Luminosity

It probably says everything about me and very little about Elizabeth Taylor that I grew up thinking of her as a punch line rather than a great actress. For many years, the most enduring image of her in my mind wasn't even herself, but John Belushi in drag, wolfing down lots of chicken as Bill Murray waxing on and on about her violet eyed beauty: "I don't care how much you weigh, just so your cheeks don't puff up over those beautiful violet eyes that I've been in love with since 'National Velvet'." That may have been Bill's take, but for me Elizabeth Taylor was a caricature, best known for her broken marriages. It came as no surprise to me that she was the scary lady making a cameo on General Hospital, trying to wreck Luke and Laura's wedding.
It wasn't until I was older, as a film student that I began watching all those films that I had seen parodied in "Mad Magazine." It turns out that she was an amazing screen presence. There was no doubt that at the time that in 1963 there was no other woman who could have portrayed Cleopatra in CinemaScope. Then her personal life became the story, as she and Richard Burton became exponentially more interesting off screen.
Maybe that's why I will always remember "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" when I think of Elizabeth Taylor the thespian. She and Richard seem to be having the time of their lives gnawing on the scenery as George Segal and Sandy Dennis look on, stupefied. I can hear her voice in my head even now and it makes me cringe. Powerful stuff. And to me, that's why she was a movie star. Aloha, Liz.