Fame and notoriety attached themselves to Elizabeth Taylor very early in her life and never left her. It is more than likely that she will forever occupy a place in both cultural and social history as twentieth-century America's most celebrated woman—as well as one of its most beautiful—and certainly Hollywood's last genuine star in the great tradition. Whether in good films or bad, the pull of her magnetic presence continually drew hordes of fans, mesmerized by her screen persona and her off-screen life, which took on the aura of myth.

A national institution and a living legend, Taylor became the paradigmatic exemplar of media-driven notions of celebrity, and an emblem of outrageous excess—conditions that defined her adult image. Her extraordinary, colorful and, indeed, remarkable life, made her an object of constant fascination to the public, among whom she variously evoked admiration...