The role of women in the 1950 was repressive and constricted in many ways. Society placed high importance and many expectations on behavior at home as well as in public. Women were supposed to fulfill certain roles, such as a caring mother, a diligent homemaker, and an obedient wife. The perfect mother was supposed to stay home and nurture so society would accept them. A diligent housewife had dinner on the table precisely at the moment her husband arrived from work.
But there were women who stood out of the common 50's sterotype and went on to accomplish great things .. making them the fiercest of females in the 1950's
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London, England, on February 27, 1932. Although she was born an English subject, her parents were Americans, art dealers from St. Louis, Missouri. Elizabeth lived in London until the age of seven, when the family left for the US when the clouds of war began brewing in Europe in 1939.The family relocated to Los Angeles, where Mrs. Taylor's own family had moved. Mr. Taylor followed not long afterward. A family friend noticed the strikingly beautiful little Elizabeth and suggested that she be taken for a screen test. Her test impressed executives at Universal Pictures enough to sign her to a contract. Elizabeth was soon picked up by MGM.
In 1944, Taylor had her real big break in National Velvet alongside Mickey Rooney. The film was a smash hit, grossing over $4 million. Elizabeth now had a long-term contract with MGM and was its top child star. Throughout the rest of the 1940s and into the early 1950s Elizabeth appeared in film after film with mostly good results. A HUGE film for Taylor was in 1955, when she appeared in the hit Giant with James Dean (who was also a big star in Hollywood at the time) He unfortunately never saw the movie's release because of his tragic and sudden death in 1955.
Taylor was nominated for several awards, but lost to other actresses of the time. Her Oscar drought ended in 1959 when she brought home the coveted statue for her perfect performance in Butterfield 8 as Gloria Wandrous, a call girl who is involved with a married man. Taylor did not star in another movie for about 3 years. She later left MGM after her contract was up, but did projects for the studio later on. In 1963, she starred in Cleopatra, which was one of the most expensive productions up to that time. Taylor received $1,000,000 for the film.
Her final big hit was her the role of "Martha" in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She played a loudmouthed, shrewish, unkempt "Martha" and critics say it was easily her finest to date. For this she would win her second Oscar. She also met her future and 5th husband in this movie.
In her personal life, Taylor had 7 husbands total. Conrad Hilton, Michael Wilding, Michael Todd (who died in a plane crash), Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton (who she married and divorced a few times), Senator John Warner, and then finally Larry Fortensky. Her later movies lacked luster and Taylor drifted from the movie scene. She did appearneces in theatre and several TV programs, however.
In 1997, Elizabeth entered the hospital for the removal of a brain tumor. The operation was luckily successful. Sadly in 2011, Taylor passed away due to heart failure. Hollywood will always remmeber Elizabeth Taylor as one of the most influential and beautiful actresses of all time.
Good summary of an interesting life! More hyperlinks would help, but this is well done!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great summary of Elizabeth Taylor's life. I like how you opened your summary with how she did not have the average role of a woman in the 1950s. I also like the tribute video at the end, it really captures the emotion behind her story.
ReplyDelete