It was through those violet eyes that she spoke to us and embraced a nation with her courage.
Oh why hadn't the Academy honored her in their recent Academy Awards? The Oscar telecast had no mention of this icon and her absence was sorely missed. And now there will be no 'next year' to make up for the Academy's faux pas. Her photo in her blue eyeglasses perched crookedly on her nose as she was wheeled into the hospital cabling her days were numbered blast through internet sites and still the Academy could not mention her name and a tribute to her accomplishments. The Academy was focused on 'youth for ratings'. Shame on you Academy. She could have heard that you cared. Now your words will be an echo, if that. Who knows where her spirit has gone, but at last as the cliché goes, 'she is out of her pain.' Her body was a beautiful coffin just waiting for her spirit to step in.
I never had the privilege of meeting her, but as a child, I would imitate her poses and her eye make-up. While at Penn State once, away from my home and watching my father fight his own battle over disease, my body sprouted from one ridiculed as 'toothpick' to one having newly formed breasts. And oh I was so proud of them that I had to show them off in photos. I remember seeing Suddenly Last Summer and how ravishing and sexy Elizabeth Taylor was walking out of the water in that movie. Her white one piece suit made today's bikini's look sexless. And so in my dorm at PSU a sorority sister would take photos of me in my white one piece suit bent over slightly from the waist to show my newly sprouted cleavage and I would try to imitate Elizabeth Taylor. (This obsession with Elizabeth Taylor later turned me later into a cover girl.) Then there were all those hours trying to make up my eyes with a black pencil like 'Liz' had done. Oh, well, the results never quite pleased me, but I am talking about the influence she had on me and I assume many other women.
When I lived in Hollywood and became sober, it was common knowledge that Elizabeth also had made this journey. So while I never talked to her about this, I knew where I could find her if I wanted to try to run into her using the excuse of sobriety. I never made this move as it would have been manipulative. Her sobriety was cherished by her and an island in a sea of media mongers. Larry Fortensky was the proof that she had made this journey as she had met him in rehab, but then as many early relationships in sobriety eventually end, her marriage to Fortensky went by the wayside. But she 'sobered on' as a march representing her newly formed values of sobriety in a community such as Hollywood as well as the world where values are frequently superficial. Ms. Taylor tried to rescue Michael Jackson from his disease, but even she did not have the power to 'sober him up'. It doesn't work that way. (And can't be done for Charlie Sheen.) But with Ms. Taylor's works with the Aids Foundation and philanthropy, she carried her sober values into the world with her beautiful, though suffering, head held high.
Oh, to have just heard Elizabeth Taylor's name mentioned at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards would have been more than justified and timely.
Forget singing about Bette Davis Eyes and remember the beauty, generosity and spirit emanating from Elizabeth Taylor's violet eyes. Why doesn't Elton John write a song about that?
Violet Eyes
It's more than a dream
Or life as it seems
We see in your Violet eyes
The courage to fight
When you know it is right
A life lived with no disguise
You gave us your Heart
You gave us your Soul
Shattered and torn
Your love helped us grow
Now I see through those Violet eyes
You conquered the world
With the charms of a girl
Who left us mesmerized
With courage and strength
With friends taken away
Battled the storms of your life
You showed us your passion
Enticed us with romance
Triumph in despair
It's the Beauty of your Soul
We see through your Violet eyes
for
Elizabeth Taylor
by
Paul Maranto
March 24, 2011
Copyright 2011 Paul Maranto
also, where can one see what her daughter w burton looks like? she has no image online that i could find on a rudimentary search.
What a shame that our country is making women feel unnecessary when they are no longer the right age.
It is funny that even with my professors all encouraging me and most of my friends and family, that one comment could have such an effect. Another reason that I so admired Elizabeth Taylor, she was fearless and didn't seem to care or let what others said or thought effect what she did!
felt that Elizabeth Taylor won two Academy Awards and has had several
galas honoring her. She did a tremendous amount for Aids.
I was lucky to have seen Elizabeth Taylor perform on the Broadway
stage in The Little Foxes.
Myrna Post
And it's a tribute..
Too many to choose just one!
I have to believe that Elizabeth, now with her mother, Richard, Michael(Wilding and Jackson) is smiling at all the fuss. She lived!
She snubbed them a few years ago and this could have been pay back from the Elephant Academy.
Please do your homework. She did receive and honourary Oscar for her humanitarian work alongside Audrey Hepburn in 1993...