CLEOPATRA: Secrets From the Set

THE TROUBLED FILM BEGAN ONE OF HOLLYWOOD'S GREATEST LOVE STORIES

- Louise A. Barile

Elizabeth Taylor put on her most stoic face as she took her seat on a gilded platform before an enormous sphinx. Her entrance into Rome, drawn by slaves during an elaborate procession, was conceived as the visual high point of Cleopatra, but the star felt terrified. “She had gotten death threats. She was scared she was going to be killed or that the extras would boo her,” says Kate Andersen, author of Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit and Glamour of an Icon.

The 6,000 Italians playing citizens of the ancient republic were supposed to cheer and shout “Cleopatra!” Instead, when they caught sight of Elizabeth — who had just been vilified by the press and the Vatican for her scandalous affair with co-star Richard Burton — they screamed, “Liz! Liz!” and “Baci! Baci!” while blowing air kisses. “She burst into tears,” says Andersen. “It was an emotionally exhausting time for her.”