0:00:02 > 0:00:05TRIUMPHANT FANFARE
0:00:19 > 0:00:24It was a one-piece bathing suit made of something white.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29The water made it transparent. I told him I didn't want to swim in it.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33But he just grabbed me by the hand and dragged me into the water...
0:00:33 > 0:00:38all the way in... I came out looking...nude.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42You know, that fine mind of yours gets pretty repulsive at times.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45That's not what you told me on the train.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Now you're going to throw that up to me?!
0:00:51 > 0:00:54You know, you can be pretty wonderful at times.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Come on, partner.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Why don't you kick off your spurs?
0:01:00 > 0:01:02I don't mind making a fool of myself over you.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Well, I mind. I feel embarrassed for you.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Feel embarrassed!
0:01:08 > 0:01:09But I can't live on this way!
0:01:09 > 0:01:13- You agreed to accept that condition... - I know I did, but I can't! I can't.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18We'll think of something somehow. Whatever way we can.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22We'll have such wonderful times together, just the two of us.
0:01:25 > 0:01:26What is it?
0:01:26 > 0:01:29You make a very excellent cup of tea.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44Elizabeth Taylor made over 70 films and won two Oscars.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47But she's equally remembered for her seven marriages,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51her diamonds, her illnesses and her flamboyant lifestyle.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56Born in London, but raised in the old Hollywood studio system,
0:01:56 > 0:02:01the talented actress has sometimes been overlooked amongst the headlines.
0:02:01 > 0:02:07Her first seven years, spent in London, determined her career.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Right, Martha, your recitation, please.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15I was born in London, 1932.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20And... Well, it was, sort of, it was in Hampstead,
0:02:20 > 0:02:26on a wonderful crescent between Hampstead Heath and Wildwood Road,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29so it was like being in the country.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33And I had my first horse.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36I learned to ride, in England, bareback.
0:02:36 > 0:02:41But I had to leave her in England when the war broke out.
0:02:41 > 0:02:47They were the happiest days of my childhood, because I rode
0:02:47 > 0:02:51and I went to ballet school - Madame Vakarney.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55And she put on a concert
0:02:55 > 0:02:58for the Royal Family every year.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03And I was chosen out of my class - I was three -
0:03:03 > 0:03:07to do the solo.
0:03:08 > 0:03:14And I did my little twinkle-toes and all that stuff.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16And my butterfly curtsey.
0:03:16 > 0:03:24And I received applause and the sound of applause hit my ears for the first time.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27And I was transfixed.
0:03:27 > 0:03:34- Would you like to act in America? - And leave Pi and everyone here?
0:03:34 > 0:03:41- They might want Pi too. - Might be fun for us to go and see me doing things in the pictures.
0:03:41 > 0:03:46Elizabeth's parents were advised to leave England to escape the war.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49They went to the USA, their homeland,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and settled in Beverly Hills.
0:03:52 > 0:03:59Producer Sam Marks, on hearing about her English accent, auditioned her for the MGM film Lassie Come Home.
0:03:59 > 0:04:07'So I went up and I just got into it and talked to the dog.'
0:04:10 > 0:04:13She doesn't seem well, Grandfather.
0:04:13 > 0:04:14Poor Lassie.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Poor Lassie.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19Poor girl.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22And I got the part.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27And we did my segment in two weeks.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Close the gate, close the gate!
0:04:29 > 0:04:33Don't let her get out! Close it!
0:04:42 > 0:04:45You've let her go. She's let her go!
0:04:45 > 0:04:50She's going south, Grandfather. She's going towards Yorkshire!
0:04:50 > 0:04:53I believe you're right.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01Then they signed me up for 18 years.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05- Our daughter's famous!- Famous. - There's fortunes of money in this!
0:05:05 > 0:05:08I had a great imagination
0:05:08 > 0:05:11and I just slid into it.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15And it was like a piece of cake.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20But it was with her next film, National Velvet, in 1944,
0:05:20 > 0:05:25that she established herself as a major new star.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29She was a little girl - she was 11 years old -
0:05:29 > 0:05:34and I remember being dazzled by her extraordinary colouring -
0:05:34 > 0:05:40her violet eyes and her dark hair and the natural colour in her cheeks.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44She was the most glorious looking little girl I'd ever seen.
0:05:44 > 0:05:51- Strange, not dignified to be polite when you're in love.- Velvet,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54you're too young to understand some things!
0:05:54 > 0:06:01'We were working in these incredible sets which were outdoor scenes built indoors.
0:06:01 > 0:06:07'It was on Stage 27 that MGM had an enormous stage and the whole thing was built.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11'The daylight was created and the heat was intense.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17'The physical aspects of making movies were pretty darned uncomfortable.
0:06:17 > 0:06:18'Her mother was always on the set,'
0:06:18 > 0:06:22because they hadn't been in this country very long and neither had I.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25So we sort of shared that.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27What's happened? Is somebody ill?
