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Who's Afraid of Liz Taylor?
In an exclusive excerpt from How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood, William J. Mann reports on her vodka-fueled battles with Richard Burton and the role she was born to play. Plus, view our gallery.
The day before shooting began on Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mike Nichols had mused with producer Ernest Lehman about Elizabeth Taylor playing Martha. “It’s like asking a chocolate milkshake to do the work of a double martini,” he’d lamented.
Click Image to View Our Gallery of Elizabeth Taylor's Many Movies and Marriages
How To Be A Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood. By William J. Mann. 496 Pages. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade. $28.00.
On the first day of rehearsal, as the actors began reading the script—beginning with Martha’s splenetic “Jesus H. Christ!”—something magical occurred. Elizabeth possessed the right fire and wasn’t the least bit hammy. If anything, it was Richard who was “a bit uneven.” At the reading, Bloody Marys kept everybody’s spirits free-flowing. At 4:30, the reading concluded, with Martha’s heartbreaking reply to George, who’d been singing the play’s catchphrase, “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Looking up from her script with just the right amount of fear and sadness on her face, Elizabeth said softly, “I am, George. I am.” Nichols was pleased. Elizabeth let out a whoop.
After more than two decades of merchandizing her looks, Elizabeth was anxious about appearing dumpy. So it’s not surprising that, as she was made up as Martha for the first time, she was cranky, knocking back vodka after vodka. Striding out of her dressing room wearing the gray wig that Sidney Guilaroff had made for her, she awaited consensus. Lehman thought it made her look chic, “ravishingly beautiful” in fact—which of course pleased Elizabeth but horrified Nichols. The wig was sent back to Guilaroff.
Elizabeth threw a fit. She was suddenly convinced there was no reason to play Martha as harridan. When she turned her around in her chair to look at herself as Martha in the mirror, she nearly burst into tears. Elizabeth was swearing and throwing out demands that they postpone the start of filming. “My feeling was that she had been drinking too much and was far too tired,” Lehman said.
The drinking would continue, sanctioned by the top brass; the film, after all, is one long marathon binge. There were pills, too, Lehman believed. When Elizabeth was “exceedingly cheerful” to everyone, the producer had a realization: “For the first time it occurred to me that she might just possibly be taking some sort of medication.’” Noting her “highly energetic performance,” he became more convinced. But a happy Elizabeth meant a happy set. “Whatever the pill is,” Lehman said, “I am very much in favor of it.”
But Elizabeth was more than just a diva; she was also a pro. Nichols was awed by her technical virtuosity. “Elizabeth can keep in her mind 14 dialogue changes, 12 floor marks and 10 pauses—so the cutter can get the shears in and still keep the reality,” he said. All that MGM training still paid dividends. In just one weekend she learned 26 pages of the script and had showed up to work “very well-prepared,” Lehman said. The stress of post-production seemed to evaporate.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
A great lady with many problems!
Elizabeth Taylor is a great actress. Her ability to emote and connect with her audience was evident even in National Velvet. Her greatest acheivement in my estimation was in Giant, where in her mid 20's she believably spanned a lifetime from teenager to grandmother and held her own against James Dean. Hats off to you Liz.
I've always been intrigued by Elizabeth, and her crazy, improbable life has been great entertainment. But the fact that she loves furry animals and also wears them is a sticking point with me. Get over the fur hag business, Elizabeth. You're kinder than that, and it really makes no sense at all.
A very great star -- who can act. Her beauty and her noteriety often obscure the fact that not only is she a consummate professional but with the right part can be incredibly powerful. That she could do Martha didn't surprise me at all. Go back and take a look at her in "A Place in the Sun" -- particularly the "Tell Mama all," scene. And in "Suddenly Last Summer" she rings all the cadences in Williams' prose poetry as precious few mortals can.
I have loved and admired Elizabeth Taylor ever
since I first saw her in 'Ivanhoe' when I was 8 years old.
In addition to being the recipient of the greatest gene-pool
melding -ever ! - her beauty - while astonishing - is in no
way to her fault or credit .
(She realizes this; how I wish that more lucky lookers did)
Ms. Taylor is a gifted actress and a wonderfully caring
human being.
The caring human being is whom I love and admire.
great acting along with great looks...
todays actresses could take a hint from ol liz, but god doesnt make them beautiful like that anymore, plastic surgeons do (low forheads, hair extensions, fake boobs, and noses = todays barely attractive non acting actresses)
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I always believed Elizabeth Taylor was an incredible beauty and actress; as I grew up in the '50s and 60's, she was the brunette sexy bookend in the set that included blond Marilyn Monroe. Being a brunette, too, Taylor was my personal idol. She always came off as more intelligent and classy than her blond counterpart until her connection with the ever-so-peculiar Michael Jackson hit the press. Yes, they both were child stars but I could never get the connection beyond that. I also admire the fact that, even if she was on pills during "Who's Afraid...," she is the one who lived to a ripe old (albeit heavy) age--good for her! As other readers have commented, too bad she hasn't written her own story as I'm sure it would be more interesting.
About 25 years ago, before her days as a perfume entrepreneur, I literally ran into Elziabeth Taylor in a department store in Beverly Hills. I turned from the cosmetics counter and there she was. I nearly knocked her over. This was post rehab, post weight loss, pre-Fortnesky Elizabeth, and she was stunning. She graciously apologized for being in MY way. I looked into those incredible eyes and got utterly lost, truly speechless. I babbled something insensible and walked away. She was so beautiful and so gracious. Long live the queen!
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