Elizabeth [Mass Market Paperback]

J. Randy Taraborrelli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2007

For more than six decades she has been a part of our lives. Now acclaimed biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli looks past the tabloid version of Elizabeth's life and offers the first-ever fully realized portrait of this American icon. You'll meet her controlling mother who plotted her daughter's success from birth...see the qualities that catapulted Elizabeth to stardom in 1940s Hollywood...understand the psychological and emotional underpinnings behind the eight marriages...and, finally, rejoice in Elizabeth's most bravura performance of all: the new success in family, friendships, and philanthropy she achieved despite substance abuse and chronic illness. It's the story of the woman you thought you knew--and now can finally understand.

J. Randy Taraborrelli is a respected journalist, a recognizable entertainment personality, and in-demand guest on many television programs. He is the bestselling author of eight books. Taraborrelli is a reporter for the Times (London), Paris Match, and The Daily Mail (UK) and a contributor to Redbook, McCall's, and Good Housekeeping.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Ordinarily, readers might question the logic of a new tome on a celebrity who already has at least six full-length biographies (and four self-penned books) devoted to her life, but Elizabeth Taylor has never been ordinary. Readers will easily understand why tabloids have chronicled her escapades for six decades: her roller-coaster life could easily read like a high-sheen soap opera (the eight marriages, two Oscars, suicide attempts and innumerable life-threatening illnesses that led to years of alcohol and prescription drug addiction before she became the first celebrity to check into the Betty Ford Clinic). But Taraborrelli, a sympathetic biographer, rescues the subject by looking for psychological and emotional motives behind her actions. Taraborrelli can be overprotective of Taylor (he notes her reviews for Cleopatra were "so vicious that they are not even worth memorializing here") but more often, he's a superb storyteller who is also an enthusiastic fan. The book is a fitting tribute to a woman who has lived and loved with abandon but who found real passion and purpose when she embraced AIDS activism in 1985, helping to destigmatize the disease and creating her own AIDS foundation. Taraborrelli's chatty prose (and bite-size chapters) perfectly complement Taylor's glamorous life of highs and lows to create an irresistible and inspiring tale. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The breathtaking photograph on this book's cover makes it clear why no one will ever forget Elizabeth Taylor. And if her sheer beauty isn't enough, there are the details of her wild, flamboyant, and excruciatingly painful life. Taraborrelli, known for his unauthorized biographies of such celebrities as Diana Ross and Princess Grace, has done his research (or from his acknowledgments, his researchers have done their research). Certainly, there are what seem like fresh tibits of information here from a wide variety of surprising sources--family friends, guests at the Taylor-Nicky Hilton wedding (her first), and even Debbie Reynolds, from whom Elizabeth stole Eddie Fisher. But the saga of Elizabeth Taylor is practically myth at this point, so it's hard to add anything new except around the edges. Moreover, Taylor has written two autobiographies of her own, and without the cooperation of so many key figures--Taylor herself, her children, Sybil Burton--Taraborrelli isn't able to generate any insider feel to his account. (He does thank Taylor for not actively deterring people from speaking to him.) Still, despite all those built-in shortcomings, it's hard not to keep turning pages when the story you're reading is so filled with larger-than-life loves, scandals, tragedies, and, of course, stars, stars, stars. As with Lee Server's recent Ava Gardner (2006), Taraborrelli's take on Liz reminds us what movie stardom is all about. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; Reprint edition (July 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044640036X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446400367
• Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 4.2 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J. RANDY TARABORRELLI is the author of 16 biographies, many of them New York Times' best sellers, including "Call Her Miss Ross," "Sinatra - Behind the Legend," "Madonna - An Intimate Biography," "Jackie, Ethel, Joan - Women of Camelot" and "Elizabeth." His most recent New York Times' best sellers include "Michael Jackson - The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story." (2009) and "The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe" (also 2009). He is presently at work on his 17th book.

Taraborrelli is known as the foremost authority on Michael Jackson. He interviewed him and his family members countless times and has written more than one hundred articles about him. When Michael Jackson turned eighteen, Taraborrelli was there to report the story with an exclusive interview. As he did when Michael turned 21. And then 30. When Michael recorded "Thriller," Taraborrelli was in the studio. The author also reported on his first marriage to Lisa Marie Presley and his second to Debbie Rowe, the mother of two of his children. Taraborrelli landed the first interview when Jackson settled molestation charges against him in 1993 and was in the courtroom every day when Michael Jackson was on trial for child molestation ten years later. He anchored Michael Jackson's memorial service with Katie Courice in 2009.

J. Randy Taraborrelli is also a CBS News analyst.

The author lives in Encino, California.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars REQUIRED READING FOR LIZ TAYLOR FANS September 27, 2006

By M. Alther VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I have been a fan of Elizabeth Taylor's since I was 8 years old, and still learned more details about her life that I had not known. [...] This book is highly entertaining, well written, and excellent reading for any Elizabeth Taylor fan.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone who doesn't know a lot about Elizabeth Taylor.... January 14, 2007

By IssVictorian

Format:Hardcover

.....this is a wonderful book to begin. I picked up this book not knowing much at all Elizabeth Taylor. After I finished, I felt I knew not about what was written about her in the tabloids but about the real woman that she was/is. The book is written from an objective standpoint and tells the "good and the bad" about a woman who's career spans 5 decades plus. Whether the reader likes her initially or not (based on previous thoughts/beliefs), I recommend this reading to anyone who has any interest in her at all or who just wants to read about a good book about a woman who's seeminly made an inpact on pop culture from decades past to present.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Elizabeth November 9, 2006

By Tim Newland

Format:Hardcover

I was not a Elizabeth Taylor fan before I read this fascinating book. I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the book itself, being rather thick. I wondered if it would hold my attention very long. To my surprise, I was so fascinated by the life of Elizabeth Taylor. She truly has had an amazing life! I was spellbound from the first chapter of this book. I hated to put it down.

