Viv and Liz

“Leslie is the greatest cinematic counterpart to Taylor the compassionate human being. In Leslie, Taylor found the fictitious predecessor and role model to the humanitarian she would become in the last chapter of her life.” -Matthew Kennedy on #ElizabethTaylor’s performance as Leslie Benedict in Giant (1956)

“I guess the first serious thought about my acting came when they were casting Gone With the Wind. I would be out with my mother shopping and people would come up and say, “Your daughter looks so much like Vivien Leigh! Go to Selznick’s studio and have her tested for Vivien Leigh’s daughter.” Of course, each time I was thrilled. But Mother and Dad decided their daughter was going to have a normal life.” -Elizabeth Taylor (informal memoir, 1964) - - - #VivienLeigh #elizabethtaylor

“I think Elizabeth has an extraordinary faculty for being dangerous. She gives you a sense of danger… She’s one of a selected few who aren’t actors by our standards, but if you put them on a screen they emanate something — something I frankly don’t understand, although I recognize it when I see it.“ -Richard Burton, quoted in Playboy Magazine 1963 - #ClassicActress #ClassicHollywood #ElizabethTaylor #oldhollywood #glamour #hollywood #1960s

“Cameramen have often commented on the perfect symmetry of her face, which gives an unsettling faultlessness to her beauty. She looks untouched by life.” -Leslie Garis on Elizabeth Taylor / New York Times, 1981

🎬 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)

“The first time I saw Elizabeth Taylor grown-up was when I was in the south of France. I was coming out of the Carlton Hotel in Cannes just as she was walking into it. She was alone, about 18 years old. She was the most incredible vision of loveliness I have ever seen in my life… she was sheer innocence.” -Joseph Mankiewicz, NY Times 1981

“It used to be a sin to be considered a Hollywood actor. Even worse to be a star - God forbid, a superstar. Stage actors would accuse people of selling out when they’d go to Hollywood. Actually, the whole thing is a bunch of bullshit. An actor is an actor, whether it’s in Hollywood or in Africa. Acting has to be generated from within.” -Elizabeth Taylor, interview with Rollling Stone, 1987 #ElizabethTaylor #Hollywood #oldhollywood #classichollywood #goldenageofhollywood #classichollywoodactress

“Of all the memories from that time, all the images, all the pain, there was one day I would never forget. Elizabeth had finally gone back to work in late September 1961. I went with her to the studio for her first costume fittings and camera tests. I was standing in the back of a large set with the makeup people and costume staff when Elizabeth came out dressed in a golden gown as Cleopatra. The entire set, normally a noisy, hectic place, suddenly quieted. She wasn’t just dressed as Cleopatra, when she stood in front of the camera she became Cleopatra. The transformation was remarkable. Once more, she took my breath away.” -Eddie Fisher on Elizabeth Taylor, from his autobiography “Been There, Done That”

“Actors’ emotions must be instantly tappable at the word ‘action.’ You have to learn the whole keyboard of your emotions, the limitations and the heights.” -Elizabeth Taylor, autobiography 1965 🎬 Elizabeth Taylor as Leonora in Secret Ceremony (1968)

📸 Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton attend a party at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris in 1965

“I was never a product of the Hollywood system. I was always a rebel. I had a sense of privacy and a strong sense of identity. I could take acting or leave it. I was not ambitious. I was not driven. Being a human being has always meant more to me.” -Elizabeth Taylor, interview with Bob Sipchen Los Angeles Times (1988) #ElizabethTaylor #OldHollywood #1960s #oldhollywoodglamour #goldenagehollywood 📸 Douglas Kirkland, 1961

📸 Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Becket in 1963 As a practical joke, Peter O’Toole had Elizabeth Taylor take the place of a nude actress lying under a blanket in order to surprise her husband. #ElizabethTaylor #Vintage #oldhollywood #1960s #goldenagehollywood #oldhollywoodactress #oldmovies #richardburton #peterotoole