From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Residence and First Women, the first ever authorized biography of the most famous movie star of the twentieth century, Elizabeth Taylor. No celebrity rivals Elizabeth Taylor's glamour and guts or her level of fame. She was the last major star to come out of the old Hollywood studio system and she is a legend known for her beauty and her magnetic screen presence in a career that spanned most of the twentieth century and nearly sixty films. But her private life was even more compelling than her Oscar-winning on-screen performances. During her seventy-nine years of rapid-fire love and loss she was married eight times to seven different men. Above all, she was a survivor--by the time she was twenty-six she was twice divorced and once widowed. Her life was a soap opera that ended in a deeply meaningful way when she became the first major celebrity activist to lead the fight against HIV/AIDS. A co-founder of amfAR, she raised more than $100 million for research and patient care. She was also a shrewd businesswoman who made a fortune as the first celebrity perfumer who always demanded to be paid what she was worth. In the first ever authorized biography of the Hollywood icon, Kate Andersen Brower reveals the world through Elizabeth's eyes. Brower uses Elizabeth's unpublished letters, diary entries, and off-the-record interview transcripts as well as interviews with 250 of her closest friends and family to tell the full, unvarnished story of her remarkable career and her explosive private life that made headlines worldwide. Elizabeth Taylor captures this intelligent, empathetic, tenacious, volatile, and complex woman as never before, from her rise to massive fame at age twelve in National Velvet to becoming the first to negotiate a million-dollar salary for a film, from her eight marriages and enduring love affair with Richard Burton to her lifelong battle with addiction and her courageous efforts as an AIDS activist. Here is a fascinating and complete portrait worthy of the legendary star and her legacy. Elizabeth Taylor features a photo insert.

"Includes unpublished letters, photographs, and private reflections"--Cover. Includes bibliographical references (pages 471-472) and index.

Elizabeth's films and family -- Prologue -- Introduction: Elizabeth the first -- Act I. The most beautiful creature: the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Chapter 1: A star is born -- Chapter 2: Young love -- Chapter 3: Bessie Mae -- Chapter 4: "He will kill her" -- Chapter 5: Love and marriage -- Act II. Passion and pain: the 1950s and 1960s. Chapter 6: Rock, Jimmy, and Monty -- Chapter 7: Mike Todd: "He was my king" -- Chapter 8: Eddie Fisher: "He kept Mike Todd alive" -- Chapter 9: Trailblazer -- Act III. Lavish love: the 1960s and 1970s. Chapter 10: Le scandale -- Chapter 11: Crazy, stupid love, 1964-1973 -- Chapter 12: The loot: Elizabeth's extraordinary jewels -- Chapter 13: The end and a new beginning, 1973-1976 -- Act IV. Survivor: the 1970s and 1980s. Chapter 14: Political wife -- Chapter 15: Addict -- Chapter 16: Building an empire -- Act V. True grit: the 1980s and 1990s. Chapter 17: "Bitch, do something!" -- Chapter 18: Ms. Taylor goes to Washington -- Act VI. A legacy of love: the 1990s to 2011. Chapter 19: Searching for Neverland -- Chapter 20: Forgiveness -- Chapter 21: Dame Elizabeth -- Chapter 22: The auction: "The memory always brings back a stab of joy, of love" -- Afterword: Lust for life. -- Acknowledgments -- Sources and notes --- Selected bibliography -- Index.