Elizabeth Taylor: Las cintas perdidas

Elizabeth Taylor brings to mind many things: her glamor, her numerous marriages, her calling attention to AIDS, and so on. But who was she as a person?

Nanette Burstein's "Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes" sets out to answer this question. Featuring a recently unearthed 1964 interview with Liz. The actress talks about her career, her personal life, and other things. Although Taylor doesn't mention it in the interview, the documentary notes her friendship with gay actors Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson; it sounds as though she was more comfortable around gay men than straight men, and she made sure to cover for her gay friends. As to Liz's serial marriages, I guess that we could chalk this up to her fame sweeping over her at a young age, or maybe that Hollywood was trying to boost her image (not counting her marriage to Mike Todd, which ended with his death in a plane crash). The documentary doesn't mention Taylor's friendship with Michael Jackson; I guess that his reputation has suffered too much to reference.

What emerges is an actress who was more than the sum of her parts. Whatever you think of Elizabeth Taylor's movies or about her as a person, you can't deny the impact that she had on popular culture. I think it's safe to say that her legacy will live on forever.