The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice (23 page)
Authors: M. G. Lord
Tags: #Taylor; Elizabeth, #Performing Arts, #Motion Picture Actors and Actresses - United States, #Film & Video, #Television, #Entertainment & Performing Arts, #General, #United States, #Motion Picture Actors and Actresses, #Biography & Autobiography, #Biography
6. In
Suddenly, Last Summer
, Taylor’s character is trapped on a catwalk above the inmates in an insane asylum: a metaphor for celebrity?
7. While filming
Suddenly, Last Summer
, Taylor stands near a symbol of the institution that accused her of “erotic vagrancy.”
8. In
BUtterfield 8
, Taylor’s character refuses to be rented or owned. She scrawls “No Sale” on her married lover’s mirror.
9. In London, crowds struggle to glimpse Taylor after her tracheotomy and resurrection.
10. Sign painters in Times Square put finishing touches on a giant, wordless billboard for
Cleopatra
.
11. Liz Smith said Taylor often helped “a bird with a wing down”--like this feathered co-star from
The Sandpiper
.
12. No love was lost between Taylor and playwright Lillian Hellman in Austin Pendleton’s 1981 production of
The Little Foxes
. Also shown are Maureen Stapleton and Tom Aldredge.
13. In
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
?, Taylor and Burton share a moment of Hollywood-style intimacy: surrounded by lights, cameras and recording equipment.
14. To the confusion of their guests—a new faculty member and his wife—George (Burton) aims a rifle at Martha (Taylor), who cackles diabolically when it fires. The trick gun contains an umbrella.
M. G. Lord is an acclaimed cultural critic and investigative journalist, and the author of the widely praised books
Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll
and
Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science
. Since 1995 she has been a frequent contributor to the
New York Times Book Review
and the
Times
’s Arts & Leisure section. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including the
New Yorker
,
Vogue
, the
Wall Street Journal
, the
Los Angeles Times
,
Travel
+
Leisure
, the
Hollywood Reporter
, and
Artforum
. Before becoming a freelance writer, Lord was a syndicated political cartoonist and a columnist for
Newsday
. She teaches at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles.
Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science
Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll
Copyright © 2012 by M. G. Lord
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address Walker & Company, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010.
Published by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., New York
This electronic edition published in 2012
A Division of Bloomsbury Publishing
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Lord, M. G.
The accidental feminist : how Elizabeth Taylor raised our consciousness and we were too distracted by her beauty to notice / M. G. Lord.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8027-7864-2 (ebook)
1. Taylor, Elizabeth, 1932–2011. 2. Motion picture actors and actresses—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PN2287.T18L67 2012
791.4302'8092—dc23
[B]
2011038047
Visit Walker & Company’s Web site at
www.walkerbooks.com
www.bloomsburypress.com
www.bloomsburyusa.com
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