Scruffy Elizabeth Taylor caught Maltese fever from a dog: book

movie

by nicky gostin

When Elizabeth Taylor was the biggest movie star in the world, she was also one of the most fucked up movie stars. According to her new book, conditions were so bad that she lived in squalor and even became ill because of it.

In 1958, Taylor appeared in 20th Century Fox's Cleopatra, becoming the first movie star to receive $1 million for a role.

Filming in England was soon hit by problems, including Taylor's constant health issues.

In October 1960, things got so extreme that Taylor's husband, singer Eddie Fisher, paid him 150,000 yen from the studio to take her on set, make sure she was eating well and walking her dog. Paid $.

According to Roger Lewis' new book, Erotic Vagrancy, Fisher said Taylor “spent most of the day taking pills and drinking.” Meanwhile, Fisher himself was reportedly addicted to methamphetamines.

When writer Truman Capote visited, he found Taylor's room “crowded with shedding cats and untamed dogs, and a general atmosphere of cluttered paraphernalia.”

Lewis said that the slovenly atmosphere apparently affected Taylor's health, and Taylor was taken to a London infirmary, placed in an iron lung, and diagnosed with “Maltese fever” or “animal secretions (which had not been sterilized)”. He wrote that he had been diagnosed with brucellosis, which is caused by the ingestion of milk (such as cow's milk or cow's milk). Undercooked meat. ”

Taylor may have contracted the unusual disease from “slobbering” on the “numerous gross pets with whom he shared his bed,” Lewis wrote.

The actress was released, but returned to the clinic the following month with severe migraines. Her filming was halted, but Taylor's health problems only worsened.

In March 1961, she contracted severe pneumonia and fell into a coma. News outlets incorrectly reported that the “National Velvet'' actress had died.

By the end of the same month, she was released and the dismantling of the “Cleopatra” set began. All existing footage was discarded. Production was moved to Rome, with a new director, Joseph Mankiewicz.

Seven million dollars wasted.

When filming resumed on Cleopatra, Welsh actor Richard Burton joined the cast opposite Taylor.

The book depicts a mink-clad Taylor arriving on set with Fisher, “two secretaries, two maids, a make-up person, and a hairdresser.”

Burton later wrote in his diary: [were] It sticks out from his sleepy, languid body. ”

The two began a violent affair behind Fisher's back and Burton's wife Sybil, but Sybil shrugged it off. “He's had relationships like that before,” she told Fisher about Burton, “and he always comes home to me.”

As lovers and co-stars became more explicit, even the Vatican took note of their infidelity, labeling it “erotic vagrancy.”

But Ms. Taylor was worried that Ms. Barton would break the deal, saying that she had once “attempted suicide by breaking through a glass door and had to be restrained,” Mr. Lewis wrote. .

When Burton tried to end things by saying, “It was fun, it lasted a long time,” Taylor overdosed on Seconal and had to have his stomach pumped.

The two eventually separated from their spouses and married in 1964, but their quarrels became legendary.

Among the words Burton used to disparage the actress were “Mss T-ts” and “that fat little tart.”

Taylor called Burton “a drunken, burnt-out Welshman!”

He often mocked Taylor's lack of formal education and ignorance of Shakespeare.

Her reply was cool. “I don't know anything about theater, but I don't need to. I'm a star.”

Meanwhile, Taylor's housework habits don't seem to have changed during their marriage.

Lewis writes: “In their wake was the depredation of the invading forces – dog poop and dinner plates in New York's Plaza, the usual dog poop and empty bottles littering Rome's Grand Hotel. The Four Seasons Hotel in New York. It took several days to remove the animal waste from the carpets, curtains, mirrors and furniture.”

Burton and Taylor were married for nearly 10 years and divorced in 1974, but remarried in 1975 and separated again a year later.