"Remembering Elizabeth Taylor, A Friend Of The Family"

My father, Malcolm Forbes, and Elizabeth Taylor hit it off immediately, when they first met in the mid-1980s.  Both had a strong, adventurous and unconventional approach to life.  Elizabeth had long defied the ironclad Hollywood laws of mortality by remaining as fresh an icon as she had been when she broke upon the national scene in her role in National Velvet decades before.  Pop had also achieved unique success in doing things in his own colorful way, as exemplified by his love of hot-air balloons, motorcycles and Fabergé eggs.  He had made FORBES synonymous worldwide with vigorous, entrepreneurial capitalism and the Good Life.

It wasn’t long before she was riding on the back of his big motorbikes, and they even exchanged biker rings.  When she introduced her Purple Passion perfume, Pop marked the occasion by giving her a purple-colored Harley-Davidson.  She was with him on his Highlander yacht trips to Tahiti, Thailand and elsewhere.  She was by his side for the 70th anniversary of FORBES in 1987 and for my father’s 70th birthday party in Morocco in 1989.  Both had a keen eye for the main chance.

A Friend-Of-The-Family Album: Elizabeth Taylor and Forbes

On several occasions when Elizabeth Taylor came out to my father’s house in New Jersey, my siblings, our spouses and kids and I had a chance to have dinner with her.  The first thing you noticed were her dazzling eyes, which caused my wife, Sabina, to exclaim that they were the most beautiful she had ever seen.  Elizabeth was remarkably down-to-earth, personable and gracious. She told my kids not to call her Ms. Taylor but Elizabeth, and if they disobeyed, she would punish them!  Of course we were fascinated by her stories, such as the time she spent with James Dean hours before his fatal automobile crash, which occurred just after they had finished shooting the now legendary film, Giant. She discussed her husbands (her favorite was Michael Todd). She talked about the challenges of raising kids in the limelight.  She did indeed love big diamonds and allowed our young daughters to examine the ones she was wearing!  And Elizabeth had a terrific sense of humor.  Before FORBES magazine’s 70th anniversary celebration, Pop had asked a number of people for their wedding anniversary dates. To which Elizabeth replied, “I had to giggle at your request for my wedding date  . . .  which one?”

She was a philanthropist, working hard to raise money to fight AIDS through the organization the American Foundation for AIDS Research.  She was absolutely bowled over at the FORBES 70th birthday bash, when Pop presented her with a check to amfAR for $1 million.  At a Forbes event a couple of years after Pop died, she recounted, “When I came in here with [husband] Larry [Fortensky] tonight, we heard the bagpipes, and it gave me such a sense of déjà vu.  I remembered, with memories like shooting stars, the 70th anniversary party for FORBES magazine at Malcolm’s home in New Jersey. The tent was like a medieval Scottish castle.  And, oh, God, the bagpipes coming out of the mist, playing “Amazing Grace.”  Then Malcolm’s calling me up and presenting me—I didn’t know anything about it— a check for a million dollars for AIDS. Nobody had ever done anything like that for the American Foundation for AIDS Research before. No one had even thought about it or asked.

“His generosity set a kind of standard that few people have met, unfortunately; but he induced other friends of his to give to AmfAR and to AIDS. He was just such a shining spirit and such a great example of life and generosity.”

It’s true that Elizabeth Taylor was notorious for being late, and my father learned to allow for the inevitable three to four hours of delay. Thus, in Japan, when he was told that his plane had to leave the airport by 4 p.m., he, in turn, told Elizabeth she must be at the plane for a prompt noontime takeoff.  She got there at five minutes past 4.

The family, especially my brother Kip, kept in touch with Elizabeth after our father’s death in 1990. She honeymooned with her last husband, Larry Fortensky, at the Forbes house in London, and she kindly came to several of our FORBES events.  My daughter, Catherine, was scheduled to have lunch with Elizabeth at our London house about a year ago. Elizabeth had to cancel at the last minute because she wasn’t feeling well, but she did ask if the food that had been prepared could be brought to her for later consumption at the Dorchester Hotel.  Catherine was delighted to have this done.

suorce: forbes.com

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