Many of us wouldn’t recognise old Hollywood anymore but when Elizabeth Taylor made her acting debut in the early 1940s, the glamour and glitz was going full pelt.
Impossibly beautiful women and ridiculously handsome men were gadding about, making movies in exotic locations and being chauffeured to cocktail parties.
Smoking long cigarettes and wearing elbow-length gloves, they’d swan around swimming pools in Christian Dior evening dress; the kind of life any ordinary person could only ever dream about.
It was another world, a place of escape.
Seventy years on and Elizabeth Taylor’s death in many ways marks the end of all that.
Hollywood today is more often than not, just a reflection of real life, where personal issues and domestic disputes triumph and glamour is saved for one night a year at the Golden Globes.
Angelina Jolie has made 56 films but she’s better known for her role as a working mum, raising an ever-expanding brood of kids and promoting aid in developing countries.
Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Aniston too have had terrific careers but more fuss was made when their personal lives fell apart.
Who didn’t read about Bullock’s horror husband cheating nightmare? And poor Aniston’s relentless search for a man. Will she ever find love?
And no Erick, male actors aren’t immune either.
Once George Clooney gets off his Nescafe coffee high, he might realise just how many seriously hot Italian-looking girlfriends he’s had in the past year.
Not to be forgetting, Charlie Sheen. It might take much longer for him to come down whatever high he’s on, but when he does, at least he’ll be able to Google how he’s spent the better part of the last two years.
Elizabeth Taylor had her own fair share of trouble and strife.
Famously known for her eight different marriages and battle with drugs, alcohol and late in life weight, but in true old-Hollywood style it could never trump the Hollywood bubble she rose up in.
Her tribute to the world was her work, the films she made and the places she transported her audiences to. Oh, and the dresses she wore. Check out Nedahl Stelio’s post on some of her finest fashion moments.
Sure, that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Nor did Taylor set out to save the world, but boy she could light up a screen.
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