Furious Love (23 page)

Elizabeth on holiday in Naples in September 1961, just before beginning work on
Cleopatra.
[SSPL/Getty Images]

Richard and Elizabeth in a love scene from
Cleopatra
, as they began their off-camera romance. Their films would often mirror their private lives. [20th Century Fox/Courtesy of Neal Peters Collection]

Richard and Elizabeth in a private moment during
Cleopatra
. What many thought was just another conquest for Richard turned into a world-shaking love affair. [© Elio Sorci/Photomasi/Camera Press/Retna Ltd.]

This secretly photographed image of Elizabeth and Richard was the shot seen 'round the world, announcing their love to a scandal-hungry public. [Pat Morin/Globe Photos Inc.]

“…from those first moments in Rome we were always madly and powerfully in love,” Elizabeth later wrote about their relationship. [© Bert Stern]

A happy Elizabeth embraces her son, Michael Wilding, Jr., on the set of
Cleopatra. Right to left:
Elizabeth, Michael, Liza Todd
(back to camera)
, Richard costumed as Mark Antony, and Christopher Wilding. [Photofest]

Their affair would usher in modern celebrity culture. Their appearances were feeding frenzies for the paparazzi. [John Frost Newspapers]

Elizabeth and Richard leaving a nightclub in Rome. Her
Cleopatra
eye makeup started a fashion trend in the summer of 1962. [Globe Photos Inc.]

Richard and Elizabeth outside the Tre Scalini restaurant in Piazza Navona, Rome, on July 27, 1962. [Keystone/Getty Images]

Richard agonized over leaving Sybil and their two young daughters.

Richard and Elizabeth “were the most vivid example of a public love affair that I can think of,” said columnist Liz Smith.
Life
[Portrait © by Bert Stern]

The V.I.P.s
capitalized on Richard and Elizabeth's notoriety as the world's most famous lovers, 1963. [Photofest]

On the set of
Becket,
1963. Elizabeth encouraged Richard to take the role of Thomas Becket, putting her own film career on hold for two years. “I'm just a broad, but Richard is a great actor,” she later said. [Denis Cameron/Rex USA/BEImages]