RIP Liz Taylor

I don't know about that, Second Thoughts. The easy access to old movies provided by cable TV, internet streaming, etc. gives young people today far more exposure to the stars of yesteryear than I had at that point in my life.

 

I'm under 30 and say Raquel Welch > Liz taylor from the images and footage I have seen. Plus, Welch still is hot as all hell.

 

She never looked better in her life than she did in "The Last Time I Saw Paris". Good God.

Violet eyes to die for.

RIP.

 

THIS... This.. This!

 

"Hey, it's the creepy lady from the cover of National Enquirer and TMZ." - any given teenager

 

She didn't age well, and her taste in men represented one of the greatest percentage declines since Black Thursday.

 

Strange to see the cable news networks not bashing this story over the head. But then again, in the light of everything that's going on, it's a good thing.

 

She was a true movie star at her peak which was befuddling to a boy of 12.

Sadly, yes for under 30 crowd, she'll be more known for being Michael Jackson's confidant than Cleopatra. Yes, if that was made today we'd be getting "There goes the lovebirds leaving Starbucks!"

 

During the height of the first Michael Jackson sex scandal, MJ was in Singapore on tour, and his birthday was approaching. I got a call at 5 a.m. from an editor and was told I needed to drop by the office and get $10K in cash and then get to LAX and get myself a first-class ticket on the next Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore. When I got to LAX and discovered the TV remote trucks, I quickly learned why I was given this assignment: Liz Taylor was on the flight.

So I bought the last first class ticket -- 1 way, and I had no luggage! (Can you imagine trying to do that in post-9/11 world?). I quickly discovered that the flight's first-class deck contained La Liz, her new hubby, Larry Fortensky, her bodyguard fresh from the Israeli secret service, 3 undercover paparazzi that I recognized, a producer from A Current Affair and another reporter. Shortly after I settled into my seat and started to sip on my first of many glasses of Veuve Cliquot, the pilot came to me and the other reporter and escorted us off the plane. "I'm sorry, Mr. TV, but there's been a mix-up and your seat was pre-sold."

Long story short, I threw a fit and to the credit of Singapore Airlines, the American VP for the airline came to the gate and told the pilot I was a paid customer and to treat me accordingly.

So once the flight was in the air Moshe, Liz's bodyguard, came to me and the other reporter and offered us a deal: Leave Liz and Larry alone during the flight, and she'll give us an interview when we land.

Naturally, we took the deal...and the next 24 hours (!) on that flight was amazing. Bottles of expensive Champagne, massages, fresh cooked French cuisine, and long story-telling with Moshe. Fun times.

All put at risk only once -- when one of the paparazzi, who had a mini-Minox camera hidden inside a bible -- walked up to the front row "to look at the map on the wall" and proceeded to take pix of La Liz in her sleeping mask and Larry curled up in her lap. Oh well, paps are paps. He got his pix, no harm, no foul.

So after spending several hours in Tokyo on a refueling stop, we eventually made it to Singapore. 24 hours spent in the plane, all told.

And as we all got up to leave, Moshe, true to his word, brought La Liz over to us for her interview. The ACA producer whipped out a camera, stuck a microphone in my hand (even though I didn't work for them), and away we went; she answered my questions for 15 minutes. How is Michael? Why are you here? Is he guilty of molestation? etc. etc. She answered them all -- so many, in fact, that I literally ran out of questions to ask her!

I ran into La Liz a few more times during the week we spent in Singapore. Saw Michael a few times (including when he walked through the lobby of the legendary Raffles Hotel leading a pack of Orangoutangs by the hand) and had a few cocktails with Moshe. A few years later I had to race to her hospital room the morning of the big Northridge quake, but that's another story for another day.

The flight remains one of my favorite assignments ever.

RIP, La Liz.

 

gotta respectfully disagree, michael. my 'three stooges' (21, 18, 16) don't have a clue who liz taylor is/was. oh, we'll be explaining it all day longr, and all the news shows will wax poetic about her life and times, and liz movie marathons will soon pop up all over, but sadly, it will have taken her death for many folks under 30 and almost all under 20 to learn about liz.

actually, in that way, the death of all icons -- whether they be movie stars or athletes -- is really the best chance to educate young folks about them. so, from that aspect, their deaths have a silver lining...

and while it's not p.c. to raise the issue, i don't consider the passing of legendary figures long out of the spotlight, long retired to be all that 'tragic.' oh, certainly it is to their loved ones. but to the general public and/or their fans? not so much. once 'icons' have stopped doing their thing, it's only in death that they become 'relevant' again.

it's cold, i know, but 'tragic' to me remains reserved for my loved ones, or icons who die way too young, before their work was done. otherwise, sorry, i don't feel the impact.

this 'great broad' had a storied life. but there isn't anyone outside of a loved one whose death is a shock, a tragedy, a great loss, when they pass at 79.

that's my 'bitter old hack' post of the day. i'm glad that spnited has a babe more his age to hang with now...

 

Some of you "old" guys are moronic sometimes. I just said three posts ago that I'm under 30, know who Liz Taylor was, and I think Raquel Welch was much more of a beauty -- and is still beautiful today. Taylor looked like a pile of goo in the 90's.

Not every young person is an idiot. Sorry.

 

RIP NYT Liz Taylor obit writer -- six years ago:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/03/rip_new_york_times_elizabeth_taylor_obit_writer.php