Elizabeth Taylor: The Illustrated Biography [Hardcover]

James Christopher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2000

Elizabeth Taylor''s icon status has withstood both seminal and dreadful films, illness, addiction, sadness and marriage to eight men. Christopher provides us with the most insightful portrait of Elizabeth Taylor to date.'

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Elizabeth Taylor is one of the most famous people of the 20th century. She is also one of the most beautiful. Like Judy Garland, she was one of the few child film stars to successfully make the transition to adult film star. And like Garland, her life has been a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows. She has dazzled with her diamonds and legendary love affairs and basked in the admiration of millions of fans; she has also endured seven doomed marriages and the frenzied pursuit of the paparazzi as she battled addictions, illnesses, and weight problems. In recent years, it has been her friendship with Michael Jackson and her passionate campaigning on behalf of AIDS research that has kept her in the public eye. Now, Elizabeth Taylor: The Illustrated Biography celebrates her remarkable life and career in more than 100 classic and rare photographs. James Christopher is film critic for The Times of London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Andre Deutsch; First Edition edition (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0233996206
• ISBN-13: 978-0233996202
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,569,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous Photographs and Balanced, Brief Biography, November 2, 2000

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This review is from: Elizabeth Taylor: The Illustrated Biography (Hardcover)

The strength of this book lies in the many beautiful photographs of Elizabeth Taylor from her childhood to recent times. Many of these images will be familiar, and many will not be. By putting rare images in this collection, the author has significantly enhanced its value. I wish the book had added another 100 photographs to the 100 plus, mostly color, ones here.

The biography is perfectly adequate, but it is too brief to really get into any detail that might expand your knowledge very much beyond what you know already. The best aspects were putting Ms. Taylor's career in perspective. She performed in around 65 films and television movies, a number matched by few actors of her era. She also was one of the few child stars to have an adult film career. Further, she outlived most of the stars she appeared with by many years. Despite ill health and many accidents, she has been the ultimate survivor in the most fickle business we have.

The main story line of the biography is in the transformation of her life and career roles from child, to child actress, to child star, to multiply married person and mother, to adult star, to a celebrity, to an entrepreneur, and then to a social activist for AIDS. Long before Madonna, Ms. Taylor and her advisors were expert at reinventing her in ways that were almost continuously popular with the public.

Today, the world is changing very rapidly and most of us will have many different jobs and careers before we die. After you finish enjoying this book, I urge you to consider what lessons you can draw from Ms. Taylor's career and life that can help you in yours. While many would be thrilled to have some of her fame, few would envy her pain. How came a good balance of life and career be yours? I suggest that you read Anna Quindlen's recent book, A Short Guide to a Happy Life, for more ideas.

Smile, be interesting, be balanced, be careful, and be interested in others!