries because of her work for the sale of Israel bonds. (The Algerian Government blacklisted yesterday several American films and film performers for supporting Israel. Among those blacklisted were Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Juliette Greco, Sophia Loren, Yves Montand and Paul Newman. Blacklisted films included “The Ten Commandments,” “Ben Hur,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” and “Cleopatra.”)Taylor and Burton Due in Israel
Aug. 27, 1974
JERUSALEM (JTA) – A lighter touch to the tense and intensive negotiations conducted by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger is the “great expectation” to the grand arrival of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton who are expected here tomorrow. According to several reports, Miss Taylor and Burton will try to get married in Israel though it will have to be a civil marriage, since no rabbi will conduct the ceremony because Burton is not Jewish. Miss Taylor, however, converted to Judaism many years ago.
Nevertheless, the expected arrival of the famous pair caused some restlessness among security men here, since Burton and Miss Taylor will most probably stay at the King David Hotel where Kissinger and his entourage are staying. Meanwhile, it was confirmed from the Jerusalem Theater that Burton has agreed to give one special performance at the theater on Saturday night. He will read some chapter from the Bible and probably poetry and monologues from some of Shakespeare’s plays.
One Journalist said jokingly that it will be difficult to cover the hectic events at the King David. What should come first, the prospects of another diplomatic agreement or another marital accord, he asked.* 60 Prominent Women Condemn UN Anti-Zionist Resolution
Nov. 12, 1975
NEW YORK (JTA) — Sixty prominent women today sent a telegram to UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, General Assembly President Gaston Thorn and Assistant Secretary General Helvi Sipila condemning the anti-Zionist resolution.
“As women committed to the worldwide struggle for human rights and equality,” it is “our unanimous conviction that all human rights are indivisible. We are appalled at the ‘racist’ label applied solely to the national self-determination movement of the Jewish people. We decry this implicit denial of Israeli statehood and this incitement to world wide anti-Semitism.” The resolution, they continued, is the “first and only time an authentic movement for national and ethnic survival would be condemned as racist. This resolution endangers the moral principles of the United Nations Charter by abandoning them to cynical political expediency.”
Signers of the statement included: Rep, Bella Abzug (D,NY); Dr. Phyllis Chesler, psychologist, author; Joan Ganz Cooney, president, Children’s Television Workshop; Karen De Crow, president, National Organization of Women: Joan Davidson, chairwoman, N.Y. State Council on the Arts; Helen Gahagan Douglas, former Congresswoman Nora Ephron, author; Rep. Millicent Fenwick (R.NJ); and Geraldine Fitzgerald, actress. … Also, Lee Novick, vice-chairwoman, National Women’s Political Caucus; Grace Paley, author; Beverly Sills, opera star; Althea T.L. Simmons, national director for education programs, NAACP; Gloria Steinem, editor, MS, Magazine; Anna Strasberg, actress; Elizabeth Taylor, actress; Sister Rose Thering, educator, Seton Hall University; Barbara Tuchman, historian; Dr. Jacqueline Wexler, president, Hunter College, CUNY; and Shelley Winters, actress.* Taylor Meets with Begin
Jan. 5, 1983
By David Landau
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Movie superstar Elizabeth Taylor, dogged by accident and ill-health during her visit to Israel, met briefly today with Prime Minister Menachem Begin at his office in Jerusalem. The session was part of Ms. Taylor’s one-woman peace effort: she plans to fly to Beirut tomorrow to see president Amin Gemayel and Israeli officials say she may be in Kiryat Shmona Thursday when the Israeli and Lebanese negotiators resume their sessions there. Ms. Taylor is still suffering the after-effects of a road accident Saturday in which she injured both ankles and sustained other knocks and bruises. She plainly found it difficult to walk today and one hand was bandaged. The car taking her to visit Defense Minister Ariel Sharon crashed into the car ahead of it, belonging to Sharon’s spokesman Uri Dan, on a wet Negev road. She also has a sore throat, a condition she has been unable to shake off throughout her week-long stay in Israel. Begin told her how pleased he was to have her here — and how sorry to hear of her accident. After 15 minutes of conversation, Ms. Taylor departed, bearing a large bouquet of flowers from the Premier’s staff.* Lilith Launches Campaign for Nudel
July 3, 1987
NEW YORK (JTA) — Lilith, the Jewish feminist magazine, has launched an appeal to free Soviet Jewish refusenik Ida Nudel. The magazine’s most recent issue includes a petition in the form of a letter to Raissa Gorbachev, wife of the Soviet leader, to be signed by individual women. So far, Lilith has received hundreds of responses from women in all walks of life, among them Elizabeth Taylor, Liv Ullmann, Mary Travers, Gloria Steinem, Pat Schroeder (D. Colo.), Judith Crist, Judy Blume, Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan.* Jewish Groups Protest U.S. Pamphlet Advising Troops on ‘Sensitive Subjects’
