How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood

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More About This Book

Overview

Elizabeth Taylor has never been short on star power, but in this unprecedented biography, the spotlight is entirely on her—a spirited beauty full of magic, professional daring, and wit.

Acclaimed biographer William Mann follows Elizabeth Taylor publicly as she makes her ascent at MGM, falls into (and out of) marriages, wins Oscars, fights studio feuds, and combats America's conservative values with her decidedly modern love affairs. But he also shines a light on Elizabeth's rich private life, revealing a love for her craft and a loyalty to the underdog that fueled her lifelong battle against the studio system. Swathed in mink, disposing of husbands but keeping the diamonds—this is Elizabeth Taylor as she lived and loved, breaking and making the rules in the game of supreme celebrity.

  • William J. Mann
    William J. Mann  

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
"I have never read any of the autobiographies of me," Elizabeth Taylor once joked, and if she had, she probably wouldn't have been pleased. This soft-spoken actress doesn't easily fit into any narrow Hollywood niche and her career resists any facile capsulation. Fortunately, William J. Mann, the author of the New York Times Notable Book Kate, has arrived to set things right with a revelatory look at a superstar we all thought we knew so well. Mann's Taylor surprises us by pounding at the studio system, juggling lovers, and sparking a pre-Woodstock sexual revolution. Along the way, she also feuds with enemies, fights for juicy parts and against innumerable health crises, and battles for a full array of good causes. A must-have for vintage film fans.
Publishers Weekly
In his proficient and titillating biography of one of the last greats to emerge from the Hollywood studio system, Mann (Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn) spotlights Taylor's feverish, sensuous years during the high '50s and '60s, when she set her own standards of fame, both moral and professional. Tinged by scandal as well as touched by greatness as an actress, Taylor was the first female movie star to earn a million dollars for a movie plus a share of the profits (Cleopatra in 1963). Mann relishes depicting Taylor's larger-than-life appetites, whether for men, jewels or food, and marvels at her ability to arouse and sidestep scandal, as well as to demonstrate continually a singular devotion to her acting craft, as captured in A Place in the Sun and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Taylor managed not only to play along with the old Hollywood system perfectly—for example, allowing MGM to orchestrate her first marriage to Nicky Hilton in 1950 in order to pump publicity for her film Father of the Bride—but to flout it outrageously, e.g., by becoming the ultimate home wrecker in Eddie Fisher's marriage, and all to her advantage. Mann employs an authoritative voice, promising intimacies but still remaining respectful of his subject, and concentrates on Taylor's skillful use of marriages and illness to get what she wanted. By refusing to apologize for her flagrant adulterous affair with Richard Burton, Taylor possibly “spurred the sexual revolution of the 1960s,” Mann suggests. Reading this life is like gorging on a chocolate sundae. (Oct.)
More Reviews (7) Fewer Reviews
EDGE New York

"...she knew by instinct, generations before today’s crop of starlets, how to interface her personal and professional lives with the public, who adored her for it. Taylor lived out loud, and the world sang along to her tune."

New York Times Book Review

"...the sorts of details a reader craves...all are rendered with a verve and fluidity that keep the book moving along in a fleet fashion... [Mann] has clearly done his research and just as clearly adores his subject."

"Taylor was at the furious center of it all, and provides as handy and captivating a guide through [the era] as any star of the 20th century could."

— Frank Bruni

Salon.com

"Mann''s eminently yummy entry is pretty much everything you''d want in a Hollywood biography... What does make How to Be a Movie Star distinctive is its focus on the changing nature of personal fame as embodied by a woman whose life has consisted of one superlative after another."

San Luis Obisbo Tribune

"This is a juicy telling of a screen idol who always did things her own way."

The Oregonian

"William Mann has picked the perfect title for a biography of Taylor. She was, truly, the last great movie star."

The Sunday Times (UK)

"...a richly enjoyable biography..."

USA Today

"William J. Mann''s ridiculously entertaining biography of Elizabeth Taylor in her Hollywood heyday is yummier than digging into a hot-fudge sundae and a stack of Us Weeklys."

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780547386560
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Publication date: 4/1/2010
  • Pages: 528
  • Sales rank: 826,090
  • Product dimensions: 8.06 (w) x 5.32 (h) x 1.26 (d)

Meet the Author

William J. Mann is the author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn , which was named a New York Times Notable Book, as well as several other acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. He divides his time between Provincetown, Massachusetts and New York City.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 21 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(9)

4 Star

(4)

3 Star

(3)

2 Star

(2)

1 Star

(3)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 21 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 23, 2010

    Wonderful biography

    This is a wonderful book for anyone fascinated with "old-time" Hollywood and especially the mystique of Elizabeth Taylor.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 26, 2011

    I wrote 1review and now i am going to write the real deal

    I wrote one review before and now im going to spell this book out for you, fantastic! A lot of you know me as the 11year old vintage read o holic. But im not kidding when i tell you this is a 5 star book, its the real deal. I encouridge everyone thats a liz taylor fan to read it and you wont be wasting you time or money!

