Last night, the sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s collection of jewels at Christie’s brought in $116 million. The auction house’s estimate for 80 objects in the Taylor collection had been valued at $20 million. Needless to say that leading up to the event, much ado had been made about the late British-born American actress’ life. During the 10-day exhibition held at Christie’s New York, some 25,000 visitors had paid $30 to view the objects that are going under the hammer (Dec. 13-15), most especially her renowned jewelry collection. These include the famous 33-carat diamond ring that one of her former husbands, Welsh actor Richard Burton, had given the actress.
However, considering the gloriously rich life that Taylor had led, it is no surprise that her story reads like an Ali Baba cave brimming with a variety of gems. There were rocks, as in one of her closes friends the Hollywood heartthrob Rock Hudson who was the fist major star to die of AIDS, in 1985. And, then there were cinematic jewels – numerous of them – for several of which she was nominated for the Academy Awards, including: Giant (1956), Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Root (1958), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Taylor won Oscars for her performances in the latter two films.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was one of six pictures in which Taylor played opposite Richard Burton, in less than a decade. Others included: The V.I.P’s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Doctor Faustus (1967), The Comedians (1967) and Boom! (1968). Burton, to whom Taylor was married twice, was one of the screen legends’ seven husbands.
At the time of her death on March 23 2011, Taylor was survived by: four children, ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; an estimated wealth of $600 million; and a foundation for HIV and AIDS-related research.
Aside from the rich cinematic legacy that Taylor left behind, her greatest contribution to humanity – the most precious jewel in her crown – was the establishment of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, in 1991. The Foundation’s mission has been “to raise funds and awareness to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to provide assistance for those living with the virus. With its focus on direct care and prevention education, ETAF provides funding to AIDS organizations throughout the world, providing support services to populations in needs.” Two decades in existence, ETAF has raised more than $250 million since its founding. Parts of the proceeds of yesterday auction at Christie’s will be contributed to Taylor’s AIDS Foundation.
A child star by the age of 12, Taylor had lived a life mostly found in folkloric legends. Before the time of her death, at the age of 79, she was called “the greatest movie star of all time.” According to Variety, Taylor had request that her funeral start 15 minutes after it was scheduled, thus keeping her ‘audience’ waiting. Her representative told the media “She even wanted to be late for her own funeral.”
Whilst reviewing Elizabeth Taylor’s movie career, I realized that I have seen nearly every single one of her films starting with Little Women (1949) leading up to The Mirro Crack’d (1980). She was my late mother’s – the artist Pooran Cheknian – second favourite actress of all time… trailing only behind Eva Gardner.
[...] Continued (w/ PHOTOS) on MUSEUMVIEWS… [...]
[...] Also see, The Other Jewels in Elizabeth Taylor’s Life [...]