Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon by Kate Andersen Brower

Description

Elizabeth Taylor was more than one of the most beautiful women ever to become a movie star. She was a formidable talent, a shrewd businesswoman, a survivor of extraordinary personal upheaval, and one of the most important celebrity activists of the twentieth century.

In Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon, Kate Andersen Brower offers the first authorized biography of the legendary actress, following her remarkable life from childhood stardom in National Velvet to her emergence as one of Hollywood’s most famous and highly paid performers. Across a career spanning nearly sixty films, Taylor became an icon whose fame extended far beyond the screen.

Her private life was every bit as headline-making. Married eight times to seven men, Taylor experienced rapid-fire love and loss, including two divorces and widowhood before she turned twenty-six. Her enduring relationship with Richard Burton became one of Hollywood’s most famous romances, while her struggles with addiction and other personal challenges revealed a woman whose life was considerably more complicated than the glamorous image projected by the studio system.

Brower draws on unpublished letters, diary entries, off-the-record interview transcripts, and interviews with approximately 250 of Taylor’s friends and family members to present an intimate portrait of the woman behind the legend. The result is a portrait of Taylor as intelligent, empathetic, tenacious, volatile, ambitious, and fiercely determined.

Taylor’s legacy also extends into the history of HIV/AIDS activism. As a co-founder of amfAR, she became the first major celebrity activist to lead a sustained public fight against the disease, raising more than $100 million for research and patient care. Her willingness to use her enormous fame on behalf of people affected by HIV/AIDS helped change the public conversation around the epidemic.

She was equally groundbreaking as a businesswoman, becoming the first celebrity to launch a major fragrance business and insisting that her value be recognized and compensated accordingly.

Featuring a photo insert, Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon is a portrait of a Hollywood legend whose influence reached far beyond movies, encompassing celebrity culture, women’s history, business, and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Book Details

Author: Kate Andersen Brower
Title: Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0063067668
ISBN-13: 978-0063067669
Language: English