0:06:27 > 0:06:33It's Ted. They sent him away to live with his aunt in Lancaster.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38You mean you're snivelling for a boy? You brought me home for that?
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Velvet...
0:06:46 > 0:06:50'You can see the sensitivity in the performance.'
0:06:50 > 0:06:57It's not just that she's a beautiful girl or an effective child actress.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Her performance is one of maturity and emotional depth.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05I think the writing was on the wall from the beginning with her.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09He's a gentle one. I'll just call him Pi.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14- Oh, you're a pretty one, Pi. - You're a wizard, Velvet.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17- May I ride him?- Ride this horse? - Oh, please!
0:07:17 > 0:07:25As a young star, Elizabeth had to balance her career with the schooling a child of her age needed.
0:07:25 > 0:07:31As for education, on the set they would have a little cubby hole,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34and you would have your tutor.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39And the minimum that you could be in there was ten minutes.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43So you had to ram some facts in your mind
0:07:43 > 0:07:47then go out on the set, do your lines, come back,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51pick up where you'd left off,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55go out, slip back into character...
0:07:56 > 0:08:01It was not easy. I don't know why were we weren't all schizophrenics.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Well, a lot of us were.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09I think her emotional intelligence is really high.
0:08:09 > 0:08:15I think she...somehow knew underneath that it was time
0:08:15 > 0:08:19to put aside childish things and become a teenage actress,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22and then an adult actress.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28When she emerged as a young, glamorous actress
0:08:28 > 0:08:32she made the transition effortlessly,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35because MGM supported her through those years.
0:08:35 > 0:08:41She could have been going through a difficult time, but you never saw it.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44Suddenly she emerged, still under contract,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48and they were ready and they had the stories.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52So she took off, just like a lovely bird.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54After a string of films as a child star,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Elizabeth Taylor had physically outgrown juvenile parts.
0:08:58 > 0:09:04At 17, A Place In The Sun established her as an adult star.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06Wow.
0:09:13 > 0:09:14Hello.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Hello.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23I see you had a misspent youth.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25I guess it was.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Why all alone?
0:09:28 > 0:09:31'I loved acting, but I didn't take it seriously
0:09:31 > 0:09:35'until I worked with Montgomery Clift,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37'in A Place In The Sun.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40'It's one of my favourite films.'
0:09:40 > 0:09:45- Are you blue? - I'm just fooling around.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50- Maybe, you'd like to play? - No, I'll just watch you. Go ahead.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55I still would camp around on the set
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and drive everybody mad.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01I'd give them the giggles
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and be silly...and all that.
0:10:04 > 0:10:09But...when I saw Monty preparing...
0:10:11 > 0:10:16..I thought, "My God, it isn't all about just having fun."
0:10:16 > 0:10:22And I think that's when I first looked at him
0:10:22 > 0:10:24and saw...
0:10:24 > 0:10:27how involved he was.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30He could make himself shake,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35and he couldn't stop after the director said cut.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38He would SWEAT!
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Real sweat.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42I'll come down in the morning.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45I thought, "I've just been playing with toys."
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Clift was the beginning of what I call a certain, er...
0:10:50 > 0:10:56realistic purity in action... in acting. Then there came Brando...
0:10:56 > 0:11:01And Jimmy Dean was not an actor yet, he didn't have enough experience,
0:11:01 > 0:11:03but he had great instincts.
0:11:03 > 0:11:09Then I came along and contributed a bit, but the beginning was Clift.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12I used to take Monty in and say, "Monty...
0:11:12 > 0:11:16"don't do this to yourself."
0:11:17 > 0:11:20"You've got to release it after the scene."
0:11:20 > 0:11:25And, you know, I would hold him... I was only 16.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28I had my 17th birthday on the film.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33It was almost like sometimes I was older than he was.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39But watching his intensity I learned...
0:11:40 > 0:11:43..not to let it kill you.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49But that it wasn't a game.
0:11:49 > 0:11:55You had to feel it in your gut and your guts had to get in an uproar.
0:11:55 > 0:12:02They're a pair of beautiful people who can welcome the camera up close,
0:12:02 > 0:12:07and who can share their emotional intensity and passion
0:12:07 > 0:12:10very easily in front of the camera.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14So he, whatever his training was that gave him access
0:12:14 > 0:12:18to that kind of thing that he could use as a performance,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22she had the same access by some kind of natural instinct.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25In rehearsals...
0:12:25 > 0:12:29I have never cried. Why waste it?
0:12:29 > 0:12:31And I get involved too.
0:12:31 > 0:12:38Sometimes you just don't play around with your own emotions that way.
0:12:38 > 0:12:44You're stomach gets upset and it's very hard, sometimes, to stop.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49So I wait and then I get myself, somehow or other,
0:12:49 > 0:12:54I don't know how, I've never had an acting lesson.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57I think that Elizabeth is an instinctive actress.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00I think she...
