The Legendary Elizabeth Taylor’s Travel Favorites
Written by Tom Gates Monday, 18 July 2011 06:23
The late Liz Taylor, England-born Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, became one of the great
screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age, and was recognized for her acting ability from her early years as a child star with MGM. As she matured, she became equally as famous for her glamorous lifestyle, beauty and distinctive violet eyes.
National Velvet (1944) was Taylor's first success. She then starred in Father of the Bride (1950) and A Place in the Sun (1951). Her other hits included Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).
She won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for BUtterfield 8 (1960). Movie queen -- no, Empress -- that she was, it seemed only fitting that she be cast as the title role in Cleopatra (1963), for which she was paid $1 million, the first actress to be paid that sum for one film.
To no one‛s surprise, life imitated art when she married co-star Richard Burton after a highly -- and constantly -- publicized love affair. They appeared together in 11 films, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which Taylor won a second Academy Award, and Boom, the adaptation of Tennessee Williams‛ play The Milk Train Doesn‛t Stop Here Anymore.
From the mid-1970s, she appeared less frequently in film, and made occasional appearances in television and theatre.
In the mid-1980s, Taylor championed HIV and AIDS programs. She co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985 in 1985, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1993.
Dame Elizabeth Taylor, DBE received received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the Legion of Honour, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute, who named her seventh on their list of the "Greatest American Screen Legends".
Taylor died of congestive heart failure at the age of 79 on March 23, 2011.
The late, great Elizabeth Taylor was not only an international star but an international style icon as well.
Writer, photographer and TravelSmart Editor at Large Tom Gates lensed her extensively and was with her at a number of the high points of her career. He was there at her Broadway debut in The Little Foxes; the night she and Burton read poetry on Broadway; and at Malcolm Forbes’ famous birthday party in Tangier, at which she was the guest of honor.
Gates' photos and reminiscences of Taylor can even be found in J. Randy Taraborrelli’s biography, Elizabeth (Warner Books).
Naturally, then, it made sense to ask what were Taylor’s favorites when it came to travel. The following is culled from Gates' reminiscences of Taylor, so he now shares her recommendations from beyond the grave.
Favorite Business Destinations:
She loved Manhattan where she could catch up with Broadway shows as well as friends. She also enjoyed England, the land of her birth, and especially London where she was less mobbed than in the United States.
Favorite Vacation Destinations:
Usually it was wherever her husband of the moment was. As Mrs. Mike Todd she literally traveled the globe with Todd as he promoted his film Around The World in 80 Days.
Two husbands later, she accompanied Richard Burton to Puerto Vallarta, where he was filming Night of the Iguana, and helped put the resort city on the map.
Favorite Ho
tels:
She liked The Regency on Park Avenue in NYC, where she could take the elevator down to the basement and exit through the garage in sunglasses and "street clothes", trying her best to blend in.
She also enjoyed being at The Dorchester in London. As far as I know, she never (or hardly ever) stayed anywhere else in London.
Favorite Read:
She was especially taken with Edna Ferber’s Giant. She eventually starred in the movie version with the late Rock Hudson.
Favorite Restaurants:
In the US it was Chasen’s in Beverly Hills which attracted a high end clientele from 1936 until its closing in 1995. She would often have their signature chili flown to her no matter where she was including the set of Cleopatra.
In Rome, her favorite is also mine: Hostaria dell’Orso, which is considered a little out of the way for the paparazzi.
Loews Regency Hotel
549 Park Avenue
New York City
www.Loewshotels.com/newyorkregency
The Dorchester
Park Lane
London W1K 1QA, England
Tel: +44 20 7319 7062
Fax: +44 20 7319 7115
www.theDorchester.com
Hostaria Dell'Orso
via dei Soldati 25c
00186 Roma
Tel +39.06.68301192
Fax +39.06.68217063
www.hdo.it
TravelSmart Newsletter
800-327-3633
www.TravelSmartNewsletter.com
