Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor passed away on March 23 at the age of 79. The media was quick to label the occasion as the death of the last true Hollywood star. Somewhere, Debbie Reynolds muttered, "Really? Are you effing kidding me?" And Lauren Bacall rolled her eyes and continued reading the phonebook just to listen to her own voice.

All the summations of Ms. Taylor's life have blurbed about her personal life overshadowing her acting career. Maybe it's because I wasn't alive when all the drama was taking place, or maybe because I watched a recent interview with Debbie Reynolds where she spoke of making peace with Elizabeth decades ago, but I've always just seen her as a gifted actress, stunning beauty, and gracious humanitarian. I recently watched Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Great performance. And, of course, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? would be the performance of any actress's career.

Okay, her personal life was pretty soap operatic with her first husband, Mike Todd (founder of the famous Todd-AO) dying in a tragic plane crash when she was 26 and the whole Eddie Fisher drama to on again, off again with Richard Burton for over a decade. But I will always remember Elizabeth as National Velvet.

This movie was one of my favorites growing up, and it still holds up. The Pi? Any little girl's fantasy. And Donald Crisp and Anne Revere are the parents you dream of having as a child; smart, loving, and flawed, but able to recognize their flaws. Anne Revere won a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the film. Unfortunately, her film career was ruined after she was blacklisted for refusing to testify to HUAAC. Ugh, what an ugly time in American history. Such a shame for all the talent so senselessly punished, and such a shame for us all, missing out on so many great Anne Revere (and countless others) performances.

But I have digressed. Rest in peace, Elizabeth. I'm sure Hollywod will make a movie about your life soon.