Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

Today's episode will be on Dame Elizabeth Taylor, who was one of the biggest stars if not the biggest back in the Golden Age of Hollywood. In terms of exposure, I think her only comparison would be Princes Diana. But there is no comparison when it came to the number of times each was married. Princes Di once and Elizabeth Taylor eight times, and that is what today’s mnemonic will cover, her eight marriages.

So, with no further ado, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_Taylor_Cleopatra_1963.JPG

Wikipedia Summary

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor DBE (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She then became the world's highest paid movie star in the 1960s, remaining a well-known public figure for the rest of her life. In 1999, the American Film Institute named her the seventh-greatest female screen legend of Classic Hollywood cinema.

Born in London to socially prominent American parents, Taylor moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1939. She made her acting debut with a minor role in the Universal Pictures film There's One Born Every Minute (1942), but the studio ended her contract after a year. She was then signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and became a popular teen star after appearing in National Velvet (1944). She transitioned to mature roles in the 1950s, when she starred in the comedy Father of the Bride (1950) and received critical acclaim for her performance in the drama A Place in the Sun (1951). She starred in the historical adventure epic Ivanhoe (1952) with Robert Taylor and Joan Fontaine. Despite being one of MGM's most bankable stars, Taylor wished to end her career in the early 1950s. She resented the studio's control and disliked many of the films to which she was assigned.

She began receiving more enjoyable roles in the mid-1950s, beginning with the epic drama Giant (1956), and starred in several critically and commercially successful films in the following years. These included two film adaptations of plays by Tennessee Williams: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959); Taylor won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for the latter. Although she disliked her role as a call girl in BUtterfield 8 (1960), her last film for MGM, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. During the production of the film Cleopatra in 1961, Taylor and co-star Richard Burton began an extramarital affair, which caused a scandal. Despite public disapproval, they continued their relationship and were married in 1964. Dubbed "Liz and Dick" by the media, they starred in 11 films together, including The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Taylor received the best reviews of her career for Woolf, winning her second Academy Award and several other awards for her performance. She and Burton divorced in 1974 but reconciled soon after, remarrying in 1975. The second marriage ended in divorce in 1976.

Taylor's acting career began to decline in the late 1960s, although she continued starring in films until the mid-1970s, after which she focused on supporting the career of her sixth husband, United States Senator John Warner. In the 1980s, she acted in her first substantial stage roles and in several television films and series. She became the second celebrity to launch a perfume brand after Sophia Loren. Taylor was one of the first celebrities to take part in HIV/AIDS activism. She co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985 and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. From the early 1990s until her death, she dedicated her time to philanthropy, for which she received several accolades, including the Presidential Citizens Medal. Throughout her career, Taylor's personal life was the subject of constant media attention. She was married eight times to seven men, converted to Judaism, endured several serious illnesses, and led a jet set lifestyle, including assembling one of the most expensive private collections of jewellery in the world. After many years of ill health, Taylor died from congestive heart failure in 2011, at the age of 79.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Taylor]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_Taylor,_late_1950s.jpg

Mnemonic

Dame Elizabeth Taylor Husbands Mnemonic – MR MERC in JaiL

(Picture Elizabeth Taylor marrying for the ninth time in jail a guy called MR MERC, named so because he stole the most expensive Mercedes-Benz in the world and was in jail as a result)

Michael Wilding - Wedded from 1952-1957
Richard Burton - Wedded from 1964-1974 and 1975-1976
Michael Todd - Wedded from 1957-1958
Eddie Fisher - Wedded from 1959-1964
Richard Burton - Wedded from 1964-1974 and 1975-1976
Conrad Hilton Jr - Wedded from 1950-1951
John Warner - Wedded from 1976-1982
Larry Fortensky - Wedded from 1991-1996

NB: For those that want to know what the most expensive Mercedes -Benz is, it is the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 999 Red Gold Dream. This car can cost up to $10,000,000.!

Five Fun Facts

1. Elizabeth Taylor was a mutant! Well at least she had a genetic mutation and this mutation is known as lymphedema-distichiassyndrome and is caused by a gene called FOXC2. This mutation resulted in her amazing eyelashes but unfortunately can also be associated with congenital heart disease from which she did suffer.

2. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer paid for her wedding with Conrad Hilton Jr. in 1950 where 600 guests attended.

3. Taylor helped co-found the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. After she died her massive jewellery collection was also auctioned off and donated to the cause.

Taylor had a collection of 1,778 pieces of jewelry that were sold for more than $150 million at Christie’s Auction after Taylor’s death.

4. Taylor was awarded Dame Commander of the British Empire’s Order, by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.

5. Elizabeth Taylor was never far from a hospital with approximately 70 visits and at least 20 operations. Some of her conditions included:

· Scoliosis

· Brocken back 5 times

· Hip replacement

· Brain tumour

· Skin cancer

· Asian flu

· Pneumonia twice

· Tracheotomy

· Hysterectomy

· Dysentery

· Phlebitis

· Alcoholism

· And finally, heart failure

Bonus: During the filming of Cleopatra in Egypt Elizabeth Taylor and hubby Richard Burton went on a quick cruise between takes. During the cruise, however, she somehow fell out of the boat into the Nile!

Anyway, when she got back on set the director asked her, why she was so wet? Anyway, Taylor just strode by like nothing had happened. The director then looked to Richard Burton and he just replied “She was in denial!”

Interestingly enough, on a trip a little while later she also fell into the river in Paris, after which she was declared … insane!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_Taylor36.JPG

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. Elizabeth Taylor landed her first “Life Magazine” cover at the age of 15 and was on the cover a total of 14 times. She also held the record for the number of times on the cover solo, of the magazine “People”. Who beat her record on the cover of “People”?

Q.2. Out of her 8 marriages Taylor considered two of them “the loves of her life. Name one or both?

Q.3. Which film made her the first woman to make a million dollars for a single movie?

Mnemonic Recap

Dame Elizabeth Taylor Husbands Mnemonic – MR MERC in JaiL

(Picture Elizabeth Taylor marrying for the ninth time in jail a guy called MR MERC, named so because he stole the most expensive Mercedes-Benz in the world and was in jail as a result)

Michael Wilding - Wedded from 1952-1957
Richard Burton - Wedded from 1964-1974 and 1975-1976
Michael Todd - Wedded from 1957-1958
Eddie Fisher - Wedded from 1959-1964
Richard Burton - Wedded from 1964-1974 and 1975-1976
Conrad Hilton Jr - Wedded from 1950-1951
John Warner - Wedded from 1976-1982
Larry Fortensky - Wedded from 1991-1996

Three Question Quiz Answers

Q.1. Elizabeth Taylor landed her first “Life Magazine” cover at the age of 15 and was on the cover a total of 14 times. She also held the record for the number of times on the cover solo, of the magazine “People”. Who beat her record on the cover of “People”?

A. Princes Diana with 58 times

Q.2. Out of her 8 marriages Taylor considered two of them “the loves of her life. Name one or both?

A. Richard Burton and Mike Todd

Q.3. Which film made her the first woman to make a million dollars for a single movie?

A. Cleopatra – Where apparently the filming took two years, for what ended up being a four-hour movie

Word of the Week

enkindle

[ en-kin-dl ]

verb (used with or without object)

to kindle into flame, ardor, activity, etc.

Example

Elizabeth Taylor’s second marriage to Richard Burton enkindled hope of a happy ending.