It was the first week of spring 2011 and five beautiful old girls—Elizabeth Taylor, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Betty White, Debbie Reynolds and Barbra Streisand—were all in the news again, almost in unison, as though they had planned the whole thing. They had not.
Their ages differed a bit, but they all came from a 20th Century era of amazing Hollywood celebrities.
It was difficult to refer to them as old, because many of us remembered them as young and expected them to remain that way forever. Thanks to the miracles of film, video and digital technology they will. But in the real youth-oriented society of 2011, they were and are old, at least in calendar years.
Betty White at Laughfest
Betty White, 89, started the week, on a bright note as she often does. She headlined a successful new Laughfest at Grand Rapid, Michigan on Sunday. "You take every day and you taste it," she told the audience of 2,000.
She could have been speaking for her sister celebrities, because they have all tasted huge chunks of life.
Taylor, arguably the most beautiful Hollywood star of all time, generated the biggest news of the week with her death at age 79, after a long illness. She was stunning even in her last photo.
Her death aroused a string of long-stored memories and a series of media recollections about her movies, awards, marriages (eight), kindness and great generosity.
20th Century Hollywood Celebrities
Like Taylor, Zsa Zsa Gabor was brought into the news by illness. At 94, she expressed fear that she would be the next 20th Century Hollywood celebrity to die, having battled illness for months. Upon learning of Taylor’s death, her blood pressure spiked and she had to be rushed to a hospital.
Also, like Taylor, Gabor collected husbands, nine of them. Again, like Taylor, she was stunningly beautiful, enough to make her an early international celebrity. She has been called the first woman to become a celebrity before recording any achievements.
Zsa Zsa Gabor and Paris Hilton
The Hungarian beauty could easily have served as the Hollywood model for her (ex-step) great granddaughter, Paris Hilton.
In her prime, Gabor was almost as well known for her quips as her beauty, perhaps a tribute to her speechwriter, perhaps not. Examples:
- “Getting divorced just because you don't love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do.”
- “I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house.“
America's Sweetheart Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds was once known as “America’s sweetheart.” Despite her successes, she might have also been known as America’s hard-luck girl.
Many people were interviewed about Taylor’s death, but Reynolds was a natural because her and Taylor’s lives crossed paths repeatedly. Though they were good friends, Taylor stole Reynolds’ husband, Eddie Fisher.
The Taylor-Fisher Scandal
It was a scandal that understandably ended their friendship, but not permanently. They became friends again years later, after Taylor’s divorce from Fisher. Reynolds visited Taylor two weeks before Taylor died.
She expressed thanks that Taylor was no longer suffering and spoke of Taylor’s beauty and talent and of the friendship that started when they were kids.
“I even gave her my husband, for goodness sake! (How much better a) friend can you b.e”
Like White, Reynolds married three times. But all three of Reynolds marriages ended in divorce and two of her husbands left her nearly broke. She finally had to declare bankruptcy.
At age 69, Barbra Streisand is the youngest of the five 20th Century celebrities in the news this week.
No Gypsy for Barbra Streisand
Her media spotlight came from the back-to-back announcements that the latest adaptation of Gypsy, in which she was to play the musical lead, was on again and then off again. It would have been Streisand’s first musical film of the 21st Century.
Not that she needs another one. She is that very rare performer who has won an Oscar (two), Grammy (eight), Emmy (four) and Tony (a special one). She has also won a Peabody Award, and an American Film Institute award.
Unlike her four sister celebrities (who married a total of 23 times,) Streisand has only been married twice, once for eight years and another time for 13 years and counting.
"She put a face on Hiv/Aids.”
She paid the most eloquent tribute to Taylor. “It’s the end of an era,” she said, adding: “It wasn’t just her beauty or her stardom. It was her humanitarianism. She put a face on Hiv/Aids.”
For her humanitarianism, her talent and her striking countenance, Elizabeth Taylor will always be remembered as amazingly beautiful.
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