0:13:00 > 0:13:03She was simply brought up around acting.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08Acting was everywhere in her young life, I would have thought.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12You do learn so much by watching, listening and viewing.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16We're all like sponges.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20First of all, you know you're perfectly safe on a movie set.
0:13:20 > 0:13:28You know the crew will take care of you, the lights will be fixed to camouflage the defects.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33You know the director - if you trust him, and they were usually good directors that she worked with -
0:13:33 > 0:13:37will protect you from being a real asshole.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42And you know if you're an actor that's in that A-list echelon...
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Um...
0:13:46 > 0:13:51That if you really surrender and get out of your own way,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55particularly in a close up,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57that the audience will see your soul.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59She knew that.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02I'll go on loving you...
0:14:04 > 0:14:06..for as long as I live.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Love me for the time I have left.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Then forget me.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30- ANGELA LANSBURY:- 'There was such energy coming out of him.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35'What was coming out of his eyes, his body?
0:14:35 > 0:14:40'It was, I imagine, like sitting next to an electric chair.'
0:14:47 > 0:14:51It seems like we always spend the best part of our time...
0:14:51 > 0:14:54just saying goodbye.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59'I think she was working with an actor that she was very fond of.'
0:14:59 > 0:15:07I think the chemistry between the two of them, in that instance, was really very real.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11It worked...unbelievably well.
0:15:11 > 0:15:17They had an unspoken, perhaps, understanding
0:15:17 > 0:15:20of the price of the gift of beauty
0:15:20 > 0:15:23that nature had given them.
0:15:24 > 0:15:30And when Mr Clift had that accident and had to have his jaw wired...
0:15:32 > 0:15:35..that was the beginning of his crumbling.
0:15:35 > 0:15:41Leaving my house, he had the worst accident...
0:15:41 > 0:15:43I've ever seen.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48And I was first on the scene.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55And...pulled his head off the dashboard
0:15:55 > 0:15:58and the steering wheel.
0:15:58 > 0:16:04I probably shouldn't have touched him,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06but his head was getting bigger and bigger.
0:16:06 > 0:16:12By this time it was almost level with his delicate shoulders.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19And he opened his eyes and they were bright red.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24So the blue of them looked even bluer.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28He looked like an alien.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31He tried to say something.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34I said, "What is it, my love?
0:16:34 > 0:16:36"What is it, baby?"
0:16:36 > 0:16:40SHE MUMBLES
0:16:40 > 0:16:46And finally I made out, "Could you pull my teeth out?"
0:16:46 > 0:16:50He had two front teeth going through his tongue...
0:16:51 > 0:16:55..which made it hard for him to speak.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59So...I pulled them out for him.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05The ambulance was 45 minutes late, it was a nightmare.
0:17:32 > 0:17:39I don't know why Elizabeth had long and good relationships with gay men.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Some of them were brought into her life through work.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47She worked with James Dean, Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Men whom, we know now, were gay.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55She's a very loyal friend. She is 100% with you.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58She loved them.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Rock and Jimmy didn't like each other.
0:18:12 > 0:18:18I was forever trying to intervene and get them to be friends.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23'We each had a house, like in a triangle
0:18:23 > 0:18:26'in this little town in Texas,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28'where we did most of the filming.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33'It was like everybody was sort of going in this triangle,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36'but those two were trying to avoid each other.'
0:18:36 > 0:18:41You always did look pretty.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Not so pretty now.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Wait a minute! Wait!
0:18:53 > 0:18:56You're tetchy, Bick.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Tetchy as an old cook.
0:19:10 > 0:19:16Bick, you should have shot that fella a long time ago, now he's too rich to kill.
0:19:16 > 0:19:21In Giant, we see her acting very well with two totally different types of actor.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23One is Rock Hudson, one is James Dean.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27Hudson coming more, as she does, from the Hollywood school
0:19:27 > 0:19:32of movie-star-trained performer to become a star and have a persona,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35and James Dean more the method actor.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40And she adjusts herself and her performance very well to both styles
0:19:40 > 0:19:45and yet, manages to keep her own character together in a coherent way.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47I think that's quite remarkable.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Mr Benedict's riata is one of the largest of them all.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52Oh, really?
0:19:53 > 0:19:55Well, just how large is that?
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Around a half a million.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01595,000 acres to be exact.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04I'd call that quite a parcel.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06How many acres did you say, Mr Benedict?
0:20:06 > 0:20:10He said 595,000 acres, Momma,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and you should see the greedy look on your face.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16When are you going to get married?
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Don't you need someone to help you?
0:20:19 > 0:20:24When I get some time to look around, I'll go back east.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28So, have you got any good-looking sisters
0:20:28 > 0:20:32that might be interested in some poor people?
