Elizabeth Taylor - Hardcover

Though Taylor's life has been fodder for the gossip columns since her emergence as a child star, little has been written that evaluates her talent as a film actress or accounts for her unique power and popularity as a celebrity. Morley, son of actor Robert and grandson of character actress Gladys Cooper, has been privy to the acting scene for some years and has written other celebrity biographies (of David Niven, Katharine Hepburn), and he brings to the genre a decidedly British slant and a certain bitchiness that is fun and enlightening. This is no Kitty Kelley star-bashing ( Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star, LJ 10/15/81), nor is it short on the insights needed to understand this star, as is Taylor's own recent effort Elizabeth Takes Off ( LJ 9/15/88). It is admiring but realistic. Though the text is well done, this is almost a pictorial work. The photographs are wonderful and capture Taylor's beauty. The most up-to-date and objective treatment of this major actress thus far. Recommended.
- Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Libs., Seaside, Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

British drama critic and biographer Morley celebrates Elizabeth Taylor in a heavily illustrated text that starts with her birth in 1932 and ends in 1987. He links events in her life with a career that has been like a yo-yo since Taylor was a child star in National Velvet and the Lassie films, her ongoing reign as queen of the super-stars notwithstanding. He tracks the box-office decline of initially bankable movies costarring the actress and husband Richard Burton after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and shows us today's Taylor as continual newsmaker, dramatically losing and regaining weight, suffering health crises. Given Morley's convincing admiration, readers will probably agree with his conclusion that Taylor is a tough fighter, a woman to be proclaimed.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.