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[clicking]
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[player clicks, tape hisses]
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[Richard Meryman] Testing...
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[Elizabeth Taylor] Do you have
your frickin' machine on?
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[Meryman] Yeah.
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Well, let-let's ease into it
a little. Uh...
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[Meryman and Taylor laugh]
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[Taylor] Okey-dokey.
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Let me think now.
Wait a minute. [laughs]
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- Would you like another drink?
- [Meryman] Yeah. You?
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[Taylor] Scotch and soda,
for my friend.
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Jack Daniel's [inaudible].
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[Meryman] Got a half bottle?
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[Taylor] ♪ The night
we invented champagne ♪
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[Taylor humming]
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- [Meryman] Excuse me.
- [Taylor] What's the matter?
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[both laughing]
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[Meryman] Uh...
I'm just fascinated
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by the phenomenon
of Elizabeth Taylor.
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[Taylor] Mm-hmm.
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[Meryman] What do you think
your public image is?
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- [Taylor] My public image?
- [Meryman] Yeah.
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[Taylor] Oh.
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[dramatic orchestral music
playing]
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I would think it was,
uh, an untrustworthy lady,
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completely superficial.
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Not too pretty.
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[Meryman] Not too pretty?
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[Taylor] I mean, inside.
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Not too pretty a picture.
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Maybe, because
of my personal life,
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I suggest something illicit.
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But I am not illicit.
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And I am not immoral.
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I have made mistakes.
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And I have paid for them.
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But still, it doesn't make up.
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I know that I will never
be able to pay the bill.
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But that is not something
you can put in the story.
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[dramatic music continues]
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[music fades]
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[Meryman] I'd like
to ask a little bit
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about your, you know, career.
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Do you feel that you sort of
created your career,
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or that it just happened
to you?
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[Taylor] What do you mean
by "created my career"?
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I don't know what kind
of a career you mean.
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- [laughs]
- [Meryman] Your movies.
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- [Meryman laughs] Uh...
- [Taylor] Well, I really...
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My career has been kind of odd.
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Um, you know, I've been
in films since I was ten.
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[bright jazz music playing]
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I really had
the most idyllic childhood.
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I remember going
to a public school
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in California
right after we'd moved there.
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And everybody's kid
is a producer's daughter
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or a director's son.
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It's such a small community.
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And we'd gone to the studio,
to have a look around.
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[tinkling, ethereal music
playing]
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- We're rolling.
- How are the cameras?
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All ready.
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- Bob, how are your lights?
- All set.
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[Taylor] I was very impressed.
It's so huge,
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all the studio stages.
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And at that time, you know,
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they were doing maybe 30 films
at once.
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So it was teeming with life.
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Alright, cut it.
Print it, Jane.
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[Taylor] People dressed up
in Greek clothes.
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People dressed up
in cowboy clothes.
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People dressed up as apes.
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And movie stars. [giggles]
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Of course everybody,
even the extras,
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- looked like movie stars.
- [Meryman] Yeah.
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[Taylor] And then I decided
I'd like to be an actress.
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[Meryman]
And you were...
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you were not pushed by
your parents at all?
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[Taylor] Oh,
the absolute opposite.
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No, if anything, they didn't
want me to be an actress.
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My father particularly.
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My mother was
more understanding
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because she'd been
an actress herself.
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But I was the one that pushed.
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[sentimental music playing]
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Poor Lassie.
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Poor Lassie.
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Poor girl.
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[Marx]
I was a producer at MGM,
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starting a film called
Lassie Come Home,
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and in it was
a charming little girl part.
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Francis Taylor, who ran
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the little art gallery
in the Beverly Hills Hotel,
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began talking to me
about his beautiful daughter,
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which is the sort of thing
producers hear often.
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So I wasn't paying
a lot of attention.
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And she walked in...
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[bright, soaring music playing]
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It was truly like
an eclipse of the sun.
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It blotted out everybody
that was in the office.
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I took her by the hand.
I walked her over to wardrobe.
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We never even tested her
in the part.
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We just took the chance.
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I knew my Lassie'd come home.
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[Roddy McDowall] Elizabeth and I
have been friends
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since we were
in Lassie Come Home.
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That's a very long time.
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So we've, uh,
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shared a lot
of life together, happily.
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What was your first impression,
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the first time you ever saw
Elizabeth on the set of Lassie?
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- Truthfully?
- [Peter Lawford] Of course.
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I was absolutely floored by her.
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She has
the most exquisite face.
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[gentle music playing]
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Please, Joe.
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What do you want?
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I hope you won't worry too much
about Lassie.
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[McDowall] Her eyes
were so astounding
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that the cameraman asked
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if her mother would please
have the mascara removed.
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And she said,
"I'm not wearing any."
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I mean, those top lashes.
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She was the most beautiful thing
I ever saw in my life.
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[sentimental music playing]
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[gentle, whimsical music
playing]
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[Taylor] The idea
of being in films
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was like the most magical
extension of make-believe.
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- Country's going to pot.
- Nonsense.
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- What's that?
- I said, "Nonsense."
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[Taylor] I didn't know
that it was a career.
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Didn't occur to me
that I was working for money.
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It just seemed like
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a more concrete extension
of make-believe.
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Isn't he beautiful?
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He's new.
I've never seen him before.
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[McDowall] How did you get
the part of Velvet Brown?
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[Taylor] I was under contract
to MGM at the time,
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and I desperately wanted
the part
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because it was me.
It was my whole life,
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my relationship
and love for horses.
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And the producer saw me,
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and he said, "Well,
I'm very sorry, Elizabeth.
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You're just too small.
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You know, no one
would believe it."
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But, I mean, I was swinging
from doors to make myself grow.
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I did 40 jumps every morning.
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I ate steak
for breakfast, lunch, dinner.
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[soaring music playing]
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[Taylor]
I literally stretched myself,
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and I grew three inches
in three months.
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And Pandro Berman,
the producer, he said,
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"With that kind of tenacity,
honey, you've got the part."
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Velvet, you're too young
to understand some things.
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Have you ever really felt keen
about anything?
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- Oh, yes.
- Horses.
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[horses whinnying]
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Steady now.
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- [bell rings]
- [crowd cheers]
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[upbeat, jazzy music playing]
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[announcer] Elizabeth is
about the best-looking
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15-year-old girl
known to the public at large.
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I christen thee
the MGM Mayer Ship.
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[announcer] She will soon
be appearing in Cynthia
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and Life with Father.
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Elizabeth is under contract
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with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
in Hollywood
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and receives her education
at the MGM Studio school.
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[player clicks, tape hisses]
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- [McDowall] Did you like school?
- [Taylor] I hated it.
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[somber music playing]
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[Taylor] I mean,
it was really so grim.
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[Meryman]
It was a studio school?
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[Taylor] Which used to be
Irving Thalberg's bungalow
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that they converted
into a school.
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I don't know.
There was something so false
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about trying to pack in
your education.
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All it took was
three hours a day,
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but you could be on the set
eight hours.
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- Well, how's my big girl?
- Hello, Dad.
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[Taylor] And during
that eight hours,
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you had to cram in
10 minutes here, 15 minutes.
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- [Meryman] Yeah.
- [Taylor] And in between times,
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you would have to go out
and act.
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So your memory was split
between being the character,
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and then being hauled
back into school,
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and trying to snap your brain
back into place
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and become a student.
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[Meryman] The real business
of the day
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is the acting.
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- [McDowall] You bet yours.
- [all laughing]
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[dreamy jazz music playing]
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I admire you.
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But I'm afraid you're
a little too noble for me.
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[dreamy music continues]
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[Taylor] Something funny
happened to me.
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I was, like, a child actress,
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and then all of a sudden,
I was playing,
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at the age of 16
but looking 24,
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I was playing in a film
Robert Taylor's wife.
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The awful thing is
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I received my own
real-life kiss
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one week before I received
my first film kiss.
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I must say the film kiss was
better than my real-life kiss.
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[Meryman chuckles]
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00:10:00,643 --> 00:10:01,978
[Taylor] But it was sort of like
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00:10:01,978 --> 00:10:05,398
I was thrown
into the adult world
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00:10:05,398 --> 00:10:09,777
where I had to behave
like a sophisticated woman.
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00:10:10,486 --> 00:10:13,781
And in my own world,
I was a terrified little girl.
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00:10:14,449 --> 00:10:15,908
[dreamy orchestral music
playing]
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00:10:15,908 --> 00:10:17,869
[announcer] Have you ever seen
a dream walking?
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00:10:17,869 --> 00:10:20,997
Well, I have. A dream with
peaches-and-cream complexion,
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00:10:20,997 --> 00:10:23,291
flowing raven locks,
and big blue eyes
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00:10:23,291 --> 00:10:24,542
that literally talk.
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She's five-foot-five
and 110 pounds
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of glorious 16-year-old
cover girl beauty.
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00:10:29,255 --> 00:10:31,591
You'll see her soon
in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's
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00:10:31,591 --> 00:10:34,302
gay Technicolor musical comedy,
A Date with Judy.
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00:10:34,302 --> 00:10:36,387
You're the prettiest girl
in Santa Barbara.
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00:10:36,387 --> 00:10:37,513
That's obvious.
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00:10:37,513 --> 00:10:40,141
Why, thank you very much.
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00:10:40,141 --> 00:10:41,392
And you know it.
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00:10:41,684 --> 00:10:43,352
That's also obvious.
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00:10:45,063 --> 00:10:48,357
I mean, you know,
from a very, very early age,
225
00:10:48,858 --> 00:10:52,320
you represented
one of the most potent
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00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:54,155
sex symbols in the world.
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00:10:54,155 --> 00:10:55,823
[Taylor] It's because
I played with that horse
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00:10:55,823 --> 00:10:57,700
when I was 12 years old.
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00:10:57,700 --> 00:10:58,826
May I have a cigarette, please?
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[McDowall chuckles]
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Good evening, Carol.
Good evening.
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[gentle music playing]
233
00:11:05,333 --> 00:11:09,003
You look lovely tonight, Carol.
You really do.
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00:11:09,587 --> 00:11:12,215
And you've, uh, grown too.
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00:11:12,215 --> 00:11:13,674
You certainly have.
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[ethereal harp music playing]
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00:11:15,843 --> 00:11:17,345
[Meryman] When you weren't
in school,
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00:11:17,345 --> 00:11:19,430
there was someone with you
all the time,
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00:11:19,430 --> 00:11:21,057
looking after you?
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00:11:22,141 --> 00:11:24,852
[Taylor]
During my teenage years,
241
00:11:25,311 --> 00:11:29,315
my mother and a tutor
were with me all the time.
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00:11:29,315 --> 00:11:32,443
But you can imagine
when you're almost 18,
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00:11:32,902 --> 00:11:36,781
having, like, a nanny
take you in tow.
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00:11:37,365 --> 00:11:40,868
You weren't even supposed to go
into the commissary alone.
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00:11:43,579 --> 00:11:45,164
And it was only
when I was almost 18
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00:11:45,164 --> 00:11:48,459
that I was allowed
to go anyplace by myself.
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[film rolling]
248
00:11:51,003 --> 00:11:54,132
["Easy Living" by Billie Holiday
playing]
249
00:11:54,132 --> 00:11:55,967
[reporter] Elizabeth,
what do you like to do
250
00:11:55,967 --> 00:11:57,510
when you're not making movies?
251
00:11:58,678 --> 00:12:00,388
[Taylor] Oh, dances and parties
252
00:12:00,388 --> 00:12:03,099
on Friday and Saturday nights,
for instance.
253
00:12:03,099 --> 00:12:06,227
Baseball and football games
on Saturday afternoons.
254
00:12:06,227 --> 00:12:08,771
Long horseback rides
with friends like Jane Powell.
255
00:12:08,771 --> 00:12:10,064
All those things
are a lot of fun.
256
00:12:10,064 --> 00:12:13,901
["Easy Living" continues]
257
00:12:20,032 --> 00:12:23,035
[Taylor] When I was at MGM
and very young,
258
00:12:23,035 --> 00:12:25,455
people in the press department
would suggest
259
00:12:25,455 --> 00:12:26,581
that I would date somebody.
260
00:12:26,581 --> 00:12:28,332
[Meryman laughs] For publicity.
261
00:12:28,332 --> 00:12:31,586
[Taylor] Publicity.
It was all pure fabrication.
262
00:12:31,586 --> 00:12:33,046
We would go out on dates.
263
00:12:33,046 --> 00:12:35,923
It was so virginal
that we kissed on the cheek.
264
00:12:35,923 --> 00:12:38,426
You know? I mean,
that's how serious it was.
265
00:12:38,426 --> 00:12:45,600
♪ For you, maybe I'm a fool
but it's fun ♪
266
00:12:46,642 --> 00:12:53,649
♪ People say you rule me
with one wave of your hand ♪
267
00:12:53,900 --> 00:12:57,028
♪ Darling, it's grand ♪
268
00:12:57,028 --> 00:12:59,947
♪ They just don't understand ♪
269
00:12:59,947 --> 00:13:03,159
[Meryman] You really wanted
to get married.
270
00:13:03,159 --> 00:13:06,120
[Taylor] Yes, I did, because
I was in love with love.
271
00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:08,039
I was infatuated with love.
272
00:13:08,498 --> 00:13:12,377
I was playing parts
that were so highly romantic.
273
00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:14,253
[Meryman]
The impression I get is
274
00:13:14,253 --> 00:13:16,381
that you really wanted
your freedom.
275
00:13:16,381 --> 00:13:19,884
[Taylor] Absolutely.
But I was so naive.
276
00:13:19,884 --> 00:13:22,595
I met Nick Hilton
at the age of 18.
277
00:13:22,595 --> 00:13:24,263
I was a virgin.
278
00:13:24,263 --> 00:13:28,184
Not only a virgin physically,
but mentally.
279
00:13:29,644 --> 00:13:32,021
♪ And I'm so in love ♪
280
00:13:32,021 --> 00:13:34,440
[Taylor] I was not prepared
to be an adult.
281
00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:36,150
I'd been sheltered, protected.
282
00:13:36,150 --> 00:13:40,655
The repercussions were that
I made horrendous mistakes.
283
00:13:40,655 --> 00:13:44,409
[triumphant horn music playing]
284
00:13:45,201 --> 00:13:46,786
[reporter] Hollywood's
wedding of the year
285
00:13:46,786 --> 00:13:48,329
at the Beverly Hills
Catholic Church,
286
00:13:48,329 --> 00:13:51,374
as lovely British-born
screen star, Elizabeth Taylor,
287
00:13:51,374 --> 00:13:52,458
arrives with her father
288
00:13:52,458 --> 00:13:54,502
for her marriage
to Conrad Hilton Jr.,
289
00:13:54,502 --> 00:13:57,213
crowning a romance
everybody's been interested in.
290
00:13:57,213 --> 00:13:59,132
The 23-year-old bridegroom
is heir
291
00:13:59,132 --> 00:14:01,134
to one of America's
richest men.
292
00:14:01,134 --> 00:14:04,220
Elizabeth, at 18, is famous
for her loveliness and charm.
293
00:14:04,220 --> 00:14:07,181
Her striking gown,
a gift from her studio friends,
294
00:14:07,181 --> 00:14:09,600
simply stagger the enormous
crowds at the wedding.
295
00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,146
[horn fanfare playing]
296
00:14:13,938 --> 00:14:16,899
[Taylor] The ceremony
was like a fairy tale.
297
00:14:16,899 --> 00:14:18,526
It was perfect.
298
00:14:18,526 --> 00:14:22,864
With this ring, I thee wed.
299
00:14:22,864 --> 00:14:24,490
[ethereal harp music playing]
300
00:14:24,490 --> 00:14:26,451
[Taylor] I thought something
would automatically
301
00:14:26,451 --> 00:14:27,702
happen to me inside.
302
00:14:27,702 --> 00:14:30,121
I thought
I would obtain maturity...
303
00:14:31,038 --> 00:14:34,125
just because I was a missus
instead of a miss.
304
00:14:34,709 --> 00:14:37,587
Of course, it had nothing to do
with it. [laughing]
305
00:14:38,171 --> 00:14:40,339
[shutters clicking]
306
00:14:41,215 --> 00:14:44,218
[Taylor] Then we drove away,
and there was a big reception.
307
00:14:48,347 --> 00:14:49,891
For the first time in my life,
308
00:14:49,891 --> 00:14:51,934
I'd had two glasses
of champagne.
309
00:14:53,019 --> 00:14:55,271
Then I had three glasses
of champagne.
310
00:14:55,938 --> 00:14:59,275
And the time came to leave,
311
00:14:59,275 --> 00:15:01,736
and I became
more and more petrified.
312
00:15:01,736 --> 00:15:03,404
[somber music playing]
313
00:15:03,404 --> 00:15:05,907
Because I really had
no idea what was coming.
314
00:15:06,824 --> 00:15:09,243
[announcer] Conrad Hilton Jr.
and Elizabeth Taylor sail
315
00:15:09,243 --> 00:15:12,205
on the Queen Mary
for three months in Europe.
316
00:15:15,083 --> 00:15:16,918
[Taylor] And went to the place
317
00:15:16,918 --> 00:15:18,961
where we spent
our wedding night.
318
00:15:20,254 --> 00:15:22,382
I locked myself
in the bathroom,
319
00:15:22,382 --> 00:15:24,050
and changed, and...
320
00:15:24,675 --> 00:15:27,595
I didn't wanna unlock the door,
I was so petrified.
321
00:15:27,595 --> 00:15:30,014
Finally, I did unlock the door.
322
00:15:31,641 --> 00:15:33,434
And, um...
323
00:15:33,434 --> 00:15:36,687
I guess Nick saw
that I was so terrified.
324
00:15:38,106 --> 00:15:40,942
Anyway, nothing happened
for three days. [laughing]
325
00:15:40,942 --> 00:15:42,610
[Meryman laughs]
326
00:15:44,278 --> 00:15:46,697
Okay, stop. [laughing]
327
00:15:46,697 --> 00:15:47,740
[recording stops]
328
00:15:47,740 --> 00:15:51,077
[upbeat big band music playing]
329
00:15:52,495 --> 00:15:55,665
It was just wonderful.
We had such a gay time.
330
00:15:55,665 --> 00:15:56,749
We love Europe.
331
00:15:56,749 --> 00:15:58,459
[music continues]
332
00:16:05,258 --> 00:16:08,678
Hello, everybody. I'd like you
to meet my new dog, Bonko.
333
00:16:08,678 --> 00:16:11,139
He's three months old,
and he's a true Frenchman.
334
00:16:11,139 --> 00:16:13,099
Won't you say hello in French?
335
00:16:13,099 --> 00:16:15,143
Bonko. Bonko. [laughs]
336
00:16:15,143 --> 00:16:18,438
[upbeat jazz music playing]
337
00:16:20,481 --> 00:16:21,816
[music ends]
338
00:16:21,816 --> 00:16:24,110
[Meryman speaking]
339
00:16:24,110 --> 00:16:26,821
- [Taylor] Dark blue.
- [Meryman] Not violet or...?
340
00:16:26,821 --> 00:16:28,156
[Taylor laughs] No.
341
00:16:28,156 --> 00:16:31,117
That's some
romantic journalist's idea.
342
00:16:31,117 --> 00:16:33,327
[tense music playing]
343
00:16:33,327 --> 00:16:36,122
[roaring]
344
00:16:37,749 --> 00:16:40,084
[Meryman] Are there
relatively few opportunities
345
00:16:40,084 --> 00:16:43,254
for a good actress to be good?
346
00:16:43,254 --> 00:16:45,089
[Taylor] I fought
against the studio
347
00:16:45,089 --> 00:16:46,883
to get a good role or a film.
348
00:16:46,883 --> 00:16:48,301
Come with me.
349
00:16:48,676 --> 00:16:49,886
[Taylor] I couldn't.
350
00:16:49,886 --> 00:16:53,097
It was like
walking in molasses.
351
00:16:53,097 --> 00:16:55,975
No matter how hard I tried,
352
00:16:56,601 --> 00:17:00,730
they were going to keep me
stuck as an ingenue.
353
00:17:00,730 --> 00:17:01,981
Why are you so quiet?
354
00:17:01,981 --> 00:17:03,691
[Taylor] I wanted a challenge,
355
00:17:03,691 --> 00:17:05,693
something with meaning.
356
00:17:05,693 --> 00:17:06,736
Yeah.
357
00:17:07,153 --> 00:17:09,655
[sentimental music playing]
358
00:17:09,655 --> 00:17:11,365
Do I make you nervous?
359
00:17:15,078 --> 00:17:16,704
Yes. [chuckles]
360
00:17:17,830 --> 00:17:19,123
You look like an Eastman.
361
00:17:19,123 --> 00:17:21,250
- Are you one of them?
- Mm-hmm.
362
00:17:21,250 --> 00:17:23,336
I'm a nephew. My name's George.
363
00:17:24,045 --> 00:17:25,380
I'm Angela.
364
00:17:25,380 --> 00:17:28,549
The first time I played
a so-called adult role
365
00:17:28,549 --> 00:17:33,221
was in A Place in the Sun
with Montgomery Clift.
366
00:17:34,472 --> 00:17:38,059
And I was absolutely terrified
because Monty, first of all,
367
00:17:38,059 --> 00:17:40,895
was, you know,
the New York stage actor,
368
00:17:40,895 --> 00:17:42,188
and I felt very much
369
00:17:42,188 --> 00:17:45,066
the inadequate, teenage,
370
00:17:45,066 --> 00:17:47,568
Hollywood sort of puppet
371
00:17:47,568 --> 00:17:50,196
that had just worn
pretty clothes
372
00:17:50,196 --> 00:17:53,699
and hadn't really acted
except with horses and dogs.