Oct. 26, 1990
By Howard Rosenberg
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Defense Department is disregarding democratic values by barring U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia from making pro-Israel or anti-Arab remarks, Jewish groups are charging. The American Jewish Committee and the Simon Wiesenthal Center wrote letters Thursday to Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, in response to a report in the November issue of Harper’s magazine. Harper’s” reprinted a chapter from “Customs and Culture,” a troop-information pamphlet distributed by the U.S. Central Command to all U.S. armed forces in Saudi Arabia. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed the pamphlet’s existence, but had no immediate response to objections from Jewish circles. First among the “sensitive subjects” listed that “should be avoided or handled carefully” are “articles and stories showing U.S.-Israeli ties and friendship.” Other taboo subjects are “anti-Arab demonstrations or sentiments in the United States,” “the Jewish lobby” and “U.S. intelligence given to Israel.” U.S. personnel are also instructed to not show “films or news clips featuring pro-Zionist actors and actresses (e.g. Barbra Streisand, Liz Taylor).”…
I couldn’t find any recent pro-Israel statements or acts on the part of Taylor, but she doesn’t seem to have “regretted” her support, as did Marlon Brando, for example.
Update: More on her connection to Judaism here:
Some gave Taylor a hard time about her decision to convert, but she stood by the choice, Ivry wrote, adding, “Biographer Kitty Kelley quotes Taylor as saying: ‘I felt terribly sorry for the suffering of the Jews during the war. I was attracted to their heritage. I guess I identified with them as underdogs.’”
Last August, The Jewish Journal in southern California published a blog post by Danielle Berrin about Taylor and her Jewish identity. The piece was written soon after the publication of “Furious Love,” which chronicled the actress’s volatile relationship with Richard Burton.
The blog post recounted a scene in the book in which the couple went at it over “who was more ‘Jewish,’” Berrin wrote.
Burton had referred to the Welsh as “the Jews of Britain”, a comment on their self-identity as the outsiders of the United Kingdom. [Note: Burton was Welsh]
“You’re not Jewish at all,” he told Elizabeth in one of their very public fights, “If there’s any Jew in this family, it’s me!”
“I am Jewish,” she answered, “and you can f–k off!”
Update: Footage from her visits to Israel.
Elizabeth Taylor has died after extended treatment for congestive heart failure. The actress, one of the last surviving from the Hollywood glam days, was well known for many scandals and her legendary wit, but will perhaps be best remembered for her AIDS contributions and campaign for safe sex at a time when it was not trendy to do so. Taylor was never afraid to be controversial, whether it was one of her many marriages or her stance for gay rights, again when it was not trendy to be supportive. She had been suffering for the last few years, and had been in pain for a long time. When those violet eyes closed forever an era passed with her, but she has earned her rest and her place in history.
Elizabeth, an Incomparable of Her Time has passed away: Here’s what you wont read in the headlines which are often vulgar, focused on foibles, overlooking the worth of not only this woman, any woman.
You’ll hear about her pecadillos, her many marriage and other chisme, gossip. But you wont hear she was a child actress who never had a childhood. You wont hear that she sought forever the father she never had. You wont hear how she had to put up with studio heads and producers who could care less about her consumate acting ability and wanted her to literally service them.
And you wont hear, but from those who are fairminded and have no desire whatsoever to exploit a vulnerable woman, who happens now to be dead… about this woman’s ferocious humanity, her interposing herself between some of the most vicious people of our time… those who daily, publicly, on television, on radio, and from the Senate and House and from the pulpit… battered and lied about the souls in our midst who had contracted AIDS- that they were contageous by just standing near them; that they were unworthy of time or treatment or medicines because of their sins, as judged by those who definitely lived in glass houses themselves.
This snip of a woman, tiny and blowsy, or tiny and thin, [Elizabeth had, like many of us, her weight challenges throughout life and that is part of why we loved her; she never gave up), and thus, this woman no matter what shape she was in, stood up to the most reprehensible of our times: those who categorically made it good person lost their jobs, were made into pariahs, and so that little children who’d contracted AIDS from blood transfusions- were blocked at the school doors, so that parents exiled little children from play and birthday parties, because the progenitors of this full-out lie that AIDS was contagous without sexual contact, had spoken with such authority. Authority challenged by Elizabeth Taylor. By herself. In honor of her many hugely talented friends, who were gay. And who also had AIDS.
