Elizabeth Taylor: A Private Life for Public Consumption

Ellis Cashmore's new non-fiction on Elizabeth Taylor is heady stuff, though for some readers it may lack a warmth of personal introspection from Taylor's perspective. Yet, "Elizabeth Taylor: A Private Life for Public Consumption" is clearly a further discourse of intelligent writing on Elizabeth's desires of love and personal passions during her lifetime and most importantly, how she set the gold standard on scandal and not only survived but flourished through it to greater success.

For that matter, Cashmore's book could have been titled, "The Time, The Place and The Woman" as Elizabeth surely caused major waves of reverberation and memorable moments during her lifetime that still resonate strongly today. There have been numerous biographies written about Elizabeth Taylor. What sets Ellis Cashmore's work apart is his careful examination of not only her life and work but how she was viewed in public perception and media involvement. He proves how these evaluations have shifted to more interest on the private lives of celebrity to the overwhelming degree that is known today.

A woman known for her incredible beauty as a film star, Taylor was involved in two uproarious scandals almost back-to-back. The first, being in the late 1950s in which she was considered a "homewrecker" for stealing singer Eddie Fisher away from "America's Sweetheart" actress Debbie Reynolds. How this media attention was fire-balled into Elizabeth's life by the media is evaluated, reflected upon and provocatively examined. Then in the early 1960s, the love affair of a lifetime and one that garnered worldwide attention happened between Elizabeth and actor Richard Burton. This affair struck a chord of major dissension and moral outrage. Once again, Burton was married and a father as well, just as Fisher was. The shifts in perceptions of celebrity lives crossed a major line when the couple was photographed as illicit lovers in what as the press coined "The Liz and Dick Show." From then on, the quest and addiction of the media in covering these two life-changing events in Elizabeth's life was focused in more on the woman's personal life than concentrating on her professional one.

In the mid-to-late 1970s as Taylor's film career slowed down, the public and the media were hooked on the woman, herself and anything that she continued to pursue. Whether it be AIDS activism or a personal fragrance line or even her close friendship with Michael Jackson... were all scrutinized, recognized and "total" news to the world. These aspects of Cashmore's book, are a fresh take on the many sides of Elizabeth Taylor and ultimately rewarding to discover anew. This endless fascination with Elizabeth Taylor and how she broke open "Pandora's box" as to how celebrity is viewed today, is a complex, mindful and well-researched effort by Ellis Cashmore.

"Elizabeth Taylor: A Private Life for Public Consumption"
Ellis Cashmore
Bloomsbury Academic (Paperback)
$16.50