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  • Posted March 23, 2011

    check facts

    John Glenn did not orbit the moon!

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 1, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    "What the .... do you want?"

    Yes she had the mouth of a sailor. She could curse like a plumber but acting before a camera she could do better than anyone in Hollywood circles will forever be her most outstanding legacy.
    Mann entertains. I love his writting style. Everything about Elizabeth can not be written in one book however for one who was aware of her but too young to follow her life I have certainly been informed here.
    Oh the actress! I want to see every film now. Mann's little extras surrounding certain films will aide my attention to them.
    The photographs supplied visually inform as well. Elizabeth at 17 was one knockout as well as in so many years following.
    Once underawy reading I picked the book up at least three times a day. I have to qualify that nearly every page held my interest. There was something everywhere that kept my intrigue on a continuum. It was a lot of fun.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted May 5, 2010

    How to Be A Movie Star

    A very interesting account of Elizabeth Taylor's rise to stardom. There are some nice insider references to her friendships among the actors she worked with at the time, and a good overall picture is presented of the machinations of the Hollywood studios of the time,down to orchestrating marriages for the sake of publicity

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted February 14, 2010

    ANOTHER TAKE ON THE LEGEND OF LIZ

    ALTHOUGH I HAVE READ SEVERAL BIOS AND AUTOBIOS ON LIZ, THIS BOOK POINTED OUT ASPECTS OF HER INNER PERSONALITY I WAS NOT AWARE OF. THE BOOK ALSO MADE REFERENCE TO THE FACT LIZ WAS THE ORIGINAL MOVIE STAR BEING
    PURSUED BY THE PRESS- SHE KINDA GOT IT ALL STARTED. I COLLECT AND ENJOY STORIES BY AND ABOUT REAL PEOPLE AND THIS ONE WAS ONE OF THE BETTER ONES I HAVE READ . I WAS THRILLED TO GET IT AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted January 9, 2010

    How To Be A Movie Star's Bug-eyed Sycophant

    If the author of this book was ever the subject of a biography, the above would be a good title based on the over-admiring but very well-documented writing about a real movie star. Whether you love Miz Liz and her art, or believe her to be a somewhat nutty and slutty figure who can't act, the author provides a wonderful and engaging background of her life in Hollywood and beyond.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted November 22, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    9780641640278

    How To Write A Delicious Movie Star Biography!

    "How to Be a Movie Star" is another in depth and delicious movie star biography by writer William Mann. This book focuses on the woman who rose higher and plummeted lower than any other star in Hollywood : Elizabeth Taylor. This book is a page turner that is written in Technicolor! One almost feels as if one were reading a supremely intelligent but also funny graduate thesis written by Pedro Almodovar. (Elizabeth Taylor directed by Pedro Almodovar, now wouldn't that have been something?)

    The Elizabeth Taylor we discover within these delicious pages---stunningly well lit by millions of paparazzi through the decades---is a talented actress with a voracious appetite. An appetite for fame, for men, for diamonds, for food, for booze, for privacy, for motherhood and finally for more men. What Elizabeth seems to have little appetite for is what first made her famous: her acting.

    Reading Mann's gorgeous book I got an inkling of why Elizabeth became such devoted friends with Michael Jackson. Both were thrust into the limelight against their will by bullying parents (her mother/his father) at an impossibly early age. Both tasted fame at that early age but then began to lose their fame as they aged. Both then became even more monstrously famous. In different decades, but very similarly, Elizabeth and Michael each were the most talked about person on planet earth.

    Ms. Taylor's lack of true love for acting and her insatiable need for baubles, bust-ups and booze caused her to make some truly, truly dreadful late-in-her-career films. But her fans must be thankful that she never followed other screen divas down the horror movie path. (Paging Trog!) And we fans can be truly thankful for the many good movies Ms. Taylor did grace the screen in. And Elizabeth's late-in-life AIDS philanthropy (not really dealt with in this book) in many ways outshines even her greatest screen performances.

    Thank you, William Mann, for hitting another home run out of the park. I can't wait to read your next beautifully-researched and delicious bio. Could I interest you in a book about 60's British Female Stars? I believe Vanessa, Glenda and Julie are awaiting your discerning eye and pen. Bravo!

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  • Posted October 20, 2009

    Another trash biography from Mann

    William J. Mann is definitely getting into the business of writing trash celebrity biographies joining the likes of Darwin Porter, David Bret and Marc Eliot. The book is full of anonymous sources, misinformation and fictionalized events. There's plenty of books about Taylor around. Skip this one.

    0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 3, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

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    Posted May 8, 2011

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    Posted June 22, 2011

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    Posted October 25, 2010

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    Posted November 29, 2009

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    Posted November 22, 2009

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    Posted October 23, 2009

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    Posted February 9, 2010

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    Posted December 13, 2009

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 29, 2011

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    Posted March 6, 2011

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