0:20:32 > 0:20:36Money isn't all, you know, Jett.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Not when you got it!
0:20:39 > 0:20:46'When you see Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean in a scene together, drinking tea,
0:20:46 > 0:20:53'what you see is a woman raised in the studio system with an erratic young actor.'
0:20:53 > 0:20:57When you say "other people" what do you mean?
0:20:57 > 0:21:04You see how skilled she is at holding her own with him,
0:21:04 > 0:21:09and how skilled she is at creating the kind of subtext that he has been trained to create.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13But your situation is so different, you're a working man.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18That's something I'm going to fix.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22'There was an intensity you felt coming out of him.'
0:21:22 > 0:21:27He'd come over to my house, sometimes at night time,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31and we'd sit and talk until three in the morning - that youth!
0:21:31 > 0:21:36Then we'd be on the set, like at seven.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41He would reveal to me...
0:21:43 > 0:21:47..things that you only reveal to a very good friend.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Wouldn't you love to know!
0:21:53 > 0:22:00But, before the film was completed James Dean was killed in a car crash.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02He was 24
0:22:02 > 0:22:06and Giant was only his third film.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12On some level, I think she...
0:22:12 > 0:22:17had a really exquisite sense of compassion
0:22:17 > 0:22:21for people who thought they were misfits.
0:22:21 > 0:22:27That didn't mean they were, but if she thought they felt it, she would be there for them.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31I don't know if she felt like a misfit, being so beautiful.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36It's possible to be so beautiful and talented and feel like a misfit.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Lean on me, baby.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48You've got a nice smell about you.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53- Was your bath water cool?- No.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57I know something that'll make you feel cool and fresh.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Alcohol rub.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Cologne.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07No thanks - we'd smell alike, like a couple of cats in the heat.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17'The minute the camera goes on, something happens in me.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20'Then I start to pull the stops.'
0:23:20 > 0:23:26But when it's rehearsal, my mind knows that this isn't the real thing.
0:23:26 > 0:23:32Some directors and actors, like Paul Newman...
0:23:32 > 0:23:36He evidently went to Richard Brooks and said,
0:23:36 > 0:23:40"Richard, I mean, is this it?
0:23:40 > 0:23:45"Is this all she's going to give?"
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Richard said, "It's OK, Paul, you wait."
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Maybe I got rid of Skipper...
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Skipper went out anyway.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04I didn't get rid of him, at all.
0:24:04 > 0:24:11I think the first take is the most honest, the most spontaneous.
0:24:11 > 0:24:18You do things that just come to your head and nobody can stop you because you're filming.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20If they don't like it, you do it again.
0:24:20 > 0:24:26But you get a sense of adventure, you get a rush of...
0:24:26 > 0:24:31being that person, and being true to that person.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36What THEY would do, not what you would do. What THEY would do.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Isn't it an awful joke, honey?
0:24:43 > 0:24:46I lost you anyway.
0:24:50 > 0:24:56In 1957, after marriages to Nicky Hilton and English actor Michael Wilding,
0:24:56 > 0:25:02Elizabeth married the producer of Around The World In 80 Days, Mike Todd.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04He influenced her life more than any man before.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08Mike Todd was a steamrolling entrepreneur.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11He could talk you into anything.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14He was funny and rakish.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19He was...unbelievably adventurous.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22He totally fell in love with Elizabeth.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26- BASINGER:- Mike Todd was a force of liberation.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29She had been dominated by her mother.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33She had been dominated by MGM.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37This man just said, "Hey, let's go."
0:25:37 > 0:25:42He took her out of that, out into a world of her own.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47Even though he perhaps tried to control and dominate her,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52he gave her a sense of freedom and an exciting whirlwind of a life.
0:25:52 > 0:25:58When a beautiful young girl marries a rich, older man, there's always cynicism.
0:25:58 > 0:26:04Liz, you once said you had the mind of a child and a woman's body.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06That was when I was 15.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11Since you've been married to Mr Todd, do you feel you've matured?
0:26:11 > 0:26:16I hope so, otherwise I'd be slightly retarded, wouldn't I?
0:26:16 > 0:26:19- MIKE TODD:- As some of you know,
0:26:19 > 0:26:26I'm married to a girl a few years my junior. In fact, she's a few years my junior's junior.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32During filming of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Elizabeth and Mike Todd were supposed to fly to New York,
0:26:32 > 0:26:37where he was to receive an award, but she fell ill.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44I had pneumonia and a temperature of 103.
0:26:44 > 0:26:50And, of course...the doctors said I couldn't fly.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53They had to shoot around me.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55Er...
0:26:55 > 0:26:59They were giving me antibiotics, everything.
0:26:59 > 0:27:05A week went by, and still my temperature wouldn't budge.
0:27:08 > 0:27:13And he said, "I'm going to have to go, love. It's tomorrow.
