A serious and in-depth look at one of the great legends of Hollywood by the London film critic and author of Audrey: Her Real Story . Elizabeth Taylor was perhaps the most "public" of the great stars: an Oscar–winning actress who lived her entire life in the glare of the spotlights. Much has been written about her, but now—with the readability, sensitivity, and thoroughness that have made his previous biographies bestsellers—Alexander Walker explores the roots of Taylor's extraordinary personality and extraordinary life. Here is a life to rival the very movies she played in, told with immense candor, wit, and sympathy: from her privileged London childhood, the enormous influence of her strong-willed mother, and her swift rise to stardom in such films as National Velvet , A Place in the Sun , and the catastrophe-ridden Cleopatra ; to her six husbands, her desperate need to love and be loved, her obsession with jewelry, and the amazing resilience that helped her weather not only condemnation for "the most public adultery in history," but also dramatic illnesses that brought her to the verge of death—and, according to her, beyond. Using scores of unpublished documents and interviews with those who knew Taylor best, as well as his own meetings with her over thirty years, Alexander Walker recreates the comedies and tragedies in the life of a woman whose rewards and scandals have become the stuff of legend.