This version of her life story really makes you feel as though you actually know Elizabeth Taylor personally. I am now a HUGE fan, and I admire this classy woman so much as a person, void of the Elizabeth Taylor persona she seems to turn on at will. This book brilliantly points out the extremely generous side of one of Hollywood's Living Legends.

Definitely a MUST READ for any Elizabeth Taylor fan, or just a fan of Hollywood reading. You WILL be a fan after reading it!

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Can't even cut and paste accurately March 1, 2007

By Lois Lane

Format:Hardcover

The Washington Post got this book right: This is a shallow, gushy, cut-and-paste puff piece posing as biography.

Author J. Randy Taraborrelli seems unable, even with a team of researchers, to quote accurately from the books from which he cribs his material ("Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair With Jewelry," in particular, from which he lifts many anecdotes without attribution).

Taraborrelli's insight, if you can call it that, on Taylor is that she is not too introspective (no!) and that fame corrupts (how deep!).

He gives a superficial account of early Taylor's life. Her childhood and first four marriages whiz by like the unspooling of an outdated filmstrip. Given Taylor's assertion that her father "batted me around a bit," the book's omission of this aspect of her childhood is glaring. As Taylor's life progresses, Taraborrelli adds more detail as source material becomes easier to find. The reader then is treated to all kinds of meaningless vignettes about Taylor's last three marriages, and torturous detail about her recurring addictions and multiplying health problems (though details seem to conflict with other sources).

Taraborrelli gushes over Taylor's beauty, the (questionable) talents of her many spouses, and how miraculously well-adjusted and normal her children are. Some of these descriptions are obsequious enough to induce a cringe. Other descriptions make one wonder just how much research he did for this book. For instance, he never explored references to one of Taylor's sons having joined a cult in his youth, and descriptions elsewhere of her children being dirty and neglected while she drank and partied.

The book makes clear that Taraborrelli or his staff did interview people, probably a lot of people.... But the quality of the interviews and the insight they offer is lacking. Taraborrelli quotes a flip and brittle Eddie Fisher offering nothing of substance. Taraborrelli even asks rhetorically why Taylor still bears a grudge against Fisher, not realizing the irony that this is the kind of question he should theoretically be trying to answer. He also interviews a bevy of people ancillary to the action, such as the son of a film director describing one of what must have been one of many Burton-Taylor makeout sessions on the set of "Cleopatra."

This isn't the first Taraborrelli celebrity bio in which he buries the reader in an avalanche of meaningless gossip-mag minutiae, easily culled from readily available books and magazines, but fails to do any enterprising research of his own. For instance, in the 576 pages of excruciating detail in "Call Her Miss Ross," Taraborrelli neglected to mention that Diana Ross and Berry Gordy had a child together (beyond coyly stating that her oldest child didn't resemble her then-husband).

I'm sure this book will make money hand over fist, which is all that matters to Taraborrelli (that and maybe getting to brown-nose the celebrity in person). But if you want to respect yourself later, flip to the photos, then put this book back where you found it. Read more ›

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Abridged Liz September 10, 2006

By E. A Solinas HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

If J. Randy Taraborrelli wanted to write a book about Liz and Dick, he should have just cut to the chase and done it. Because that is the only real information of substance in "Elizabeth," a patchy and rehashed biography of the screen legend. In the end, the only people who get any attention are Liz and Dick.

Elizabeth Taylor was born to the quintessential stage mom, who kept her apart from her father and brother, and turned her into a winsome child star. She was America's sultry, sweet young girl, who married a millionaire playboy -- and divorced him after he abused her.

A string of high-profile husbands immediately followed, and Taylor's image changed from widow to lusty black widow, from international glamour star to a gracious politician's wife. But she had more than marriages in her life -- she also had numerous health problems, overdoses, an addiction to painkillers that led to a stint at the Betty Ford, and finally work as an AIDS rights activist.

Taraborrelli obviously has a lot of enthusiasm for Taylor, but there aren't many facts that haven't beem covered by other books. So he settles for focusing on the lives of certain peripheral characters (such as Francis, Taylor's downtrodden father), and trying to understand Taylor's emotions and motivations throughout the worst times of her life.

Unfortunately, there's still nothing here that is new, and Taraborrelli can't quite keep himself from including items that are of sketchy origin -- they read like he was writing a novel. Her movies are pretty much footnotes, and he tends to skim over the scandals, overdoses and the reasons for some of her divorces -- namely, Taylor's own capriciousness.

Even worse, Taylor's first four husbands are faceless footnotes, even her vibrant soulmate Mike Todd.... The first (and almost only) is Husband No. 5 and 6, Richard Burton. who gets swooning details about his physical and personal life. In fact, the only area of the book that really has Taraborrelli's full enthusiasm is when Taylor is wed to or performing with Burton. There's more attention on one play with Burton than there is in her whole marriage to John Warner.

The pictures are interesting but incomplete. It could have used some more pictures of Taylor throughout her life, but settles for one or two pics per hubby, and then a few more. But there are some rarities here, like Taylor as a child with her father, or a previously unseen still in the "Cleopatra I" costume. That Sarah Brightman crown and skimpy sixties dress look kind of silly.

"Elizabeth" tells us very little that is new, and ignores too much of the old. Taraborrelli clearly wanted to write a biography of the quintessential celebrity supercouple, but the full Taylor bio simply doesn't work. Read more ›