373
00:17:54,158 --> 00:17:56,702
I'm getting on
pretty well here, Mama.
374
00:17:58,121 --> 00:17:59,789
I'm happy here, too.
375
00:18:00,581 --> 00:18:01,874
[cork pops]
376
00:18:02,250 --> 00:18:03,584
Who's there with you, George?
377
00:18:03,584 --> 00:18:06,421
It's me, Mama.
378
00:18:06,421 --> 00:18:10,466
George encouraged me so,
because he didn't make me feel
379
00:18:10,466 --> 00:18:12,093
like a puppet.
380
00:18:12,093 --> 00:18:14,595
He gave indications
of what he wanted
381
00:18:14,595 --> 00:18:17,890
but didn't tell you
specifically what to do.
382
00:18:17,890 --> 00:18:19,517
[tender big band music playing]
383
00:18:19,517 --> 00:18:21,769
This is nice.
I don't wanna spoil it.
384
00:18:21,769 --> 00:18:24,731
[Taylor] When we were doing
the dance scene,
385
00:18:24,731 --> 00:18:29,444
- and Monty says, "I love you."
- I love you.
386
00:18:29,444 --> 00:18:33,114
[Taylor] And my instinct was
to look up into his eyes,
387
00:18:33,114 --> 00:18:35,116
and George said, "No.
388
00:18:35,116 --> 00:18:37,910
Just have some expression
on your face,
389
00:18:37,910 --> 00:18:39,662
whatever it is you're feeling."
390
00:18:39,662 --> 00:18:41,497
[music continues]
391
00:18:41,497 --> 00:18:44,751
You're the fella that wondered
why I invited you here tonight.
392
00:18:46,711 --> 00:18:48,296
I'll tell you why.
393
00:18:49,464 --> 00:18:50,965
I love--
394
00:18:50,965 --> 00:18:52,216
Are they watching us?
395
00:18:52,216 --> 00:18:55,511
[music swells]
396
00:18:56,137 --> 00:18:57,930
I love you, too.
397
00:18:57,930 --> 00:18:59,432
It scares me.
398
00:19:00,058 --> 00:19:01,809
I loved doing that film.
399
00:19:02,310 --> 00:19:06,147
And I think I was bitten.
400
00:19:06,147 --> 00:19:10,526
I loved
the possibility of acting.
401
00:19:10,526 --> 00:19:15,823
I loved being given the chance
of maybe becoming an actress.
402
00:19:15,823 --> 00:19:19,660
And I took it.
I took it between my teeth,
403
00:19:19,660 --> 00:19:21,412
like a horse does.
404
00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:23,581
And I ran.
405
00:19:24,165 --> 00:19:26,042
And it seemed to work.
406
00:19:26,042 --> 00:19:29,170
[applause]
407
00:19:29,170 --> 00:19:31,005
[announcer]
Eager fans see Elizabeth Taylor
408
00:19:31,005 --> 00:19:32,173
with Montgomery Clift.
409
00:19:32,173 --> 00:19:33,424
[laughs]
410
00:19:33,424 --> 00:19:34,967
Haven't seen you in a long time.
411
00:19:34,967 --> 00:19:36,511
Thank you. How are you?
412
00:19:36,511 --> 00:19:39,347
[Meryman] You talked about
making horrendous errors.
413
00:19:39,347 --> 00:19:41,974
What sort of things were those?
414
00:19:43,184 --> 00:19:44,977
[Taylor] Well, I think...
415
00:19:44,977 --> 00:19:46,687
[sighs]
...trying to rush things,
416
00:19:46,687 --> 00:19:48,272
trying to force things.
417
00:19:49,565 --> 00:19:50,983
I mean,
there's nothing to be said
418
00:19:50,983 --> 00:19:52,485
about my first marriage.
419
00:19:54,195 --> 00:19:56,239
[Meryman] Okay, um...
420
00:19:58,366 --> 00:20:01,411
This is a delicate area,
and I don't know how to...
421
00:20:01,411 --> 00:20:02,870
how it should be handled.
422
00:20:02,870 --> 00:20:05,456
[Taylor] I don't want to talk
about Nick Hilton,
423
00:20:05,456 --> 00:20:07,208
about his kicking me
in the stomach
424
00:20:07,208 --> 00:20:09,001
and causing me
to have a miscarriage.
425
00:20:09,001 --> 00:20:11,754
That's the kind of thing
that nobody in the world knows.
426
00:20:11,754 --> 00:20:14,048
[Meryman] I think
the great interest in this is
427
00:20:14,048 --> 00:20:16,300
to find out
what you have to say
428
00:20:16,300 --> 00:20:18,386
about all these things.
429
00:20:19,387 --> 00:20:20,388
[Taylor] Yeah.
430
00:20:20,388 --> 00:20:22,432
[ethereal harp music playing]
431
00:20:22,432 --> 00:20:24,642
[Taylor] The wedding was lovely.
432
00:20:25,143 --> 00:20:27,812
Then came disillusionment.
433
00:20:28,396 --> 00:20:30,732
Also a few split lips.
434
00:20:31,733 --> 00:20:34,318
Um, I had left
435
00:20:34,318 --> 00:20:36,946
because Nick was always
in a temper,
436
00:20:36,946 --> 00:20:38,656
or stoned, or something.
437
00:20:39,282 --> 00:20:41,993
I couldn't really go back
to that life of...
438
00:20:43,161 --> 00:20:46,581
such mental and physical abuse.
439
00:20:47,707 --> 00:20:50,418
And our marriage
was over and done with.
440
00:20:51,961 --> 00:20:54,589
[somber music playing]
441
00:20:54,589 --> 00:20:57,633
[gentle jazz music playing]
442
00:20:59,719 --> 00:21:02,764
Anyway,
after the whole thing,
443
00:21:02,764 --> 00:21:05,725
I stayed at the Plaza Hotel
in New York.
444
00:21:06,267 --> 00:21:09,270
The first kind of free,
independent time
445
00:21:09,270 --> 00:21:11,439
I'd ever had in my life.
446
00:21:11,439 --> 00:21:13,775
I was a divorcée,
447
00:21:13,775 --> 00:21:15,193
and I was 19.
448
00:21:15,651 --> 00:21:18,529
Roddy was there with me,
and Monty.
449
00:21:18,529 --> 00:21:21,115
Just having fun with my chums,
450
00:21:21,115 --> 00:21:22,784
doing all kinds
of crazy things.
451
00:21:24,786 --> 00:21:27,747
[bombastic percussive music
playing]
452
00:21:33,961 --> 00:21:35,963
[Taylor] If I wanted to go
ice skating
453
00:21:35,963 --> 00:21:37,965
at 9:00 at night, we would.
454
00:21:37,965 --> 00:21:40,259
Or we'd just have hotdogs
all day long.
455
00:21:40,259 --> 00:21:43,429
Completely irresponsible
sort of behavior.
456
00:21:43,429 --> 00:21:45,306
I didn't have
to keep proper hours.
457
00:21:45,306 --> 00:21:47,558
I didn't have
to do anything properly.
458
00:21:48,059 --> 00:21:49,602
And I had a ball.
459
00:21:49,602 --> 00:21:52,522
And, of course, Roddy and Monty
were such marvelous friends,
460
00:21:52,522 --> 00:21:56,192
and they took, uh,
great care of me.
461
00:21:56,526 --> 00:21:58,528
[gentle piano music playing]
462
00:21:58,528 --> 00:22:01,114
[seagulls squawking]
463
00:22:08,246 --> 00:22:10,832
Elizabeth surrounded herself
464
00:22:10,832 --> 00:22:12,166
with gay men.
465
00:22:12,708 --> 00:22:15,253
She worshiped Montgomery Clift.
466
00:22:15,253 --> 00:22:17,422
She loved Rock Hudson.
467
00:22:17,422 --> 00:22:21,634
She just cherished
those relationships.
468
00:22:21,634 --> 00:22:24,637
They were never going
to come on to her,
469
00:22:24,637 --> 00:22:27,473
and I think
she really appreciated that.
470
00:22:29,475 --> 00:22:31,227
She saw people around her,
471
00:22:31,227 --> 00:22:33,271
particularly her closest friends,
472
00:22:33,271 --> 00:22:36,023
Monty Clift, I think,
and Rock Hudson,
473
00:22:36,023 --> 00:22:37,775
who were hidden
474
00:22:37,775 --> 00:22:40,445
in this kind
of Hollywood facade.
475
00:22:40,445 --> 00:22:43,614
But they weren't willing
to come out at that stage.
476
00:22:43,614 --> 00:22:46,284
'Cause we lived
in such a different world then.
477
00:22:46,284 --> 00:22:48,411
It was just not possible.
478
00:22:49,245 --> 00:22:50,663
[Taylor]
Roddy has been, I guess,
479
00:22:50,663 --> 00:22:53,708
my most consistent friend,
480
00:22:54,333 --> 00:22:56,044
my longest friend.
481
00:22:57,336 --> 00:22:59,630
He makes you feel cherished,
482
00:22:59,630 --> 00:23:02,425
just as you really are.
483
00:23:03,009 --> 00:23:06,763
A lot of my friends,
they've always been kind of...
484
00:23:07,972 --> 00:23:09,599
a sanctuary.
485
00:23:11,059 --> 00:23:14,145
[gentle piano music playing]
486
00:23:16,230 --> 00:23:17,857
[movie reel whirring]
487
00:23:17,857 --> 00:23:20,568
[bombastic orchestral music
playing]
488
00:23:20,568 --> 00:23:21,736
[announcer 1]
A traditional way
489
00:23:21,736 --> 00:23:23,237
of greeting the new year
in London
490
00:23:23,237 --> 00:23:25,406
is the Chelsea Arts Ball
at the Royal Albert Hall.
491
00:23:25,907 --> 00:23:28,576
Clad in very fancy dress,
they danced the old year out
492
00:23:28,576 --> 00:23:30,286
without much regret,
I should imagine.
493
00:23:30,286 --> 00:23:33,164
[band playing upbeat music]
494
00:23:33,164 --> 00:23:34,415
[crowd cheering]
495
00:23:34,415 --> 00:23:37,919
[dramatic music playing]
496
00:23:37,919 --> 00:23:40,588
[announcer 2] All cameras
at London airport are focused
497
00:23:40,588 --> 00:23:42,256
on two people
very much in love,
498
00:23:42,256 --> 00:23:45,259
Britain's Michael Wilding
and Elizabeth Taylor.
499
00:23:45,802 --> 00:23:47,929
[laughing] I'm very glad.
500
00:23:47,929 --> 00:23:51,432
I'm glad to see you too
as a matter of fact.
501
00:23:51,432 --> 00:23:53,434
[Taylor] Then, of course,
I met Michael,
502
00:23:53,434 --> 00:23:56,354
and he's... he was
a great stabilizer.
503
00:23:56,729 --> 00:23:58,523
[Wilfred Smith]
Is there anything I can do?
504
00:23:58,815 --> 00:23:59,941
Look, I don't know your trouble,
505
00:23:59,941 --> 00:24:02,068
but you don't look very well
to me.
506
00:24:03,277 --> 00:24:05,446
[Meryman] Kind of went
from one extreme to another.
507
00:24:05,446 --> 00:24:06,906
[Taylor] Oh, yes. Quite clearly.
508
00:24:06,906 --> 00:24:09,742
I mean, Michael is
20 years older than I am,
509
00:24:09,742 --> 00:24:14,956
so, uh, it was a bit
of the father figure thing.
510
00:24:14,956 --> 00:24:16,791
How do you do?
Awfully good to see you.
511
00:24:16,791 --> 00:24:18,918
[Taylor]
He represented tranquility,
512
00:24:18,918 --> 00:24:21,087
security, maturity.
513
00:24:21,087 --> 00:24:23,506
[brooding music playing]
514
00:24:23,506 --> 00:24:25,341
[singer] All together now!
515
00:24:25,675 --> 00:24:27,593
[Taylor]
He represented all the things
516
00:24:27,593 --> 00:24:30,054
that I needed in myself.
517
00:24:31,848 --> 00:24:34,934
[upbeat rock music playing]
518
00:24:34,934 --> 00:24:36,477
[announcer 1]
No Hollywood premiere
519
00:24:36,477 --> 00:24:37,687
could ever compete with this,
520
00:24:37,687 --> 00:24:39,605
the siege of Caxton Hall,
521
00:24:39,605 --> 00:24:41,649
as thousands of fans fought
for just a glimpse
522
00:24:41,649 --> 00:24:44,318
of these glamorous stars
on their wedding day.
523
00:24:45,903 --> 00:24:47,155
[announcer 2]
Normally staid Londoners
524
00:24:47,155 --> 00:24:49,323
mobbed the newlyweds
as the well-wishers
525
00:24:49,323 --> 00:24:52,702
surged forward to get a better
look at the Wildings.
526
00:24:55,621 --> 00:24:57,957
[rock music continues]
527
00:25:09,343 --> 00:25:11,012
[music ends]
528
00:25:11,012 --> 00:25:12,472
[horn honking]
529
00:25:12,472 --> 00:25:13,848
[film reel clicking]
530
00:25:13,848 --> 00:25:16,601
[gentle harp music playing]
531
00:25:16,601 --> 00:25:18,978
[Taylor] I was dying
to have children.
532
00:25:19,645 --> 00:25:22,190
But I was at least
realistic enough to know
533
00:25:22,190 --> 00:25:24,150
that I was not ready.
534
00:25:24,150 --> 00:25:25,526
I was 20 years old,
535
00:25:25,526 --> 00:25:28,988
and I was so inexperienced.
536
00:25:28,988 --> 00:25:33,201
And brought up in a world
of such protection.
537
00:25:33,201 --> 00:25:35,203
People did things for me.
538
00:25:35,203 --> 00:25:37,163
But I wanted to be a good wife.
539
00:25:37,163 --> 00:25:40,041
I really wanted to be
a splendid mother.
540
00:25:42,377 --> 00:25:43,711
[announcer] A new personality
541
00:25:43,711 --> 00:25:45,880
makes his film debut
in Hollywood.
542
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,549
With his lovely mother,
MGM star Elizabeth Taylor,
543
00:25:48,549 --> 00:25:50,176
directing the performance,
544
00:25:50,176 --> 00:25:51,928
Michael Howard Wilding
545
00:25:51,928 --> 00:25:55,014
makes his bow to the great
movie audience.
546
00:25:55,014 --> 00:25:57,975
[dramatic music playing]
547
00:25:57,975 --> 00:26:00,103
[Taylor] Then I went back
to MGM,
548
00:26:00,770 --> 00:26:03,773
and I was forced to do things
that I hated.
549
00:26:04,690 --> 00:26:07,610
I was given such shit
that you should choke on.
550
00:26:10,238 --> 00:26:11,781
[elephant trumpeting]
551
00:26:11,781 --> 00:26:14,534
[announcer] Elizabeth Taylor
as the beautiful young girl
552
00:26:14,534 --> 00:26:16,786
who recklessly loved a man
she hardly knew.
553
00:26:16,786 --> 00:26:19,247
The dark depths within him
a mystery
554
00:26:19,247 --> 00:26:21,207
she had still to discover.
555
00:26:21,207 --> 00:26:23,626
[Taylor] And that kind of
made me sick.
556
00:26:23,626 --> 00:26:25,586
I died inside.
557
00:26:26,003 --> 00:26:28,631
Because of year after year
of reading reviews
558
00:26:28,631 --> 00:26:33,094
that said I was a vacuous,
pretty face
559
00:26:33,094 --> 00:26:36,973
that quite clearly couldn't
read a line upside down.
560
00:26:37,390 --> 00:26:40,435
I can't just turn it on when you
want it, like a light switch,
561
00:26:40,435 --> 00:26:42,145
and turn it off when you don't.
562
00:26:42,145 --> 00:26:45,690
There was a kind of rebellion
that started within me.
563
00:26:45,690 --> 00:26:48,025
I thought maybe
I'd start to fight then.
564
00:26:48,860 --> 00:26:50,611
And then I did start to fight.
565
00:26:50,611 --> 00:26:53,614
[heavy, grim music playing]
566
00:26:53,614 --> 00:26:55,742
[plane engine roaring]
567
00:26:56,826 --> 00:26:58,453
[announcer] Out of a special
chartered plane
568
00:26:58,453 --> 00:27:00,204
stepped Elizabeth Taylor,
569
00:27:00,204 --> 00:27:03,666
Rock Hudson,
director George Stevens.
570
00:27:03,666 --> 00:27:06,711
[swelling, majestic music
playing]
571
00:27:10,631 --> 00:27:11,716
Hello.
572
00:27:11,716 --> 00:27:13,259
[Dr. Horace Lynnton]
Why, Leslie!
573
00:27:13,259 --> 00:27:15,428
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
574
00:27:18,139 --> 00:27:19,849
[Taylor] The opportunity
was marvelous
575
00:27:19,849 --> 00:27:22,560
because the character
starts from 18
576
00:27:22,977 --> 00:27:28,149
and ends up a very manicured,
well-coiffed 50.
577
00:27:29,776 --> 00:27:34,030
And that is difficult
to portray if you are 22,
578
00:27:34,447 --> 00:27:35,740
which I was.
579
00:27:35,740 --> 00:27:37,992
[cattle bellowing]
580
00:27:40,453 --> 00:27:42,413
- How you doin'?
- Ooh!
581
00:27:44,332 --> 00:27:45,458
Tired, honey?
582
00:27:45,458 --> 00:27:47,835
Now don't you worry about me.
583
00:27:48,878 --> 00:27:50,922
I'm a tough Texian now.
584
00:27:52,465 --> 00:27:56,094
I started the film, and again,
all the method actors
585
00:27:56,094 --> 00:27:59,806
that still give me
an inferiority complex,
586
00:27:59,806 --> 00:28:01,974
Jimmy Dean, Carroll Baker...
587
00:28:01,974 --> 00:28:04,769
- Now, Luz.
- She was a character.
588
00:28:04,769 --> 00:28:06,854
...she played my daughter!
589
00:28:06,854 --> 00:28:09,857
And she's two years
older than I am. [chuckles]
590
00:28:09,857 --> 00:28:12,985
[crowd chatter, whooping]
591
00:28:18,616 --> 00:28:21,202
- Eat it while it's hot!
- [whooping]
592
00:28:22,829 --> 00:28:26,374
[dramatic orchestral music
playing]
593
00:28:28,418 --> 00:28:30,878
[Taylor] George and I
had gotten on so well
594
00:28:30,878 --> 00:28:32,714
on A Place in the Sun.
595
00:28:33,214 --> 00:28:36,676
But I don't know, in this,
it's like, uh...
596
00:28:36,676 --> 00:28:39,554
it's hard to say.
We got off on a bad start.
597
00:28:40,012 --> 00:28:41,889
Just difference of opinion
598
00:28:41,889 --> 00:28:43,558
to do with the character.
599
00:28:44,225 --> 00:28:47,270
And in front of the whole crew,
everyone,
600
00:28:47,270 --> 00:28:50,398
he said clearly,
I would never become an actress
601
00:28:50,398 --> 00:28:52,984
because I was so concerned
602
00:28:52,984 --> 00:28:55,069
about being pretty.
603
00:28:56,863 --> 00:28:59,699
He constantly reminded me
that I was a movie star,
604
00:28:59,699 --> 00:29:01,534
not an actress.
605
00:29:01,534 --> 00:29:03,619
He constantly misinterpreted...
606
00:29:04,412 --> 00:29:07,957
ideas of mine
that did not gel with his.
607
00:29:08,916 --> 00:29:11,335
Please do go on talking,
I'd love it.
608
00:29:12,754 --> 00:29:14,422
This is men's stuff.
609
00:29:15,131 --> 00:29:17,550
Leslie, how 'bout
a cup of coffee,
610
00:29:17,550 --> 00:29:19,552
or a drink or something?
611
00:29:23,181 --> 00:29:25,016
"Men's stuff"?
612
00:29:26,476 --> 00:29:28,019
Lord have mercy.
613
00:29:28,478 --> 00:29:31,689
[McDowall] And did you ever
think of taking acting lessons
614
00:29:31,689 --> 00:29:32,940
- or did you--
- [Taylor] No.
615
00:29:32,940 --> 00:29:34,358
- You never thought that?
- No.
616
00:29:34,358 --> 00:29:36,527
[Meryman] Have you ever taken
acting lessons?
617
00:29:36,527 --> 00:29:38,905
[Taylor]
No. I believe that, uh,
618
00:29:38,905 --> 00:29:42,158
any technique or talent
that I might have
619
00:29:42,158 --> 00:29:45,620
is not technique,
it's instinct.
620
00:29:46,579 --> 00:29:48,456
It's very impolite, I know.
621
00:29:49,248 --> 00:29:51,501
[whispers] But in principle,
I was absolutely right!
622
00:29:51,501 --> 00:29:54,879
If I am feeling something
emotional in a scene,
623
00:29:54,879 --> 00:29:58,383
I sweat... real sweat
624
00:29:58,383 --> 00:30:00,593
and I shake real shakes.
625
00:30:01,260 --> 00:30:05,681
A great deal of effort goes
into making it seem effortless.
626
00:30:05,681 --> 00:30:08,601
When are you gonna settle down
and behave, like everybody else?
627
00:30:10,478 --> 00:30:11,979
Never!