0:27:13 > 0:27:20"We're going to have to refuel about three times. I'll be up all night."
0:27:20 > 0:27:23And we said goodbye five times.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26He'd go downstairs...
0:27:26 > 0:27:31and then he'd come back upstairs and embrace me.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34And he'd say goodbye again.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37He did that five times.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41And the next morning...
0:27:43 > 0:27:48..the door opened at six o'clock in the morning.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52My secretary and doctor walked into the room.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56And I just screamed, "He's not!"
0:28:00 > 0:28:03But he was.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06He was dead.
0:28:08 > 0:28:16The man who had meant so much to Elizabeth Taylor was dead after only 414 days of marriage.
0:28:16 > 0:28:22I went to see her a few hours after we got word that Michael had died
0:28:22 > 0:28:24in the plane crash.
0:28:24 > 0:28:29She was drinking orange juice and vodka,
0:28:29 > 0:28:33and very upset with God.
0:28:33 > 0:28:40"How do you explain that? Why wasn't I on the plane? Why didn't I die too? Why did he have to go?"
0:28:40 > 0:28:44She raged at God.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Despite her grief, Elizabeth had to honour her contract
0:28:48 > 0:28:52and return to the set of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56They gave me two weeks off...
0:28:58 > 0:29:02..because I'd developed a terrible stutter.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05When I spoke in a southern accent,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08I could get rid of it.
0:29:11 > 0:29:18And after two weeks staying with my brother and sister-in-law, I went back to work.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23It was supposed to have been my last film.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27Ah...
0:29:27 > 0:29:32And they said, "No, we have another film for you."
0:29:32 > 0:29:39I said, "No, you shook hands with Mike. It was a gentleman's agreement."
0:29:39 > 0:29:43They said, "But Mike is dead, so you have to do this other film."
0:29:45 > 0:29:49I finished Cat.
0:29:49 > 0:29:55I did Butterfield 8 with a gun at my temple.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57I didn't speak to the director
0:29:57 > 0:30:02during the whole thing - he was a method director.
0:30:02 > 0:30:07Everything was, "Refer to this, refer to that".
0:30:07 > 0:30:12And...I ended up winning an Oscar for it.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45This year there were many magnificent performances by actresses.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Envelope, please.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55- Elizabeth Taylor. - WILD CHEERING
0:31:09 > 0:31:13APPLAUSE CONTINUES
0:31:17 > 0:31:22I don't really know how to express my gratitude...
0:31:22 > 0:31:25for this and for everything.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30I guess all I can do is say thank you.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Thank you with all my heart.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45It was more than ironic, it was a large hoot.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50When I'd seen the film in the screening room,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54um... Can I swear on this?
0:31:54 > 0:31:59I wrote in lipstick like Gloria did on the mirror...
0:32:01 > 0:32:05.."Piece of shit".
0:32:05 > 0:32:07Excuse me.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13Alexandria at Pinewood...
0:32:13 > 0:32:17Cleopatra began filming in 1960.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22Due to bad weather and Elizabeth's bad health, filming was abandoned.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26The next year, production was relocated to Italy.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29It took over two-and-a-half years to make,
0:32:29 > 0:32:34and was famous not only for being the most expensive movie ever made,
0:32:34 > 0:32:38but for Elizabeth's 1 million fee.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54siren of the Nile.
0:32:54 > 0:33:00I was the first person to break the barrier.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03Now I'm not even a footnote,
0:33:03 > 0:33:04um...
0:33:04 > 0:33:07with these salaries of 20 million.
0:33:07 > 0:33:12She didn't want to do Cleopatra. That's why she asked for 1 million.
0:33:12 > 0:33:17She thought they'd turn her down. Joan Collins wanted to do Cleopatra.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19Elizabeth - I don't think she cared.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24If the public generally believes, no matter what historians tell us,
0:33:24 > 0:33:28that Cleopatra was the most beautiful woman ever,
0:33:28 > 0:33:33you have to cast the person everyone thinks is the most beautiful woman.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36So that would be Elizabeth Taylor at that time.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06She told me about Cleopatra coming into Rome.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08She has a fear of heights.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11She says, "I'm sitting on this thing about 40 in the air.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13"Richard's close, he knows I'm afraid of falling."
0:34:30 > 0:34:35Richard Burton, noted for his respected theatrical background
0:34:35 > 0:34:39was to become a prominent figure in Elizabeth's life.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Richard Burton as Mark Anthony,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44a pawn in the arms of this woman.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48I'd known him since I was 19.
0:34:48 > 0:34:54I used to say, "I'm not going to be another notch on his belt!"
0:34:54 > 0:34:59And the first day that we worked together,
0:34:59 > 0:35:03he was suffering from a hangover - surprise!
0:35:08 > 0:35:11He was looking so vulnerable
0:35:11 > 0:35:15in his little Roman dress!
