We were taken aback when we stumbled upon this photo of Lindsay Lohan at an Oscars art event yesterday in Beverly Hills. It was just announced that she will star as Elizabeth Taylor in “Liz and Dick” for the Lifetime channel. Good for her, but could she look any LESS like Liz Taylor? The lips and platinum hair remind us more of Victoria Gotti than Liz…
Hiring Lindsay Lohan to play Elizabeth Taylor in a movie sounds like a BAD idea to us. According to Deadline Hollywood, Lifetime is in serious talks with Lindsay to star in ”Elizabeth & Richard: A Love Story” documenting Liz’s tempestuous and addictive romance with her “Cleopatra” costar Richard Burton. During their time together Elizabeth passed her peak of beauty and slowly sank into indulgence with Burton. She drank heavily with Richard (which increased the drama) and gained weight, which he gleefully teased her about. Elizabeth Taylor fans are not likely to be thrilled with this casting and Lindsay might not be so thrilled to learn she’ll have to gain weight for the part.
For decades, Dr Arnold Klein was the most famous dermatologist in Beverly Hills and he was a pioneer in the development of collagen and other skin injectables. His waiting room was always loaded with celebrities in sunglasses and he was invited to all the best places. Klein had three lavish homes, a collection of cars, and lived like a king. During those heady times, we visited his office to try and dig up some gossip. We found him to be really nice and he loved publicity so he gave us a special price. Now he’s bankrupt and according to the LA Times, is being investigated by the Medical Board of California for overprescribing drugs for Michael Jackson. He may lose his medical license. Before she died, his dear friend Elizabeth Taylor turned on him for publicly dishing details of Michael’s medical and sex life. Klein is now reduced to auctioning off gifts his celebrity clients gave him to try and pay off the 12 million he owes. His behavior makes you wonder if he was sampling his own drugs…
Elizabeth Taylor did not forget her longtime friends when she passed away in March at the age of 79. Her close friend and hairdresser Jose Eber was in the process of trying to move his Beverly Hills salon to a better location in the year before she died. Jose desperately wanted the space that Christie’s auction house was vacating on Camden Drive in Beverly Hills. It was a choice piece of real estate with many parties interested, but because Liz had arranged for Christie’s to auction off her estate, she made sure that Jose got the desirable space. He decorated the posh new salon in her favorite colors of lavender and purple in a final tribute to Elizabeth. PLUS, we hear Elizabeth left Jose her Maybach automobile, worth over half a million dollars!
Jessica Simpson spent Friday afternoon with her girlfriends ogling the Elizabeth Taylor estate collection, which will be auctioned off at Christie’s in December after it travels around the world for people to see. Fans paid $20 a pop to see Elizabeth’s clothing, movie memorabilia, art, jewelry, Oscars, etc and the museum showing in West Hollywood was sold out. Jessica certainly wasn’t there to get fashion inspiration (Liz’s clothing was incredibly gaudy) but she did linger over Liz’s astonishing collection of gems and her 33 KT diamond in particular. We wonder if Jessica will bid at the auction.
Now that Elizabeth Taylor is gone, her ex-husband Larry Fortensky, now 59, has started talking about their relationship. Liz and construction worker Larry met at the Betty Ford Center and married in 1991 at Neverland. In 1989 Larry moved into Liz’s Bel Air mansion and says it was the biggest house he had ever seen. It so happens Liz had a parrot named Alvin who skillfully imitated her voice. Soon the parrot was yelling “Larry! Larry!” all the time sounding just like Liz, and Larry found himself running all over the huge house on wild goose chases! They divorced in 1996 and it’s obvious that Liz always had feelings for Larry. She left him $825,000 in her will.
We’ve had it up to HERE with the tributes to Elizabeth Taylor. Let’s get real about Liz. Sorry, but she simply wasn’t worthy of all that admiration. She had a pretty face but other positive qualities were rare and far between. When she was a teenager Liz started stealing other women’s husbands. (We still admire Debbie Reynolds for forgiving her.) The acquisitive actress married seven men and finagled as many diamonds out of them as she could manage. And bragged about it. She loved her pets but never bothered to house break them – they messed her carpets – and OTHER people had to clean up. She had health problems but casually checked into a hospital whenever she wanted a rest. Of course her health would have been much better if she had controlled her urges to overeat, drink, smoke, and take drugs – and she never exercised a day in her life. Self-control was not Elizabeth’s strong factor. In 1983, she admitted to being hooked on painkillers and sleeping pills for 35 years. While filming, she expected to find a “gift” in her dressing room every morning or she might not be in the mood to work. We mean jewelry, not flowers. She kept people waiting for hours with no apology. Liz expected her friend Michael Jackson to shower her with diamonds and jewelry stores are still suing his estate for money he owed for her gifts. Granted, she WAS a dear friend to Rock Hudson when he needed one, but her involvement with AIDS charities brought her a grand lifestyle and prestige – private jets and five star hotel suites around the world for her and her entourage, incredible gifts, paid for by the charity. Style icon? Only if you like turbans and caftans. When Edith Head stopped dressing her, she lost her glamour. Let’s celebrate her film career- not her private life.
We’re going to remember Elizabeth Taylor when she was most beautiful and probably happiest – with Richard Burton. We never agreed with her desire to acquire as many diamonds from as many men as possible, but she did provide a lot of gossip through the years and she had a sense of humor. At one point she tried to get her beloved dog Sugar cloned at Michael Jackson’s suggestion, but she ended up settling for a new puppy. We’ll miss her idiosyncrasies – and she was a real MOVIE STAR.
Our astute friend Stephen Saban at The Wow Report discovered a treasure trove of old celebrity photographs from sometime around the 50’s and 60’s, and we have never seen this one of Elizabeth Taylor looking concerned about her daughter Liza Todd on the set of some movie. Poor Liza inherited more of her father’s looks (Mike Todd) than her mother’s, but she grew up to be an artist and sculptor and now lives in upstate New York, far from Hollywood.
Another casting dilemma. The book “Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century” is coming to the big screen and the hottest brunettes in Hollywood are hoping to play the legendary beauty Elizabeth Taylor. Top contenders are Angelina Jolie and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Both would have to put on a few pounds to emulate Liz’s bountiful curves. Top choices to play Richard Burton are Russell Crowe (who does have the animal magnetism,) Clive Owen (rough AND tender,) and Colin Farrell (charming Irish.) We were lucky to meet Richard at an awards show with his last wife and found him to be startlingly appealing and friendly. He WAS special.