Jewel Departed

Elizabeth Taylor was breathtakingly beautiful. Glamorous. Captivating. Those pictures from the 50s and 60s are so stunning that it is difficult to pull your eyes away.

I rather like this more recent picture. An aging icon, no less glamorous, and still festooned with the accouterments of fame. Despite mounting health problems, Elizabeth Taylor always dressed up, always put on her jewelry, and always wore lipstick. I suppose it is no surprise that someone whose moniker is Lipstick would find this especially admirable, but it does transcend the obvious. Her enduring devotion to maintaining her appearance, to me at least, always represented a kind of tenacity...a sort of never-give-up philosophy. Who of us really feels like dressing up when we are going to a doctor's appointment? I'm quite sure that Elizabeth Taylor didn't feel like doing it either. But she always did because the public had always seen her that way and she wasn't going to change. The show must go on.

No wonder she is described as "Old Hollywood." It seems the rest of Hollywood has no qualms about going anywhere and everywhere wearing some form of pajamas. I can identify. I did my fair share of that in college. Having aged a bit though, I now have reverence for the effort and energy of Elizabeth Taylor's late-in-life glamour.

I don't think any tribute to Elizabeth Taylor would be complete without mentioning her support of HIV/AIDS related charities. Thankfully, it is pretty common nowadays to see celebrities at award shows with those little red ribbons pinned to their designer clothes. Elizabeth Taylor deserves much of the credit for that. She began speaking publicly about HIV/AIDS in the mid-80s when it wasn't fashionable or interesting or even safe for one's career. She did it anyway. She stuck with it too. It wasn't a cause du jour; her devotion never wavered. Because of the hundreds of millions of dollars that she helped raise over the years, AIDS is not the immediate death sentence that it once was. What an amazing and beautiful legacy. Rest in peace Dame Elizabeth Taylor.