Elizabeth Taylor has passed

[flamom]

she was one of my favorite actresses. Turner Classic Movies is going to have a 24hr tribute to her on April 10th.

 

[CandyMandy]

wow, my son just emailed me about this. She did look really ill in her last picture.

Yes, I felt the same way too and confirmed reports state she was only 98 pounds at the time of her death. Advanced congenital heart disease has that horrific impact on your body (breathing in particular becomes labored and painful) and I just hope she was kept as comfortable as possible over the last month.

But enough of that sadness...the almost haunting arua behind those incredible violet eyes will always be what come to mind in most when they hear her name:

 

[FloraFauna]

Strikingly beautiful woman. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" was on TCM last month. I had never seen it before and she and Richard sure were great in their parts as Martha and George. RIP.

 

[smilingmouse]

RIp

 

[Butterball]

RIP Elizabeth Taylor

My 16 y/o sister asked me why ABC News constantly referred to young Elizabeth Taylor's attractiveness and lauded her as one of the most beautiful women in the world, etc. She didn't think she was very beautiful!

My sister is used to celebrities who are "beautiful" thanks to cosmetic plastic surgery (it is my understanding that there was plastic surgery back in the day, but it's just more prevalent, accepted and even expected in Hollywood today).
I did not grow up during Elizabeth Taylor's Hollywood reign but I do appreciate and acknowledge that she was a true beauty. I heard she may have had a nose job in her youth but compared to the cosmetic surgeries of some celebrities today...

I know the beauty standard changes quite often and we all have different ideas of what beautiful can be. And I understand that most celebrities' careers require that they look ridiculously good so they go under the knife.
I'm not trying to judge any celebrity or person who has had plastic surgery, I only want to point out that Elizabeth Taylor's death has made me think of the dwindling population of true classic (and talented!) beauties in Hollywood.

OTH: My 8 y/o sister thinks that Elizabeth Taylor (or "Cleopatra" as she knows her) is beautiful, so not all hope is lost!

 

[CandyMandy]

RIP Elizabeth Taylor

My 16 y/o sister asked me why ABC News constantly referred to young Elizabeth Taylor's attractiveness and lauded her as one of the most beautiful women in the world, etc. She didn't think she was very beautiful!

This isn't surprising - her vision of Taylor is probably of a hefty old woman in a wheelchair. Unless she is a fan of Turner Classic Movies (which isn't a hobby of most teens I know) someone her age has never experienced the Taylor of 50s and 60s:

But the issue of societal definition of "beauty" is what really caught my eye in your post. For the BEST piece I have yet to read on the depth of Taylor's legacy (wonderfuly written interview with author Camille Paglia in Salon, link below) drills directly into that subject in a usefully angry way.

I particularly loved Paglia's label of the current Hollywood definition of female beauty (the "standard starvation look" ) - and how Taylor stood as the antithesis of that.

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/feature/2011/03/23/camille_paglia_on_elizabeth_taylor

By the way, Turner is running a Taylor marathon on April 10.