—The New York Times (Vincent Canby)
notes
“SPRING SEDUCES. SUMMER THRILLS. AUTUMN STUNS. Winter kills.” So ran one of many advertising lines for Winter Kills, a black comedy about the assassination of a U.S. president, patterned after the John F. Kennedy story. It was based on a novel by Richard Condon, author of The Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi’s Honor. First-time director William Richert helmed the production. The behind-the-scenes drama concerning the making of the film included running out of funding three times and Leonard J. Goldberg, one of the marijuana-dealing co-producers of the film, being gunned down by the mafia. Many members of the Winter Kills cast and crew participated in another film, The American Success Company, just to finance the first film. All the events, rivaling anything that occurs onscreen in Winter Kills, were profiled in a featurette called “Who Killed Winter Kills?” which is included in the 2003 DVD release of the movie. Elizabeth had a cameo in the nonspeaking role of Lola Comante, a woman who keeps the president in attractive female company.
As Lola Comante
The Mirror Crack’d
EMI FILMS/G. W. FILMS/COLUMBIA-WARNER
CAST
Angela Lansbury Miss Jane Marple
Geraldine Chaplin Ella Zielinsky
Tony Curtis Martin N. Fenn
Edward Fox Inspector Craddock
Rock Hudson Jason Rudd
Kim Novak Lola Brewster
Elizabeth Taylor Marina Rudd
Wendy Morgan Cherry
Margaret Courtenay Mrs. Bantry
Charles Gray Bates
Maureen Bennett Heather Babcock
Carolyn Pickles Miss Giles
Pierce Brosnan actor playing “Jamie”
CREDITS
Richard Goodwin, John Brabourne (producers); Guy Hamilton (director); Jonathan Hales, Barry Sandler (screenplay), based on novel The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie; Christopher Challis (photography); John Cameron (music); John Roberts (art director); Michael Stringer (production design); Derek Cracknell (assistant director); Richard Marden (editor); Phyllis Dalton (costumes); Helen Lennox (hairstylist); Eric Allwright, Jill Carpenter (makeup)
RELEASE DATE: December 19, 1980
RUN TIME: 105 minutes, color
SUMMARY: In the quiet English village of St. Mary Mead, Marina Rudd, a Hollywood movie star past her prime, attempts to make a comeback in a large-scale production, starring as Elizabeth I. Mary, Queen of Scots, is to be portrayed by Marina’s rival, Lola Brewster, who also happens to be married to the film’s producer, Martin Fenn. Having her husband, Jason Rudd, as the film’s director should be comforting to Marina’s fragile constitution, but a series of murder attempts aimed at Marina have everyone on edge. Who could be trying to kill Marina is anyone’s guess, from her screen rival to a clinging fan to the assistant suspected of being in love with Jason. Enter expert sleuth Miss Marple, with the able assistance of her legman, Inspector Craddock, to unravel the mystery.
On the big screen for the last time with her good friend Rock Hudson
Signing an autograph for a fan. This situation in the film was inspired by a similar incident involving actress Gene Tierney. While pregnant, Tierney contracted German measles from a fan and it was thought to have been the cause of Tierney’s daughter’s mental retardation.
REVIEWS
“It’s jolly good fun watching Taylor and Novak go at each other like flaming fruitcakes. Liz is at her very best, parodying her own career and her vulgar taste in clothes and hairdos with a comic performance that is splendidly self-effacing. When she stares into her mirror and says: ‘Bags, bags, go away—come right back on Doris Day!’ you almost wonder if she didn’t write the script herself.”
—New York Daily News (Rex Reed)
“Though Angela Lansbury is top-billed in the role of Christie’s famed sleuth Jane Marple the central part really is Elizabeth Taylor’s. Taylor comes away with her most genuinely affecting dramatic performance in years as a film star attempting a comeback. . . . Director Guy Hamilton, not usually given a chance to direct much besides actioners recently, handles the proceedings with an indulgent but able hand. Christopher Challis’ glossy lighting is a suitable recapturing of the mood of the period, as is the lush score by John Cameron.”