This is what I would remember Elizabeth for. A woman who stood against the Storm of opprobrium unwarranted from those who hated human beings far more than they ever wanted to help them.
I was a witness. Perhaps you were too, to this woman, this much married woman, this actress woman, this highly sensual, sexual, wisecracking, life in big gulps woman… who stood up, publicly proclaiming that not only care and medicine, but a vaccine, a cure had to be found, that the lives of countless women, children and gay men were at stake… that now was NOT the time to high tail it and run. That this was the time to stay. And to reach out. And to give care until there was no more care to give.
In the two years or so before Elizabeth began to speak out, I was still a relatively young shrink, and I’d had 40 gay men in my practice as patients… they suffered more from the opprobrium the culture heaped on them so harshly, their being unable to live safely and openly as gay men… more than any garden variety neurosis. Suddenly, one by one, they began to become ill. And gradaully the word came out that there was a disease that was transferring by blood and it was causing people to sicken and die.
One by one my patients began to be diagnosed. One by one they slipped away and did not go gentle into that good night. We were once again at the caskets more than we were at celebrations.
And someone spoke for them, a someone who had such stature and fame, she could not be ignored. And I recall the stones flying at Elizabeth, the scorn, the scoffing, the ridicule, the calling her down for daring to stand with those who were ill and looking not as nowadays, ‘living with HIV,’ but for certain, dying of AIDS in fairly short order.
I remember, she did not stop. It wasnt her money. It wasnt her fame that made her not stop. It was her Soul. She had such soul that nothing, nothing could have stopped her from speaking loud and clear and incessantly about care of the sick, cure for the ill, no matter what else. NO MATTER what else.
These many years later, of my forty patients from long ago, there are three still living. All the others, young-young men have passed. Some of them lived long enough to hear Elizabeth speak for them.
I’ve no doubt, in heaven there is an honor guard miles and miles long, and thousands and thousands deep, made up of the children, women, and men Elizabeth spoke for… they will welcome the real Elizabeth home.
Rest in peace Dame Elizabeth: your brave work is done here, and the work you lifted up out of the murk, is and will continue to be carried on by others. Thank you. Just and Justice: thank you.
It might have been expected that the death of movie star and AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor might be an occasion for liberal sniping. Unsurprisingly, it came from Joy Behar on her CNN Headline News show Wednesday night, recirculating the complete myth that Ronald Reagan didn't care about AIDS, and couldn't utter the name of the disease for years:
BEHAR: She didn't like Ronald Reagan's politics. She knew the Reagans and she was friends with them, I think, but she didn't like his politics. And here is the reason, I think, because as the AIDS crisis began in 1981, and Reagan couldn't even say the word "AIDS" until 1987, after 40,000 people had died from the disease. Do you think that possibly, either one of you, do you think that possibly Elizabeth forced his hand to actually speak about it eventually? Did she have anything to do with that, Barry?
MANILOW: Could be. Could be. Like I say, she was on a mission. I don't think anything was going to stop her.
BEHAR: Yes. What do you think, Kenneth?
COLE: I know that he must have — at a certain point, he felt he needed to address this publicly, and the sentiment was changing. And the at-risk community was growing significantly larger. But AmFAR [the American Foundation for AIDS Research] was formed in '85, and it was the coming together of the National AIDS Research Foundation, which was started by Elizabeth in Los Angeles, and Mathilde Krim had the AIDS Medical Foundation in New York, came together and formed AmFAR in 1985. And it becomes very public, very vocal. And then '87, actually, at an AMFAR event, Ronald Reagan talks about AIDS for the first time.
Wrong. As Brent Bozell wrote in 2004 to correct myths in the days after Reagan died,
Any reporter who bothered to check facts would find that Reagan discussed AIDS funding in a 1985 press conference, just for starters. But let’s turn that around on the rest of Washington. Does that mean no reporter asked Reagan about AIDS in the 1984 presidential debates? And that every interview President Reagan granted to a national or local media outlet failed to solicit Reagan’s opinions on AIDS until 1985? Using this phony-baloney spin line – that federal policy hinges exclusively on the presidential bully pulpit – is an exercise in liberal hyperbole over hard data.
