Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, photographed by Cecil Beaton at the Rothschilds' home, Chateau de Ferrières, near Paris in December 1971.
From The Guardian website:
Beaton wrote in his diary: "I have always loathed the Burtons for their vulgarity, commonness and crass bad taste, she combining the worst of US and English taste, he as butch and coarse as only a Welshman can be."Cecil Beaton was a bitch.
He said Taylor had craved compliments during the brief shoot. "She got none. I felt I must be professional and continued, but not without loathing at this monster... Round her neck was a velvet ribbon with the biggest diamond in the world pinned on it.
"On her fat, coarse hands more of the biggest diamonds and emeralds, her head a ridiculous mass of diamond necklaces."
Ungallantly, Beaton described Taylor's hair as "sausage curls", adding: "Alexandre, the hairdresser, had done his worst. And this was the world's biggest draw! In comparison everyone else looked ladylike."
The photograph is expected to make £12,000 when it is auctioned on Tuesday 22nd May 2012 at Bloomsbury Auctions.
I have the Beaton Diaries & on occasion I will pluck it from the shelf & randomly opening to a page to read... it is always dishy.
ReplyDeleteIs £12,000 a lot of money?
I imagine Cecil had a lot of catty things to say about a lot of people - I'd love to read those diaries one day.
DeleteJx
PS Twelve grand, a lot of money? For a photograph, it is!
Miss Beaton was a bitch indeed! And we wouldn't have her any other way.
ReplyDeleteEven with those silly made-up stories about his so-called "affair" with Greta Garbo, he was an astutely waspish grande dame, and we love him for it... Jx
DeleteHe was both fabulous and, at times, a crashing bore. Probably truer of all of us than we would like to think. It's a shame he couldn't appreciate the Taylor-Burton circus, which I've always thought worked because they were so thoroughly in on the joke.
ReplyDeleteThat said, this is a fairly dreadful image; Elizabeth is doing that pretty-mouth, faux Vivien Leigh smile she affected when uncomfortable, which never quite works. She's better sulking or straight-out, loud broad laughing.
I do agree, Muscato - they were always acutely aware of how they performed for their audience, and certainly never appeared to give a damn.
DeleteAnd no, it isn't the most flattering photo of either of them... Jx