—Variety (“Mac”)
“That The Mirror Crack’d never builds up much momentum has less to do with Guy Hamilton’s direction and the performances than with the screenplay by Jonathan Hales and Barry Sandler, which promises more sophistication than it ever delivers. Both Miss Taylor and Miss Novak, as larger-than-life silver-screen rivals of a certain age, get all wound up for some fancy, high-toned tongue-lashings, but the material isn’t up to their power. It’s too bad because each of them has the toughness and the wit to carry it off with some splendor.”
—The New York Times
notes
AGATHA CHRISTIE’S THE MIRROR CRACK’D FROM SIDE TO SIDE was published in 1962 but never made it to the screen as part of the popular 1960s series produced by MGM in the U.K. starring Margaret Rutherford. Forty-five-year-old Angela Lansbury was signed to portray the famous elderly sleuth Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack’d. It would be the actress’s only turn at Miss Marple, though she later proved herself a natural for the mystery genre as Angela Fletcher in the hit series Murder, She Wrote.
Like previous screen adaptations of Agatha Christie novels Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, an all-star cast of suspects was corralled for The Mirror Crack’d, including Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Rock Hudson, and Tony Curtis. The story was set in the 1950s, so it is rather fitting that the stars involved would have attracted audiences in droves in that decade. Guy Hamilton, famed director of the James Bond movie series, guided the stars in their roles as participants in a movie being made within the movie.
The Mirror Crack’d was filmed at Twickenham Studios in Kent, England. Elizabeth loved it because it reunited her with her dear friend and Giant costar, Rock Hudson, in one of his last feature films. The movie performed moderately successfully both at the box office and with critics. The story would see new life in two British TV-movie remakes in years to come: in 1992 starring Joan Hickson and in 2010, with Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple.
Elizabeth sought a new challenge following her work in The Mirror Crack’d. After time away from work, being Mrs. John Warner and letting her famed looks go a bit, she asked herself what was the greatest challenge she could give herself and came up with an answer: Broadway. On May 7, 1981 she opened in the Lillian Hellman play The Little Foxes at the Martin Beck Theatre. It was a the start of a successful four-month run in the Broadway play and she earned a Tony Award nomination as Best Actress for her work. She then continued the show in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles in 1981 and later in London’s West End in 1982.
Also making headlines between The Mirror Crack’d and Elizabeth’s next movie was the end of her seventh marriage. In December 1981, shortly after their fifth anniversary, Elizabeth’s spokeswoman Chen Sam released a statement that Elizabeth and John Warner “have agreed amicably to a legal separation.” A year later their divorce was finalized.
Guy Hamilton, famed director of the James Bond movie series, guided the stars in their roles as participants in a movie being made within the movie.
Kim Novak, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth. The ladies appear in costume for the film within the film.
Between Friends
TV Movie
ROBERT COOPER PRODUCTIONS/HBO
CAST
Elizabeth Taylor Deborah Shapiro
Carol Burnett Mary Catherine Castelli
Henry Ramer Sam Tucker
Bruce Grey Malcolm Hallen
Charles Shamata Dr. Seth Simpson
Lally Cadeau Lolly
Barbara Bush Francie
Michael J. Reynolds Kevin Sullivan
Stephen Young Martin
CREDITS
Robert Cooper, Marian Rees (executive producers); Lou Ant
onio (director); Shelley List, Jonathan Estrin (producers/teleplay), based on novel Nobody Makes Me Cry by Shelley List; François Protat (photography); James Horner (music); Lindsey Goddard (art director); Elinor Rose Galbraith (set decorations); Martin Walters (assistant director); Gary Griffen (editor); Judith R. Gellman (costumes)
RELEASE DATE: September 11, 1983
RUN TIME: 100 minutes, color
SUMMARY: Deborah Shapiro is a devoted wife and mother of two when her world is turned upside down by her husband’s decision to leave her for a younger woman. The departure of her sons to college leaves Deborah alone, turning to cocktails for comfort with increasing frequency. Mary Catherine Castelli has also recently been abandoned by her husband in favor of a younger woman, but her reaction is not to wallow in loneliness but to feel desirable again in the arms of a succession of married lovers. Deborah and Mary Catherine meet after an auto accident. They commiserate, argue, laugh, and develop a deep friendship that helps each grow and find themselves again.