628
00:30:13,815 --> 00:30:17,568
[Rosenberg] Rock Hudson and
Elizabeth became very close
629
00:30:17,568 --> 00:30:20,238
when they were filming Giant.
630
00:30:20,238 --> 00:30:23,408
Rock had had a very
public marriage
631
00:30:23,408 --> 00:30:26,994
to sort of put the nail
in the coffin
632
00:30:26,994 --> 00:30:30,248
of this rumor that he was gay.
633
00:30:30,248 --> 00:30:31,999
Of course, it was all a sham.
634
00:30:31,999 --> 00:30:34,001
Elizabeth knew it was a sham.
635
00:30:34,669 --> 00:30:37,004
Rock trusted her,
636
00:30:37,547 --> 00:30:39,465
and she protected him.
637
00:30:39,465 --> 00:30:40,675
[mechanical rumbling]
638
00:30:40,675 --> 00:30:42,260
[man shouts indistinctly]
639
00:30:42,885 --> 00:30:45,555
[gentle music playing]
640
00:30:47,056 --> 00:30:50,017
[Taylor] It was 120
in the shade.
641
00:30:50,601 --> 00:30:52,103
It was boiling.
642
00:30:52,103 --> 00:30:56,023
But we were like a very
tightly-knit family.
643
00:30:56,023 --> 00:30:58,025
[gentle music continues]
644
00:30:58,025 --> 00:31:01,279
Marfa, Texas, had a population
of 2,000, I think,
645
00:31:01,279 --> 00:31:04,240
so we were like
the real Martians.
646
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:07,660
We all had little, tiny houses
647
00:31:07,660 --> 00:31:10,413
that were sort of across
the road from each other.
648
00:31:10,872 --> 00:31:12,707
And sometimes, Jimmy and I
649
00:31:12,707 --> 00:31:16,252
would sit up until, like,
3:00 in the morning, talking.
650
00:31:17,128 --> 00:31:19,630
He would tell me about
some of the grief
651
00:31:19,630 --> 00:31:21,299
and unhappiness in his life,
652
00:31:21,299 --> 00:31:25,386
and some of his loves
and tragedies.
653
00:31:25,386 --> 00:31:27,680
And the next day on the set,
I'd say,
654
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:29,098
"Hi, Jimmy."
655
00:31:29,098 --> 00:31:31,142
And it was almost as if
he didn't want
656
00:31:31,142 --> 00:31:34,187
to sort of recognize
that he had revealed
657
00:31:34,187 --> 00:31:37,356
so much of himself
the night before,
658
00:31:37,356 --> 00:31:40,359
and it would just be a cursory
nod of the head.
659
00:31:40,359 --> 00:31:42,278
And it would take maybe
a day or two
660
00:31:42,278 --> 00:31:45,031
for him to become
my friend again.
661
00:31:45,031 --> 00:31:46,741
One lump,
or do you like two?
662
00:31:46,741 --> 00:31:49,410
[film reel clicking]
663
00:31:53,039 --> 00:31:55,124
[Taylor] The night
that Jimmy was killed,
664
00:31:55,124 --> 00:31:56,834
we were in the projection room
665
00:31:56,834 --> 00:31:58,920
watching the rushes,
666
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,465
and George
turned the sound off,
667
00:32:02,465 --> 00:32:05,927
and he said,
"Ladies and gentlemen,
668
00:32:05,927 --> 00:32:07,720
I have an announcement to make.
669
00:32:08,513 --> 00:32:10,181
Jimmy Dean is dead."
670
00:32:10,181 --> 00:32:12,433
[somber music playing]
671
00:32:12,433 --> 00:32:15,520
[news anchor]
It occurred on US 466.
672
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,564
It was a sideswipe,
head-on collision.
673
00:32:19,273 --> 00:32:22,110
The dead was James Byron Dean,
674
00:32:22,110 --> 00:32:25,113
D.O.A., or dead on arrival,
at the hospital.
675
00:32:25,113 --> 00:32:28,366
[poignant, dramatic music
playing]
676
00:32:30,618 --> 00:32:34,455
[Taylor] He was only 24.
And it seemed impossible.
677
00:32:35,081 --> 00:32:36,499
I'd just been with him
that day,
678
00:32:36,499 --> 00:32:39,460
driving around the studio
in his, uh, Porsche.
679
00:32:40,461 --> 00:32:43,131
He was so alive.
He was so vital.
680
00:32:44,340 --> 00:32:46,592
I couldn't believe
that he was dead.
681
00:32:48,469 --> 00:32:50,054
[Meryman] Okay.
682
00:32:52,974 --> 00:32:54,475
[Taylor] Then, after that,
683
00:32:54,851 --> 00:32:59,313
I went into a whole, kind of,
period, examining...
684
00:32:59,731 --> 00:33:02,567
- [Meryman] Mm-hmm.
- [Taylor] ...my own life.
685
00:33:02,567 --> 00:33:05,570
[solemn music playing]
686
00:33:13,369 --> 00:33:16,497
With Michael,
we were married five years,
687
00:33:16,497 --> 00:33:19,542
and for three,
it was just sort of...
688
00:33:20,668 --> 00:33:22,837
I mean, it just wasn't
working out.
689
00:33:25,882 --> 00:33:27,508
Uh...
690
00:33:28,509 --> 00:33:31,137
I'm afraid I gave him
rather a rough time.
691
00:33:35,516 --> 00:33:38,686
I tended to be a bit stronger
than he was.
692
00:33:49,363 --> 00:33:51,199
Our divorce was friendly,
693
00:33:51,199 --> 00:33:53,201
if you can call a divorce
being friendly.
694
00:33:53,201 --> 00:33:55,286
[Meryman] Did you have any
worries about the children?
695
00:33:55,286 --> 00:33:57,121
- [Taylor] Uh, worried?
- You said, "My children are
696
00:33:57,121 --> 00:33:58,623
very remarkable people."
697
00:33:58,623 --> 00:34:00,416
- What did you mean?
- [Taylor] I love my kids.
698
00:34:00,416 --> 00:34:03,961
But I absolutely cannot talk
about them.
699
00:34:03,961 --> 00:34:06,839
I feel terribly protective.
700
00:34:07,298 --> 00:34:09,634
They have the right to privacy.
701
00:34:14,222 --> 00:34:16,557
What kind of a woman
did you say she was?
702
00:34:17,725 --> 00:34:19,685
How many kinds are there?
703
00:34:20,395 --> 00:34:22,939
[Brynner] Elizabeth, she never
had all these boyfriends,
704
00:34:22,939 --> 00:34:24,232
you know, like other people.
705
00:34:24,232 --> 00:34:27,193
She fell in love, got married,
706
00:34:27,193 --> 00:34:28,611
and then got divorced.
707
00:34:29,153 --> 00:34:30,571
I once said to Elizabeth,
708
00:34:30,571 --> 00:34:32,156
"Why do you have to marry
all these fellas?
709
00:34:32,156 --> 00:34:34,909
Why can't you just be
a mistress or whatever?"
710
00:34:35,368 --> 00:34:37,245
And she said to me,
711
00:34:37,245 --> 00:34:39,580
"Because I want to be a bride."
712
00:34:40,248 --> 00:34:43,042
And then came the love
of her life,
713
00:34:43,042 --> 00:34:44,585
Michael Todd.
714
00:34:44,585 --> 00:34:46,421
[film reel clicking]
715
00:34:48,423 --> 00:34:51,092
Mr. Todd, are you planning
to star Elizabeth Taylor
716
00:34:51,092 --> 00:34:53,261
in any of your
forthcoming films?
717
00:34:53,261 --> 00:34:54,762
I didn't get the name.
718
00:34:54,762 --> 00:34:56,597
[interviewer] Elizabeth Taylor.
719
00:34:56,597 --> 00:34:57,473
Oh.
720
00:34:57,473 --> 00:34:59,308
Oh, you mean the cinema actress?
721
00:34:59,308 --> 00:35:00,935
- Yes.
- Oh, yes, yes.
722
00:35:00,935 --> 00:35:03,271
Well, I read Elizabeth Taylor
723
00:35:03,271 --> 00:35:05,648
is not going to make like
an actress very much longer.
724
00:35:05,648 --> 00:35:08,025
[interviewer] She's going
to marry you, I'm told.
725
00:35:08,484 --> 00:35:10,820
- Huh?
- Marry you, Mr. Todd.
726
00:35:10,820 --> 00:35:12,155
I didn't hear you very well.
727
00:35:12,155 --> 00:35:14,449
The acoustics. The airplanes.
728
00:35:15,032 --> 00:35:16,451
[upbeat jazz music playing]
729
00:35:16,451 --> 00:35:18,703
[announcer] Producer
Michael Todd led a rich career,
730
00:35:18,703 --> 00:35:20,204
most of it on Broadway.
731
00:35:21,038 --> 00:35:24,417
But it was his first movie,
Around the World in 80 Days,
732
00:35:24,417 --> 00:35:27,128
that made his name
an international byword.
733
00:35:27,462 --> 00:35:29,338
Are you formally
challenging me to undertake
734
00:35:29,338 --> 00:35:32,300
a journey around the world
in 80 days?
735
00:35:34,343 --> 00:35:37,305
[Meryman] What kind of a man
is Mike Todd?
736
00:35:37,722 --> 00:35:40,391
[Taylor]
Oh, Mike was one of the...
737
00:35:40,391 --> 00:35:42,727
most flamboyant characters
738
00:35:42,727 --> 00:35:44,228
I've ever known.
739
00:35:44,228 --> 00:35:48,274
There was a joy about being
alive, and a vitality.
740
00:35:48,691 --> 00:35:51,819
Uh, and he was a real
con artist.
741
00:35:51,819 --> 00:35:54,655
He could con the gold
out of your teeth.
742
00:35:54,655 --> 00:35:56,866
Hello? Yes. What?
743
00:35:57,158 --> 00:35:58,993
Don't want orchestras
for the boats,
744
00:35:58,993 --> 00:36:00,953
I want bands, and in uniform.
745
00:36:01,704 --> 00:36:03,539
[Taylor] It was during
the period that Mike
746
00:36:03,539 --> 00:36:06,751
was producing 80 Days
that I became part of his life.
747
00:36:07,543 --> 00:36:09,128
I'd seen Mike and knew him.
748
00:36:09,128 --> 00:36:11,172
It was fun being with him.
749
00:36:11,172 --> 00:36:13,966
I was attracted to him,
but not overly.
750
00:36:15,968 --> 00:36:18,304
The day after my separation
from Michael Wilding,
751
00:36:18,304 --> 00:36:20,681
Mike called me and said
he had to see me right away.
752
00:36:20,681 --> 00:36:23,643
He said I was to meet him
at MGM.
753
00:36:23,643 --> 00:36:25,603
And Mike charged in.
754
00:36:25,603 --> 00:36:27,313
We went into a deserted
office,
755
00:36:27,313 --> 00:36:29,816
he sort of plunked me down,
pulled a chair around,
756
00:36:29,816 --> 00:36:31,734
started in on a spiel
757
00:36:31,734 --> 00:36:33,319
saying that he loved me.
758
00:36:33,319 --> 00:36:35,196
And that there was no
question about it,
759
00:36:35,196 --> 00:36:37,281
but we were
going to be married.
760
00:36:38,032 --> 00:36:39,409
I looked at him,
761
00:36:39,409 --> 00:36:42,078
like a rabbit, I imagine,
looks at a mongoose.
762
00:36:42,078 --> 00:36:43,788
[Meryman laughs]
763
00:36:43,788 --> 00:36:46,374
And I thought,
you know something?
764
00:36:46,374 --> 00:36:48,751
I think he's right!
He talked me into it.
765
00:36:48,751 --> 00:36:51,796
That's what I mean, he could
con the gold off your teeth!
766
00:36:51,796 --> 00:36:53,089
[Meryman laughs]
767
00:36:53,089 --> 00:36:56,384
- [gentle music playing]
- [distant applause]
768
00:37:02,974 --> 00:37:06,394
When she married Mike,
I was her matron of honor.
769
00:37:06,853 --> 00:37:08,688
And I was married
to Eddie Fisher.
770
00:37:08,688 --> 00:37:12,400
♪ I greet the dawn
when I awaken ♪
771
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,652
[Reynolds] Mike Todd
was Eddie's best friend,
772
00:37:14,652 --> 00:37:17,905
and the four of us
had a lot of fun together.
773
00:37:17,905 --> 00:37:20,074
♪ But yes, indeedy ♪
774
00:37:20,074 --> 00:37:23,953
♪ Give me the simple life ♪
775
00:37:23,953 --> 00:37:27,290
[Reynolds] Elizabeth, she was
madly in love with Mike Todd,
776
00:37:27,290 --> 00:37:31,627
who was really
a charismatic guy.
777
00:37:31,627 --> 00:37:33,963
[Taylor] When Mike bought me
my engagement ring,
778
00:37:33,963 --> 00:37:37,550
he said it was, um,
29 and 7/8ths carats,
779
00:37:37,550 --> 00:37:39,927
because 30
would have been vulgar.
780
00:37:40,303 --> 00:37:43,097
[giggles] I call it
my ice-skating rink.
781
00:37:43,890 --> 00:37:45,558
- What do you wanna ask me?
- I'd like to ask about
782
00:37:45,558 --> 00:37:47,518
some of the presents
you've given to her.
783
00:37:47,518 --> 00:37:49,062
Oh, I wouldn't want
to discuss that,
784
00:37:49,062 --> 00:37:51,564
but I can hear you loud and
clear when you talk about--
785
00:37:51,564 --> 00:37:53,441
Did you say Miss Taylor?
You mean Mrs. Todd?
786
00:37:53,441 --> 00:37:54,942
- I beg your pardon.
- Oh, yeah.
787
00:37:54,942 --> 00:37:58,279
Well, Mrs. Todd is my favorite
person in the whole world.
788
00:37:58,279 --> 00:37:59,614
There's no secret about it.
789
00:37:59,614 --> 00:38:02,033
And, uh, I'm very fortunate
790
00:38:02,033 --> 00:38:06,037
to get my hands on a few
dollars occasionally,
791
00:38:06,037 --> 00:38:09,415
and I think there's no better
way in the world of spending it
792
00:38:09,415 --> 00:38:10,917
than trying to spoil Elizabeth.
793
00:38:10,917 --> 00:38:14,462
You can't-- Somebody once said,
"Is Elizabeth spoiled?"
794
00:38:14,462 --> 00:38:16,339
And I said, "I know nothing
more pleasant
795
00:38:16,339 --> 00:38:18,174
than trying to spoil her."
796
00:38:18,174 --> 00:38:20,009
I won't be able to,
I don't think.
797
00:38:20,009 --> 00:38:23,304
["Le Paradis Pour Toi"
by Gillian Hills playing]
798
00:38:23,304 --> 00:38:24,931
[Taylor] We traveled all over
the world together
799
00:38:24,931 --> 00:38:27,225
to promote
Around the World in 80 Days,
800
00:38:27,225 --> 00:38:29,227
and we couldn't have had
more of a ball.
801
00:38:29,227 --> 00:38:32,522
[Gillian Hills
singing in French]
802
00:38:50,289 --> 00:38:51,707
[reporter]
Mike, some of your critics say
803
00:38:51,707 --> 00:38:54,961
that much of your success
is due to luck. You agree?
804
00:38:54,961 --> 00:39:00,174
Mm-hmm. It proves that it's much
better to be lucky than smart.
805
00:39:00,174 --> 00:39:02,510
Which I'm a living example of.
806
00:39:02,510 --> 00:39:05,513
And ending that sentence
with a preposition proves it.
807
00:39:05,513 --> 00:39:08,683
- Around the World in 80 Days.
- [audience cheering]
808
00:39:08,683 --> 00:39:10,810
[announcer] For Best Picture,
producer Mike Todd
809
00:39:10,810 --> 00:39:12,228
receives his Oscar.
810
00:39:12,228 --> 00:39:14,355
[Taylor] Mike was self-educated.
811
00:39:14,939 --> 00:39:17,859
Not really out of books
but by out of listening,
812
00:39:17,859 --> 00:39:19,485
curiosity.
813
00:39:20,361 --> 00:39:24,198
For me, I always had
a feeling of inadequacy
814
00:39:24,198 --> 00:39:25,867
as a student
815
00:39:25,867 --> 00:39:27,368
and as a human being.
816
00:39:27,869 --> 00:39:32,248
With Mike, I learned to enjoy
life much more,
817
00:39:32,248 --> 00:39:34,959
and not to feel ashamed because
you don't know about something,
818
00:39:34,959 --> 00:39:36,335
which I had before.
819
00:39:36,335 --> 00:39:38,588
Not to be ashamed
of being curious.
820
00:39:38,588 --> 00:39:41,132
That curiosity
was a marvelous thing.
821
00:39:43,718 --> 00:39:46,387
One time, I was teasing him
unmercifully,
822
00:39:46,387 --> 00:39:49,557
and some photographer
got a picture.
823
00:39:49,557 --> 00:39:51,517
[reporter] Mike,
there's been a lot of publicity
824
00:39:51,517 --> 00:39:53,061
about your public spats.
825
00:39:53,061 --> 00:39:55,605
- I think something about--
- What? Bite your tongue.
826
00:39:55,605 --> 00:39:57,523
Would you suggest a good fight
now and then?
827
00:39:57,523 --> 00:39:58,941
[Todd] We're not introverts.
828
00:39:58,941 --> 00:40:01,069
If we have something to say,
I say, "Hey, Liz!"
829
00:40:01,069 --> 00:40:02,653
She hollers, "Hey, Mike!"
830
00:40:02,653 --> 00:40:05,448
If you make a Dreyfus case
out of that, it's too bad.
831
00:40:05,448 --> 00:40:08,743
But we're very, uh--
Well, we're so happy--
832
00:40:08,743 --> 00:40:11,245
It doesn't matter. I don't
really care what anybody thinks,
833
00:40:11,245 --> 00:40:13,581
because we know.
834
00:40:13,581 --> 00:40:19,128
I used to try sometimes
to deliberately drive Mike mad.
835
00:40:19,128 --> 00:40:22,173
And I loved it when he then
would lose his temper
836
00:40:22,173 --> 00:40:23,466
and dominate me,
837
00:40:23,841 --> 00:40:26,219
and I'd start to purr inside.
838
00:40:26,219 --> 00:40:28,513
Because he had won
and I hadn't.
839
00:40:28,513 --> 00:40:30,473
[Meryman] What sort of things
would you do?
840
00:40:30,473 --> 00:40:32,433
[Taylor] Oh, be late.
841
00:40:32,433 --> 00:40:35,812
Be delib-- Just fiddle around
and be late.
842
00:40:35,812 --> 00:40:39,190
I-I suppose it was like
testing my strength.
843
00:40:39,941 --> 00:40:43,027
Each time, hoping and praying
that I would lose.
844
00:40:43,444 --> 00:40:45,655
[Meryman] That's really very
important for you, isn't it?
845
00:40:45,655 --> 00:40:47,824
- The strength--
- [Taylor] Oh, I need it.
846
00:40:47,824 --> 00:40:52,245
I need that quality in a man
more than any other quality.
847
00:40:53,246 --> 00:40:56,040
Because, um, I know myself,
848
00:40:56,958 --> 00:40:59,544
and I know that I will try
and get away with murder.
849
00:40:59,544 --> 00:41:01,838
[upbeat jazz music playing]
850
00:41:01,838 --> 00:41:03,464
[reporter] When are you
expecting the baby?
851
00:41:03,464 --> 00:41:04,674
I'm not actually
quite sure.
852
00:41:04,674 --> 00:41:06,467
I haven't been to see
the doctor yet.
853
00:41:06,467 --> 00:41:07,969
I'm going this afternoon.
854
00:41:07,969 --> 00:41:10,304
But sometime around October,
I think.
855
00:41:10,304 --> 00:41:12,265
Well, Liz, I'm quoting you now.
856
00:41:12,265 --> 00:41:15,101
You once said you had the mind
of a child in a woman's body.
857
00:41:15,101 --> 00:41:17,311
- Am I right?
- That was when I was 15, yes.
858
00:41:17,311 --> 00:41:18,896
Oh, I see.
Well, I was wondering,
859
00:41:18,896 --> 00:41:21,607
since you've been married to
such a mature man of the world
860
00:41:21,607 --> 00:41:23,943
as Mr. Todd, you feel you've
matured somewhat now?
861
00:41:23,943 --> 00:41:27,321
I hope so. Otherwise I'd be
slightly retarded, wouldn't I?
862
00:41:27,905 --> 00:41:30,324
Well, thanks very much,
Mike and Liz,
863
00:41:30,324 --> 00:41:31,701
and best of luck with the baby.
864
00:41:31,701 --> 00:41:32,869
See, you're not playing
with children.
865
00:41:32,869 --> 00:41:34,162
That was a pretty good
comeback.
866
00:41:34,162 --> 00:41:35,997
Yes, it was pretty good.
867
00:41:36,581 --> 00:41:38,916
That was for me,
not for your camera.
868
00:41:39,250 --> 00:41:42,003
[gentle, lilting music playing]
869
00:41:45,465 --> 00:41:47,008
[Taylor] When Liza was born,
870
00:41:47,008 --> 00:41:49,677
she looked like,
well, all premature babies,
871
00:41:49,677 --> 00:41:51,512
a bit like Methuselah.
872
00:41:52,013 --> 00:41:55,058
But to Mike, she was
a total miracle.
