From Nicky to Larry: The Men in Liz Taylor's Life

By PopEater Staff Posted Mar 23rd 2011 07:34PM

Between the ages of 18 and 64, Elizabeth Taylor did more than a life's worth of loving, marrying and divorcing. At many points in her career, the legendary actress, who died Wednesday of heart failure, garnered more attention from the public for her intoxicating love life than for the 50-odd films that padded her unparalleled filmography.

It's been written about endlessly -- her eight marriages to seven men have ended friendships, filled memoirs, kick-started political careers, graced Vanity Fair cover spreads and led countless tabloid newscasts. She reportedly nearly married an Iranian ambassador.

Taylor was a young starlet best known for her star-turning role in 'National Velvet,' when she married hotel heir Nicky Hilton in 1950. She soon grew weary of his party-boy status, and they divorced a whopping eight months later. It was her shortest union.

A year later, Taylor tied the knot with English actor Michael Wilding, who was twice her age. The pair were married between 1952 and 1957 and had two sons, Michael and Christopher. During this time, she starred in 'Giant' and 'The Last Time I Saw Paris.'

In no mood for being a single mom, Taylor very, very quickly moved on with film producer Michael Todd. Her divorce to Wilding was made official on a Saturday in late January of 1957, and one week later she was hitched again. Their daughter, Liz, was born in August. Sadly, Todd was killed in a plane crash right after their first anniversary.

She found comfort in the arms of pop sensation and actor Eddie Fisher on the set of their film, 'Butterfield 8.' He, of course, was married at the time to Taylor's friend, Debbie Reynolds, and the scandal was a tabloid sensation.

When the dust settled and they said "I do" in May 1959, she was a thrice-married Hollywood starlet, and he was still one of the hottest singers in the nation. As their marriage was crumbling, the duo began adoption proceedings for a daughter.

As was her custom, Taylor struck up a relationship with another man while her marriage to Fisher was still technically on. This time it was with actor Richard Burton, whom she had been romancing since they co-starred in 'Cleopatra.' A week after her divorce to Fisher was finalized she became Mrs. Burton.

They lasted 10 years and starred in several films together, including 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' (1966) and 'The Taming of the Shrew' (1967). They divorced in June 1974 but a year later were compelled to give it another go after doctors found spots on her lungs that she feared could be cancerous. But after Burton allegedly began drinking again, the remarriage turned sour yet again.

During the tail end of this turbulent relationship with Burton, Taylor is said to have been very close to marrying Ardeshir Zahedi, who was the Iranian ambassador to Washington at the time. With the Islamic Revolution on the horizon, there is no telling how that would have turned out.

► A Humanitarian and AIDS Activist Like No Other | Pal Barry Manilow Mourns

Having acquired a taste for politics, Taylor then became close to dashing ex-Secretary of the Navy John Warner, and they married in late 1976. During their marriage, she used her fame to help Warner win a seat in the United States Senate. They divorced in 1982 after she reportedly grew bored of being a politician's wife.

She then took a nine-year break before surprising the world by marrying a construction worker named Larry Fortensky. He was 39, and she was 59. They held their wedding at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch but divorced in 1996.

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=992923&pid=992922&uts=1300891310

http://www.popeater.com/mm_track/popeater/movies/?s_channel=us.moviespop&s_account=aolpopeater,aolsvc&omni=1&ke=1

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf

Liz Taylor Snapshots

British born actor Elizabeth Taylor and her fourth husband American singer and actor Eddie Fisher arrive at a formal event, c. 1962. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Hulton Archive

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

British born actor Elizabeth Taylor and her fourth husband American singer and actor Eddie Fisher arrive at a formal event, c. 1962. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

(FILE PHOTO) US film star Elizabeth Taylor and her first husband Nick Hilton, of the hotelier family, on their wedding day. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

FILES)Elizabeth Taylor arrives on the red carpet for her performance of A.R. Gurney's play "Love Letters" starring Taylor and James Earl Jones, 01 December 2007 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California. Taylor, famed for her striking blue eyes and eight marriages as well a glittering film career, has died at the age of 79, a statement by her publicist said March 23, 2011. AFP PHOTO / Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

16th January 1958: Film star Elizabeth Taylor and husband, film producer Mike Todd, arriving at Heathrow. (Photo by Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

FILE - In this March 2, 1959 file photo, actress Elizabeth Taylor, accompanied by her physician, Dr. Rexford Kennamer, walks through Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago where she attended ceremony dedicating the grave marker of her late husband, showman Mike Todd who died a year earlier. On Wednesday, March 23, 2011, Taylor, the violet-eyed film goddess whose sultry screen life was often upstaged by her stormy personal life, died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where she had been hospitalized for about six weeks. She was 79. (AP Photo/Ed Maloney, File)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

HENDERSON, NV - FEBRUARY 27: (FILE PHOTO) Dame Elizabeth Taylor arrives with her children, (L-R) Michael Wilding Jr., Christopher Wilding, Maria Burton and Liza Todd Burton, for Taylor's 75th birthday party at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas on February 27, 2007 in Henderson, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

16th January 1958: Film star Elizabeth Taylor and husband, film producer Mike Todd, arriving at Heathrow. (Photo by Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

(FILE PHOTO) US film star Elizabeth Taylor and her first husband Nick Hilton, of the hotelier family, on their wedding day. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

British born actor Elizabeth Taylor and her fourth husband American singer and actor Eddie Fisher arrive at a formal event, c. 1962. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

(FILES) Movie star Elizabeth Taylor smiles as she appears before the Labor, Health and Human services Senate Subcommittee 08 May 1986 in Washington,DC.Taylor, famed for her striking blue eyes and eight marriages as well a glittering film career, has died at the age of 79, a statement by her publicist said March 23, 2011. AFP PHOTO/Jerome DELAY / FILES (Photo credit should read JEROME DELAY/AFP/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

Tags: Elizabeth Taylor

Comments

(104)

Wednesday 23 March

By Laurence

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I never mets Ms. Taylor but I did know people who did. She was spoken kindly of. That's enough for me.