0:35:15 > 0:35:18And his hands were all shaky.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21He looked such a mess.
0:35:21 > 0:35:27He was drinking a cup of coffee, with his hand going like that.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31I said, "Would you like me to help you?"
0:35:31 > 0:35:34So I held the cup to his lips.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Our eyes locked
0:35:37 > 0:35:41and he drank the whole cup,
0:35:41 > 0:35:45and we just kept looking at each other.
0:35:46 > 0:35:52She had fallen in love with Richard, and I was asking her about it.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55She was sitting drinking Champagne.
0:35:55 > 0:36:02I think she thought that I disapproved of her going from one man to the other.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05She lifted the glass of Champagne
0:36:05 > 0:36:09and she looked straight into my eyes.
0:36:09 > 0:36:15Her eyes welled up with tears. She said, "Richard's taught me how..."
0:36:15 > 0:36:18The tears spilled over.
0:36:18 > 0:36:25And she put the glass here so that the tear would fall into the Champagne, "..how to love."
0:36:25 > 0:36:28I started to cry.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33I thought, she loves this man, whatever I've heard about him.
0:36:33 > 0:36:39She described it to me so poetically, so I would approve.
0:36:39 > 0:36:44- Anthony, how will I live? - Same as I.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47One breath upon the other.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52Each bringing us one breath... closer.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56You take so much of me with you so far.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01Remember, remember - they'll want you to forget. Please...
0:37:01 > 0:37:03Forget? No.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07I can never be more far away from you than...
0:37:07 > 0:37:10Than this.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24The studio system hushed up everyone's affairs, always.
0:37:24 > 0:37:31The way it is today with the tabloids, it wasn't like that when I was growing up.
0:37:31 > 0:37:38Everyone acted as if everyone was going home to bed to their proper mate.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42So when these rumours began, it was one of the first breakthroughs
0:37:42 > 0:37:46of that kind of celebrity journalism.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51Reporting their private, secret, naughty lives.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54And everybody was talking about this.
0:37:54 > 0:38:02They tried to have true love under the microscope of publicity, which can become almost impossible.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06You don't have a chance to be too intimate too often
0:38:06 > 0:38:10if there's paparazzi watching every move.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15All the myths and stories about you which are not true at all.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20You can't move in your private life, almost. You can't move.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Being with him,
0:38:23 > 0:38:28I think he made everybody want to do their best.
0:38:28 > 0:38:34I did a scene with her one day - I've forgotten the film -
0:38:34 > 0:38:39and I said, "She doesn't do anything. What's she doing?"
0:38:39 > 0:38:45The friend said, "Go and see her on the rushes." When I did, she was doing everything.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50He very sweetly said that I taught him
0:38:50 > 0:38:53how to be a movie actor.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00He taught me to be a better actress.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04She's one of the greatest screen actors.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07- Is that a threat, George? - It's a threat, Martha.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11- You're going to get it, baby. - I'll rip you to pieces.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15You're not man enough. You haven't the guts.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18- Total war?- Total!
0:39:23 > 0:39:30Only three years after Cleopatra, Elizabeth recruited theatre director Mike Nichols
0:39:30 > 0:39:33to direct his first movie -
0:39:33 > 0:39:37Edward Albee's Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
0:39:37 > 0:39:43She was prepared to dress down, grey her hair and look like hell.
0:39:43 > 0:39:48That's the mark of an actress who wants to stand up and be counted.
0:39:48 > 0:39:54You don't do those things unless you have the confidence
0:39:54 > 0:39:58to carry it off, and that took a lot of confidence.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01What a dump.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04Hey, what's that from?
0:40:04 > 0:40:06What a dump.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11I had to put on 20 pounds, which made me very happy.
0:40:11 > 0:40:17Um... I wore prosthetics under my eyes, under my chin.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21I had my boobs pressed down.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25I wore padding around my waist.
0:40:25 > 0:40:32And I just generally, you know... made my mouth over the line of my own mouth.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34And...
0:40:34 > 0:40:37lowered my voice.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40And, um...
0:40:40 > 0:40:43generally looked like a slob.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48- It's really a very sad story. - Is it?
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Oh, it would make you weep.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55In the roadside cafe,
0:40:55 > 0:41:00the dancing with the big boobs and the hips...
0:41:00 > 0:41:04She was just ready to...
0:41:04 > 0:41:07do it to make him jealous.
0:41:07 > 0:41:12- You have ugly talents, Martha. - Is that so?
0:41:12 > 0:41:13Don't encourage her.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17- Encourage me.- Go on.- I warned you, don't encourage her!
0:41:17 > 0:41:20He warned you...don't encourage me.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23'Her dramatic ability, we always knew.'
0:41:23 > 0:41:29But that scene with the booze and the defiance
0:41:29 > 0:41:31of her own beauty.
