Modern Screen magazine, 1950 wikicommons

She was a child star, a Hollywood superstar, a wife seven times (or eight depending on how you count- men or “I dos?”) a mother of four, a dear friend, businesswoman, activist, and, despite all of her efforts, had the most public of private lives. One would think that all that activity would indicate, “Hey, Chicks, this is a two-parter,” but no, we were quite surprised.

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on February 17, 1932, the daughter of American ExPats living in London. She was born into wealth, raised first in that bubble of wealth in England, then in another bubble when the Taylors moved back to the US. That bubble included MGM and Hollywood–Elizabeth was just nine years old when she entered (insert dramatic music) the studio system.

Elizabeth, Michael Wilding, and their two children, circa 1956, wikicommons

In this episode, we’ll take you from her birth, through her first movies, her leap from child actor to woman actor, some of her closest friendships…and through two of her marriages.

Elizabeth and good friend and co-star, Montgomery Clift, circa 1949–not one of her marriages.

TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS

All of our media recommendations will be on the next episode’s shownotes, but we do suggest that you have a little Elizabeth Taylor film festival while you wait. National Velvet, Father of the Bride, and Giant will cover the years discussed in this episode and are a great way to watch Elizabeth’s progress as in the movies. We like to check for movies on the Kanopy app, which goes through your public library…or try the actual library…first. But if you can’t find it there, try these:

National Velvet: If you have HBO Max, this is streaming, otherwise it’s going to be a three-buck investment (well worth it, we say.) 

Father of the Bride: This seems to only be available for rent through Apple TV+, Vudu, or Amazon Prime

Giant: Again, we could only find this one for rent on some popular streaming services like HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, and also on Vudu.

COME TRAVEL WITH US!

If you’re interested in seeing New England fall foliage with us while we all tour the stomping grounds of former subjects in Boston and Newport, now is the time to sign up!  We will be having a Local’s Meet-Up Dinner Cruise as part of that Field Trip on October 21st in Boston, we would love to see you there, too.

We’ll be in London this June, and that Local’s Meet-Up Dinner Cruise is on June 25th. Information and tickets for all of this can be found on Like Minds Travel! 

We hope to meet you soon!