A Passion for Life

The Biography of Elizabeth Taylor

By: Donald Spoto

Narrated by: C. M. Hébert

Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Born in England to socially ambitious parents, Elizabeth Taylor was catapulted into child stardom and molded by MGM into the great violet-eyed beauty of postwar America. Along the way, without training or counsel, she became an award-winning actress, dazzling audiences everywhere with spectacular performances.

Spoto explores the gripping story of her brutalizing six-month marriage to compulsive gambler and hotel heir Nicky Hilton, her romances with top Hollywood directors, and her marriage to the ailing Michael Wilding. Four years later, she would be swept off her feet by showman Mike Todd into an alternately violent and loving marriage that would end with Todd’s death in a plane crash, leaving Taylor a twice-divorced widow with three children at the age of 26. And here are Taylor’s years with Eddie Fisher, Republican Senator John Warner, and Richard Burton, with whom she would share a hedonistic, brash lifestyle that would virtually define the 1960s jet set.

©1995 Donald Spoto (P)1995 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“At once scathing and sympathetic…. Spoto provides acute commentary on Taylor’s films as well as a filmography in a revelatory portrait of a self-styled femme fatale beset by self-destructive impulses and feelings of emptiness.” ( Publishers Weekly)

The suspicious decease of Mike Todd’s first wife

The book casually details the bullying conman machinations of her third husband Mike Todd, an overtly dangerous man whose first wife departed under very suspicious circumstances. Arrives at hospital with obvious defensive injuries, perishes from pneumothorax. His premature exit in a plane crash was fortuitous to mankind.

Her complete commitment to life

How tarnished her reputation was from drugs and alcohol . She did so much damage to her reputation

Well done!!

The narrator was excellent and was able to sound just like Elizabeth. What an extraordinary life! Makes me glad I'm an 8 and not a 10 on the beauty scale! lol!

Narrator speaking voice

I'd love that I almost thought I was listening to Elizabeth Taylor speak throughout some of this book, for the voices were so similar which made it much more interesting to an already interesting story/book.

Puts things in perspective

From birth to death Elizabeth Taylor was a vision. This book is a fun read.

enjoyable!

I've known a lot about Elizabeth Taylor but I still learned so much more about her from this book.

Wow

We forget how we come to this world to learn. Donald Spoto, does awonderful job with following her the journey. A little preamble I liked, giving a little background to her grandparents and parents. I read other pieces on Elizabeth and a lot of what Mr. Spato says says rings true. She would be somebody I would like to sit down and have a true heart-to-heart. Well done. I'm Looking forward toreading more of Mr. Spotoss work.

How many men she had & how long her career really was!

Wow took me over a week to finish this book. But I learned a lot about Elizabeth Taylor that I had no idea about. I had no idea that she was such a mean eater, loved love way too much, was so naive but also seemed loving & supportive. And I had no idea that her career was a long as it was. This book was a long but good read & the last reading it sounded just like Elizabeth Taylor & that made it seem like she herself was reading the story! I would recommend this book to anybody. Good read/audible!

her hard yet beautiful life

we should all learn something from Elizabeth Taylor. I cherish this book. thank you so much for sharing it with the public

Shattered Perceptions

I am not sure what I expected.One thing for sure,I never imagine that anyone could change my views of Elizabeth Taylor.I always thought she was 1 of the most beautiful women of the world.(Inside and out).I hope she is at rest now.I feel extremely sorry for her and everyone she was in contact with.