The last Hollywood movie star

I miss the old days of Hollywood glamour and mystique. The golden years, so to speak. I never lived through them (obviously) but I miss them.

There was something so impossibly fabulous about Hollywood in the first half of the century. Southern California was a dream world filled with movie star bungalows, palm trees, Rolls Royce convertibles, picturesque beaches amidst a coastline of mountains, and the sparkling Hollywood sign.

Those things might still be there today, but it’s different. It’s crowded. It’s crime-ridden. It’s filled with reality television wannabes desperate for a 15 minutes of fame they don’t deserve but receive anyways. It has lost its sparkle.

And I feel the same about the movie stars of today. While women like Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, and Cameron Diaz are undoubtedly beautiful, they are nothing compared to the dazzling silver screen stars of the early 20th century.

Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and Grace Kelly are icons. No one today comes close.

One of the last real movie stars who I absolutely adore is Elizabeth Taylor.



I recently saw her as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Looking breathtakingly sexy in her silky slip, Elizabeth hisses to her on-screen husband, Paul Newman, “I’m not living with you. We occupy the same cage, that’s all!” Meeeyow! Liz’s ability to crack a whip with her lips is a talent that’s hard to match.

Whenever I see one of her old films—Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, in particular—I am always intrigued by the vulnerability and strength depicted in her acting. And every time she bats her legendary violet eyes, I feel myself sucked into a world where my own problems and disappointments don’t exist.

She might not have been a perfect person when it came to marriage and putting down the bottle, but when it came to being a movie star, La Liz knew exactly what she was doing.













Who is your favorite Hollywood star, past or present?