On Elizabeth Taylor
An Opinionated Guide
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- $47.99
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- $47.99
Publisher Description
A sweeping look at the career of a truly singular Hollywood star
In the oceans of ink devoted to the monumental movie star/businesswoman/political activist Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (1932-2011), her beauty and not-so-private life frequently overshadowed her movies. While she knew how to generate publicity like no other, her personal life is set aside in this volume in favor of her professional oeuvre and unique screen dynamism. In On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide, her marriages, illnesses, media firestorms, perfume empire, violet eyes, and AIDS advocacy take a back seat to Elizabeth Taylor, the actress.
Taylor's big screen credits span over fifty years, from her pre-adolescent debut in There's One Born Every Minute (1942) to her cameo in The Flintstones (1994). She worked steadily in everything from the biggest production in film history (Cleopatra in 1963) to a humble daytime TV soap opera (General Hospital in 1981). Each of her sixty-seven film appearances is recapped here with background on their inception, production, release, and critical and financial outcome. On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide is a cradle-to-grave chronology of Taylor's life, noting key events, achievements, and milestones. This book offers a work-by-work analysis of her entire career told in chronological order, each film headlined with year of release, distributing studio, and director. This in-depth overview provides an invaluable new way of understanding Taylor's full life and work, as well as the history and nuances of the film industry as it existed in the twentieth century.
Kennedy engagingly reassesses Taylor's acting and the nuances she brought to the screen - this includes a consideration of her specific art, the development of her voice, her relationship to the camera, and her canny understanding of the effect she had on audiences worldwide. Kennedy also provides an elucidating guide to her entire filmography, one that speaks to the quality of her performances, their contours and shading, and their context within her extraordinary life and career. On Elizabeth Taylor is a beautifully comprehensive overview of a singular actress of the twentieth century, offering new ways to see and appreciate her skill and peerless charisma, in turn placing her among the greatest film stars of all time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Film historian Kennedy (Roadshow!) methodically catalogs the film, stage, and TV appearances of an "ineffable" star whose 65-year career was often overshadowed by "her beauty and not-so-private life." Beginning with a 12-year-old Taylor's breakthrough role in 1944's National Velvet, Kennedy embarks on a scrupulous career overview that accounts for megahits (1963's Cleopatra),flops (1976's Victory at Entebbe was "so badly rendered" as to "insult not just the audience but... the survivors of the highjacking"), and all manner of oddities in between, including a bewildering silent cameo in 1960's Scent of Mystery and a 1981 spot on General Hospital. In the process, Taylor comes into view as one of the last great actors of the studio system, whose output skewed toward dramas exploring "the contours of... emotional instability." She was capable of subtle expression changes or "full-throttle hysteria," according to Kennedy, who also notes that Taylor's lack of formal film training was belied by her "mesmerizing" intuitive ability to "come alive when the camera approached." Readers seeking a comprehensive biography of Taylor should look elsewhere, but those in the mood for a deep dive into the nooks and crannies of her oeuvre will be gratified. This belongs on the bookshelves of those who can't get enough of Hollywood's golden age.