With Carol Burnett. The two actresses became great friends during filming. Describing their instant friendship Burnett said, “There are people you know for years without feeling close and then people you meet and feel you know at once.”
notes
MADE-FOR-CABLE FILMS ALWAYS HAD THE EDGE ON NETWORK television movies in terms of permissible story lines and dialogue. Between Friends offered juicy roles to two beloved actresses at a time when the material available to Elizabeth in the way of feature films was less than stellar. Based on the novel Nobody Makes Me Cry by Shelley List, the movie was an HBO original production that offered an interesting and mature look at the friendship between two middle-aged divorcées.
Cast in the lead roles was a seemingly odd pairing of comedienne extraordinaire Carol Burnett and cinema goddess Elizabeth Taylor. The two actresses complemented each other beautifully in the film. Their successful coupling was a reflection of the offscreen friendship that formed between Burnett and Elizabeth, who had never met before taking off for Toronto to make the movie. Despite just getting over a bout of bronchitis, working with Burnett made filming a pleasure for Elizabeth. When it was over, Burnett said, “I don’t know what there was but I spent six weeks laughing. I felt like I was eleven years old. [Elizabeth] is a very funny person.” Both Elizabeth and Burnett were nominated for CableACE Awards as Best Actress for their work. Elizabeth congratulated her costar, who took home the award.
Despite just getting over a bout of bronchitis, working with Burnett made filming a pleasure for Elizabeth.
Between Friends was made in February and March 1983. Before its HBO premiere Elizabeth would be reunited with Richard Burton on Broadway in Private Lives, which opened on May 8, 1983. The play, described as a tale “of two highly sexed, highly combustible, and highly sophisticated people who will love each other until hell freezes over, but cannot live with each other here on earth,” seemed ideal for Taylor and Burton but while it generated enormous media interest, it was a conspicuous flop. Panned by critics, the show closed in July. Elizabeth rebounded from her professional disappointment by becoming engaged to her boyfriend, Mexican lawyer Victor Gonzalez Luna, the following month.
REVIEWS
“Miss Burnett demonstrates once again that, in addition to being an outstanding comedienne, she is an uncommonly sensitive serious actress. And Miss Taylor has found herself one of the best roles she has had in years. . . . Given a part that would appear to be curiously close to her own earthy personality, Miss Taylor can be quite impressive. The result, while far from a dramatic masterpiece, provides a fascinating exercise in acting, a rewarding romp in the art of performance.”
—The New York Times (John J. O’Connor)
“Between Friends contains some of the frankest and most brutally honest discussions of sex I’ve ever heard in a television screenplay. And it provides a steak dinner for its leading ladies, who attack their roles as if they hadn’t had a square meal in decades.”
—New York Post (Rex Reed)
With Victor Luna. The photo is from a 1987 party for her perfume, Passion, but they became engaged shortly before the premiere of Between Friends.