0:41:31 > 0:41:39I mean, she really let herself be ugly and trampy and bloated and drunk.
0:41:39 > 0:41:44But, Daddy! I mean, but, sir, this isn't a novel at all!
0:41:44 > 0:41:48- You will not say this. - Keep away from me.
0:41:48 > 0:41:53This isn't a novel. This is the truth. This really happened to me.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58'I think the average person doesn't think about how difficult it is
0:41:58 > 0:42:04'to give a really explosive and emotional performance in film
0:42:04 > 0:42:10'because you stop in the middle of the scene and do it over again.
0:42:10 > 0:42:16'You have to stop for the cut, reshoot for the reverse angle shots for the other actor.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20'Your emotion is constantly taken away from you.'
0:42:20 > 0:42:25And the kind of physical, mental and emotional control it takes
0:42:25 > 0:42:32to give a raw, angry performance like the one Elizabeth Taylor gives in Virginia Woolf
0:42:32 > 0:42:34is exceedingly difficult.
0:42:34 > 0:42:39You're working and you put on that...working coat.
0:42:41 > 0:42:49And that never became clearer to me than when we were doing Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
0:42:49 > 0:42:53Because on the set,
0:42:53 > 0:42:58we would scream and blood would drip
0:42:58 > 0:43:01and brains would spill.
0:43:01 > 0:43:07And we'd get home and play with the kids, go to bed and make love,
0:43:07 > 0:43:12then get around to studying our lines for the next day.
0:43:12 > 0:43:19The most difficult part of all was Elizabeth's.
0:43:19 > 0:43:26She quite rightly dominated the film and won an Oscar - he said bitterly!
0:43:26 > 0:43:30Getting angrier, until he watched for a couple of years
0:43:30 > 0:43:33and started thinking maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all!
0:43:33 > 0:43:39Maybe Georgie-boy didn't have the stuff - didn't have it in him!
0:43:39 > 0:43:44And I didn't, he said equally bitterly!
0:43:44 > 0:43:52The other day, I saw about the last fourth of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
0:43:52 > 0:43:56I was so compelled by Richard.
0:43:56 > 0:44:03And why he didn't get an Oscar makes me so angry.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08He was so brilliant.
0:44:12 > 0:44:17But it was Elizabeth who won the Oscar - her second.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21Yet perhaps her greatest challenge was yet to come,
0:44:21 > 0:44:26taking a different form from the roles she'd played before.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42In Hollywood, show-business stars,
0:44:42 > 0:44:45shocked at the revelation that Rock Hudson has AIDS,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48have joined forces to raise money for research into the disease.
0:44:48 > 0:44:54Ever since Rock Hudson crossed his own version of the River Styx last month
0:44:54 > 0:44:56and went public with his AIDS sickness,
0:44:56 > 0:44:59there has been a significant new focus on a disease
0:44:59 > 0:45:01that threatens to become an epidemic.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06I was involved with AIDS
0:45:06 > 0:45:09long before I knew Rock had AIDS.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12In the early years of AIDS,
0:45:12 > 0:45:18the public homophobia, the dislike of people who are gay
0:45:18 > 0:45:25was so intense that it infuriated Elizabeth and hurt her. She was indignant.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27Everybody was talking about it,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31but like...this.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34And nobody was doing anything about it.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37Including myself.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41And then I got really angry.
0:45:41 > 0:45:47Rock Hudson is in his private suite in this Los Angeles hospital,
0:45:47 > 0:45:48suffering from a disease
0:45:48 > 0:45:53which has particularly afflicted the homosexual community.
0:46:00 > 0:46:06I got in touch with Rock's doctor, before I got in touch with Rock.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13And I said, you know, "Does Rock have AIDS?"
0:46:13 > 0:46:16And he said "yes".
0:46:16 > 0:46:19Then I asked him all about it.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Rock had no chances.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29People were telling me not to become involved,
0:46:29 > 0:46:31I received death threats.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35And I was getting angrier and angrier.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38And I thought...
0:46:38 > 0:46:44"I have to do something about it." And I put myself out there.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47All we can do, at this point...
0:46:49 > 0:46:52..is help our friends who have AIDS.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56'Rock's estate sent a cheque'
0:46:56 > 0:47:01for a quarter of a million dollars, which started us off.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06Then I found a brilliant woman in New York.
0:47:06 > 0:47:11She found out we were trying to do that she was trying to do -
0:47:11 > 0:47:14Dr Mathilde Krim - so we joined forces
0:47:14 > 0:47:22and came up with the name AMFAR for research.
0:47:22 > 0:47:27And, um, I think we've raised about 160 million.
0:47:27 > 0:47:34When one meets someone like Elizabeth for the first time, who is really Hollywood royalty -
0:47:34 > 0:47:37maybe the last one we have -
0:47:37 > 0:47:42one, er...goes with thoughts of perhaps, er...
