The sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewellery this week was another chance to see fabulous pictures of the celebrated actress in her 20s, when she was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world.
That’s how most fans want to remember her — the papers didn’t reprint many images of the star in her 70s, in a wheelchair, the way she really looked for the last few decades of her life.
Indeed, one (male) film critic described her death as ‘a blessed relief’, adding ‘it stops the . . . legacy of her as this kind of grotesque, wheelchair-bound, bewigged, bejewelled kind of monster . . . to refocus back on the beauty and on the kind of skills she had as an actress’.
He was right to celebrate Elizabeth’s talent, but why shouldn’t an old woman appear in public wearing wigs, flashy jewellery and baggy clothes as her health is declining? Should old stars just top themselves, or enter nunneries? That critic’s attitude to beauty is repugnant, but so typical of our age.
My generation, the baby boomers, are in our 60s and are terrified of ageing, looking less perky than we did in our prime — it’s the elephant in the room, the big fear no one wants to talk about.
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SOURCE: Janet Street Porter, Daily Mail
That’s how most fans want to remember her — the papers didn’t reprint many images of the star in her 70s, in a wheelchair, the way she really looked for the last few decades of her life.
Indeed, one (male) film critic described her death as ‘a blessed relief’, adding ‘it stops the . . . legacy of her as this kind of grotesque, wheelchair-bound, bewigged, bejewelled kind of monster . . . to refocus back on the beauty and on the kind of skills she had as an actress’.
He was right to celebrate Elizabeth’s talent, but why shouldn’t an old woman appear in public wearing wigs, flashy jewellery and baggy clothes as her health is declining? Should old stars just top themselves, or enter nunneries? That critic’s attitude to beauty is repugnant, but so typical of our age.
My generation, the baby boomers, are in our 60s and are terrified of ageing, looking less perky than we did in our prime — it’s the elephant in the room, the big fear no one wants to talk about.
read more
SOURCE: Janet Street Porter, Daily Mail
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