Malice in Wonderland
TV Movie
INCORPORATED TELEVISION COMPANY/CBS
CAST
Elizabeth Taylor Louella Parsons
Jane Alexander Hedda Hopper
Richard Dysart Louis B. Mayer
Joyce Van Patten Dema Harshbarger
Jon Cypher Docky Martin
Leslie Ackerman Harriet Parsons
Bonnie Bartlett Ida Koverman
Thomas Byrd William Hopper
Eric Purcell Orson Welles
Tim Robbins Joseph Cotten
Mark L. Taylor Howard Strickling
CREDITS
Judith A. Polone (executive producer); Jay Benson (producer); Gus Trikonis (director); Jacqueline Feather, David Seidler (teleplay), based on book Hedda and Louella by George Eells; Philip H. Lathrop (photography); Charles Bernstein (music); John D. Jefferies Sr. (production design); Keith A. Wester (sound); Rebecca Ross, Allan Jacobs (editors); Nolan Miller, Mina Mittelman (costumes)
RELEASE DATE: May 12, 1985
RUN TIME: 120 minutes, color
SUMMARY: Amid martinis and anxious glares from the Hollywood elite, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper recall the highlights of their infamous blood feud. In Hollywood from the late 1920s through the early 1960s, they held the spellbound attention of the movie-going public through their gossip columns and, in effect, held Hollywood at their mercy. Louella, backed by publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, came to power while Hedda was struggling to make it as a character actress. After Hedda transitioned to columnist, Louella fed her tidbits of news but in time her power increased to the point of matching Louella rumor for rumor. Through spats with the likes of Louis B. Mayer, Orson Welles, and their own children, no war rivaled the one between Louella and Hedda.
As Louella Parsons
REVIEW
“Malice in Wonderland is two hours of delicious, back-biting entertainment, nicely recapturing the heyday of Hollywood’s glamorous, bigger-than-life stars and the delightful seamy underside to it all. What fun, sweeties. . . . Elizabeth Taylor has never looked lovelier. She revels in the Parsons role. . . . And Jane, you little sneak, why didn’t you tell us before that you could play something other than tired, haggard, heavy, dramatic roles about the end of the world?”
—Chicago Sun Times (Daniel Ruth)
notes
MALICE IN WONDERLAND WAS AN ACCOUNT INSPIRED BY THE legendary rivalry between Hollywood gossip queens Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper that seemed to revel in its liberties on fact in the manner of biopics of the bygone studio era. Taken as entertainment rather than gospel, it was an enjoyable romp through old Hollywood with a who’s who of lookalikes including actors portraying Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Louis B. Mayer, and Jack Warner. Perhaps the two that least resembled their real-life counterparts were leading ladies Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Alexander in the roles of the far-from-glamorous Parsons and Hopper, respectively. Elizabeth said that somewhere Louella was “laughing it up and hollering that I should have played her a year ago, when I was fat and frumpy.”
“I had a score to settle with Hedda.”
— ELIZABETH TAYLOR
In their heyday both Parsons and Hopper could be vicious, not known to be overly concerned about matters of accuracy or ethics, yet they appointed themselves moral watchdogs of the private lives of stars. For an era in Hollywood their power was such that stars and studio chiefs paid homage to these doyennes of gossip in hopes of remaining in their good graces. Elizabeth told the New York Post she wanted to play Parsons because “I had a score to settle with Hedda. When I confided in her as a friend she blabbed the whole story in her column about my romance with Eddie Fisher.” It was not from the mouth of Elizabeth but from the typewriter of Hedda Hopper that originated an oft-quoted line supposedly on the af
fair: “What do you expect me to do—sleep alone?”
In period costuming, Elizabeth made an extremely glamorized version of Louella Parsons.
At the memorial service for Richard Burton in London, 1984
On her way to the set of Malice in Wonderland
Also known under the title The Rumor Mill, Malice in Wonderland was based on Hedda and Louella, a 1972 dual biography by George Eells. The movie did well in its timeslot, attracting 16 million viewers. Philip H. Lathrop won an Emmy for his exquisite cinematography. Nolan Miller (designing for Elizabeth) and Mina Mittelman (designing for Jane Alexander) were acknowledged with a nomination for their period costuming, and Jane Alexander received an Emmy nomination for her performance as Hedda Hopper. Elizabeth, meanwhile, earned rave reviews.
“When Richard died, part of Elizabeth died. . . .”
Elizabeth Taylor Page 22