Elizabeth Taylor: A Private Life for Public Consumption

Description

The first volume to examine the iconic Elizabeth Taylor in this light, Elizabeth Taylor: A Private Life for Public Consumption paints Taylor as the seminal representation of “celebrity.” A figure of enormous charisma and cultural sway, she intrigued a global audience with her marriages and extra-marital improprieties, as well as her extravagant jewelry, her never-ending illnesses, her dependency on alcohol, and her perplexing friendship with Michael Jackson. Despite her continued world-renown, however, most people would be hard-pressed to name even three of her films, though she made over seventy. Ellis Cashmore traces our modern, hyperactive celebrity culture back to a single instant in Taylor's life: the publicizing of her scandalous affair with Richard Burton by photographer Marcelo Geppetti in 1962, which announced the arrival of a new generation of predatory photojournalists and, along with them, a strange conflation between the public and private lives of celebrities. Taylor's life and public reception, Cashmore reveals, epitomizes the modern phenomenon of “celebrity.” Cover page......Page 1 Halftitle page......Page 2 Title page......Page 4 Copyright page......Page 5 Dedication page......Page 6 CONTENTS......Page 8 Life and times......Page 10 1 The most public of private lives......Page 28 2 Animal delight......Page 38 3 Like a million dollars......Page 56 4 With human failings......Page 76 5 Inseparable from the gossip......Page 94 6 Dismantling the fantasy......Page 114 7 Believing and wanting to believe......Page 134 8 Beyond condemnation......Page 154 9 The devil’s work......Page 172 10 Every fiber of my soul......Page 192 11 Facing oblivion......Page 206 12 Voyeurs and performers......Page 222 13 Rules of engagement......Page 238 14 No life without......Page 258 15 Everything is for sale......Page 280 16 Other people’s lives......Page 294 17 On dangerous ground......Page 312 18 Only the custodian......Page 332 19 Nobody can hurt her......Page 346 Players......Page 366 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 376 INDEX......Page 396