Elizabeth Taylor 1960s

#ElizabethTaylor (Feb 27, 1932 – Mar 23, 2011) There's never been a Hollywood star quite like LaLiz. With a film career spanning from the 1940s into the 1970s she was a mega star and iconic #ScreenSiren for decades. She won 2 #AcademyAwards for #BestActress and was married 8 times, twice to #RichardBurton. Along the way, she acquired one of the most enviable jewel collections in the world, much of gifts from RB and even owned an island as a refuge from the #Paparazzi. CLEOPATRA (1963) 20thCenturyFox She initially didn't want to do the film and in 1959 jokingly asked for $1M salary from producer Walter Wanger to do the film and was shocked when he agreed. When the final contract deal was worked out, which had extra pay for production delays and a reported 10% gross receipts profit share, she reportedly walked away with $7M, an unheard of sum for the time. Her costume budget alone was $195,000 ( >$2M 2018 USD). The film ended up costing $44M (>$470M today) at a time when a $1M budget was considered on the higher side. 65M ticket sales were recorded with gross receipts of $57M, which, when adjusted for ticket inflation and population, would put it the $1B range today (admittedly audience tastes aren't nearly the same). But there was more to the drama surrounding this film. In 1964 Fox sued Liz and Burton in Federal Court for a combined $50M, which claimed she'd received $20M, had a lackadaisical work ethic and that her affair with Burton had damaged the company and the film property (clearly the opposite was true). A record of the resolution of this suit wasn't found online, but we can assume nothing much came of it. #RichardBurton Her often tumultuous relationship and marriage(s) (twice) with Richard Burton began with a well publicized affair (they were both married at the time) during the filming of the epic #Cleopatra released in 1963, the most expensive film up to that time and whose cost overruns nearly bankrupted #20thCenturyFox. Later Career She later had tremendous success with her perfume venture starting in 1987 and upon her death, The Guardian estimated that the majority of her estimated $600M+ estate consisted of revenue from fragrances plus the auction of her extensive jewelry collection. She also became the first Hollywood star to strongly advocate for AIDS research after her longtime friend #RickHudson succumbed to the disease in 1985. #ScreenSirens #HollywoodIcons /190228 v3