Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star [Paperback]

Kitty Kelley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1982

This biography of Elizabeth Taylor tells her story as no other can. Drawing on extensive reporting and interviews, Kitty Kelley’s classic portrait follows the rise, fall, and rebirth of the woman who was perhaps Hollywood’s brightest star. Now with a new Afterword, this is the definitive record of Elizabeth Taylor’s fascinating life.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Dell Pub Co (October 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440124107
• ISBN-13: 978-0440124108
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #643,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Among the awards that Kitty Kelley has been honored with by her professional peers are the Outstanding Author Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors for her "courageous writing on popular culture," the Philip M. Stern Award for her "outstanding service to writers and the writing profession," the Medal of Merit from the Lotos Club in New York City, and the 2005 PEN Oakland Literary Censorship Award. She has also been selected as a member of Vanity Fair magazine's Hall of Fame. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, People, Ladies' Home Journal, McCall's, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No narrative--no interest, December 26, 2010

By 

Susan Reynolds (Tuscaloosa, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star (Hardcover)

I have read several biographies about Elizabeth Taylor and this one is not good at all. I rarely give bad reviews, but this book is just terrible. There isn't a narrative at all. The author simply strings "facts" together in a semi-chronological way. She breezes through the first marriages, and, other than a few quotes (can't find any attribution though) by Elizabeth, she doesn't attempt to validate anything said. Ugh. Just don't buy this book. It is a disappointment.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A better written than normal Kitty Kelley book on Elizabeth Taylor, June 25, 2010

By 

ATB / Molly Black (Oakland, CA USA (Piedmont)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elizabeth Taylor: Last Star (Hardcover)

I have to admit that this is the best book of Kitty Kelley's that I've read. Most of her books she uses a terrible form of shorthand style writing. It isn't journalism and it's not made up but the way she writes I would expect more badly written books but, in this case, she finds a good person to write about and gets the naughtiness dished up in an what strikes me as a fairly discreet way. Her writing style also appears to have had a firm editor that kept their hand on the equivalent of a tiller.

It is definitely less of an attack book than some of her others and it definitely gives Liz her shining star to place next to her two Oscars.

Recommended if you want a decently written long gossip column, so to speak, on the ever intriguing Elizabeth Taylor. I've re-read it several times when I've needed just something to pass the time (I'm a very fast reader) so I give it four stars since the writing still does leave something to be desired, but it came fairly close to getting a fifth star.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars WELL WORTH THE PRICE..., June 3, 2010

By 

Low Heel Savvy (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Elizabeth Taylor : The Last Star (Coronet Books) (Paperback)

After reading Kitty Kelley's Nancy & then her Jackie, I expected more than I got in the story of Liz. I her take on this overblown so-called movie star just goes to show that after the likes of Davis, Hepburn, Loy, Colbert, Hollywood lost the ability to find real talent to create a true star and fell back on just packaging. Taylor truly epitomizes the latter.