873
00:41:55,516 --> 00:41:59,896
He was quite convinced that she
was the most brilliant child
874
00:41:59,896 --> 00:42:02,023
and certainly going to be
the first
875
00:42:02,023 --> 00:42:04,650
female president
of the United States.
876
00:42:04,650 --> 00:42:06,694
And, of course, the first
877
00:42:06,694 --> 00:42:09,113
Jewish president
of the United States.
878
00:42:11,574 --> 00:42:12,950
[Murrow] Evening, Liz.
879
00:42:12,950 --> 00:42:15,036
- Hello, Ed. How are you?
- [Murrow] Good.
880
00:42:15,036 --> 00:42:16,496
Are you going to continue
making movies
881
00:42:16,496 --> 00:42:18,706
or just, uh, be a housewife?
882
00:42:18,706 --> 00:42:20,875
I couldn't really, um...
883
00:42:21,834 --> 00:42:24,003
care less about making movies,
884
00:42:24,003 --> 00:42:25,254
to tell you the truth.
885
00:42:25,254 --> 00:42:26,881
I consider it much
more important
886
00:42:26,881 --> 00:42:29,717
to be a good woman
than a great actress,
887
00:42:29,717 --> 00:42:31,386
or any kind of an actress.
888
00:42:31,386 --> 00:42:34,597
[gentle, sultry music playing]
889
00:42:34,597 --> 00:42:36,724
I was going to quit,
890
00:42:36,724 --> 00:42:38,726
and I had one more film to do
891
00:42:38,726 --> 00:42:40,895
on the studio contract...
892
00:42:41,396 --> 00:42:43,731
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
893
00:42:44,649 --> 00:42:48,152
It was a weird experience
for me.
894
00:42:49,570 --> 00:42:52,240
And I don't remember
too much about it.
895
00:42:52,740 --> 00:42:55,076
'Cause, um, I was on the film
for two weeks
896
00:42:55,076 --> 00:42:57,161
before Mike was killed.
897
00:42:59,163 --> 00:43:01,791
Michael Todd died today
at the height of his career.
898
00:43:01,791 --> 00:43:04,752
Today, his plane crashed
and exploded in mountains
899
00:43:04,752 --> 00:43:07,714
30 miles southwest
of Grants, New Mexico.
900
00:43:07,714 --> 00:43:09,257
Mr. Todd was on his way
to New York
901
00:43:09,257 --> 00:43:12,260
to accept an award
as Showman of the Year.
902
00:43:12,260 --> 00:43:15,012
His wife, Elizabeth Taylor,
might have gone with him,
903
00:43:15,012 --> 00:43:17,515
but she had a cold
and stayed behind.
904
00:43:17,515 --> 00:43:21,102
[grim, solemn music playing]
905
00:43:23,855 --> 00:43:27,108
[gentle, poignant music playing]
906
00:43:33,656 --> 00:43:36,075
[Taylor] It was funny,
I-I had a feeling,
907
00:43:36,617 --> 00:43:39,036
so did Mike,
all during our marriage
908
00:43:39,620 --> 00:43:41,330
that something
was going to happen.
909
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:46,294
It was the first time
that I had been happy.
910
00:43:47,795 --> 00:43:49,964
And he was almost 50 years old
911
00:43:49,964 --> 00:43:52,800
and he had never,
he told me,
912
00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:54,594
been that happy before.
913
00:43:54,594 --> 00:43:57,388
- [somber music playing]
- [wind blowing]
914
00:43:59,140 --> 00:44:01,726
And it was like
something was gonna happen.
915
00:44:01,726 --> 00:44:03,936
It was too good to be true.
916
00:44:05,897 --> 00:44:07,940
And when it did happen...
917
00:44:09,692 --> 00:44:11,736
I was so unprepared.
918
00:44:15,656 --> 00:44:17,950
I was unprepared for
919
00:44:18,451 --> 00:44:20,078
the death...
920
00:44:21,329 --> 00:44:25,291
of the person that I had
put all my trust in.
921
00:44:27,210 --> 00:44:30,046
It was really more
than I could handle.
922
00:44:34,759 --> 00:44:37,178
Eddie and I both
went to Elizabeth's house,
923
00:44:37,178 --> 00:44:40,139
and, uh, she was screaming,
and it was just awful.
924
00:44:40,139 --> 00:44:42,225
And so I said to Eddie,
"You should stay.
925
00:44:42,225 --> 00:44:44,477
I'll take the children
and take them home,
926
00:44:44,477 --> 00:44:48,314
because now the press are
swarming all over her house."
927
00:44:51,859 --> 00:44:54,153
[Taylor] I was absolutely in...
928
00:44:54,862 --> 00:44:59,409
uh, I mean, a really almost
incoherent state.
929
00:45:00,785 --> 00:45:02,995
I didn't ever want
to work again.
930
00:45:03,704 --> 00:45:05,998
But I was so...
931
00:45:07,041 --> 00:45:08,209
dead...
932
00:45:08,918 --> 00:45:12,547
that I thought the only way
I could...
933
00:45:12,547 --> 00:45:15,883
regain my sanity at all
934
00:45:16,843 --> 00:45:19,137
was to go back
and finish the film.
935
00:45:20,304 --> 00:45:21,889
I had to finish it.
936
00:45:23,057 --> 00:45:26,394
One of those no-neck monsters
hit me with some ice cream.
937
00:45:27,228 --> 00:45:30,189
Now why did you call Gooper's
kiddies no-neck monsters?
938
00:45:30,189 --> 00:45:32,942
Because your brother's children
got no necks, that's why.
939
00:45:34,277 --> 00:45:37,405
[Taylor] And I went back
to work after two weeks...
940
00:45:38,406 --> 00:45:41,325
and I was more or less
like a robot...
941
00:45:42,952 --> 00:45:44,912
until I became Maggie.
942
00:45:45,413 --> 00:45:47,248
And when I was Maggie,
I could talk,
943
00:45:47,248 --> 00:45:50,501
and I could function,
until they said "cut."
944
00:45:50,501 --> 00:45:52,879
[gentle sentimental music
playing]
945
00:45:54,255 --> 00:45:56,007
I get so lonely.
946
00:45:56,674 --> 00:45:58,509
Everybody gets that.
947
00:46:00,678 --> 00:46:02,972
Living with somebody you love
can be...
948
00:46:03,639 --> 00:46:05,975
lonelier than living
entirely alone.
949
00:46:07,769 --> 00:46:09,937
When the one you love
doesn't love you.
950
00:46:19,864 --> 00:46:22,492
[Taylor] There was a trance-like
thing about me
951
00:46:22,492 --> 00:46:24,118
after Mike's death.
952
00:46:24,118 --> 00:46:27,038
[dark, dramatic music playing]
953
00:46:27,038 --> 00:46:31,417
I think I really did
have a strong urge to...
954
00:46:32,627 --> 00:46:35,171
just lay down and quit.
955
00:46:37,215 --> 00:46:40,134
It seemed almost certain
that I was...
956
00:46:40,718 --> 00:46:42,804
heading to disaster,
957
00:46:42,804 --> 00:46:44,972
and I could not stop myself.
958
00:46:46,057 --> 00:46:49,644
So now you can enjoy a pause
that really refreshes,
959
00:46:49,644 --> 00:46:51,312
as we bring you Eddie Fisher
singing
960
00:46:51,312 --> 00:46:54,524
his newest RCA Victor
recording,
961
00:46:54,524 --> 00:46:56,150
of "Without You."
962
00:46:56,150 --> 00:46:58,236
[lush orchestral
music playing]
963
00:46:58,236 --> 00:47:04,325
♪ There'll never be
a love for me ♪
964
00:47:04,325 --> 00:47:07,870
♪ Without you ♪
965
00:47:08,788 --> 00:47:10,248
[Reynolds]
After Mike's plane crash,
966
00:47:10,248 --> 00:47:14,168
my husband, he was
great comfort to Elizabeth.
967
00:47:15,294 --> 00:47:16,879
And then she had to go
to New York,
968
00:47:16,879 --> 00:47:19,841
and then he said
he had to go for work.
969
00:47:19,841 --> 00:47:21,676
But he really went
to be with Elizabeth,
970
00:47:21,676 --> 00:47:23,219
which I found out,
971
00:47:23,219 --> 00:47:26,472
and uh, realized that
there was something
972
00:47:26,472 --> 00:47:28,099
going on seriously there.
973
00:47:28,099 --> 00:47:30,852
- [dramatic music playing]
- [crowd shouting]
974
00:47:30,852 --> 00:47:32,395
[Taylor] Eddie Fisher,
in New York,
975
00:47:32,395 --> 00:47:34,147
had taken me out,
976
00:47:34,147 --> 00:47:36,315
I think, two or three times.
977
00:47:39,402 --> 00:47:42,905
And then all the shit
hit the fan.
978
00:47:43,364 --> 00:47:45,366
A short time ago, one of the
Hollywood columnists
979
00:47:45,366 --> 00:47:48,578
broke a story about you
and Debbie breaking up.
980
00:47:48,578 --> 00:47:50,663
[Fisher] There's nothing to it,
but I would prefer
981
00:47:50,663 --> 00:47:52,415
not going into it at all.
982
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:55,501
[announcer] Eddie Fisher
and Debbie Reynolds
983
00:47:55,501 --> 00:47:57,628
seemed to have
a storybook marriage.
984
00:47:58,337 --> 00:48:01,758
The crooner's hits drew
thousands of adoring fans,
985
00:48:01,758 --> 00:48:02,884
while the starlet's roles
in films
986
00:48:02,884 --> 00:48:04,427
such as
Singin' in the Rain
987
00:48:04,427 --> 00:48:07,096
earned her the title,
"America's Sweetheart."
988
00:48:08,264 --> 00:48:10,975
As a couple, they appeared
to adore each other.
989
00:48:10,975 --> 00:48:13,561
Yes! Where is she? Debbie!
990
00:48:13,936 --> 00:48:15,897
She's a very, very
wonderful girl.
991
00:48:15,897 --> 00:48:17,565
- She's a funny cook.
- [interviewer] Uh-huh.
992
00:48:17,565 --> 00:48:20,318
You mean a lousy cook,
that's what you really mean.
993
00:48:20,318 --> 00:48:22,361
- Wait a minute. [chuckles]
- Yeah.
994
00:48:25,281 --> 00:48:28,367
[Taylor] I was still in love
with the memory of Mike.
995
00:48:28,785 --> 00:48:31,037
I was keeping Mike alive...
996
00:48:32,622 --> 00:48:35,625
by talking about him.
997
00:48:37,418 --> 00:48:40,880
Just, Eddie was a great friend
of Mike's.
998
00:48:41,589 --> 00:48:44,759
That was the only thing we had
in common, was Mike.
999
00:48:44,759 --> 00:48:46,427
[Meryman] Hmm.
1000
00:48:48,888 --> 00:48:50,932
[Taylor] I never loved Eddie.
1001
00:48:50,932 --> 00:48:53,601
I liked him,
I felt sorry for him...
1002
00:48:55,269 --> 00:48:57,814
and I liked talking with him
about Mike.
1003
00:48:57,814 --> 00:48:59,732
I was sick.
1004
00:49:01,401 --> 00:49:05,238
But I trapped myself into that.
I did that myself.
1005
00:49:06,948 --> 00:49:09,492
[crowd shouting]
1006
00:49:09,492 --> 00:49:11,327
I can't say anything
against Debbie,
1007
00:49:11,327 --> 00:49:13,788
but she put on such an act,
1008
00:49:14,122 --> 00:49:17,417
with the pigtails
and the diaper pins,
1009
00:49:17,417 --> 00:49:21,337
and the whole thing
coming as a big shock.
1010
00:49:22,505 --> 00:49:25,133
I mean, the public didn't know
any of the...
1011
00:49:25,133 --> 00:49:28,970
personal unhappinesses
of Debbie and Eddie
1012
00:49:28,970 --> 00:49:30,805
that Mike and I knew about.
1013
00:49:30,805 --> 00:49:32,223
As far as they were concerned,
1014
00:49:32,223 --> 00:49:34,684
I had broken up
a perfectly happy marriage.
1015
00:49:36,644 --> 00:49:39,063
[announcer] In the capper to
Hollywood's biggest scandal,
1016
00:49:39,063 --> 00:49:41,482
a radiant Elizabeth Taylor
marries Eddie Fisher
1017
00:49:41,482 --> 00:49:45,194
just three hours after his
divorce from Debbie Reynolds.
1018
00:49:45,987 --> 00:49:49,323
[dramatic music playing]
1019
00:49:49,323 --> 00:49:51,075
[applause]
1020
00:49:51,659 --> 00:49:53,995
[Meryman] Am I right in thinking
that after you married
1021
00:49:53,995 --> 00:49:55,496
uh, Eddie Fisher,
1022
00:49:55,496 --> 00:50:01,002
that you encountered terrific
public animosity?
1023
00:50:01,002 --> 00:50:02,628
[Taylor] Oh, sure.
1024
00:50:03,504 --> 00:50:07,759
Hostility in people's faces
and letters and looks.
1025
00:50:08,676 --> 00:50:11,679
[Meryman] Did the public
animosity bother you a lot?
1026
00:50:11,679 --> 00:50:13,056
[Taylor] Oh, sure.
1027
00:50:13,681 --> 00:50:17,351
Probably more or less justified
as far as they were concerned.
1028
00:50:20,938 --> 00:50:22,356
As a matter of fact,
1029
00:50:22,356 --> 00:50:24,275
I don't remember too much
about my marriage to him
1030
00:50:24,275 --> 00:50:27,028
except that it was one
big friggin' awful mistake.
1031
00:50:27,528 --> 00:50:29,197
And that I knew it
before we got married
1032
00:50:29,197 --> 00:50:31,115
and didn't know how
to get out of it.
1033
00:50:31,574 --> 00:50:34,035
[reporter 1] You're going to
honeymoon in Europe?
1034
00:50:34,035 --> 00:50:35,787
Whereabouts?
1035
00:50:35,787 --> 00:50:37,455
Someplace around Spain.
1036
00:50:37,455 --> 00:50:40,333
- You happy?
- Very happy. Thank you.
1037
00:50:40,333 --> 00:50:41,834
Eddie, this is probably
the most
1038
00:50:41,834 --> 00:50:43,252
publicized wedding
in a long time.
1039
00:50:43,252 --> 00:50:45,588
How do you two feel
about all this publicity?
1040
00:50:46,464 --> 00:50:47,715
About what?
1041
00:50:47,715 --> 00:50:50,301
About all the publicity
attending the wedding?
1042
00:50:50,301 --> 00:50:52,053
Well, I don't think that's a...
1043
00:50:52,053 --> 00:50:54,222
we're more concerned
about each other right now.
1044
00:50:54,222 --> 00:50:55,681
[reporter 2] I see.
1045
00:50:55,681 --> 00:50:58,893
Are you a little bit dizzy
by the pace of the thing?
1046
00:50:58,893 --> 00:51:01,229
- We're a little weary.
- It's true.
1047
00:51:01,229 --> 00:51:03,231
Very tired, but we feel
wonderful.
1048
00:51:03,231 --> 00:51:04,774
[reporter 3] Can she cook?
1049
00:51:04,774 --> 00:51:06,401
Um, she doesn't have to.
1050
00:51:06,901 --> 00:51:08,403
That enough?
1051
00:51:10,405 --> 00:51:14,075
[Meryman] My question's whether
you ever thought, at the time,
1052
00:51:14,659 --> 00:51:16,369
"Perhaps it would
have been marvelous
1053
00:51:16,369 --> 00:51:20,248
if I had never been a
movie star and never been in...
1054
00:51:20,248 --> 00:51:23,251
- A success."
- [Taylor] Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
1055
00:51:23,251 --> 00:51:25,753
I think that some part of me
is sorry
1056
00:51:25,753 --> 00:51:27,296
that I became...
1057
00:51:27,839 --> 00:51:29,674
uh...
1058
00:51:29,674 --> 00:51:31,426
a public utility.
1059
00:51:31,426 --> 00:51:34,387
I know I should be grateful.
I know all that.
1060
00:51:36,097 --> 00:51:37,515
I don't like fame.
1061
00:51:37,515 --> 00:51:42,353
I don't like the sense of-of
belonging to the public.
1062
00:51:43,229 --> 00:51:46,733
I like being an actress,
or trying to be an actress.
1063
00:51:46,733 --> 00:51:48,776
[gentle piano music playing]
1064
00:51:50,486 --> 00:51:52,780
I have done some films that...
1065
00:51:53,906 --> 00:51:58,035
by all kind of rules
of the-of the business,
1066
00:51:58,035 --> 00:51:59,495
I shouldn't have done
1067
00:51:59,495 --> 00:52:02,331
and that I was advised
not to do.
1068
00:52:02,331 --> 00:52:04,959
For instance,
Suddenly, Last Summer.
1069
00:52:04,959 --> 00:52:07,086
[dramatic theme music playing]
1070
00:52:07,086 --> 00:52:09,464
[announcer] This generation's
greatest author and poet,
1071
00:52:09,464 --> 00:52:11,215
writer of
A Streetcar Named Desire
1072
00:52:11,215 --> 00:52:14,177
and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,
unashamedly writes
1073
00:52:14,177 --> 00:52:16,095
of a woman's strong wants
1074
00:52:16,095 --> 00:52:18,598
and a man's strange needs.
1075
00:52:19,348 --> 00:52:21,559
What did really happen?
1076
00:52:21,559 --> 00:52:23,144
I failed him.
1077
00:52:23,144 --> 00:52:25,313
I wasn't able to keep the web
from breaking.
1078
00:52:25,313 --> 00:52:27,648
I saw it breaking, but I
couldn't save it or repair it.
1079
00:52:27,648 --> 00:52:29,650
There now.
The truth's coming out.
1080
00:52:30,151 --> 00:52:32,904
[Taylor] Everyone advised me
not to do it.
1081
00:52:34,197 --> 00:52:35,239
[Meryman] Because of the theme?
1082
00:52:35,239 --> 00:52:36,657
[Taylor] Oh, only the theme.
1083
00:52:36,657 --> 00:52:39,619
Because the theme
was so controversial.
1084
00:52:42,914 --> 00:52:45,917
Elizabeth was never
afraid of controversial things.
1085
00:52:45,917 --> 00:52:51,339
Suddenly, Last Summer
dealt with a troubled gay man
1086
00:52:51,339 --> 00:52:53,466
who was deeply closeted.
1087
00:52:54,050 --> 00:52:58,179
Of course, because of the
production code at the time,
1088
00:52:58,179 --> 00:53:02,725
the underlying homosexuality
was whitewashed.
1089
00:53:02,725 --> 00:53:04,227
[Taylor] People said,
"Don't do it,
1090
00:53:04,227 --> 00:53:06,354
it'll be the end
of your career."
1091
00:53:07,522 --> 00:53:11,067
So if I'd been really
ambitious about my career,
1092
00:53:11,067 --> 00:53:12,985
I would have done Ben-Hur.
1093
00:53:13,736 --> 00:53:17,031
[laughter]
1094
00:53:17,407 --> 00:53:20,284
[announcer] Oscar Night.
The 32nd Annual Academy Awards.
1095
00:53:20,284 --> 00:53:22,245
Charlton Heston,
the star of Ben-Hur,
1096
00:53:22,245 --> 00:53:23,663
keeping his fingers crossed.
1097
00:53:24,580 --> 00:53:26,374
Elizabeth Taylor
and Eddie Fisher.
1098
00:53:27,041 --> 00:53:29,877
[Taylor] I did get nominated
for Suddenly Last Summer.
1099
00:53:29,877 --> 00:53:32,964
[Meryman] You really wanted
an Academy Award.
1100
00:53:32,964 --> 00:53:34,716
[Taylor] Sure!
1101
00:53:35,091 --> 00:53:36,884
[Meryman]
What does it represent?
1102
00:53:38,386 --> 00:53:40,888
[Taylor]
Well, I suppose to me it, uh,
1103
00:53:40,888 --> 00:53:44,392
was finally being considered
by my own industry
1104
00:53:44,392 --> 00:53:46,561
an actress, not a movie star.
1105
00:53:47,812 --> 00:53:50,398
And that was terribly
important to me.
1106
00:53:50,773 --> 00:53:52,442
[announcer] Best actress,
Simone Signoret,
1107
00:53:52,442 --> 00:53:53,901
for her performance...
1108
00:53:53,901 --> 00:53:56,237
[Taylor] I think probably
if I'd been a good girl,
1109
00:53:56,237 --> 00:53:57,739
I probably
would have won.
1110
00:53:57,739 --> 00:53:58,948
[laughter]
1111
00:53:58,948 --> 00:54:01,951
- Didn't you think so, Roddy?
- [McDowall laughs]
1112
00:54:01,951 --> 00:54:05,705
- Ms. Taylor? Darling?
- [Taylor] Yes, Mr. McDowall.
1113
00:54:05,705 --> 00:54:08,916
- [Taylor] Yes, Randy McNutt.
- [laughter]
1114
00:54:09,375 --> 00:54:10,835
[McDowall]
How about a movie like...
1115
00:54:10,835 --> 00:54:13,087
that you really hated?
Like Butterfield, for instance.
1116
00:54:13,087 --> 00:54:14,672
[Taylor] I hated it so much.
1117
00:54:14,672 --> 00:54:17,425
I thought, "Fuck them."
They made me do the film.
1118
00:54:17,425 --> 00:54:18,676
I didn't want to.
1119
00:54:18,676 --> 00:54:20,887
I did it with a pistol
to my head.
