LONE STAR

By Bennett Owen

1955 “Giant” set. Image © Sid Avery, courtesy of The Selvedge Yard

She cast a GIANT shadow…

1955 “Giant.” Image © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis, courtesy of The Selvedge Yard

Elizabeth Taylor was 23-years old and already a Hollywood Legend when she made Giant in 1955, a blockbuster that cemented her metamorphosis from child and teen actress to bona fide Diva.  Stunning, strong-willed and yet somehow so vulnerable…

Image courtesy of TheWeddingTiara.com

Giant was nicknamed the Texas Gone with the Wind, a sprawling three-and-one-half hour cinematic showcase. Taylor was featured in almost every second of it alongside the likes of Rock Hudson, James Dean and Dennis Hopper…a cast of superstars and yet such was her screen presence that she sucked the oxygen out of every single scene.

On the set of “Giant.”  Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis, courtesy of The Selvedge Yard

James Dean was already a matinee idol in his own right and yet he was initially terrified by Taylor’s overwhelming aura.  Remember the classic scene where he invites ‘Leslie’ to tea in his ramshackle cabin?  As filming was underway, Dean suddenly ran off set towards a large crowd of spectators and well…took a leak in front of them all. Dennis Hopper tells the rest of the story:

1955 “Giant.” Image © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis, courtesy of The Selvedge Yard

“I said, ‘Jimmy, I’ve seen you do a lot of strange things, man, but you really did it today. What was that all about?’ He said, ‘It was Elizabeth Taylor. I can’t get over my farm-boy upbringing. I was so nervous that I couldn’t speak. I had to pee, and I was trying to use that, but it wasn’t working. So I thought that if I could go pee in front of all those people, I would be able to work with her.”

Here's the tea scene between Dean and Taylor (it starts around 7:20 in this clip):

Yes, her weaknesses, her foibles, her human failings are well documented. And yet Elizabeth Taylor’s striking and sensual femininity was so intoxicating, so debilitating, that a tormented Richard Burton could not purge her memory:  “Elizabeth looks at you with those eyes and your blood churns,” he lamented. And that is how she will be remembered. Elizabeth Taylor – Immortal at 79.

Photo courtesy of MovieStarStyle.com