Lindsay Lohan In Talks To Play Elizabeth Taylor In Lifetime Movie

Deadline reports:

After emulating Marilyn Monroe in a series of photo shoots, most recently for Playboy, Lindsay Lohan may be taking on another screen legend, Elizabeth Taylor. I have learned that the 25-year-old actress is in early talks for the female lead in Lifetime’s original movie Elizabeth & Richard: A Love Story, chronicling the enduring love of movie icons Taylor and Richard Burton, whose fiery romance was the most notorious, publicized and celebrated love affair of its day. The film, produced by Larry Thompson (Amish Grace) and written by Christopher Monger (Temple Grandin), was originally announced as part as Lifetime’s 2011-12 development slate. Lohan, a child actress who successfully transitioned into young adult roles with Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, has been largely sidelined from her acting career for the past couple of years by stints in rehab, jail, court rooms, and recently a morgue as part of her community service. Lohan’s most recent credits include the features Machete and Labor Pains and an arc on ABC’s Ugly Betty.Lohan has been compared to Taylor. In addition to their physical resemblance, a 2004 Slate story lists a host of other similarities: “Both had domineering stage mothers, little semblance of a real childhood, fame from a young age, substance abuse issues, public emotional outpourings, and copious amounts of tabloid drama. The key difference, though, is that Elizabeth Taylor had a true record of achievement before she became the most notorious movie star in America.”

Kate Winslet Honors Elizabeth Taylor, Doesn’t Mind If Son Is Gay

The Advocate reports:

Two more reasons to love actress Kate Winslet: She pays homage to Elizabeth Taylor with a stunning new photo shoot and reveals she told her young son it won’t make any difference if he realizes he’s gay.
The actress, an Emmy Award nominee for HBO’sMildred Pierce, has two more films scheduled for release this year:Contagion, an all-star cast thriller, which opens this month, and Carnage, an ensemble comedy-drama directed by Roman Polanski and costarring Jodie Foster, that’s due out in December. Winslet channels Taylor for Vmagazine’s cover and a feature interview. She says of the late icon, “She was very strong in her head and in her heart, not just in the exterior and I suppose I am. To me she hid vulnerability pretty successfully, and I do that too. We all have vulnerable sides. I think for a long time I pretended I didn’t have one, and I definitely do. The last couple of years I really had to pay attention to that. The great thing about acting is that you can fling it all into the mix of the part.”
The English-born Winslet also discusses the benefit of raising her two children in New York City. “I like being in the city. I like the diversity that my children are exposed to every day,” she says. “I love the way their brains work. Joe turns to me the other day and says ‘One day I will have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, darling. Which would you prefer?’ And I said ‘My Love, that would be entirely up to you, and it doesn’t make any difference to me.’ But that he knows! It’s a real privilege. Talk about the best education.”

Liza Recalls Elizabeth Founding amfAR

The Advocate reports:

 Superstar Liza Minnelli has fond memories of fellow icon Elizabeth Taylor including a conversation between the two that inspired the launch of amfAR, according to a profile in U.K.’s Daily Mail.
In the profile, Minnelli says that she admires Taylor’s work ethic and approach to life. She also reveals that Taylor had an abundance of energy and a desire to help others, and offers an anecdote of her work as an AIDS activist as an example.
“Rock Hudson came with me to a dinner in her honor,” Minnelli tells the Daily Mail. “She drew me aside at one point and said, ‘Oh my God! What’s wrong with Rock? He looks awful.’
Minnelli says she explained to Taylor that there was a new disease. “Nobody knew what it was exactly, but I had friends in New York who were suffering from it and there was no cure,” Minnelli says. “The next day, she called me. ‘What did you say this disease was?’ And so her AIDS charity, amfAR, was born. That was Elizabeth for you. She was a doer, with such a vibrant personality, and such a love for life.”
Minnelli says she last saw Taylor a few months before she died in March and thought she would survive her latest illness. “And look what she did for people. She was always helping somebody,” Minnelli says. “You won’t ever get depressed if you’re helping somebody else. Elizabeth taught me that. And that’s the side of her I hope people will come to know better.”

U.S. Senate Honors Elizabeth Taylor

Joe.My.God. reports:

The U.S. Senate has passed a Boxer/Feinstein-sponsored resolution honoring Elizabeth Taylor. It reads, in part:

Whereas Elizabeth Taylor used her fame to raise awareness and advocate for people affected by HIV/AIDS;
Whereas, at a time when HIV/AIDS was largely an unknown disease and those who were affected by HIV/AIDS were ostracized and shunned, Elizabeth Taylor called for and demonstrated compassion by publicly holding the hand of her friend and former costar, Rock Hudson, after he had announced that he had AIDS;
Whereas Elizabeth Taylor testified before Congress saying, “It is my hope that history will show that the American people and our leaders met the challenge of AIDS rationally and with all the resources at their disposal, for our sake and that of all humanity.”;
Whereas, in 1985, Elizabeth Taylor became the Founding National Chairman for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (commonly known as “amfAR”);
Whereas, in 1991, Elizabeth Taylor founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation to provide direct support to those suffering from the disease;
Whereas the extensive efforts of Elizabeth Taylor have helped educate the public and lawmakers about the need for research, treatment, and compassion for those suffering from HIV/AIDS;
Resolved, That the Senate recognizes and honors the courageous, compassionate leadership and many professional accomplishments of Elizabeth Taylor; and offers its deepest condolences to her family.

(Via - LGBTPOV)

Elizabeth Taylor at the GLAAD Media Awards (2000)

GLAAD comments:

At the 11th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 2000, Elizabeth Taylor was presented the Vanguard Award by her stepdaughter Carrie Fisher. For her tireless work in HIV/AIDS advocacy, it was truly well deserved.

Dear Gentlepersons,

I have the good fortune to count among my friends an extraordinary man, a man whose talents have touched so many hearts and whose heart has touched so many lives. That man is Barry Manilow.

One of the greatest names in popular music, this prolific singer-songwriter-performer has created the soundtrack for our lives. Ever since he first took the stage in the 1970, he has proved himself to be an unstoppable showman, a true musical genius who cranks out hits at a dizzying pace. His songs are as well known as Beatles tunes, and its impossible not to sing along. I’m truly a fan.

And then there’s his work as a humanitarian: Barry is tireless in pursuit of his charitable endeavors, which include raising funds and awareness for The Prince’s Trust, United Way, The Starlight Foundation, The Foundation Fighting Blindness, and for many HIV-AIDS organizations, for which he holds a special place in my heart. I will always remember back to the early days of my fundraising work, when the stigma of AIDS was so great. I was seeking talent to perform at our first benefit event, and was receiving nothing but rejections—until Barry alone had the courage to come forward and say “yes”.

Barry has established The Manilow Fund For Health And Hope, which supports education, health and care efforts locally, and the Manilow Music Project, which supports musical equipment to local schools whose art programs have been eliminated. It is Barry’s feverent belief that music changes lives: I know he’s changed mine with his enormous talent.

I can think of no one more deserving of a Kennedy Center Honor than Barry Manilow, and hope you will accept this letter of nomination and support. Thank you in advance for your kind consideration.

Sincerely,

Dame Elizabeth Taylor Leaves Estate To AIDS Charities

Most of Elizabeth Taylor’s massive fortune will go to the two AIDS charities with whom she was most famously associated. 

Screen queen Elizabeth Taylor has left behind a fortune worth at least $600 million, much of which is expected to go to the AIDS charities she championed for decades. Her famous jewelry collection, valued at an eye-popping $150 million in 2002, is likely to be auctioned off with the bulk of the proceeds going to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and amfAR, the AIDS charity she helped found in 1985, according to WFLD/Fox TV Chicago. “From what I understand, she seems to have been very wise about her investments,” said a financial planner who has worked with other Hollywood A-listers. At the time of her 1994 divorce from her last husband, Larry Fortensky, Taylor’s net worth was estimated at $608.4 million. That figure could now be well in excess of $1 billion. During the 1990s, Taylor reportedly earned about $2 per second, or about $63 million per year. Her famed perfume, White Diamonds, earned more than $70 million last year, according to reports.

Our hero, even in death.

At least USD $600 million?! OMG! And to give away to charities most of it is just a such humanitarian, loving, conscious, down-to-Earth thing to do. Saving lives even in death. What a legacy.  

Dolly Parton remembers Elizabeth Taylor, fails Dolly Parton look-alike quiz

Fred Phelps’ Son Talks To Joy Behar Last Night

Taylor Funeral Set for Today

The Advocate reports:

The private funeral for Elizabeth Taylor is scheduled for today, and she will be buried near her close friend Michael Jackson, reports website TMZ.
The website has learned the service for Taylor will take place at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif. TMZ obtained the death certificate for Taylor, which lists the cemetery as her final resting place.
Earlier reports had suggested Taylor might be laid to rest next to her parents in the Westwood section of Los Angeles or near her ex-husband Richard Burton in Switzerland.

Barry Manilow On Liz Taylor’s’ AIDS Work

Joe.My.God. reports:

Barry Manilow has never come out (as far I can know), but in last night’s interview about Elizabeth Taylor he acknowledged that “I had lost half of my phone book” to AIDS. Manilow revealed that Taylor was so grateful that he agreed to perform at her first AIDS fundraiser that she sent him a pot of gardenias every year on his birthday.

Manilow has never come out? Wow, someone would think he had already done it by knowing all his fag hags: Elizabeth Taylor (the Queen of Fag Hags), Bette Midler, Cher, Joy Behar, Barbra Streisand, among others. 

Westboro Cult To Picket Elizabeth Taylor’s Funeral

Oh my… what a bunch of assholes they are. I knew something like this was coming. Always, after a tragedy, crazy religious shit hits the fan.

I wanna see how Los Angeles is gonna receive the Phelps. 

AmfAR’s Tribute to Eizabeth Taylor