Description

An exclusive limited edition photograph of Elizabeth Taylor wearing a Bulgari earring by British photographer David Steen.

Text from the Bulgari website:

Elizabeth Taylor’s jewellery collection was renowned as one of the greatest ever assembled.
The film star was a passionate admirer of Bulgari jewels and owned many unique pieces that are representative of the brand’s creativity.
Indeed, the bold and sumptuous style of Bulgari perfectly matched her particular tastes and when the actress came to Rome to film Cleopatra, the affinity with the brand became a lifelong relationship.
Recalling the memorable moments spent at the Condotti store, Taylor stated that “undeniably one of the biggest advantages to filming Cleopatra in Rome was Bulgari’s shop”.
This predilection was encouraged by her love affair with Richard Burton, which started on a film set and sealed with magnificent Bulgari jewels.
Burton quickly learned about her fascination for jewels and took every opportunity to  gift her a fabulous new piece.
In 2011, Christie’s held a sale of Taylor’s private collection which set records as the most valuable sale of jewellery in auction history.
The Maison re-acquired nine pieces, as of today, which became part of the Bulgari Heritage Collection. This best represents Taylor’s love for the brand and her unerring collector’s eye.

Location: Elstree Studios, England
Year: 1963
Print Type: Fibre-based Harman Galerie Digital
Printed by: Metro Imaging, London
Limited Editions: All prints are limited editions, no further prints are produced once sold
Bespoke: All prints are bespoke and printed to order, stamped and numbered
Presentation: Prints are supplied to clients flat in an acid-free box or rolled in a tube
Watermark: Watermarks will not be present on an original print
Tags: british-american, actress, actor, 1960s, 60s, 1963, the sixties, film star, legend, famous, fame, movies, hollywood, sex symbol, golden age, cleopatra, national velvet, cat on a hot tin roof, a place in the sun, giant, who’s afraid of virginia woolf, butterfield 8, richard burton
Copyright: © David Steen / The David Steen Archive

Biography: Dame Elizabeth Rosemond “Liz” Taylor, DBE (27 February 1932 – 23 March 2011) was a British-American actress, businesswoman, and humanitarian. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s, and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She continued her career successfully into the 1960s, and remained a well-known public figure for the rest of her life. In 1999, the American Film Institute named her the seventh-greatest female screen legend.

Born in London to wealthy, socially prominent American parents, Taylor moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1939, and she soon was given a film contract by Universal Pictures. She made her screen debut in a minor role in There’s One Born Every Minute (1942), but Universal terminated her contract after a year. Taylor was then signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and had her breakthrough role in National Velvet (1944), becoming one of the studio’s most popular teenaged stars. She made the transition to adult roles in the early 1950s, when she starred in the comedy Father of the Bride (1950) and received critical acclaim for her performance in the drama A Place in the Sun (1951).

Despite being one of MGM’s most bankable stars, Taylor wished to end her career in the early 1950s, as she resented the studio’s control and disliked many of the films to which she was assigned. She began receiving roles she enjoyed more in the mid-1950s, beginning with the epic drama Giant (1956), and starred in several critically and commercially successful films in the following years. These included two film adaptations of plays by Tennessee Williams: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959); Taylor won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for the latter. Although she disliked her role as a call girl in Butterfield 8 (1960), her last film for MGM, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

Taylor was then paid a record-breaking $1 million to play the title role in the historical epic Cleopatra (1963), the most expensive film made up to that point. During the filming, Taylor and co-star Richard Burton began an extramarital affair, which caused a scandal. Despite public disapproval, Burton and she continued their relationship, and were married in 1964. Dubbed “Liz and Dick” by the media, they starred in 11 films together, including The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Taylor received the best reviews of her career for Woolf, winning her second Academy Award and several other awards for her performance. She and Burton divorced in 1974, but reconciled soon after, and re-married in 1975. The second marriage ended in divorce in 1976.

Taylor’s acting career began to decline in the late 1960s, although she continued starring in films until the mid-1970s, after which she focused on supporting the career of her sixth husband, Senator John Warner. In the 1980s, she acted in her first substantial stage roles and in several television films and series, and became the first celebrity to launch a perfume brand. Taylor was also one of the first celebrities to take part in HIV/AIDS activism. She co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. From the early 1990s until her death, she dedicated her time to philanthropy. She received several accolades for it, including the Presidential Citizens Medal.

Throughout her life, Taylor’s personal affairs were subject to constant media attention. She was married eight times to seven men, endured serious illnesses, and led a jet set lifestyle, including assembling one of the most expensive private collections of jewellery. After many years of ill health, Taylor died from congestive heart failure at the age of 79 in 2011.