Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon
Written by Kate Andersen Brower
Narrated by Eleanor Caudill
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Residence and First Women, the first ever authorized biography of the most famous movie star of the twentieth century, Elizabeth Taylor.
No celebrity rivals Elizabeth Taylor’s glamour and guts or her level of fame. She was the last major star to come out of the old Hollywood studio system and she is a legend known for her beauty and her magnetic screen presence in a career that spanned most of the twentieth century and nearly sixty films. But her private life was even more compelling than her Oscar-winning on-screen performances. During her seventy-nine years of rapid-fire love and loss she was married eight times to seven different men. Above all, she was a survivor—by the time she was twenty-six she was twice divorced and once widowed. Her life was a soap opera that ended in a deeply meaningful way when she became the first major celebrity activist to lead the fight against HIV/AIDS. A co-founder of amfAR, she raised more than $100 million for research and patient care. She was also a shrewd businesswoman who made a fortune as the first celebrity perfumer who always demanded to be paid what she was worth.
In the first ever authorized biography of the Hollywood icon, Kate Andersen Brower reveals the world through Elizabeth’s eyes. Brower uses Elizabeth’s unpublished letters, diary entries, and off-the-record interview transcripts as well as interviews with 250 of her closest friends and family to tell the full, unvarnished story of her remarkable career and her explosive private life that made headlines worldwide. Elizabeth Taylor captures this intelligent, empathetic, tenacious, volatile, and complex woman as never before, from her rise to massive fame at age twelve in National Velvet to becoming the first to negotiate a million-dollar salary for a film, from her eight marriages and enduring love affair with Richard Burton to her lifelong battle with addiction and her courageous efforts as an AIDS activist.
Here is a fascinating and complete portrait worthy of the legendary star and her legacy.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Editor's Note
The woman behind the icon…
You may think you know Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor, but besides her beauty and glamor and behind her eight marriages and shocking headlines was a woman who unapologetically knew her own worth — and the worth of those in need. In the very first authorized biography of Taylor’s life, Brower (“Exploring the White House,” “First Women”) draws on archived letters and photos plus interviews with friends and family to explore the real Taylor, including her work in HIV/AIDS research, prevention, and advocacy.
Kate Andersen Brower
Kate Andersen Brower is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Residence, First Women—also a New York Times bestseller—and First in Line. She is a CNN contributor who covered the Obama White House for Bloomberg News and is a former CBS News staffer and Fox News producer. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and the Washington Post. She lives outside Washington, D.C., with her husband and their three young children.
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First in Line: Presidents, Vice Presidents, and the Pursuit of Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exploring the White House: Inside America's Most Famous Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for Elizabeth Taylor
23 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fascinating life that outshone her career.The good that she did roll not be forgotten. What a broad.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Well written! I learned so much about her. The narrator had a soothing voice. Kept me listening to her. Hard to turn it off. If you like stories about Elizabeth or the old/time Hollywood of which she was a part, you will not be disappointed.
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