1120
00:54:21,971 --> 00:54:24,265
[announcer] Butterfield 8
with Laurence Harvey
1121
00:54:24,265 --> 00:54:26,225
is one of Elizabeth Taylor's
major films
1122
00:54:26,225 --> 00:54:27,810
after the death of Mike Todd
1123
00:54:27,810 --> 00:54:30,188
and the storm over her next
marriage to Eddie Fisher...
1124
00:54:30,188 --> 00:54:31,230
To the three of us.
1125
00:54:31,230 --> 00:54:32,482
...who also stars in the movie.
1126
00:54:32,482 --> 00:54:34,609
One for all and all for one.
1127
00:54:34,609 --> 00:54:36,694
The question is which one?
1128
00:54:38,613 --> 00:54:41,449
[announcer] Most critics think
the picture is a bomb.
1129
00:54:41,449 --> 00:54:43,618
But as a model
and freelance call girl,
1130
00:54:43,618 --> 00:54:46,329
she does, as usual,
dominate the screen.
1131
00:54:46,329 --> 00:54:48,372
We-we both know
what kind of a girl I've been.
1132
00:54:48,372 --> 00:54:51,042
- We both know--
- I don't want to hear about it!
1133
00:54:51,042 --> 00:54:52,460
Mama, you have to.
1134
00:54:52,835 --> 00:54:54,629
Mama, I am different.
1135
00:54:54,629 --> 00:54:58,549
Yesterday it was men,
a whole world full of men.
1136
00:54:58,549 --> 00:55:00,635
Let me go, you're hurting me!
1137
00:55:00,635 --> 00:55:04,472
Mama, face it!
I was the slut of all time!
1138
00:55:05,848 --> 00:55:07,392
[McDowall]
You're very good in it.
1139
00:55:07,392 --> 00:55:08,726
[Taylor] I tried to do
as well as I could.
1140
00:55:08,726 --> 00:55:10,228
[McDowall]
You're very good in it.
1141
00:55:10,228 --> 00:55:11,979
[Taylor] The lines
were so diabolical.
1142
00:55:11,979 --> 00:55:15,608
It was such a piece of shit
that it made me angry.
1143
00:55:15,608 --> 00:55:18,444
And out of the anger, it kind
of gave me an incentive.
1144
00:55:18,444 --> 00:55:20,238
[McDowall] That character
is one of the most
1145
00:55:20,238 --> 00:55:21,823
potent things
I've seen you play.
1146
00:55:22,240 --> 00:55:26,661
You were marvelous and tragic
and wild and fascinating.
1147
00:55:26,661 --> 00:55:29,414
[Taylor] Well, it was done
out of anger.
1148
00:55:30,623 --> 00:55:32,458
We did have a drink together
last night.
1149
00:55:32,458 --> 00:55:35,461
- One?
- A dozen, maybe.
1150
00:55:35,461 --> 00:55:38,047
And this morning you stagger
out of his apartment.
1151
00:55:38,047 --> 00:55:39,465
Charming.
1152
00:55:40,925 --> 00:55:43,428
Funny thing, I don't even
remember going there.
1153
00:55:43,428 --> 00:55:45,722
[melancholy music playing]
1154
00:55:46,639 --> 00:55:48,683
Better than sleeping pills.
1155
00:55:49,767 --> 00:55:51,144
[groans]
1156
00:55:51,144 --> 00:55:53,396
[Meryman]
Married to Eddie Fisher,
1157
00:55:53,396 --> 00:55:55,356
did you feel very lonely?
Was that...?
1158
00:55:55,982 --> 00:56:00,987
[Taylor] Yes, and Eddie
made sure that I felt lonely.
1159
00:56:01,946 --> 00:56:03,823
Uh, we never went out.
1160
00:56:04,198 --> 00:56:05,450
[man] No.
1161
00:56:05,450 --> 00:56:06,826
[Taylor] It was like
he didn't like me
1162
00:56:06,826 --> 00:56:08,703
to mingle
with other people.
1163
00:56:10,246 --> 00:56:12,415
And it was like being
locked up.
1164
00:56:18,504 --> 00:56:22,050
I started to sleep
14 or 15 hours at once.
1165
00:56:23,760 --> 00:56:25,553
I was trying to avoid
everything.
1166
00:56:25,553 --> 00:56:27,722
I was trying to avoid life.
1167
00:56:30,892 --> 00:56:33,227
But I was so desperate
at one time
1168
00:56:34,353 --> 00:56:36,939
that I did take
some sleeping pills.
1169
00:56:37,857 --> 00:56:40,359
I did it deliberately, calmly,
1170
00:56:40,359 --> 00:56:41,736
and, uh...
1171
00:56:43,071 --> 00:56:44,530
in front of Eddie.
1172
00:56:46,115 --> 00:56:48,451
I was fed up with living.
1173
00:56:48,451 --> 00:56:51,579
I couldn't then
face the thought of divorce.
1174
00:56:51,579 --> 00:56:53,247
I'd rather have been dead
1175
00:56:53,915 --> 00:56:55,750
than face
going through divorce.
1176
00:56:56,292 --> 00:56:58,961
[Meryman] Did you--
Were you taken to the hospital?
1177
00:56:59,587 --> 00:57:01,964
[Taylor] No, a doctor
came to the hotel.
1178
00:57:03,591 --> 00:57:04,884
And thank God.
1179
00:57:05,343 --> 00:57:07,845
I'm so deeply ashamed of it.
1180
00:57:08,930 --> 00:57:13,434
It's the most self-indulgent
kind of behavior.
1181
00:57:13,935 --> 00:57:18,981
Because the consequences to
the children were so horrific.
1182
00:57:19,774 --> 00:57:21,442
I wasn't thinking of anybody
but myself.
1183
00:57:21,442 --> 00:57:23,528
That's why I say
it's so selfish.
1184
00:57:23,528 --> 00:57:26,489
[melancholy music continues]
1185
00:57:30,785 --> 00:57:33,287
- Hey, what time is it, boy?
- [Meryman] It's not very late.
1186
00:57:33,287 --> 00:57:34,622
- What is it?
- [McDowall] 11:30.
1187
00:57:34,622 --> 00:57:36,624
[Taylor] Oy gevalt.
1188
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:38,960
Is the machine on?
1189
00:57:38,960 --> 00:57:40,628
[Meryman]
Yes, the machine is on.
1190
00:57:40,628 --> 00:57:42,130
[Taylor] Okay.
1191
00:57:43,339 --> 00:57:45,299
[Meryman] I want to push on.
1192
00:57:45,299 --> 00:57:47,677
[bombastic orchestral music
playing]
1193
00:57:53,307 --> 00:57:55,685
[announcer] The motion picture
casting achievement of the year
1194
00:57:55,685 --> 00:57:57,645
is about to become
a recorded fact.
1195
00:57:58,146 --> 00:57:59,439
The occasion?
1196
00:57:59,439 --> 00:58:01,482
The Hollywood signing
of the exotic Elizabeth
1197
00:58:01,482 --> 00:58:03,901
for the most exotic role
in her career,
1198
00:58:03,901 --> 00:58:06,988
Cleopatra, of whom
Shakespeare wrote,
1199
00:58:06,988 --> 00:58:08,489
"age cannot weather her
1200
00:58:08,489 --> 00:58:11,743
nor custom stale
her infinite variety."
1201
00:58:13,035 --> 00:58:15,663
Elizabeth is
the first movie star,
1202
00:58:15,663 --> 00:58:17,165
man or woman,
1203
00:58:17,165 --> 00:58:20,043
to be paid a million dollars
for a part in a film.
1204
00:58:20,043 --> 00:58:23,629
And she asked for 10%
of the absolute gross.
1205
00:58:23,629 --> 00:58:27,008
When it came to business,
she was ruthless.
1206
00:58:28,801 --> 00:58:30,678
[Taylor] I finally got away
from MGM,
1207
00:58:30,678 --> 00:58:34,640
and was one of the first ones
to make my own deals.
1208
00:58:34,640 --> 00:58:37,935
And I enjoyed dealing
with the studios.
1209
00:58:38,478 --> 00:58:40,188
And I was quite a good
businesswoman.
1210
00:58:41,522 --> 00:58:44,734
[Meryman] Are you ever made
to feel, by the movie industry,
1211
00:58:44,734 --> 00:58:46,444
like so much meat?
1212
00:58:46,444 --> 00:58:48,738
[Taylor] I was.
1213
00:58:48,738 --> 00:58:51,074
But when you, uh,
could very coolly,
1214
00:58:51,074 --> 00:58:54,118
ask for a million dollars
for a film and get it,
1215
00:58:54,118 --> 00:58:56,204
you don't feel like
a piece of meat.
1216
00:58:56,204 --> 00:58:57,789
[laughter]
1217
00:58:57,789 --> 00:58:59,499
You feel like a big steak.
1218
00:58:59,499 --> 00:59:01,626
[laughter]
1219
00:59:02,043 --> 00:59:04,712
[Meryman] Well, all I can do is
ask the same question.
1220
00:59:04,712 --> 00:59:06,506
Why do you think
that you're paid
1221
00:59:06,506 --> 00:59:08,383
a million dollars
for a movie?
1222
00:59:08,841 --> 00:59:12,387
What do you think is your...
your salable...
1223
00:59:12,387 --> 00:59:14,389
- [McDowall laughs]
- ...goods?
1224
00:59:14,389 --> 00:59:17,809
[Taylor laughs] I really
haven't thought about it.
1225
00:59:19,227 --> 00:59:20,395
[McDowall] Come on now.
1226
00:59:20,395 --> 00:59:22,230
You were offered
a million dollars.
1227
00:59:22,230 --> 00:59:23,689
Now, what was that based on?
1228
00:59:24,357 --> 00:59:27,068
Have you never thought of
yourself as being a sex symbol?
1229
00:59:27,068 --> 00:59:28,528
[Taylor] Sex symbol?
1230
00:59:28,528 --> 00:59:31,531
What the hell is a sex symbol?
What is it?
1231
00:59:31,531 --> 00:59:33,783
[Meryman] Well, Marilyn
is a good example.
1232
00:59:33,783 --> 00:59:35,493
[Taylor]
But I don't think I am.
1233
00:59:35,493 --> 00:59:36,577
I really don't.
1234
00:59:37,161 --> 00:59:38,663
[McDowall] You don't think
your public image
1235
00:59:38,663 --> 00:59:39,997
is that of a sex symbol?
1236
00:59:39,997 --> 00:59:42,083
[Taylor] I don't want to be
a sex symbol.
1237
00:59:42,500 --> 00:59:43,918
[woman] A man!
1238
00:59:45,128 --> 00:59:46,921
Oh, it's you.
1239
00:59:48,881 --> 00:59:53,803
I summoned you yesterday to
an audience in my throne room.
1240
00:59:55,096 --> 00:59:59,016
[Taylor] Because I am a woman
and I am in...
1241
00:59:59,016 --> 01:00:02,228
the prime of my life...
[chuckles]
1242
01:00:02,228 --> 01:00:07,108
...sex, of course, must enter
into any role that I play.
1243
01:00:07,525 --> 01:00:10,278
Am I to understand, then,
that you feel free to do with me
1244
01:00:10,278 --> 01:00:11,904
whatever you want...
1245
01:00:12,488 --> 01:00:13,489
whenever you want?
1246
01:00:13,489 --> 01:00:16,951
Yes, I want that understood.
1247
01:00:18,953 --> 01:00:20,496
[Meryman] Well, this is
one of the reasons
1248
01:00:20,496 --> 01:00:25,084
I have a problem over your
not feeling like a sex goddess,
1249
01:00:25,084 --> 01:00:27,336
is how can you be built
that way
1250
01:00:27,336 --> 01:00:31,841
and not be aware of what this
must be doing to people?
1251
01:00:31,841 --> 01:00:34,719
[Taylor] You two put
so bloody much emphasis
1252
01:00:34,719 --> 01:00:36,012
on this sex goddess thing.
1253
01:00:36,012 --> 01:00:37,805
I swear to God, before you,
1254
01:00:37,805 --> 01:00:39,807
I never thought about being
a sex goddess.
1255
01:00:39,807 --> 01:00:42,518
I know I'm an actress,
and I know I'm female,
1256
01:00:42,518 --> 01:00:44,562
and I'm very proud
of being a woman.
1257
01:00:44,562 --> 01:00:46,230
I love being a woman.
1258
01:00:46,230 --> 01:00:49,108
And I think sex
is absolutely gorgeous.
1259
01:00:49,108 --> 01:00:52,278
But as far as being
a sex goddess is concerned,
1260
01:00:52,278 --> 01:00:54,655
I've never thought of myself
that way.
1261
01:00:54,655 --> 01:00:56,824
I'm a... I'm a broad.
1262
01:00:56,824 --> 01:00:58,159
- I'm a woman.
- [McDowall] Well...
1263
01:00:58,159 --> 01:00:59,994
[Taylor] I really don't think
it's unique.
1264
01:00:59,994 --> 01:01:01,329
[Meryman] What you getting
so overexcited about?
1265
01:01:01,329 --> 01:01:03,790
[Taylor] Because it's about
the 19th time
1266
01:01:03,790 --> 01:01:06,459
it's come up
in the conversation!
1267
01:01:06,459 --> 01:01:07,668
[Meryman]
It won't come up again.
1268
01:01:07,668 --> 01:01:08,961
[Taylor] Okay.
1269
01:01:09,921 --> 01:01:11,381
Listen, we have to go,
1270
01:01:11,381 --> 01:01:13,633
because you have to leave
by the side door.
1271
01:01:13,633 --> 01:01:15,134
[Taylor] What?
1272
01:01:15,134 --> 01:01:16,636
[McDowall] There are a great
many photographers.
1273
01:01:16,636 --> 01:01:18,262
I'm going to arrange
about the car.
1274
01:01:19,013 --> 01:01:20,640
[Taylor] Your machine's off,
isn't it?
1275
01:01:20,640 --> 01:01:22,308
[Meryman] No, it isn't.
1276
01:01:23,726 --> 01:01:25,186
[player clicks]
1277
01:01:25,686 --> 01:01:27,939
[melancholy music playing]
1278
01:01:33,027 --> 01:01:35,613
[Taylor] When I was doing
Cleopatra in England,
1279
01:01:36,030 --> 01:01:39,117
location work can be terribly
monotonous because
1280
01:01:39,117 --> 01:01:41,869
you have to rely
and wait for the weather.
1281
01:01:41,869 --> 01:01:43,413
You wait for the gods.
1282
01:01:43,413 --> 01:01:45,790
And you can sit there for days.
1283
01:01:46,707 --> 01:01:49,043
We started out in September,
1284
01:01:49,043 --> 01:01:52,088
and they got, oh, I don't know,
three weeks done
1285
01:01:52,088 --> 01:01:55,216
and they had to abandon it
for eight months or something
1286
01:01:55,216 --> 01:01:57,885
because there
was not a dry day.
1287
01:01:57,885 --> 01:02:01,305
[thunder rumbling]
1288
01:02:01,305 --> 01:02:05,017
And, uh, I was sick in bed
with what I thought
1289
01:02:05,017 --> 01:02:07,395
was, you know, the 24-hour flu.
1290
01:02:10,898 --> 01:02:13,359
[film projector whirring]
1291
01:02:13,901 --> 01:02:16,362
[announcer] Hollywood's epic
production of Cleopatra
1292
01:02:16,362 --> 01:02:18,114
grinds to a halt after
its leading lady,
1293
01:02:18,114 --> 01:02:20,575
Elizabeth Taylor, is rushed
to the London Clinic
1294
01:02:20,575 --> 01:02:22,910
with life-threatening
pneumonia.
1295
01:02:24,412 --> 01:02:27,165
[Taylor] I was on the operating
table for 18 hours.
1296
01:02:27,165 --> 01:02:29,584
And actually, four times, I...
1297
01:02:30,209 --> 01:02:34,505
was called dead
and stopped breathing.
1298
01:02:35,715 --> 01:02:37,925
And they had pipes
going into my lungs,
1299
01:02:37,925 --> 01:02:41,721
pulling the gook out
and shoving oxygen in.
1300
01:02:42,346 --> 01:02:46,100
And when I came to on the
table, the operating table,
1301
01:02:46,601 --> 01:02:50,855
that when I tried to scream,
no... no sound came out.
1302
01:02:50,855 --> 01:02:53,357
There was only just air
coming out of a big hole
1303
01:02:53,357 --> 01:02:56,110
in my throat
where they'd slit it open.
1304
01:02:57,862 --> 01:03:00,031
[somber music playing]
1305
01:03:00,948 --> 01:03:05,119
Well, as-as you know,
Ms. Taylor has not been well.
1306
01:03:05,119 --> 01:03:07,914
So we've been trying to get
everything we can
1307
01:03:07,914 --> 01:03:09,791
that does not include her.
1308
01:03:09,791 --> 01:03:12,335
[reporter] You're now
basically waiting on her.
1309
01:03:13,002 --> 01:03:16,130
[Mamoulian] Yes. Basically
waiting on Ms. Taylor.
1310
01:03:16,130 --> 01:03:17,256
[beeping]
1311
01:03:19,050 --> 01:03:20,635
[man] You're in the way.
1312
01:03:21,135 --> 01:03:22,887
[announcer] Good news from
the London Clinic.
1313
01:03:22,887 --> 01:03:25,807
Eddie Fisher arriving to escort
his beautiful wife
1314
01:03:25,807 --> 01:03:27,683
as she left the hospital.
1315
01:03:27,683 --> 01:03:29,102
There has been
widespread sympathy
1316
01:03:29,102 --> 01:03:30,978
for Liz Taylor
over her illness.
1317
01:03:30,978 --> 01:03:34,107
Now, interest in her recovery
reached a climax.
1318
01:03:34,482 --> 01:03:35,900
[man] Stand back! Back!
1319
01:03:35,900 --> 01:03:37,860
[reporter] Nice to see you,
Ms. Taylor. How are you?
1320
01:03:37,860 --> 01:03:39,195
How do you feel?
1321
01:03:39,195 --> 01:03:41,280
[Taylor] I feel a little weak.
Thank you.
1322
01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:43,074
[reporter] You're going for
a nice long rest?
1323
01:03:43,074 --> 01:03:44,826
- [Taylor] Yes.
- [reporter] How long?
1324
01:03:44,826 --> 01:03:46,327
[Taylor] About six months.
1325
01:03:46,327 --> 01:03:48,496
[reporter] And after that,
back to Cleopatra?
1326
01:03:48,496 --> 01:03:49,789
[Taylor] I hope so.
1327
01:03:49,789 --> 01:03:51,666
[reporter]
Jolly good luck, then.
1328
01:03:51,666 --> 01:03:53,501
- [Taylor] Thank you.
- [man] Okay.
1329
01:03:53,501 --> 01:03:56,087
Okay. Alright.
1330
01:03:57,964 --> 01:04:00,258
[gentle piano music playing]
1331
01:04:07,014 --> 01:04:09,475
[Taylor] I must say,
after I recovered,
1332
01:04:10,268 --> 01:04:14,021
I was so consumed with life.
1333
01:04:14,856 --> 01:04:17,525
Everything became a miracle.
1334
01:04:19,986 --> 01:04:22,029
Elizabeth Taylor...
1335
01:04:22,947 --> 01:04:24,115
[audience cheering]
1336
01:04:24,115 --> 01:04:28,244
[Butterfield 8
theme music playing]
1337
01:04:34,834 --> 01:04:36,961
[announcer] Convalescing from
her recent grave illness,
1338
01:04:36,961 --> 01:04:38,963
Elizabeth Taylor receives
a prolonged accolade
1339
01:04:38,963 --> 01:04:39,881
from the audience.
1340
01:04:39,881 --> 01:04:41,424
It's a popular choice.
1341
01:04:41,883 --> 01:04:46,054
[Taylor] Butterfield 8 was
my fourth nomination in a row.
1342
01:04:48,056 --> 01:04:50,725
And I won the award
for my tracheotomy.
1343
01:04:51,476 --> 01:04:54,187
- [Meryman] You really feel that?
- [Taylor] Yes, I do.
1344
01:04:54,187 --> 01:04:57,273
It must have been some
kind of sympathy thing,
1345
01:04:57,273 --> 01:05:00,401
because I think the film
is so embarrassing.
1346
01:05:00,401 --> 01:05:02,820
It's just dreadful.
1347
01:05:02,820 --> 01:05:05,406
[audience applauding]
1348
01:05:05,406 --> 01:05:07,075
Oh!
1349
01:05:10,745 --> 01:05:15,625
I don't really know
how to express my gratitude
1350
01:05:16,959 --> 01:05:19,128
for this and for everything.
1351
01:05:21,381 --> 01:05:24,133
I guess all I can do
is say thank you.
1352
01:05:24,842 --> 01:05:26,844
Thank you
with all my heart.
1353
01:05:27,553 --> 01:05:32,058
- [audience applauding]
- [fanfare playing]
1354
01:05:34,310 --> 01:05:38,523
["Tristezza Per Favore Va Via"
by Ornella Vanoni playing]
1355
01:05:53,996 --> 01:05:56,541
- Are you feeling alright now?
- Yes, fine.
1356
01:06:04,757 --> 01:06:07,009
You're the second director
who's been on this film.
1357
01:06:07,385 --> 01:06:09,220
Is this a rescue operation?
1358
01:06:09,220 --> 01:06:11,639
No, I wouldn't call it
a rescue operation.
