Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon

ISBN-13: 9780063067660

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: 09-12-2023

Pages: 512

Product Dimensions: 5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.20(d)

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.

Table of Contents

Elizabeth's Films and Family xi

Prologue 1

Introduction: Elizabeth the First 9

Act I The Most Beautiful Creature The 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s 31

Chapter 1 A Star Is Born 33

Chapter 2 Young Love 76

Chapter 3 Bessie Mae 85

Chapter 4 "He Will Kill Her" 92

Chapter 5 Love and Marriage 108

Act II Passion and Pain The 1950s and 1960s 117

Chapter 6 Rock, Jimmy, and Monty 119

Chapter 7 Mike Todd: "He Was My King" 134

Chapter 8 Eddie Fisher: "He Kept Mike Todd Alive" 149

Chapter 9 Trailblazer 166

Act III Lavish Love The 1960s and 1970s 179

Chapter 10 Le Scandale 181

Chapter 11 Crazy, Stupid Love, 1964-1973 207

Chapter 12 The Loot: Elizabeth's Extraordinary Jewels 248

Chapter 13 The End and a New Beginning, 1973-1976 261

Act IV Survivor The 1970s and 1980s 283

Chapter 14 Political Wife 285

Chapter 15 Addict 313

Chapter 16 Building an Empire 332

Act V True Grit The 1980s and 1990s 345

Chapter 17 "Bitch, Do Something!" 347

Chapter 18 Ms. Taylor Goes to Washington 367

Act VI A Legacy of Love The 1990s to 2011 383

Chapter 19 Searching for Neverland 385

Chapter 20 Forgiveness 398

Chapter 21 Dame Elizabeth 413

Chapter 22 The Auction: "The Memory Always Brings Back a Stab of Joy, of Love" 427

Afterword: Lust for Life 434

Acknowledgments 447

Sources and Notes 451

Selected Bibliography 471

Index 473