Elizabeth Taylor & Cleopatra - Scandalous Beauties By Karie Bible

Elizabeth Taylor & Cleopatra - Scandalous Beauties By Karie Bible

By Karie Bible

When Elizabeth Taylor was first approached to play the title role in the remake of “Cleopatra” she is said to have replied “I’ll do it for a million dollars”. Twentieth Century Fox called her bluff and agreed. Her third husband producer Mike Todd taught her to drive a hard bargain. She also demanded and received a $3,000 per week living allowance, $50,000 per week if the film ran past the production schedule, 10% of the film’s profits and she wanted the epic filmed overseas. Taylor could back up her demands with results. She had been a top star at MGM, a major box office draw and took home her first Academy Award for the 1960 drama “Butterfield 8”.

Even so, no one on the production was prepared for the chaos that ensued. The intrigue, passion and romance playing out behind the scenes proved far more compelling to many than anything that wound up on screen. Years earlier Elizabeth Taylor had been introduced to Richard Burton at a party in 1953 and disliked him. Everything changed on their first day together on the “Cleopatra” set. Burton appeared hung over on the set after a night of drinking and his hands were shaking. He ordered a cup of coffee, which Elizabeth Taylor had to help put up to his mouth. His vulnerability in that moment appealed to her and they began a torrid affair. Burton was known for racking up conquests and bedding as many of his leading ladies as possible, but this was different. This affair proved far more serious. It led to a flood of paparazzi chasing them and the inevitable break up of their respective marriages and families.

Taylor was used to scandal. After the tragic death of her husband third Mike Todd in a plane crash, she began an affair with his best friend Eddie Fisher who was married to Debbie Reynolds at the time. It was a sensational scandal that made headlines. Taylor married Fisher, but that scandal was minor by comparison. The Taylor / Burton affair send the press into a frenzy. Photographers followed their every move and the pressure, guilt and tempestuous nature of their affair led Taylor to taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Public outrage continued to build and director Joseph Mankiewicz received bomb threats. In an “Only in Hollywood” twist toga-clad security guards were placed on the set. The Vatican published a read’s letter denouncing Taylor for “erotic vagrancy” and Congressman in New York and North Carolina cited the affair as contributing to America’s “moral slide”. The criticism of Taylor was far greater than Burton, which is sadly reflective of the moral double standard.

After a maelstrom of publicity, Taylor and Burton divorced their respective spouses and married in 1964. Their union lasted for ten years, which would mark the longest of her eight marriages. After their divorce they remarried a year later, but it was short lived.

While their marriages ended, their passion remained. Long after their divorces, Burton wrote Taylor a love letter from his home in Switzerland and he had already died by the time it reached Taylor in Los Angeles. The book “Furious Love” by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger chronicles their relationship and states that his final letter said, “Home was where Elizabeth was, and he wanted to come home. She’s kept that letter by her bedside ever since.”

Karie Bible

Karie Bible is the in house tour guide at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and has been giving tours several times a month since 2002. She has appeared on Turner Classic Movies, CNN, The Reelz Channel and her tour has been written up in the Los Angeles Times and Best of LA Weekly. She co-authored the books "Location Filming in Los Angeles" and  "Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays". www.cemeterytour.com