MovieChat Forums > Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) Discussion > Elizabeth Taylor - A Great Beauty?

Elizabeth Taylor - A Great Beauty?

posted 16 years ago by rob-949
20 replies | jump to latest

I really like and admire Elizabeth Taylor as a humanitarian and for her charitable work, including AIDS-related charitable work WAY before it was fashionable (not to mention for her real and sometimes bawdy sense of humor and lack of heirs, and for her long history of being a very good friend to people like Montgomery Clift and others).

That said, however, I have never in my life understood why people consider her a beautiful woman. Other than her eyes she seems really quite ordinary, but what I simply can't understand is why she's always got such unflattering, unnatural hairstyles and badly colored (harsh) makeup.

Simplicity stands the test of time, but even in her own time her look was always overdone and unnatural (and, to me, unflattering).

[–] andros12 16 years ago

I have never in my life understood why people consider her a beautiful woman. Other than her eyes she really seems quite ordinary...

Surely you jest?

Take a look at a few of the tribute videos on Youtube, including one for "Reflections" of her getting prepared for a scene in the back seat of a car. Her makeup and hairstyles were usually in accordance with the times and the role (arguably the most exotic being for "Cleopatra,") although she often did additional memorable shoots for haute couture pictorials.

Her appearances as the ingenue with Montgomery Clift in "A Place in the sun" or as the wife of Paul Newman in "Cat on a hot tin roof" are unforgettable. As an older woman she makes a stunning entrance with a simple hairstyle and elegant dress after her "surgery" in "Ash Wednesday." She's all woman with the right curves and the symmetry and harmony of her facial profile is flawless. Of course, the depth of her gaze and the beauty of her eyes is what ultimately seperates her from many of her contenders.

[–] denis-38 16 years ago

She had an exquisite face--lovely lips, wonderful nose (especially in profile) but then there was her body (odd proportions) and, as the years wound down, her particular brand of bad taste in terms of hair and make-up. And yes, her weight. The first five extra pounds went straight to her jawline. She is at her best as a mature woman in "Ash Wednesday"--very subtle. (Truth be told, I prefer her more decked out, as in "X, Y and Zee.")

That said, you'd have to have seen her in person to appreciate what the camera never caught. I did, in 1973, in NYC, in broad, brutal sunlight. She was a knockout and far more attractive than I expected.

[–] hilljayne 16 years ago

Are you serious? I find her breathtaking ESPECIALLY in this movie! She looks like a REAL woman but an exquisite one!

Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.

[–] Cufflinksandtie 15 years ago

I spent some time with Elizabeth in Puerto Vallarta in 1972. (I think) Sitting next to her in daylight at a beach restaurant she was not only exceptionally beautiful, but raucous and entertaining even tough I think she was drinking too many blue drinks. Her hair was thick, that is each strand seemed like string, and the most remarkable thing about her was her enormous breasts. I think she is barely 5' tall, no matter what they say, as I stood with her and even in her platform sandals she was a good foot shorter than I. I hated her jeans outfit with a jockey cap, also in denim, but it's a hint that she was always a good horsewoman. There is no doubt that the camera loves her face. In person, at a table of 7 gay men, her breasts were outstanding. Yhe only other actress I ever met with the same charisma and breasts was ZsaZsa Gabor, who is taller.
I stayed in her house, across the bridge and down from Richard Burton's, even tough I had better accommodations in my suite on the beach. She loaned me her violet Jeep, since it was my birthday and I needed to buy liquor for a party. Our b'days are a day apart. I will never forget her taking off her tinted sunglasses and saying, "See my eyes are violet, just like yours," and then she cackled. Mine are grey-blue. Contact, anyone?
When we left the open-air restaurant, the speedy gay guys were way ahead of her, so she stamped her tiny foot and said, "Goddammit, you *beep* are not going to leave me ebhind like you did Judy Garland!" Remember, she had been drinking. She told a similar version of her similarity to JG on Johnny Carson(Or Leno- I can't remember.) And Judy- that's another story....

Aime-moi moins, mais aime-moi longtemps

[–] BlueGreen 15 years ago

Just wanted to say I find your stories very interesting, a pleasure to read.
And if you have any more of them, I, for one, would LOVE to read about them.

(I am sure many would recommend that I write such things in a PM - but I don't like PM; and anyway, what are public boards for, if not communicating?)

[–] brux (14811) 4 years ago

Anything about Ava Gardner?

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] makharveymail 15 years ago

Personally, I think she was at her zenith as a great beauty, looks-wise, (since beauty is SO much more than looks and because of this I would not consider her among the GREAT beauties) in Elephant Walk.

[–] kriege10 14 years ago

She had a reputation as a beauty in the 1950s and then had children and put on a lot of weight. She was riding on her reputation by the time this film came out and most of her pictures lost a lot of money. In other words, by this time most viewers did not really find her all that sexy any more.

[–] emmapic101 13 years ago

A Great Beauty?
She was the most beautiful actress ever, IMO

[–] PoppyTransfusion 13 years ago

Elizabeth Taylor was a great beauty of that there can no doubt when you look at her face and its features as well as her figure - and though there's lots of remarks about her waning figure in this film, it's still terrific.

What I found with this film and others that followed is a hardness in her face that her trade mark make-up accentuated. Of course with a character like Leonora such hardness fits but it's not attractive and spoils the beauty. By contrast I thought Julie Harris looked delicate and exquisite as she plays a gentle and kind character.

I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl

[–] denis-38 12 years ago

If you like a softer-looking older Liz, try "Ash Wednesday." She's lovely in that, beautifully dressed, slender and not as heavily made-up as usual. (Except for a party sequence, and it's gorgeous heavy makeup!)

[–] PoppyTransfusion 12 years ago

Just checked that film on IMDb (I'd not heard of it before). It's only got a 4.8 rating, would you say that is fair?

Why problem make? When you no problem have, you don't want to make ...

[–] denis-38 12 years ago

Dear Poppy...Depends on what you like or expect. "Ash Wednesday" is kind of like a mature version of all those glossy MGM movies she did back in the 50s. She looks lovely and slender and gives a remarkably restrained performance.

[–] LarrupinLou 12 years ago

Was she at the pinnacle of her beauty in this film? Nope. That was in the '50s.

Was she still sexy in this movie? Hell, yeah! Her face was still something to see and her figure, though not as a good as it was 10 years earlier, was still fine enough to make a man salivate over.

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] SixtiesAmethyst 12 years ago

@Rob949....

Maybe you're just not used to "real" beauty as opposed to the "enhanced" beauty of today? I don't think there is one woman in hollywood nowadays who hasn't been under the knife! Elizabeth Taylor was gorgeous!! Her type of beauty, you don't see everyday. Halle Berry and Brooke Shields also have this kind of beauty. But probably has had something done. Hell, look at one of the top, highest paid models out there today.....Giselle Bündchen, that woman isn't pretty and bordering on ugly imo. She just looks very homely and the last type of women I would ever call beautiful.
Anyway.....beauty as they say....is in the eye of the beholder.
So it doesn't much matter in the end right??