Thursday 24 March

By TODD

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I don't respect anyone married 8 times.

By jim

She sure fooled around alot!

By Brutal

Vote down Vote up Report this

To describe her life simply ... "you can't make this stuff up." Addicted to drama ... way too much drama ... the Mother Superior of drama queens. It was one helleva show Mrs. Taylor ... America ate up every minute of it.

By Paris

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Rest In Peace and thank you for standing by MJ when he always needed someone by his side....now you too can reunite and be with each other forever. Your sweet little face will be miss.

By P Campbell

Seems to me she's paid the ultimate price.....let her rest in peace. I have enjoyed her movies and if she wanted to be married that many times, that is her business and no one else's.

By ten10pt

Liz loved our nation:

with that being said why do we doom our children who make dumb mistakes before they're 21 with a life sentence after they serve they're time... we should give them a clean start . think about it.......... we are creating our own problems......and all you "do gooders" are to stupid to understand.....

By No you dont!

WHO MADE YOU AN AUTHORITY ON WHO GOES TO HEAVEN? AND WHO DOES NOT? LOOK AT YOUR OWN LIFE AND STOP JUDGEING THIS WOUNDERFUL HUMAN.GOD DOES NOT JUDGE PEOPLE LIKE YOU DO. INSTEAD OF SPREADING HETE GO AND DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR SOMEONE ELSE YOU CAN NEVER TOUCH THE HEARTS IN A POSTIVIE MANNER LIKE ELIZABETH TYLOR HAD DONE. I'M ONE HUNDRED PERCENT SURE SHE IS BACK WITH GOD. TOO BAD YOU ARE NOT.

By susieq

astgdf, everyone is SO SICK OF YOU and your boyfriend who is 11 years older. WHO CARES??? Take that crap and pedal it on Facebook! YOU'RE A FREAK.

By Kimberly

I remember watching Elizabeth Taylor while I was growing up. Through the years I have I remember her being a talented actress, a beautiful, graceful, strong woman in times that made for a great role model. Never once did I think about how many times she got married. She stood strong for those she believed in and for things she felt were important. She has my respect and her family has my sympathies on thier loss.

By at the races in old DelMar

well RooneY , God help him , seems to be going out in style - relating to his claims of mental and physical abuse at the hands of his own children - i'm not sure if it's all fabricated or not .

By andrevaugh

She had a great talent, very big philanthropist, and a mother of 4 children whom she managed to keep out of the limelight & tabloids most of their lives. THESE are her true legacies!

The rest is what you deal with in what life throws at us!

Amazing how ignorant AOL writer's are again...Taylor did not have "Blue Eyes" she was blessed with the distinction of having been born with "violet eyes." Can you EVER get any facts straight??!!

By Linda

I was always told if you didn't have anything good to say don't say nothing!

By TERRY

thats bull,people have to be told ,but as for liz she was my dream girl when she was younger.

By splintercottage

The photo of john Warner at the Pew Trusts ... was that hiswife or Rebecca Rimel CEO of the PEW Trusts?

By Dan

So what if her morality doesn't meet up to your standards? Plenty of Hollywood celebs live lifestyles we can only fantasize about. Ms. Taylor was a great actress, a glamourous movie star and a woman who enjoyed life to the fullest and for all that she deserves to be admired. We don't have to praise her lifestyle but let her rest in peace.

By wolfmann4u

Why did Liz go thru so many men even one made her Jewish ?

By Hovanassian

The Original ET (Elizabeth Taylor) is reputed to have undergone surgery to tighten her vagina after each marriage. She was short and ugly and make up and diamonds helped distract people who would rather watch a large diamond than to look at her short dwarfed personality.

She was immorality personified. Tore the fabric of our society and relegated love and good relationships in marriage to the dustheap of history.

She is before her maker with his bats wings and hoofs and horns testifying before Michael Jackson about his sex attacks on children.

She died of AIDS. Notice no one made mention of the cause of death. When she was first diagnosed they immediately said it was psneumonia. Yews pull the other one.

God Hollywood all of a sudden smells like dead fish. Hope they cremate her in the Japanese Fukushima Nuclear reactor so nothing not even her fat soul remains. She could not act. Her publicist could.

By Dennis

Hovan, You are a disgusting waste of human skin. Your lies are only outdone by your disgusting mind. Do humanity a favor and ....

By SWEETSPRINGLUV

MARGARET NAVAS,
OK, I said 4 things and I should have said six.
michael jackson. and divorces.

how about your useless life, insulting people
you do not even know.. poor thing.

Page 5 of 6