Rock Hudson

I prefer Doris Day to Elizabeth Taylor. Perhaps Day is Taylor’s equal as an actress, although Day was restricted to musicals and light comedy. But I do like Day’s songs. They had Rock Hudson in common. Day was broke in the ‘80s, and had to go back on TV, and having Hudson as a guest in 1985 probably helped in the fight against AIDS. Taylor, on the other hand, chairs AmfAR and reduced poor Rock to a poster child. In Jewelry Taylor compares herself, for instance, to the Duchess of Windsor. It’s not that their friendship was all that important to Taylor; it’s that they competed for the same jewels.

Perhaps when Elizabeth Taylor dies, she will be properly appreciated. At the moment, people have forgotten that she’s an excellent actress. She may have been a better screen actor than, say, Richard Burton. How did she compare with Paul Newman? Let us not forget Newman in his youth was as known for his baby blue eyes just as Taylor in her heyday was celebrarted for violet eyes. But age and ill-health in women is mocked. Day is retired. Day never seemed to go to seed. Taylor is a highly visible celebrity, and mocked as a harridan, as a fat, scary banshee.