0:47:42 > 0:47:47she may not be with the cause as much as I would like.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51She may be more window-dressing than anything else.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54That feeling was dispelled instantly.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57She was obviously very sincere.
0:47:57 > 0:48:03As I travelled around the country and visited hospices...
0:48:03 > 0:48:10Because I would do my perfume tour and then anonymously go to visit a hospital,
0:48:10 > 0:48:15without photographers or anybody else knowing.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19I asked the patients what they wanted,
0:48:19 > 0:48:22what THEY needed.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25And they said,
0:48:25 > 0:48:30"We just want somebody to put their arms around us.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33"We're not contagious."
0:48:33 > 0:48:36Elizabeth Taylor is a passionate person,
0:48:36 > 0:48:43and when she feels, or SINCE she feels so strongly about AIDS,
0:48:43 > 0:48:45and about defending her friends,
0:48:45 > 0:48:51she is very passionate about that. That is, I think over recent years,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54her big passion.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57And she will never give an inch on this.
0:48:57 > 0:49:02Wanting to give direct help to those affected by HIV and AIDS,
0:49:02 > 0:49:06Elizabeth set up the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09It is as a result of this tireless campaigning
0:49:09 > 0:49:12and in recognition of her body of work as an actress
0:49:12 > 0:49:15that she's recently been made a Dame of the British Empire.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17- ANGELA LANSBURY:- She's earned it.
0:49:17 > 0:49:24I'm delighted for her. It's a lovely thing, that recognition... by the country of her birth,
0:49:24 > 0:49:29which is interesting. She's lived here for years, but never became a citizen.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32She's always remained English.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35"Sir Rodney" sounds better than "Dame Elizabeth".
0:49:35 > 0:49:40Or Sir Tony. Here comes Sir Rodney. That's got royalty!
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Whatever they get, they deserve.
0:49:43 > 0:49:49I'm jealous. I'd like to be Sir Rodney. "Sir Rodney's car is coming."
0:49:49 > 0:49:53"Sir Rodney's getting out. Sir Rodney fell on his face."
0:49:55 > 0:50:01Ladies and gentlemen - Mrs Micos Cassadine.
0:50:01 > 0:50:08Over the last 20 years, Elizabeth's attempts to pick up her film career have had mixed results.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11But she's determined to return to the screen.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15I have seen General Hospital and the university.
0:50:15 > 0:50:20And I approve as my husband would have approved.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24Micos Cassadine had a deep and abiding love...
0:50:24 > 0:50:28- I said, "Cassadine!" - OTHER ACTORS: That's right!
0:50:28 > 0:50:30Oh, shit!
0:50:36 > 0:50:38I startled myself!
0:50:38 > 0:50:42Sorry, Bob. I'm not used to acting(!)
0:50:42 > 0:50:49I just would like to do something to see first of all if I can, not at their expense.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52I think I still can.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55I want to see Elizabeth Taylor -
0:50:55 > 0:51:00knowing, as we all do, this extraordinary arc of her life.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04Her suffering and her overcoming of suffering,
0:51:04 > 0:51:11and her humour, and her beauty, and her children and her jewels, and her men and her paintings,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13and her...food -
0:51:13 > 0:51:18I would like to see ANYTHING that Elizabeth would do.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21I think they're afraid of me.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23I mean...
0:51:23 > 0:51:25I can't think why!
0:51:25 > 0:51:30I've only broken my back three times in the last two years.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36We have a great script! It's called "These Old Broads".
0:51:36 > 0:51:43Carrie Fisher wrote it for me, for Debbie, for Betty Bacall or Julie Andrews, and Elizabeth.
0:51:43 > 0:51:48It is the greatest part she'll ever play and it's in bed!
0:51:48 > 0:51:54She doesn't have to get up early. She can stay there! And she doesn't have to stay long.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Let's just get this thing over with.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02I assume you and Wesley have discussed some preliminary figures?
0:52:02 > 0:52:09But I wanted to show you a number for each of these ladies
0:52:09 > 0:52:13that I think is... closer to the mark.
0:52:20 > 0:52:21Eeeh...
0:52:27 > 0:52:28OK.
0:52:32 > 0:52:33Ha!
0:52:37 > 0:52:41Ladies, will you excuse me a minute?
0:52:47 > 0:52:48Come!
0:52:51 > 0:52:55- Hmm.- Hmm.- Hmm.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59She is as famous today as she ever was.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04That's the level of her celebrity. That is what is unique about her.
0:53:04 > 0:53:09She transcends her own work. We don't need her work!
0:53:09 > 0:53:12We just need her.
0:53:12 > 0:53:18That's really the mark of the most remarkable movie star.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23The last of the great royal movie stars of the Hollywood studio system -
0:53:23 > 0:53:25Elizabeth Taylor.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd