Elizabeth Taylor Shares Love Letters in Vanity Fair

By PopEater Staff Posted Jun 2nd 2010 03:15PM

As much as we love Brangelina gossip and Jay-Z and Beyonce chatter, it never hurts to consider the archetype. And it's hard to argue the two-marriage, two-divorce, two-decade romance between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton qualifies as anything less than the original celebrity "it" couple.

Illustrating that truism is the new issue of Vanity Fair, boasting excerpts from 'Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century,' a new book by Nancy Schoenberger and Sam Kashner. The magazine feature, titled 'A Love Too Big To Last,' is notable for its inclusion of portions of honest, raw love letters from Burton to Taylor.

In one bleedingly-honest segment, Burton wrote: "You must know, of course, how much I love you. You must know, of course, how badly I treat you. But the fundamental and most vicious, swinish, murderous and unchangeable fact is that we totally misunderstand each other ... we operate on alien wave lengths ... I love you and I always will. Come back to me as soon as you can."

Richard and Liz met as the stars of 1963's 'Cleopatra' and were public lovers for 20 years thereafter. "Richard was magnificent in every sense of the word," Taylor, 78, tells Vanity Fair. "From those first moments in Rome [filming 'Cleopatra'] we were always madly and powerfully in love."

Their romance was storied but not picture-perfect. They wed and divorced twice -- first in 1964, divorcing in 1974, then remarrying in 1975, only to separate less than one year later. They had no children together.

Vanity Fair, which features a vintage portrait of the Oscar-winning actress on its cover, posits the question, "What other couple has been condemned both by the Vatican and on the floor of the House of Representatives? What other couple lived as decadently, as opulently, and as passionately? What other couple could conquer both Hollywood and Broadway the way these two did?"

Elizabeth Taylor Vanity Fair Cover

Many of Burton's letters are reproduced in the book and magazine, but Taylor declined to share Burton's last nostalgic missive, one she agreed to read aloud for a Vanity Fair reporter. In the letter, written just days before his 1984 death from a brain hemorrhage, Burton said his happiest times were spent with Taylor. He wondered if they might come together again. "She counts it as her most treasured possession and keeps it by her bed at all times," the mag writes.

Other excerpts from Burton's letters to the sweetheart he dubbed "My Lumps" and "Dearest Scrupelshrumpilstilskin":

His devotion to Taylor was extreme: "If you leave me I shall have to kill myself. There is no life without you."

He marveled at her acting: "You are probably the best actress in the world, which, combined with your extraordinary beauty, makes you unique ... When, as an actress, you want to be funny, you are funnier than W.C. Fields; when, as an actress, you are meant to be tragic, you are tragic."

His doubts about love: "I find it very difficult to allow my whole life to rest on the existence of another creature. I find it equally difficult, because of my innate arrogance, to believe in the idea of love. There is no such thing, I say to myself. There is lust, of course, and usage, and jealousy, and desire and spent powers, but no such thing as the idiocy of love. Who invented that concept? I have wracked my shabby brains and can find no answer."

Elizabeth Taylor has been married eight times to seven men. Her last union -- a five-year marriage to construction worker Larry Fortensky -- ended in 1996. Recently, Liz quashed rumors she would marry a ninth time, to Jason Winters, a man nearly three decades her junior at age 49.

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Liz's Men

No. 5: Richard Burton
March 15, 1964 - June 26, 1974
Taylor and the dashing actor began a romance while shooting the epic film, 'Cleopatra.' To the benefit of tabloids at the time, both were married. Scandal!

William Lovelace, Evening Standard / Getty Images

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Tags: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Vanity Fair

Comments

(72)

Wednesday 02 June

By Maddie

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I would like to know what kibnd of procedure Elizabeth Taylor had to mend a leaking valve that didn't require open heart surgery.

Friday 04 June

By Yvonne

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

It's called Mitra Clip. Type that in and hit go. A video shows how the valve is repaired through an artery in the groin.

By k

"You are probably the best actress in the world," What, wasn't he paying attention? She was undoubtedly one of the worst actresses I've ever seen. And she hasn't aged well, either.

By Eric

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

k, You are must be blind and a fool.

By janrys

She was a fantastic actress. And the most gorgeous woman on earth. I would hate to see what you look like!

By Karen

k, what can I say other than she was a good actress, was and is beautiful and you must be blind, too bad your keyboard is not mute

Saturday 05 June

By M

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Jealous?

By carl

K, you're a pathetic ideot.

By Dan

K,my guess is that you thought Jessica Simpson's acting in 'The Dukes of Hazzard' was Oscar worthy.

By segalbear

have you always been this way or did a house fall on your sister?

By Cj

You are probably too young to appreciate Elizabeth Taylor or Richard Burton. LOl Remember what you said about her when you look in the mirror when you are 78

By Mark

You don't know what you're saying. Liz was the last of the great Hollywood stars and a hell of a good actress. She is irreplaceable just like Garbo, Crawford and Davis.

By Jimmy

She won an Oscar so someone thinks she could act.

Monday 07 June

By moira

does anyone age "well" ? She's so beautiful and always will be to me - and I know how much she loved Richard - I too have loved only once, so much, even through 5 marriages.

Thursday 03 June

By Jess

I think Lizzie is in her 80's not 78....anyway her acting is not that bad except for her tiny little girl's voice. She always sounds like a 12 yr. old girl.

By susan

Elizabeth Taylor is one year younger than my mother who turned 80 years old in May of this spring.

By Sarita

In Cleopatra they made the perfect couple, wonderful best actors I loved them both, he drunk too much, she was always having back troubles, and yet she survibe and still looks like the Diva that she truly is.

By J9

I imagine the letter she won't publish....was written by Debbie Reynolds...it probably goes along the lines of: ###***###!!!!!????? that's just my guess though.

If a man loves his wife...no one can take him away from her. Not even Elizabeth Taylor! Debbie Reynold's was not then and is not now exactly and angel. I know...I worked at NBC in New York from 1968-1972.

The first wife does not have to be an "angel" but when she has a man's children... to any DECENT woman the man would be....HANDS OFF!!! Let him work out his marital problems WITHIN the marriage. Intruding into that type of situation MALE OR FEMALE) makes you a PIG...a real PIG. and believe me....the kids will think that also down the line.

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