1359
01:06:12,473 --> 01:06:14,809
I'm starting a film
called Cleopatra,
1360
01:06:14,809 --> 01:06:16,936
and we are starting
from scratch.
1361
01:06:17,645 --> 01:06:20,982
When they started up
production in Rome,
1362
01:06:20,982 --> 01:06:23,901
the film was hugely
over budget.
1363
01:06:23,901 --> 01:06:26,154
Constantly behind schedule.
1364
01:06:26,154 --> 01:06:29,407
One of the most troubled
productions ever.
1365
01:06:29,407 --> 01:06:33,494
It almost bankrupted
20th Century Fox.
1366
01:06:35,204 --> 01:06:37,498
And, of course,
because the film was re-shot,
1367
01:06:37,498 --> 01:06:42,086
most of the original cast
had to be recast.
1368
01:06:42,086 --> 01:06:45,548
That's how Richard became
part of the film.
1369
01:06:45,548 --> 01:06:48,760
[trumpet fanfare playing]
1370
01:06:51,345 --> 01:06:54,015
[onlookers exclaiming
and cheering]
1371
01:06:54,015 --> 01:06:56,392
[dramatic music playing]
1372
01:06:58,352 --> 01:07:00,229
[Meryman] Do you remember
the very first time
1373
01:07:00,229 --> 01:07:02,857
you ever met Richard?
1374
01:07:02,857 --> 01:07:04,525
[Taylor] Richard came
on the set,
1375
01:07:04,525 --> 01:07:07,862
and I've never seen a gentleman
so hungover in my whole life.
1376
01:07:07,862 --> 01:07:09,363
[laughter]
1377
01:07:09,363 --> 01:07:12,533
He was kind of quivering
from head to foot.
1378
01:07:14,494 --> 01:07:17,371
Mark Antony,
how prompt you are.
1379
01:07:17,371 --> 01:07:19,540
If I had not been, it would be
unforgivable of me.
1380
01:07:19,540 --> 01:07:21,876
[Burton] The first time
I came onto the set,
1381
01:07:21,876 --> 01:07:23,669
it was a very distinct moment.
1382
01:07:23,669 --> 01:07:27,006
I, uh... Every so often,
I go on a real bender.
1383
01:07:27,006 --> 01:07:28,549
I drink everything I can.
1384
01:07:28,549 --> 01:07:30,718
Drinks that people
leave behind, anything.
1385
01:07:31,177 --> 01:07:32,387
And I was on one of my benders
1386
01:07:32,387 --> 01:07:33,846
not knowing
that I would have to work.
1387
01:07:33,846 --> 01:07:35,264
And they suddenly called me in.
1388
01:07:35,264 --> 01:07:38,142
So I arrived at the studio
in a shocking state.
1389
01:07:39,102 --> 01:07:40,978
I don't think I'd slept
for two nights,
1390
01:07:40,978 --> 01:07:42,188
so I was a real mess.
1391
01:07:42,688 --> 01:07:45,858
[Taylor] He ordered a cup
of coffee
1392
01:07:45,858 --> 01:07:48,361
to sort of still
his trembling fist.
1393
01:07:48,361 --> 01:07:49,612
[Burton] So I got some coffee,
1394
01:07:49,612 --> 01:07:51,114
but I couldn't get it
to my mouth.
1395
01:07:51,114 --> 01:07:52,573
So I said to Elizabeth,
1396
01:07:52,573 --> 01:07:54,409
"Hold this, love,
for me, will you?"
1397
01:07:54,409 --> 01:07:58,079
[Taylor] And I fed him coffee
and he was terribly nervous
1398
01:07:58,079 --> 01:08:00,248
and sweet and shaky.
1399
01:08:00,248 --> 01:08:02,708
And that just
endeared me so to him.
1400
01:08:02,708 --> 01:08:05,420
My heart just sort of
went out to him.
1401
01:08:05,420 --> 01:08:06,921
[laughter]
1402
01:08:07,380 --> 01:08:09,215
[Burton]
She was fairly friendly to me.
1403
01:08:09,215 --> 01:08:11,426
The first time I ever met her,
she burped.
1404
01:08:12,093 --> 01:08:13,344
[Taylor laughs]
1405
01:08:13,344 --> 01:08:15,096
[Meryman] What'd you think
about her press,
1406
01:08:15,096 --> 01:08:17,640
uh, the bad girl?
1407
01:08:18,182 --> 01:08:19,767
[Burton] I don't read
the entertainment sections
1408
01:08:19,767 --> 01:08:22,061
so I don't know
what they wrote about her.
1409
01:08:22,061 --> 01:08:24,605
Except I remember being furious
before we started Cleopatra
1410
01:08:24,605 --> 01:08:26,482
for a totally
different reason.
1411
01:08:27,108 --> 01:08:28,609
Because I was only getting
$300,000
1412
01:08:28,609 --> 01:08:30,403
and Elizabeth
was getting a million.
1413
01:08:30,403 --> 01:08:32,530
[laughter]
1414
01:08:34,282 --> 01:08:37,285
[romantic orchestral music
playing]
1415
01:08:46,002 --> 01:08:47,628
But I will never...
1416
01:08:48,880 --> 01:08:50,298
be free of you.
1417
01:08:52,133 --> 01:08:53,259
I'd never seen her in a movie
1418
01:08:53,259 --> 01:08:54,927
except when she was
a tiny girl.
1419
01:08:55,428 --> 01:08:58,598
And I thought she was just,
in quotation marks, a "star."
1420
01:08:58,598 --> 01:09:01,476
I didn't think
she could act at all.
1421
01:09:01,851 --> 01:09:03,227
You will kneel.
1422
01:09:03,895 --> 01:09:04,979
I will what?
1423
01:09:05,772 --> 01:09:07,356
On your knees.
1424
01:09:07,356 --> 01:09:10,276
[Burton] And then I watched
Elizabeth do a scene
1425
01:09:10,276 --> 01:09:12,653
in which she appeared
to be doing nothing.
1426
01:09:14,280 --> 01:09:15,490
Then you go and see the rushes,
1427
01:09:15,490 --> 01:09:17,533
and Elizabeth,
she was hair-raising.
1428
01:09:17,533 --> 01:09:18,367
So brilliant.
1429
01:09:18,826 --> 01:09:21,287
And you can't learn it,
I don't think.
1430
01:09:23,873 --> 01:09:25,875
You have not been dismissed.
1431
01:09:31,130 --> 01:09:33,257
You are now dismissed.
1432
01:09:36,886 --> 01:09:38,763
[Burton] Elizabeth is royal.
1433
01:09:39,180 --> 01:09:42,475
She's queenlike.
It's... it's distant.
1434
01:09:42,892 --> 01:09:44,685
Like, "Don't touch."
1435
01:09:45,103 --> 01:09:46,687
It's the inaccessibility
of Elizabeth
1436
01:09:46,687 --> 01:09:48,356
that makes her exciting.
1437
01:09:50,149 --> 01:09:52,151
The dance, I take it, is over.
1438
01:09:52,151 --> 01:09:55,363
- [upbeat jazzy music playing]
- [crowd cheering]
1439
01:10:00,326 --> 01:10:03,871
I remember going to Rome
and there was a dinner.
1440
01:10:03,871 --> 01:10:08,668
Richard was there,
and the whole room just felt
1441
01:10:08,668 --> 01:10:10,837
this heat between
the two of them.
1442
01:10:10,837 --> 01:10:14,507
And I think the only person
that didn't get it was Eddie.
1443
01:10:19,053 --> 01:10:20,555
[Brynner] Elizabeth came over.
1444
01:10:20,555 --> 01:10:22,265
She was still married to Eddie.
1445
01:10:22,265 --> 01:10:24,058
And she said to me, "Pussycat,
1446
01:10:24,058 --> 01:10:26,060
I've got something
to tell you."
1447
01:10:26,060 --> 01:10:27,812
And she told me about Richard.
1448
01:10:28,396 --> 01:10:30,857
And she was really so madly
in love with Richard.
1449
01:10:30,857 --> 01:10:33,735
I'd never seen her
like that before.
1450
01:10:34,444 --> 01:10:37,363
[Taylor] Eddie left
back to California.
1451
01:10:38,614 --> 01:10:42,368
Richard and I,
we tried to be what
1452
01:10:42,368 --> 01:10:45,872
is considered good,
but it didn't work.
1453
01:10:47,248 --> 01:10:48,875
There is still time.
1454
01:10:49,542 --> 01:10:52,920
[sighs] Let someone
ask me what I want...
1455
01:10:54,172 --> 01:10:56,674
To live with you
in peace and love.
1456
01:10:58,301 --> 01:11:00,094
[Taylor] It's very difficult
to talk about
1457
01:11:00,094 --> 01:11:02,138
because I loved Richard.
1458
01:11:02,638 --> 01:11:05,433
I didn't want his marriage
to break up.
1459
01:11:05,433 --> 01:11:07,518
Sybil is a wonderful woman.
1460
01:11:08,978 --> 01:11:11,314
I couldn't help loving him.
1461
01:11:11,314 --> 01:11:13,107
It was a fact.
1462
01:11:13,608 --> 01:11:16,736
[Heyman] I think Sybil always
thought he would come back
1463
01:11:16,736 --> 01:11:19,489
because Richard
had had past affairs
1464
01:11:19,489 --> 01:11:21,824
and he had always come back.
1465
01:11:22,283 --> 01:11:23,367
Antony!
1466
01:11:23,367 --> 01:11:24,619
[Heyman] But they were totally
1467
01:11:24,619 --> 01:11:26,496
obsessed with each other.
1468
01:11:26,496 --> 01:11:31,000
It was a very, very, very,
very intense relationship.
1469
01:11:33,503 --> 01:11:34,879
[Taylor] People would say,
1470
01:11:34,879 --> 01:11:36,798
"We don't care what they do
in private life,
1471
01:11:36,798 --> 01:11:40,134
but why do they have to air
their dirty laundry in public?"
1472
01:11:40,885 --> 01:11:41,636
But when...
1473
01:11:42,136 --> 01:11:46,933
when the press photographers
chase you for miles
1474
01:11:46,933 --> 01:11:48,851
to get a photograph of you
in the car
1475
01:11:48,851 --> 01:11:50,978
going to the studio
or something...
1476
01:11:52,021 --> 01:11:55,566
Photographers dressed up as
priests would come to the door.
1477
01:11:55,566 --> 01:11:57,485
Photographers would
get inside the house
1478
01:11:57,485 --> 01:11:59,987
dressed up as workmen
or plumbers.
1479
01:11:59,987 --> 01:12:02,115
[photographers clamoring]
1480
01:12:02,115 --> 01:12:03,950
It's affected my children.
1481
01:12:04,450 --> 01:12:06,202
They don't like journalists.
1482
01:12:06,661 --> 01:12:08,496
I mean, the only way out
for them
1483
01:12:08,496 --> 01:12:10,665
was to make
a big game of it.
1484
01:12:10,665 --> 01:12:13,584
So when paparazzi
would climb over the walls,
1485
01:12:13,584 --> 01:12:16,003
uh, we'd turn the hose on them.
1486
01:12:16,671 --> 01:12:19,257
And the kids would help,
and they had a ball.
1487
01:12:19,257 --> 01:12:20,758
It was-it was the only way.
1488
01:12:20,758 --> 01:12:22,385
Otherwise, I think
they would've felt like
1489
01:12:22,385 --> 01:12:24,011
hunted little animals.
1490
01:12:24,011 --> 01:12:25,388
[photographers clamoring]
1491
01:12:25,388 --> 01:12:27,765
So it became
Cops and Robbers instead.
1492
01:12:27,765 --> 01:12:29,142
[Meryman chuckles]
1493
01:12:30,601 --> 01:12:32,854
[Hamilton] The press
had gotten very nasty.
1494
01:12:32,854 --> 01:12:36,274
I remember when the word
"paparazzi" came along,
1495
01:12:36,274 --> 01:12:39,527
and it just meant a bunch of
guys who were all photographers
1496
01:12:39,527 --> 01:12:40,945
looking for Elizabeth Taylor.
1497
01:12:40,945 --> 01:12:42,363
[laughs] I remember that.
1498
01:12:42,363 --> 01:12:45,992
Desperately looking
for Elizabeth Taylor!
1499
01:12:45,992 --> 01:12:48,745
And that was the beginning
of paparazzi.
1500
01:12:50,037 --> 01:12:51,956
They were not going for
glamor anymore.
1501
01:12:51,956 --> 01:12:54,542
They were going for
the destruction of glamor.
1502
01:12:55,126 --> 01:12:58,713
["Nothing But a Heartache"
by The Flirtations playing]
1503
01:13:04,052 --> 01:13:07,388
♪ Nothing but a heartache
every day ♪
1504
01:13:07,388 --> 01:13:09,557
♪ Nothing but a heartache ♪
1505
01:13:09,557 --> 01:13:11,517
♪ Nothing but a teardrop
all of the way ♪
1506
01:13:11,517 --> 01:13:13,561
♪ Nothing but a teardrop ♪
1507
01:13:13,561 --> 01:13:16,731
♪ Loving a bad guy
is such a sin, yeah ♪
1508
01:13:16,731 --> 01:13:20,109
♪ He's got me all won ♪
1509
01:13:20,109 --> 01:13:22,904
♪ Can I get him? ♪
1510
01:13:25,490 --> 01:13:29,327
♪ I got a lot of those
heartaches ♪
1511
01:13:29,786 --> 01:13:34,207
♪ I got a lot of those
teardrops ♪
1512
01:13:34,207 --> 01:13:36,292
♪ Heartaches ♪
1513
01:13:36,292 --> 01:13:38,211
♪ Teardrops ♪
1514
01:13:38,544 --> 01:13:39,754
♪ All of the way... ♪
1515
01:13:39,754 --> 01:13:41,923
All the
Elizabeth-Richard-Eddie
1516
01:13:41,923 --> 01:13:44,092
saga in Rome during
Cleopatra...
1517
01:13:44,092 --> 01:13:45,802
It was a nightmare.
1518
01:13:46,677 --> 01:13:48,763
Nobody had ever seen
anything like this.
1519
01:13:48,763 --> 01:13:51,557
It was a huge worldly scandal.
1520
01:13:51,557 --> 01:13:54,018
I think even the Pope
got involved at some point.
1521
01:13:54,018 --> 01:13:56,104
[bells tolling]
1522
01:13:56,104 --> 01:13:58,022
[somber music playing]
1523
01:13:58,022 --> 01:14:02,485
[Taylor] The Vatican newspaper
had come out with an item
1524
01:14:02,485 --> 01:14:05,196
saying that I was
so despicable a woman
1525
01:14:05,571 --> 01:14:09,033
that my own children should be
taken away from me.
1526
01:14:09,033 --> 01:14:11,160
An attack that really...
1527
01:14:11,577 --> 01:14:13,121
Well, it made me vomit.
1528
01:14:13,454 --> 01:14:14,414
Um...
1529
01:14:14,414 --> 01:14:16,791
The day after that,
1530
01:14:16,791 --> 01:14:18,376
somebody was out at the studio
1531
01:14:18,376 --> 01:14:19,877
trying to blow me up
with a bomb.
1532
01:14:19,877 --> 01:14:23,881
So the Italian FBI
were out there for five days.
1533
01:14:23,881 --> 01:14:26,968
[chuckles]
And it was really...
1534
01:14:28,010 --> 01:14:29,637
a horrendous week.
1535
01:14:31,723 --> 01:14:33,975
[dramatic horn fanfare playing]
1536
01:14:39,731 --> 01:14:42,442
[Taylor] In Cleopatra's
entrance to Rome,
1537
01:14:42,984 --> 01:14:47,029
I had to sit on top of
the sphinx with a little boy.
1538
01:14:48,156 --> 01:14:53,161
We shot on the back lot
with 10,000 irate Italians,
1539
01:14:53,161 --> 01:14:56,873
I thought, who'd read
the Vatican newspaper
1540
01:14:56,873 --> 01:14:59,751
about this
vicious woman.
1541
01:15:00,501 --> 01:15:03,379
And as the sphinx came through
the archway,
1542
01:15:03,379 --> 01:15:07,842
the crowd had been told
to yell "Cleopatra" and wave.
1543
01:15:07,842 --> 01:15:10,261
And they were all silent.
1544
01:15:10,261 --> 01:15:13,473
Nobody was waving,
and I really was trembling
1545
01:15:13,890 --> 01:15:16,267
that they might run up
and tear me to shreds.
1546
01:15:16,893 --> 01:15:20,063
And all of a sudden,
they ran to the sphinx
1547
01:15:20,063 --> 01:15:22,190
and broke the line...
1548
01:15:22,690 --> 01:15:26,444
and started yelling,
"Bacia, Liz! Bacia!
1549
01:15:26,444 --> 01:15:27,653
Bacia, Liz!"
1550
01:15:27,653 --> 01:15:29,906
And they started
blowing me kisses.
1551
01:15:30,782 --> 01:15:33,785
And they started screaming
and cheering.
1552
01:15:35,036 --> 01:15:39,332
And I sat there with the tears
just pouring down my face.
1553
01:15:39,332 --> 01:15:40,708
[laughing]
1554
01:15:40,708 --> 01:15:42,627
And everybody,
Richard, my mother,
1555
01:15:42,627 --> 01:15:46,339
everybody was dissolved
in tears. [laughs]
1556
01:15:47,173 --> 01:15:49,384
There wasn't
one unfriendly word.
1557
01:15:49,384 --> 01:15:52,637
[crowd cheering]
1558
01:15:59,560 --> 01:16:02,188
The Queen has conquered
the people of Rome.
1559
01:16:02,188 --> 01:16:05,316
[crowd cheering and clamoring]
1560
01:16:06,567 --> 01:16:08,569
[announcer] This spring,
Revlon brings you
1561
01:16:08,569 --> 01:16:10,780
the new Cleopatra look.
1562
01:16:10,780 --> 01:16:13,324
Brilliantly translated
into the most exciting
1563
01:16:13,324 --> 01:16:14,909
and wearable look today.
1564
01:16:14,909 --> 01:16:18,079
[upbeat pop rock music playing]
1565
01:16:18,079 --> 01:16:19,580
Sphinx Pink
1566
01:16:19,580 --> 01:16:23,668
makes all other pinks
look positively pallid.
1567
01:16:25,503 --> 01:16:27,714
[announcer 1] A turnout
of ten thousand New Yorkers
1568
01:16:27,714 --> 01:16:28,965
jammed Broadway
1569
01:16:28,965 --> 01:16:31,759
for the world premiere
of Cleopatra.
1570
01:16:31,759 --> 01:16:33,720
[announcer 2] The world premiere
of Cleopatra,
1571
01:16:33,720 --> 01:16:36,139
the biggest and most publicized
ever known.
1572
01:16:36,139 --> 01:16:38,141
Is that surprising?
It's the most talked about
1573
01:16:38,141 --> 01:16:40,518
and the most expensive film
ever made.
1574
01:16:41,227 --> 01:16:43,646
Cleopatra was notorious
when it was released.
1575
01:16:43,646 --> 01:16:44,856
Absolutely notorious.
1576
01:16:44,856 --> 01:16:46,315
Good, bad or indifferent,
1577
01:16:46,315 --> 01:16:48,860
it had become a film
1578
01:16:48,860 --> 01:16:51,738
of such caricature
and notoriety
1579
01:16:51,738 --> 01:16:53,156
that I don't think
1580
01:16:53,156 --> 01:16:55,783
anybody could see
the forest for the trees.
1581
01:16:56,159 --> 01:16:57,368
How about it?
1582
01:16:57,368 --> 01:17:00,747
You and I will take
that night boat on the Nile.
1583
01:17:00,747 --> 01:17:02,248
Just the two of us.
1584
01:17:02,248 --> 01:17:03,791
Sure, just the two of us.
1585
01:17:03,791 --> 01:17:06,169
And a thousand slaves rowing.
1586
01:17:06,961 --> 01:17:09,255
Just my luck, one of them
will be Eddie Fisher.
1587
01:17:09,255 --> 01:17:10,798
[laughter and applause]
1588
01:17:10,798 --> 01:17:12,884
[melancholy music playing]
1589
01:17:12,884 --> 01:17:16,471
[Taylor] I knew what I was doing
by loving Richard was wrong.
1590
01:17:17,430 --> 01:17:20,349
There was only one thing
I could do and that was to...
1591
01:17:20,349 --> 01:17:22,477
um, leave him.
1592
01:17:25,772 --> 01:17:27,482
Eddie and I were back together
1593
01:17:27,482 --> 01:17:32,070
and I told him
that I would try.
1594
01:17:32,695 --> 01:17:35,323
- [melancholy music continues]
- [crowd cheers]
1595
01:17:37,742 --> 01:17:39,827
Eddie, at nighttime,
1596
01:17:39,827 --> 01:17:43,039
would sit up,
and he had a gun.
1597
01:17:43,039 --> 01:17:46,167
Every time I'd start to close
my eyes and nod out,
1598
01:17:46,167 --> 01:17:49,962
he would stroke my arm and say,
"I'm not gonna kill you.
1599
01:17:49,962 --> 01:17:52,757
I wouldn't shoot you.
You're much too pretty."
1600
01:17:52,757 --> 01:17:54,967
All night long.
1601
01:17:57,970 --> 01:17:59,680
Finally, I ran from the house
1602
01:17:59,680 --> 01:18:01,349
and stayed at
[inaudible] apartment.
1603
01:18:01,349 --> 01:18:03,142
I was so scared.
1604
01:18:06,854 --> 01:18:10,108
And then Richard and I
did another film together.