AIDS funding skyrocketed in the 1980s, almost doubling each year from 1983 – when the media started blaring headlines – from $ 44 million to $ 103 million, $ 205 million, $ 508 million, $ 922 million, and then $ 1.6 billion in 1988. Reagan’s secretary of Health and Human Services in1983, Margaret Heckler, declared AIDS her department’s "number one priority." While the House of Representatives was Democrat-dominated throughout the 1980s, which Democrats would quickly explain was the source of that skyrocketing AIDS funding, Reagan clearly signed the spending bills that funded the war on AIDS.
In fact, neither President Reagan nor Vice President Bush was asked about AIDS in the fall debates of 1984. In the first debate on October 7, 1984, Diane Sawyer (then of CBS) even pressed Democrat nominee Walter Mondale "What remaining question would you most like to see your opponent forced to answer?" He didn't ask about AIDS either, but about the deficit.
Washington (CNN) – A politician’s wife was one of Elizabeth Taylor’s more unusual roles.
Former Sen. John Warner, who was then chairman of the nation’s bicentennial, met Taylor when Queen Elizabeth visited the United States in July 1976.
“I was invited to escort her, at the request of Her Majesty’s staff, to the small dinner party given at the British Embassy,” Warner recalled during an interview on CNN’s “Newsroom” Wednesday. “I say small, but President Ford was there, Vice President Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger. It was quite a party. And we met. And then a week or so later, she said she’d like to come down to see my farms and ride a horse, and that was the beginning.”
They married later that year.
Also that year, at the Virginia Republican convention Warner lost a bid for the party’s Senate nomination. But the winner, Richard Obenshain, died in a plane crash two months later. Warner was then picked to run for the seat.
“Hand in hand together we marched with no staff,” Warner recalled in an interview with MSNBC. “We had nine weeks to put together a campaign,” he said, adding he had “profound gratitude for this extraordinary woman” and her efforts on his behalf. He said Taylor was “my partner in what appeared to be an impossible challenge.”
“She was my ‘partner’ in laying the foundation for 30 years of public service in the U.S. Senate, representing Virginia, a state she dearly loved, as it reminded her of her heritage in England,” Warner, who was in the Senate from 1977 to 2008, recalled separately in a prepared statement.
When asked how Taylor felt about politics and Washington, Warner told CNN “She liked it, but the problems were that of any member of Congress or parliamentarian in England, the hours were erratic. We couldn’t make plans. She said, ‘Listen, you stay where you are, and I’ll go back and forth, and I’ll go back on Broadway.’ So she did.”
They divorced in 1982.
“We never had any harsh feelings…but eventually we decided we’d just remain friends and parted ways and remained friends to the end.”
Warner told MSNBC his former wife would “check on my votes” regarding her pet project – funding for research of AIDS and HIV prevention – even after they were separated. According to Warner, he would tell her when she inquired “I am with you,” because he saw how passionate and strongly she felt for the cause.
He said he and Taylor talked from time to time on the phone and said “we were always friends – to the end.”
What he will remember most about her? “I will remember her as a woman whose heart and soul were as beautiful as her classic face and her majestic eyes. That’s about all I have to say,” he said in the CNN interview. “I say that with a deep sense of humility and gratitude.”
– Follow Kevin Bohn on twitter: @kevinbohncnn
Hollywood’s most giving an glamours megastars has passed away.
Actress Elizabeth Taylor has passed away at the age of 79. She literally was the last of a dying breed of Hollywood actress from the Golden Age of Hollywood whose life on and off the silver screen was larger than life. The two time Oscar winning actress had a list of movies that is just too long to mention. According to her publicist, “Taylor passed away from congestive heart failure in hospital last night having suffered from the condition since November 2004″. She died surrounded by her children: Michael Wilding, Christopher Wilding, Liza Todd and Maria Burton
Taylor died “peacefully today in Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles,” said a statement from her publicist. She was hospitalized six weeks ago with congestive heart failure, “a condition with which she had struggled for many years. Though she had recently suffered a number of complications, her condition had stabilized and it was hoped that she would be able to return home. Sadly, this was not to be.”
A Place in the Sun (1951)
From ‘National Velvet’, to ‘A Place in the Sun’, to ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’, to ‘Cleopatra’ to the many many others … Elizabeth Taylor will be more than missed. Who could not forget her in ‘Lassie Come Home’? On a personal note, Elizabeth Taylor was one of my mom’s favorite actresses. Never did an Elizabeth Taylor movie not come on when I was growing up that did not take precedent on the tube. I did not realize until later on in life that a pic in my house was not that of Elizabeth Taylor, but was in fact my mom. Now with the passing of Mrs. Taylor, I guarantee one of her biggest fans will be greeting her in Heaven.
Rest in Peace.
