Elizabeth Taylor spent much of her career wrestling with the idea of being defined as a woman, while still chasing the dream of being acknowledged as a serious actress. The interpreter sought to keep the glamorous sex symbol image in the background so that her performances could stand on their own merit. In a documentary about her, she describes the balance between public perception and professional credibility. The film Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes, available on Maximum, contains 40 hours of interviews conducted by journalist Richard Meryman during the time Taylor was composing her biography in 1964. These long-lost tapes were recovered and shed new light on the actress, who spoke candidly about her ambitions and struggles. It has been 13 years since her passing. (Source: documentary notes)
Taylor consistently sought to move beyond the on-screen persona that limited her to certain types of roles. Her first film appearance happened at age ten in Lassie, The Invisible Chain, in 1943, followed by a string of projects. “She acted as if she were sixteen but looked twenty-four. I was thrust into the adult world and had to project sophistication, even though inside I was still a frightened girl,” Taylor recalls in the documentary directed by Nanette Burstein. (Source: interview materials)
Throughout her career, she faced skepticism from colleagues and studio executives who doubted her talent. “I fought with the studio to secure meaningful roles. No matter how hard I tried, they tried to trick me,” she notes in the film. Over time, she built a reputation for herself and rose to prominence in cinema. “People said I was just a pretty face and didn’t know how to act. A rebellion grew inside me,” she explains. Her breakthrough came with films such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cleopatra, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, earning her two Academy Awards. “Winning an Oscar meant the industry finally saw me as an actor, not merely a movie star,” she says. (Source: archival interviews)
The documentary also highlights her close friendships with stars like Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift, and Roddy McDowall, and her many marriages. Taylor’s eight marriages included two to Richard Burton, though the film discusses only the fifth marriage in detail. Her first marriage began at eighteen with Navy pilot Conrad Hilton Jr., who later described a life of abuse and pain. He recalls a traumatic incident that led to a miscarriage. The next marriage, to Michael Wilding, followed, and then came the great love of her life, the producer Michael Todd. His death in a plane crash during filming marked a turning point, leaving Taylor haunted and unsure, yet determined to carry on. She remembers feeling that happiness finally arrived with Todd, even if only briefly. (Source: personal recollections)
The narrative then turns to her relationship with Eddie Fisher and the subsequent marriage to Debbie Reynolds. Fisher notes that Taylor and Reynolds began a romance soon after the dissolution of the Fisher-Reynolds marriage. The press framed the affair as a public breaking of a flawless union, and Taylor recalls the hostility she faced from the press and fans. She admits she contemplated despair and even self-harm during that turbulent period, underscoring the emotional toll of life under constant scrutiny. (Source: contemporary reports)
Across her career, Taylor faced relentless public scrutiny that painted her as unreliable and superficial, a perception she openly rejected. She reflects on the gap between the public image and her private self, acknowledging mistakes and the price she paid for them while insisting she could never fully repair every misstep. She describes the celebrity persona as a product crafted for profit, yet she also emphasizes the effort she put into remaining real for her family and herself. (Source: documentary reflections)
In her final remarks on the 1964 documentary shot during her peak success, Taylor questions the idea of cinema itself and her place within it. She expresses a desire to grow beyond mere stardom, to engage in work that truly challenges her and expands her craft. The film, made at the height of her career, reveals a performer who still sought artistic fulfillment and left behind a lasting legacy in the world of acting. (Source: endnotes)