1605
01:18:10,108 --> 01:18:12,360
We both did the film, really,
1606
01:18:12,360 --> 01:18:14,112
in all honesty,
1607
01:18:14,112 --> 01:18:16,906
so we could be together,
and that was the only reason.
1608
01:18:16,906 --> 01:18:19,033
We didn't admit it then.
1609
01:18:20,368 --> 01:18:22,495
And it-it was then...
1610
01:18:24,205 --> 01:18:26,374
really,
that the situation was so...
1611
01:18:28,209 --> 01:18:31,587
desperate, I think,
for everybody concerned.
1612
01:18:32,004 --> 01:18:36,968
So, Richard started talking
about marriage.
1613
01:18:38,094 --> 01:18:42,473
I met such opposition
from everyone.
1614
01:18:42,473 --> 01:18:44,767
Roddy, my mother and father.
1615
01:18:44,767 --> 01:18:46,728
My father called me a whore.
1616
01:18:47,145 --> 01:18:49,021
[soft dramatic music playing]
1617
01:18:49,021 --> 01:18:52,900
[Meryman] Do you still
have attacks of guilt about it?
1618
01:18:53,359 --> 01:18:54,986
[Taylor] Oh, yes.
1619
01:18:55,737 --> 01:18:58,906
Especially about
Richard's children.
1620
01:18:59,699 --> 01:19:01,492
We both do.
1621
01:19:02,785 --> 01:19:07,165
For having inflicted
such awful pain.
1622
01:19:08,750 --> 01:19:12,378
[Meryman] Do you have any
religious worries about this?
1623
01:19:13,171 --> 01:19:17,175
[Taylor] Do you mean, do I think
I'm going to be punished?
1624
01:19:17,175 --> 01:19:19,802
- [Meryman] Yeah.
- [Taylor] In hell?
1625
01:19:20,678 --> 01:19:22,638
I don't think we can plan
1626
01:19:22,638 --> 01:19:25,558
on being rewarded
or being punished
1627
01:19:26,350 --> 01:19:27,935
afterwards.
1628
01:19:27,935 --> 01:19:30,772
I think we must pay
on this Earth.
1629
01:19:30,772 --> 01:19:33,858
We should do our penance now.
1630
01:19:35,068 --> 01:19:36,986
[plane engine rumbling]
1631
01:19:36,986 --> 01:19:38,821
[man] There will be
no press conference.
1632
01:19:38,821 --> 01:19:41,115
[man continues indistinctly]
1633
01:19:41,115 --> 01:19:43,034
[muffled voices chattering]
1634
01:19:43,034 --> 01:19:44,452
[announcer]
When the two lovers arrived,
1635
01:19:44,452 --> 01:19:47,080
this was the barrage
of reporters and cameramen
1636
01:19:47,080 --> 01:19:48,873
that met them at the airport.
1637
01:19:48,873 --> 01:19:50,958
[reporter] You don't have
any comment at all, Liz?
1638
01:19:50,958 --> 01:19:53,044
Miss Taylor, do you have
no comment whatsoever?
1639
01:19:53,044 --> 01:19:54,629
[Burton] How do we get out?
Please.
1640
01:19:54,629 --> 01:19:57,715
[news anchor] They sought
sanctuary in a baggage tunnel.
1641
01:19:57,715 --> 01:20:01,969
Finally, refuge, but only
temporarily, in a nearby bar,
1642
01:20:01,969 --> 01:20:04,138
with Miss Taylor and Burton
still tight-lipped,
1643
01:20:04,138 --> 01:20:06,265
still refusing
to answer questions.
1644
01:20:06,265 --> 01:20:08,935
At the hotel,
Burton eluded photographers.
1645
01:20:08,935 --> 01:20:13,523
Miss Taylor headed for
a police-protected hotel suite.
1646
01:20:14,607 --> 01:20:17,026
[reporter] Do you have
any statement about your wife's
1647
01:20:17,026 --> 01:20:20,613
statement that she will not
buy a divorce?
1648
01:20:21,739 --> 01:20:24,325
I don't understand it.
1649
01:20:24,325 --> 01:20:26,160
[reporter 2] Liz's lawyers say
you are asking
1650
01:20:26,160 --> 01:20:28,246
for a million dollars
as your price for a divorce.
1651
01:20:28,246 --> 01:20:30,832
I said before that, um,
I don't, uh...
1652
01:20:30,832 --> 01:20:32,959
They have been saying
a lot of things.
1653
01:20:32,959 --> 01:20:34,794
Things are being twisted
and turned
1654
01:20:34,794 --> 01:20:38,005
and made to appear as they...
1655
01:20:38,673 --> 01:20:40,341
um...
1656
01:20:40,967 --> 01:20:43,136
It's very confusing to me.
1657
01:20:44,595 --> 01:20:46,013
[reporter] Do you have any plans
1658
01:20:46,013 --> 01:20:49,225
to meet with Mr. Fisher
when you're in town here?
1659
01:20:49,225 --> 01:20:51,185
- No.
- We didn't know he was here
1660
01:20:51,185 --> 01:20:54,105
until you boys informed us
last night.
1661
01:20:54,105 --> 01:20:56,983
[reporter] In what way is he
being unpleasant about this?
1662
01:20:57,650 --> 01:20:59,152
Do you read the papers, love?
1663
01:20:59,152 --> 01:21:01,404
I read different things
different days.
1664
01:21:01,404 --> 01:21:03,030
I suggest you do. Yeah.
1665
01:21:03,030 --> 01:21:05,158
[reporters clamoring]
1666
01:21:05,158 --> 01:21:06,826
- [Fisher] Am I bitter?
- [reporter] Yes.
1667
01:21:06,826 --> 01:21:08,703
[Fisher] Not at all,
I am not bitter.
1668
01:21:08,703 --> 01:21:11,956
This part of it
that I'm in right now
1669
01:21:11,956 --> 01:21:14,208
is like walking through
a bad dream,
1670
01:21:14,208 --> 01:21:16,586
and, uh, uh...
1671
01:21:17,170 --> 01:21:18,546
I just don't belong in it.
1672
01:21:18,546 --> 01:21:21,049
So, I wanna get out.
1673
01:21:21,049 --> 01:21:22,467
- You have...
- Now!
1674
01:21:23,176 --> 01:21:24,594
[soft, melancholy music playing]
1675
01:21:24,594 --> 01:21:28,848
[Meryman] You have a lot
of what I'd call bad publicity.
1676
01:21:28,848 --> 01:21:30,224
Do you care?
1677
01:21:30,975 --> 01:21:33,311
[Taylor] I gave up
a long time ago.
1678
01:21:33,311 --> 01:21:36,522
And, probably,
I could hire a press agent
1679
01:21:36,522 --> 01:21:38,066
to fix my image.
1680
01:21:38,066 --> 01:21:40,401
I could probably even
try and fix it myself
1681
01:21:40,401 --> 01:21:42,862
by doing a lot of justifying
and all that,
1682
01:21:42,862 --> 01:21:44,489
but I'm not going to.
1683
01:21:45,239 --> 01:21:48,826
It's a... it's a losing game.
You can't.
1684
01:21:48,826 --> 01:21:51,704
People already have a set image
1685
01:21:51,704 --> 01:21:55,374
they want to believe,
either the good or the bad.
1686
01:21:56,834 --> 01:21:58,586
And if you try and explain,
1687
01:21:59,253 --> 01:22:02,382
then you lose yourself
along the way.
1688
01:22:04,675 --> 01:22:06,761
[music fades]
1689
01:22:06,761 --> 01:22:08,554
[joyful fanfare playing]
1690
01:22:08,554 --> 01:22:10,515
[announcer] Richard Burton
and his bride Elizabeth Taylor
1691
01:22:10,515 --> 01:22:13,768
have returned to Toronto after
being married in Montreal.
1692
01:22:13,768 --> 01:22:15,186
Newsmen who greeted the couple
1693
01:22:15,186 --> 01:22:16,813
at Toronto's
International Airport
1694
01:22:16,813 --> 01:22:18,231
congratulated Miss Taylor
1695
01:22:18,231 --> 01:22:20,274
on her fifth marriage
and she thanked them.
1696
01:22:21,609 --> 01:22:24,529
Oh, I think she's finally found
her true love.
1697
01:22:24,529 --> 01:22:26,614
I think she's ready
to settle down now.
1698
01:22:26,614 --> 01:22:31,369
I don't think she's as
attractive as she used to be,
1699
01:22:31,369 --> 01:22:33,871
so she'll have a harder time
finding another one.
1700
01:22:33,871 --> 01:22:35,581
[chuckles]
1701
01:22:36,332 --> 01:22:41,087
[Taylor] I'm looking forward to
getting fat, obese, wrinkled,
1702
01:22:41,087 --> 01:22:44,298
- gray-haired... sagging.
- [McDowall] With liver spots.
1703
01:22:44,298 --> 01:22:46,884
[Taylor] Everything's going to
sag in about two years.
1704
01:22:46,884 --> 01:22:48,010
[McDowall laughs]
1705
01:22:48,428 --> 01:22:50,638
[Burton] Be one of
your shorter marriages, then.
1706
01:22:50,638 --> 01:22:53,224
[laughter]
1707
01:22:53,975 --> 01:22:55,977
[Taylor] You told me
you loved every ton.
1708
01:22:55,977 --> 01:22:58,312
- [laughter]
- You did do so.
1709
01:22:59,939 --> 01:23:01,983
[dramatic string music playing]
1710
01:23:01,983 --> 01:23:03,735
After we were married,
1711
01:23:04,235 --> 01:23:06,446
it was really as if we had been
1712
01:23:06,446 --> 01:23:09,365
bonded together
with bands of steel.
1713
01:23:11,159 --> 01:23:14,495
There was finally a relaxation.
1714
01:23:16,706 --> 01:23:19,667
Like a gold flood of warmth.
1715
01:23:21,961 --> 01:23:24,630
The children,
they worshiped Richard,
1716
01:23:25,048 --> 01:23:27,216
'cause he's so wonderful
with them.
1717
01:23:27,216 --> 01:23:30,178
He becomes the same age
as the kids.
1718
01:23:30,678 --> 01:23:33,389
Sometimes I think
they're older than he is.
1719
01:23:34,807 --> 01:23:36,184
[Meryman]
What did you worry about
1720
01:23:36,184 --> 01:23:37,977
in terms of the children?
1721
01:23:37,977 --> 01:23:39,854
[Taylor] Well, the obvious.
1722
01:23:40,354 --> 01:23:42,815
I've been married
too many times.
1723
01:23:44,692 --> 01:23:48,029
[Meryman] Have you ever tried
to explain it to them
1724
01:23:48,029 --> 01:23:49,655
about the divorce?
1725
01:23:49,655 --> 01:23:51,783
[Taylor] Oh, sure,
of course I have.
1726
01:23:51,783 --> 01:23:54,118
I mean, they are no fools.
1727
01:23:54,118 --> 01:23:56,079
They're very sensitive
children.
1728
01:23:56,079 --> 01:23:58,831
They knew that Eddie and I
were not happy.
1729
01:24:05,296 --> 01:24:08,549
It's funny,
their animal instinct.
1730
01:24:08,549 --> 01:24:10,134
They absolutely know
1731
01:24:10,134 --> 01:24:12,553
that Richard and I
are going to be alright,
1732
01:24:12,553 --> 01:24:16,557
and that our marriage will be
here 50 years from now.
1733
01:24:18,226 --> 01:24:22,688
I love, sort of, not being me,
1734
01:24:22,688 --> 01:24:24,690
but being Richard's wife.
1735
01:24:25,733 --> 01:24:29,070
[in singsong] Who's afraid
of Virginia Woolf?
1736
01:24:29,070 --> 01:24:30,780
Virginia Woolf,
1737
01:24:30,780 --> 01:24:32,073
Virginia Woolf.
1738
01:24:32,073 --> 01:24:36,411
Who's afraid of Virginia...
[cackles]
1739
01:24:36,828 --> 01:24:38,538
[announcer] Movie audiences
will soon be seeing
1740
01:24:38,538 --> 01:24:40,248
Elizabeth Taylor
and Richard Burton
1741
01:24:40,248 --> 01:24:42,166
in what quite likely
will be one
1742
01:24:42,166 --> 01:24:45,086
of the most talked about films
of 1966:
1743
01:24:45,086 --> 01:24:47,296
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1744
01:24:52,343 --> 01:24:54,679
[Taylor]
I was 32 years old
1745
01:24:54,679 --> 01:24:57,223
playing a woman of 50.
1746
01:24:58,015 --> 01:24:59,434
I gained 20 pounds.
1747
01:24:59,434 --> 01:25:02,145
I wore rubber under my eyes,
1748
01:25:02,145 --> 01:25:03,938
under my neck.
1749
01:25:03,938 --> 01:25:05,940
I wore a gray wig.
1750
01:25:06,941 --> 01:25:08,693
What a dump.
1751
01:25:10,695 --> 01:25:12,280
Hey, what's that from?
1752
01:25:12,280 --> 01:25:14,824
[in posh British accent]
What a dump!
1753
01:25:14,824 --> 01:25:16,284
How would I know?
1754
01:25:16,284 --> 01:25:18,619
[in normal voice]
Oh, come on. What's it from?
1755
01:25:18,619 --> 01:25:20,788
- You know.
- Martha...
1756
01:25:20,788 --> 01:25:23,833
[Taylor] It's the most difficult
part that I've ever done.
1757
01:25:23,833 --> 01:25:26,210
[upbeat jazz music playing]
1758
01:25:26,210 --> 01:25:28,254
But because it's such
a complete change
1759
01:25:28,254 --> 01:25:30,256
from anything I've ever done,
1760
01:25:31,424 --> 01:25:34,969
in a sense, it's one of the
easiest things I've ever done.
1761
01:25:37,597 --> 01:25:40,933
I have Martha to hide behind,
1762
01:25:41,434 --> 01:25:44,312
so I've lost Elizabeth Taylor.
1763
01:25:45,772 --> 01:25:47,982
I feel much freer,
1764
01:25:47,982 --> 01:25:50,151
much more experimental.
1765
01:25:50,151 --> 01:25:52,612
[jazz music continues]
1766
01:25:53,112 --> 01:25:54,989
Things just kind of
seem to come,
1767
01:25:54,989 --> 01:25:57,909
like, the walk, the voice.
1768
01:25:57,909 --> 01:25:59,911
It's like my Martha skin.
1769
01:25:59,911 --> 01:26:02,121
You still look like you have
a pretty good body now.
1770
01:26:02,121 --> 01:26:03,498
Is that right, have you?
1771
01:26:03,498 --> 01:26:06,167
- Martha, decency forbids.
- Shut up!
1772
01:26:06,167 --> 01:26:08,920
[Taylor] Martha is bawdy,
1773
01:26:08,920 --> 01:26:12,799
sloppy, snarly.
1774
01:26:12,799 --> 01:26:15,218
But there are moments when,
all of a sudden,
1775
01:26:15,218 --> 01:26:17,261
the facade will crack,
1776
01:26:17,845 --> 01:26:20,723
and you'll see the hurt.
1777
01:26:22,183 --> 01:26:25,728
The infinite kind of pain
of this woman.
1778
01:26:25,728 --> 01:26:27,772
[jazz music continues]
1779
01:26:28,189 --> 01:26:30,024
You really are a bastard.
1780
01:26:30,024 --> 01:26:34,195
[Taylor] There's an intimacy
between George and Martha
1781
01:26:34,195 --> 01:26:36,322
that I think is really so...
1782
01:26:37,198 --> 01:26:40,034
strange and strong.
1783
01:26:41,327 --> 01:26:43,079
You wanna know what's happened,
George?
1784
01:26:43,079 --> 01:26:45,748
Do you wanna know
what's really happened?
1785
01:26:45,748 --> 01:26:47,083
It snapped!
1786
01:26:47,083 --> 01:26:50,044
Finally. Not me, it.
The whole arrangement.
1787
01:26:50,044 --> 01:26:53,548
You can go on forever and ever,
everything is manageable.
1788
01:26:53,548 --> 01:26:55,591
You make all sorts of excuses
to yourself.
1789
01:26:55,591 --> 01:26:57,468
To hell with it. This is life!
1790
01:26:57,468 --> 01:27:00,388
Maybe tomorrow he'll be dead,
maybe tomorrow you'll be dead.
1791
01:27:00,388 --> 01:27:03,057
All sorts of excuses.
1792
01:27:03,057 --> 01:27:06,102
Then one day, one night,
1793
01:27:06,102 --> 01:27:09,439
something happens, and... snap!
1794
01:27:09,439 --> 01:27:13,359
It breaks and you just
don't give a damn anymore.
1795
01:27:14,777 --> 01:27:17,905
I tried with you, baby.
I really tried.
1796
01:27:17,905 --> 01:27:20,533
[chuckles] Come off it, Martha.
1797
01:27:20,825 --> 01:27:22,577
I really tried.
1798
01:27:23,536 --> 01:27:25,663
You're a monster. You are.
1799
01:27:26,914 --> 01:27:29,000
I'm loud, and I'm vulgar,
1800
01:27:29,000 --> 01:27:30,960
and I wear the pants
in the house
1801
01:27:30,960 --> 01:27:33,212
because somebody's got to!
1802
01:27:33,212 --> 01:27:35,673
But I am not a monster!
1803
01:27:36,549 --> 01:27:37,842
I'm not!
1804
01:27:39,177 --> 01:27:40,928
[Taylor] I think at the end,
1805
01:27:42,930 --> 01:27:46,267
they'll never be happy.
They'll always be slobs.
1806
01:27:46,267 --> 01:27:47,602
They'll always be drunk.
1807
01:27:47,602 --> 01:27:49,228
They'll always be
picking at each other,
1808
01:27:49,228 --> 01:27:51,064
destroying each other.
1809
01:27:53,608 --> 01:27:55,193
[interviewer] I can see
the attraction of this
1810
01:27:55,193 --> 01:27:56,819
full-time professional
partnership,
1811
01:27:56,819 --> 01:27:59,864
but I'm wondering
if at times it gets a bit
1812
01:27:59,864 --> 01:28:02,408
maritally claustrophobic.
1813
01:28:03,076 --> 01:28:04,702
Maritally? No.
1814
01:28:04,702 --> 01:28:07,371
A lot of people thought that
in the last picture we did,
1815
01:28:07,371 --> 01:28:10,833
you know, that the two
central characters are
1816
01:28:10,833 --> 01:28:12,293
forever at each other,
1817
01:28:12,293 --> 01:28:16,005
and... scratching each other,
and tearing, and...
1818
01:28:16,005 --> 01:28:19,342
A great many people who didn't
know us very well said, uh...
1819
01:28:19,842 --> 01:28:23,888
"It's going to be difficult
for you both, doing this film,
1820
01:28:23,888 --> 01:28:26,891
because quite clearly,
you're both people
1821
01:28:26,891 --> 01:28:29,769
of very high temperament
and, indeed, the film
1822
01:28:29,769 --> 01:28:32,897
may carry over
after six o'clock at night."
1823
01:28:33,481 --> 01:28:35,817
[soft melancholy music playing]
1824
01:28:35,817 --> 01:28:39,487
Uh, we ignored them
and survived.
1825
01:28:39,487 --> 01:28:41,280
Elizabeth dominated the film.
1826
01:28:41,280 --> 01:28:44,158
"She won an Oscar for it,"
he said bitterly.
1827
01:28:44,158 --> 01:28:46,828
[audience laughs]
1828
01:28:47,328 --> 01:28:50,081
"And I didn't,"
he said equally bitterly.
1829
01:28:50,081 --> 01:28:52,083
[audience laughs]
1830
01:28:52,083 --> 01:28:55,294
[overlapping indistinct chatter]
1831
01:28:55,294 --> 01:28:56,754
[reporter]
Elizabeth Taylor Burton
1832
01:28:56,754 --> 01:28:59,257
was her husband's greatest
press agent.
1833
01:28:59,257 --> 01:29:00,883
Crowds had lined the sidewalks
1834
01:29:00,883 --> 01:29:03,344
outside the theater
where Burton was previewing
1835
01:29:03,344 --> 01:29:05,304
his starring role in Equus.
1836
01:29:05,304 --> 01:29:06,931
They were waiting for Liz.
1837
01:29:06,931 --> 01:29:10,268
[Burton] I'm still astounded by
the phenomenon of the crowds.
1838
01:29:10,685 --> 01:29:12,770
It's something that
I thought would cease
1839
01:29:12,770 --> 01:29:15,314
once Elizabeth
and myself were married,
1840
01:29:15,314 --> 01:29:19,277
but they get bigger and bigger
instead of less and less.
1841
01:29:19,277 --> 01:29:21,028
[reporter shouts indistinctly]
1842
01:29:21,779 --> 01:29:23,823
[Burton] I think that
somewhere or other,
1843
01:29:23,823 --> 01:29:26,534
a mysterious
third personality came about,
1844
01:29:26,993 --> 01:29:29,328
which was a combination
of the two of us together.
1845
01:29:29,328 --> 01:29:32,790
[Meryman] You're
a major industry, you two.
1846
01:29:34,041 --> 01:29:35,418
[Taylor] I suppose so.
1847
01:29:36,002 --> 01:29:39,005
- A horrible way to look at it.
- [Meryman laughs]
1848
01:29:40,673 --> 01:29:43,843
When you're too much
in the public eye for too long,
1849
01:29:43,843 --> 01:29:47,805
there's so much
that is performance.
