From her first starring role as the violet-eyed innocent in National Velvet to her sultry portrayal of Maggie the Cat and her Academy Award- winning performances in Butterfield 8 and Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Elizabeth Taylor s undeniable screen presence has been marveled over while her talent has been alternately dis- paraged and defended. And from her first wed- ding, in an MGM dream gown, to her current real-life role as a Senate wife, her private affairs have been the subject of public scrutiny. This breathlessly detailed biography by Kitty Kelley, author of the best-selling Jackie Oh!, is the most unabashed version of Elizabeth Taylor s life yet told. It follows her incredible career and her tumultuous personal life through fil~y-flve films, seven marriages, innumerable love affairs and several near-fatal illnesses; through periods of mourning, times of depression, bursts of generosity. Irresistibly it draws readers into the glamorous world that this beautiful star epitomizes. It begins with Elizabeth s childhood when, as a pretty eight-year-old, she was edged into Holly- wood s power circles by her star-struck mother. At age twelve she was acknowledged as a young actress of some promise. By the age of twenty- seven she was America s biggest box-office attraction and the highest-paid actress in the world.