On Elizabeth Taylor
An Opinionated Guide
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Book Presentation:
• Focuses on Taylor's acting work and industry stardom instead of her storied personal life
• Provides background on Taylor's entire career including feature films, made for television movies, select TV guest spots, and theatre roles
• Spans an extraordinarily broad history of film, from the Studio Era to the breakup of the studios, the rise of independent filmmakers, and the birth of the modern blockbuster
A sweeping look at the career of a truly singular Hollywood star
In the oceans of ink devoted to the monumental movie star/businesswoman/political activist Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (1932-2011), her beauty and not-so-private life frequently overshadowed her movies. While she knew how to generate publicity like no other, her personal life is set aside in this volume in favor of her professional oeuvre and unique screen dynamism. In On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide, her marriages, illnesses, media firestorms, perfume empire, violet eyes, and AIDS advocacy take a back seat to Elizabeth Taylor, the actress.
Taylor's big screen credits span over fifty years, from her pre-adolescent debut in There's One Born Every Minute (1942) to her cameo in The Flintstones (1994). She worked steadily in everything from the biggest production in film history (Cleopatra in 1963) to a humble daytime TV soap opera (General Hospital in 1981). Each of her sixty-seven film appearances is recapped here with background on their inception, production, release, and critical and financial outcome. On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide is a cradle-to-grave chronology of Taylor's life, noting key events, achievements, and milestones. This book offers a work-by-work analysis of her entire career told in chronological order, each film headlined with year of release, distributing studio, and director. This in-depth overview provides an invaluable new way of understanding Taylor's full life and work, as well as the history and nuances of the film industry as it existed in the twentieth century.
Kennedy engagingly reassesses Taylor's acting and the nuances she brought to the screen - this includes a consideration of her specific art, the development of her voice, her relationship to the camera, and her canny understanding of the effect she had on audiences worldwide. Kennedy also provides an elucidating guide to her entire filmography, one that speaks to the quality of her performances, their contours and shading, and their context within her extraordinary life and career. On Elizabeth Taylor is a beautifully comprehensive overview of a singular actress of the twentieth century, offering new ways to see and appreciate her skill and peerless charisma, in turn placing her among the greatest film stars of all time.
About the Author:
Matthew Kennedy, Independent writer Matthew Kennedy is a film historian based in Oakland, California. He is the author of Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, biographies of actresses Marie Dressler and Joan Blondell, and of director-screenwriter Edmund Goulding. He has introduced film series at the Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and Pacific Film Archive, and written for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Turner Classic Movies, and the National Film Registry. He is currently host and curator of the CinemaLit series at the Mechanics' Institute Library in San Francisco.
Press Reviews:
"Finally - an in-depth consideration of Elizabeth Taylor as an actress and not just as a movie star. Matthew Kennedy's astute analysis of her work reminds us that for all her glamorous and scandalous personal life, she was every bit as fascinating and complex onscreen." - William J. Mann, author of How to be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood
"What shines through these pages is Matthew Kennedy's passionate fondness for Elizabeth Taylor as a screen goddess like no other. But he's also smart in assessing her triumphs and her slip-ups, proving himself to be savvy indeed about the aesthetic implications of her choices." - Beverly Gray, author of Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How The Graduate Became the Touchstone of a Generation
"This belongs on the bookshelves of those who can't get enough of Hollywood's golden age." - Publishers Weekly
"With Taylor's infamous peccadilloes providing backstory content, Kennedy's reference-level filmography will delight fans and entice new converts to the Taylor bandwagon." - Booklist
"Starred Review: An entertaining, informative read that comprehensively examines the work of one of the most memorable film stars who had undeniable talent and appeal." - Library Journal
"Starred Review: An entertaining, informative read that comprehensively examines the work of one of the most memorable film stars who had undeniable talent and appeal." - Library Journal
See the publisher website: Oxford University Press
See the complete filmography of Elizabeth Taylor on the website: IMDB ...
> From the same author:
Marie Dressler (2006)
A Biography: With a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography and a Discography
Subject: Actress > Marie Dressler
> On a related topic:
Ferocious Ambition (2023)
Joan Crawford's March to Stardom
by Robert Dance
Subject: Actress > Joan Crawford
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