1850
01:29:48,389 --> 01:29:49,891
When I first saw Elizabeth act,
1851
01:29:49,891 --> 01:29:52,351
I thought, "It's very curious,
she's not doing anything."
1852
01:29:52,351 --> 01:29:55,021
- You know, and...
- A lot of people have said that.
1853
01:29:55,730 --> 01:29:57,231
When I saw the rushes,
I realized
1854
01:29:57,231 --> 01:29:58,733
something extraordinary
was going on.
1855
01:29:58,733 --> 01:30:01,235
When I first worked
with Elizabeth,
1856
01:30:01,235 --> 01:30:03,738
I thought, "She's not
doing anything."
1857
01:30:03,738 --> 01:30:05,948
- Then I saw the rushes...
- A lot of people have said that.
1858
01:30:05,948 --> 01:30:08,159
- [laughter]
- [Burton] I saw the rushes...
1859
01:30:08,159 --> 01:30:11,037
"She's not doing anything."
Then I saw the rushes,
1860
01:30:11,037 --> 01:30:13,831
and I realized she was
doing a great many things.
1861
01:30:14,373 --> 01:30:16,250
[Taylor] I think
what I have done is
1862
01:30:16,250 --> 01:30:19,420
deliberately make
a dividing line.
1863
01:30:19,837 --> 01:30:23,841
The person that my family know
1864
01:30:23,841 --> 01:30:25,760
is real.
1865
01:30:27,762 --> 01:30:30,390
But the other Elizabeth Taylor,
1866
01:30:30,390 --> 01:30:32,642
the famous one,
1867
01:30:34,018 --> 01:30:37,313
really has no depth
or meaning to me.
1868
01:30:37,313 --> 01:30:40,900
It's a commodity
that makes money.
1869
01:30:43,361 --> 01:30:45,613
One is flesh and blood
1870
01:30:45,613 --> 01:30:47,615
and one is cellophane.
1871
01:30:49,200 --> 01:30:50,785
[music fades]
1872
01:30:50,785 --> 01:30:53,788
In a world where glamor is out
and reality is in,
1873
01:30:53,788 --> 01:30:55,832
two remnants of the glitter age
1874
01:30:55,832 --> 01:30:57,834
not only hang on but thrive.
1875
01:30:57,834 --> 01:31:00,378
Elizabeth Taylor
and Richard Burton.
1876
01:31:00,378 --> 01:31:02,422
What about all these rows?
1877
01:31:02,422 --> 01:31:04,632
You can't pick up
a movie magazine or anything
1878
01:31:04,632 --> 01:31:08,177
about Liz and Dick battling.
1879
01:31:08,177 --> 01:31:12,306
I think that fighting is
one of the greatest exercises
1880
01:31:12,306 --> 01:31:15,810
in marital togetherness.
1881
01:31:16,269 --> 01:31:18,312
I do not attack,
1882
01:31:18,312 --> 01:31:22,483
uh, that soft spot
in the underbelly.
1883
01:31:22,483 --> 01:31:24,193
- My double chin.
- When she attacks--
1884
01:31:24,193 --> 01:31:25,486
Double chins.
1885
01:31:25,486 --> 01:31:27,405
You bloody well have.
1886
01:31:27,405 --> 01:31:29,365
She's got a slightly fat belly.
1887
01:31:29,365 --> 01:31:31,534
- I never...
- I've got his pockmarks.
1888
01:31:31,534 --> 01:31:33,327
[interviewer] You think
he dominates you?
1889
01:31:33,828 --> 01:31:36,831
- You must be joking!
- In your real life.
1890
01:31:36,831 --> 01:31:40,043
Charles! You've got
to be kidding!
1891
01:31:40,043 --> 01:31:41,502
He sure does.
1892
01:31:41,502 --> 01:31:44,672
- Do you think that you dominate?
- I think that...
1893
01:31:44,672 --> 01:31:49,886
if there is a henpeck
around the place, it's me.
1894
01:31:50,595 --> 01:31:52,263
Oh! Mamma mia!
1895
01:31:52,972 --> 01:31:54,182
[player clicks]
1896
01:31:55,016 --> 01:31:58,102
[Taylor] Did anything come out
coherent the other night?
1897
01:31:58,102 --> 01:31:59,187
[Meryman]
1898
01:32:05,526 --> 01:32:07,487
[Taylor]
1899
01:32:07,487 --> 01:32:09,155
[both laugh]
1900
01:32:10,073 --> 01:32:12,950
[water sloshing]
1901
01:32:12,950 --> 01:32:14,535
[dog yipping]
1902
01:32:14,535 --> 01:32:16,204
[Hamilton]
Things weren't going well.
1903
01:32:16,704 --> 01:32:19,707
I saw that the first time
on their yacht.
1904
01:32:19,707 --> 01:32:22,877
They were drinking champagne
and cognac,
1905
01:32:22,877 --> 01:32:27,632
and I saw this emotional pit
that she fell into.
1906
01:32:27,632 --> 01:32:30,843
I saw
the physical deterioration.
1907
01:32:30,843 --> 01:32:35,890
It-it turned dark, it turned
out of Virginia Woolf.
1908
01:32:36,474 --> 01:32:39,394
[tense piano music playing]
1909
01:32:39,519 --> 01:32:41,729
[Meryman]
1910
01:32:41,854 --> 01:32:43,398
[Taylor]
1911
01:32:43,398 --> 01:32:45,733
Thank God, so is he.
1912
01:32:51,739 --> 01:32:54,117
You come back here!
1913
01:32:54,117 --> 01:32:56,244
Come back here, you!
1914
01:32:56,244 --> 01:32:58,955
I haven't dismissed you yet!
1915
01:32:59,372 --> 01:33:02,041
[dramatic music playing]
1916
01:33:02,041 --> 01:33:04,627
[muttering]
1917
01:33:05,294 --> 01:33:08,423
[Taylor] But just the fact
that we love each other
1918
01:33:08,423 --> 01:33:11,175
is a haven.
1919
01:33:11,175 --> 01:33:14,220
And I'm terribly kind of...
I don't know,
1920
01:33:14,220 --> 01:33:18,057
I don't think I've ever really
tried to be alone.
1921
01:33:22,729 --> 01:33:24,647
[Meryman] Um,
1922
01:33:25,606 --> 01:33:28,067
if I say to you,
"Elizabeth Taylor,"
1923
01:33:28,651 --> 01:33:31,946
do you think
you could tell me exactly
1924
01:33:33,448 --> 01:33:35,241
who that is?
1925
01:33:38,661 --> 01:33:39,871
[Taylor] I know
1926
01:33:39,871 --> 01:33:42,457
that, so far,
all I have achieved
1927
01:33:42,457 --> 01:33:44,625
is being a movie star
1928
01:33:44,625 --> 01:33:48,713
that once or twice
has managed
1929
01:33:48,713 --> 01:33:52,383
to do a fairly capable job
of acting.
1930
01:33:53,217 --> 01:33:56,304
I am not satisfied
with what I am.
1931
01:33:56,971 --> 01:33:59,390
I am not satisfied
with what I've done.
1932
01:34:00,266 --> 01:34:02,018
I want to improve.
1933
01:34:03,227 --> 01:34:04,312
[Meryman] Mm-hmm.
1934
01:34:04,312 --> 01:34:07,190
- [dramatic music continues]
- [page turns]
1935
01:34:07,190 --> 01:34:08,816
God, I think I've...
1936
01:34:10,318 --> 01:34:12,653
- I think I've finished my list.
- [Taylor] Hm?
1937
01:34:13,071 --> 01:34:16,699
- I think I've finished my list.
- [Taylor] Good show.
1938
01:34:16,699 --> 01:34:18,659
[both laugh]
1939
01:34:18,659 --> 01:34:20,078
[Taylor] Would you like a drink,
dear?
1940
01:34:20,078 --> 01:34:22,330
Shall we turn your
little machine off?
1941
01:34:22,330 --> 01:34:23,372
[Meryman] Yes.
1942
01:34:23,372 --> 01:34:25,583
Cut here. Stop transcribing.
1943
01:34:25,583 --> 01:34:28,002
Stop transcribing.
1944
01:34:29,420 --> 01:34:30,505
[clicks]
1945
01:34:30,838 --> 01:34:33,841
- [tense music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]
1946
01:34:36,677 --> 01:34:38,346
[reporter 1]
Today, the word was out.
1947
01:34:38,346 --> 01:34:40,014
Liz Taylor was leaving town
1948
01:34:40,014 --> 01:34:42,558
following her breakup
with Richard Burton.
1949
01:34:42,558 --> 01:34:43,851
Reporters and cameramen
1950
01:34:43,851 --> 01:34:45,520
staked out the only two
possible exits.
1951
01:34:45,520 --> 01:34:48,523
[reporter 2] It was probably one
of the most public occurrences
1952
01:34:48,523 --> 01:34:50,900
since Antony
first met Cleopatra.
1953
01:34:50,900 --> 01:34:52,276
The couple are now staying...
1954
01:34:52,276 --> 01:34:53,945
[reporter 3] Miss Taylor
and Mr. Burton,
1955
01:34:53,945 --> 01:34:55,863
celebrating their re-engagement,
1956
01:34:55,863 --> 01:34:58,699
convened a presidential-style
press conference,
1957
01:34:58,699 --> 01:35:00,368
asked to be left
to their new lives.
1958
01:35:00,368 --> 01:35:02,370
[reporter 4] The Burtons
rate all this attention
1959
01:35:02,370 --> 01:35:05,373
because they fulfill
a sacred Hollywood formula.
1960
01:35:05,373 --> 01:35:09,127
They must have done something
wicked we can forgive them for.
1961
01:35:09,127 --> 01:35:11,546
[reporter 5] He succinctly
confirmed the split.
1962
01:35:11,546 --> 01:35:15,174
[reporter 6] Is it true you're
separated from Liz Taylor?
1963
01:35:15,174 --> 01:35:18,010
- Yes.
- Will you be getting a divorce?
1964
01:35:18,010 --> 01:35:19,804
[reporter 7]
Mr. and Mrs. John Warner,
1965
01:35:19,804 --> 01:35:21,389
otherwise known
as Elizabeth Taylor
1966
01:35:21,389 --> 01:35:24,225
and her sixth husband
of seven marriages,
1967
01:35:24,225 --> 01:35:27,478
were having such a good time
that they extended the visit...
1968
01:35:27,478 --> 01:35:30,398
[continues indistinctly]
1969
01:35:30,398 --> 01:35:33,943
[dark, dramatic music playing]
1970
01:35:50,752 --> 01:35:53,504
[music softens and fades]
1971
01:35:53,504 --> 01:35:55,006
[woman 1] Good afternoon.
1972
01:35:55,423 --> 01:35:58,468
[woman 2] Hi.
Oh, aren't these beautiful?
1973
01:35:58,468 --> 01:36:00,511
[recorder clicks and whirs]
1974
01:36:00,511 --> 01:36:03,806
[Dunne] This is... I'm in
Beverly Hills, California,
1975
01:36:03,806 --> 01:36:05,808
The Beverly Hills Hotel,
1976
01:36:05,808 --> 01:36:09,020
about to interview
Miss Elizabeth Taylor.
1977
01:36:10,521 --> 01:36:12,231
Once you said to me something
1978
01:36:12,231 --> 01:36:14,776
I've never forgotten,
Elizabeth.
1979
01:36:14,776 --> 01:36:16,736
It was one
of those late nights.
1980
01:36:17,445 --> 01:36:22,533
You said to me, "You know,
sometimes I can't remember
1981
01:36:22,533 --> 01:36:25,411
when I wasn't famous."
1982
01:36:25,411 --> 01:36:28,748
[Taylor] Very frightening.
I thought it would decrease
1983
01:36:28,748 --> 01:36:31,042
when I sort of retired.
1984
01:36:32,085 --> 01:36:35,171
[Dunne] Now, let me ask you
something about Betty Ford.
1985
01:36:35,171 --> 01:36:37,256
Now, how did that come about?
1986
01:36:37,256 --> 01:36:39,926
[Taylor] I had
a family intervention.
1987
01:36:39,926 --> 01:36:41,803
- I don't know if you know...
- [Dunne] Oh, I...
1988
01:36:41,803 --> 01:36:43,763
I'm one of the group.
1989
01:36:43,763 --> 01:36:45,056
- [Taylor] Oh, okay.
- I know all about it.
1990
01:36:45,056 --> 01:36:47,308
[Taylor]
It's amazing, isn't it?
1991
01:36:47,308 --> 01:36:49,143
It's terrifying,
1992
01:36:49,602 --> 01:36:50,937
humiliating,
1993
01:36:51,437 --> 01:36:53,523
- uh...
- [Dunne] Did you feel betrayed?
1994
01:36:53,523 --> 01:36:58,069
[Taylor] No. I realized that
they must really love me.
1995
01:36:58,069 --> 01:36:59,320
And I didn't resent it.
1996
01:36:59,320 --> 01:37:01,322
- [Dunne] You didn't?
- [Taylor] No.
1997
01:37:01,948 --> 01:37:05,493
[Taylor] I was riddled
with guilt and shame.
1998
01:37:06,994 --> 01:37:08,913
See, I'd taken sleeping pills
1999
01:37:08,913 --> 01:37:12,917
every night of my life
for 35 years.
2000
01:37:12,917 --> 01:37:17,463
I was at the point where
I'd take one or two Percodan
2001
01:37:17,463 --> 01:37:19,006
mixed with booze
2002
01:37:19,006 --> 01:37:21,300
before I could go out.
2003
01:37:22,260 --> 01:37:25,304
[Dunne] Now, you must have
caused a sensation with them.
2004
01:37:25,304 --> 01:37:27,306
[Taylor] They'd never had
a celebrity there.
2005
01:37:27,306 --> 01:37:29,684
- [Dunne] You were the first?
- [Taylor] Yeah.
2006
01:37:30,268 --> 01:37:32,812
[Dunne] Was it hard for you to
talk in front of those people?
2007
01:37:32,812 --> 01:37:34,480
[Taylor] In the beginning, yes.
2008
01:37:34,480 --> 01:37:37,650
In the beginning, I felt like
I was giving interviews.
2009
01:37:38,234 --> 01:37:40,695
Then I broke
all those barriers down
2010
01:37:40,695 --> 01:37:42,447
and told the truth.
2011
01:37:42,447 --> 01:37:45,491
And like the onion,
always peeled
2012
01:37:45,491 --> 01:37:47,952
down to the absolute core.
2013
01:37:49,704 --> 01:37:54,417
[solemn piano music playing]
2014
01:37:55,501 --> 01:37:57,879
[Dunne] I get this,
just this sense of, um,
2015
01:37:57,879 --> 01:37:59,839
contentment or something
2016
01:37:59,839 --> 01:38:02,050
that's like a new-new phase...
2017
01:38:02,050 --> 01:38:04,135
- I hope it's not a phase.
- ...of life.
2018
01:38:04,135 --> 01:38:05,970
[Taylor] A new beginning.
2019
01:38:05,970 --> 01:38:08,056
[Dunne] This is the first
2020
01:38:08,056 --> 01:38:12,101
extended period in your life
when you are...
2021
01:38:12,101 --> 01:38:12,935
[Taylor]
2022
01:38:12,935 --> 01:38:14,145
- Yeah.
- [Taylor giggles]
2023
01:38:14,145 --> 01:38:15,897
[Dunne]
A tremendous step, isn't it?
2024
01:38:15,897 --> 01:38:17,565
[Taylor] It is.
2025
01:38:19,525 --> 01:38:20,610
[Dunne] Yeah.
2026
01:38:20,610 --> 01:38:22,445
It's for getting to know
yourself, isn't it?
2027
01:38:22,445 --> 01:38:25,656
[Taylor] Yeah,
and quite liking myself.
2028
01:38:26,157 --> 01:38:29,494
And not being afraid
to be with yourself.
2029
01:38:30,244 --> 01:38:32,205
And I think that's why...
2030
01:38:32,622 --> 01:38:34,082
I can give more.
2031
01:38:34,082 --> 01:38:37,794
[gentle, uplifting music
playing]
2032
01:38:37,794 --> 01:38:40,088
Fight back! Fight AIDS!
2033
01:38:40,088 --> 01:38:43,174
[chanting continues] ACT UP!
Fight back! Fight AIDS!
2034
01:38:43,174 --> 01:38:45,426
[reporter]
59-year-old Rock Hudson
2035
01:38:45,426 --> 01:38:48,429
revealed that he
is seriously ill from AIDS.
2036
01:38:48,429 --> 01:38:51,516
[Dunne] When Rock went public,
that was very brave.
2037
01:38:52,975 --> 01:38:55,603
[Taylor] I saw Rock
just before he died.
2038
01:38:56,062 --> 01:38:57,980
He had no idea where he was.
2039
01:38:57,980 --> 01:39:01,484
And when I asked him
if he was in pain,
2040
01:39:01,484 --> 01:39:04,278
he didn't really know
what I was talking about.
2041
01:39:05,029 --> 01:39:07,657
AIDS was this terrible stigma.
2042
01:39:08,116 --> 01:39:10,993
It was like,
"It's their problem.
2043
01:39:10,993 --> 01:39:12,620
Let them handle it."
2044
01:39:12,620 --> 01:39:16,707
"They," meaning
the homosexual community.
2045
01:39:17,375 --> 01:39:19,711
There would have been
no Hollywood without
2046
01:39:19,711 --> 01:39:22,088
the homosexual community.
2047
01:39:22,088 --> 01:39:24,215
And just as human beings,
2048
01:39:24,215 --> 01:39:28,928
we owe our fellow man
a certain responsibility.
2049
01:39:28,928 --> 01:39:30,888
[cheering]
2050
01:39:30,888 --> 01:39:32,348
No one wanted to talk about it,
2051
01:39:32,348 --> 01:39:34,434
no one wanted
to become involved.
2052
01:39:34,434 --> 01:39:36,769
And it so angered me
2053
01:39:36,769 --> 01:39:39,063
that I finally
thought to myself,
2054
01:39:39,856 --> 01:39:43,192
"Bitch, do something yourself."
2055
01:39:43,192 --> 01:39:44,444
Last night in Hollywood,
2056
01:39:44,444 --> 01:39:46,738
more than a million dollars
was raised
2057
01:39:46,738 --> 01:39:48,072
to benefit AIDS victims.
2058
01:39:48,072 --> 01:39:49,657
Elizabeth Taylor organized
2059
01:39:49,657 --> 01:39:51,284
the star-studded gala
2060
01:39:51,284 --> 01:39:53,953
as a tribute to her longtime
friend, Rock Hudson.
2061
01:39:54,412 --> 01:39:56,038
[interviewer]
You're very involved now
2062
01:39:56,038 --> 01:39:57,373
working for AIDS research.
2063
01:39:57,373 --> 01:39:59,208
What is the name
of the organization
2064
01:39:59,208 --> 01:40:00,376
that you're the chair?
2065
01:40:00,376 --> 01:40:03,171
- amfAR.
- amfAR. What does that mean?
2066
01:40:03,171 --> 01:40:05,506
American Foundation
for AIDS Research.
2067
01:40:05,506 --> 01:40:08,676
Elizabeth gave away
her entire career
2068
01:40:08,676 --> 01:40:11,012
to focus on AIDS.
2069
01:40:11,012 --> 01:40:12,680
She helped found amfAR,
2070
01:40:12,680 --> 01:40:15,892
then she founded The Elizabeth
Taylor AIDS Foundation.
2071
01:40:16,768 --> 01:40:19,645
[Taylor] I think there is
a reason for having fame.
2072
01:40:19,645 --> 01:40:23,983
A reason that can be turned
into constructive uses,
2073
01:40:24,609 --> 01:40:27,862
uh, because fame can be
a very negative thing.
2074
01:40:27,862 --> 01:40:29,530
And unless you turn it around
2075
01:40:29,530 --> 01:40:32,617
and make it work for you,
what is the point of having it?
2076
01:40:33,117 --> 01:40:35,369
[gentle, poignant music playing]
2077
01:40:35,369 --> 01:40:38,122
How strangely awake I feel.
2078
01:40:39,457 --> 01:40:43,002
[Dunne] There's something,
there's a calmness about you
2079
01:40:43,002 --> 01:40:46,130
that is beautiful.
2080
01:40:46,130 --> 01:40:50,426
[Taylor] Now, I mean,
I find life so exciting.
2081
01:40:50,426 --> 01:40:54,972
There's so many things to do,
so many things to learn.
2082
01:40:54,972 --> 01:40:56,891
And I'm doing that now.
2083
01:40:56,891 --> 01:40:58,893
If I want to go someplace,
I go.
2084
01:40:59,435 --> 01:41:03,064
If there's something I want
to study, I'll study it now.
2085
01:41:03,064 --> 01:41:05,900
I'm not under any obligation
to anyone...
2086
01:41:06,901 --> 01:41:08,486
but myself.
2087
01:41:08,486 --> 01:41:10,071
And to thine own self be true.
2088
01:41:10,071 --> 01:41:11,989
That's all I have to do.
2089
01:41:11,989 --> 01:41:16,119
[gentle music continues]
2090
01:41:21,040 --> 01:41:24,168
[music fades]
2091
01:41:25,962 --> 01:41:29,340
[sentimental, dreamy harp music
playing]
2092
01:42:16,137 --> 01:42:18,347
[music swells, tempo quickens]
2093
01:42:18,347 --> 01:42:22,477
[bright, playful orchestral
music playing]
2094
01:42:39,702 --> 01:42:41,996
[music fades]