Elizabeth Taylor was famous for receiving extravagant gifts from her seven husbands, but the Hollywood icon didn't hesitate to spoil her friends.
The screen legend, AIDS activist, and one of the last icons of Hollywood's Golden Age died in 2011 at the age of 79. Her estate has been featured in two new documentaries exploring her life and legacy, HBO's “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes.” and “Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar,” produced by Kim Kardashian. The estate was also launched Clothing line.
Tim Mendelsohn, her executive assistant and longtime friend, told Fox News Digital that his boss likes to expand on the gift-giving.
Elizabeth Taylor married her last husband at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. (Kamazor/WireImage/Getty Images)
“In 1991, she married a man she met at the Betty Ford Center, which was not something she was supposed to do, but they fell in love,” Mendelsohn said. to Taylor's last husband, Larry Fortensky.
“They got married at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch,” Mendelsohn said. “As a thank you gift, she gave him an elephant named Gypsy.”
“Sure, she got cars for people, but she gave Michael Jackson that elephant at Neverland Ranch as a surprise,” Mendelsohn said with a laugh.
Elizabeth Taylor's granddaughter Naomi Wilding, left, Lady Elizabeth Taylor and assistant Tim Mendelsohn (J. Vespa/WireImage/Getty Images)
In return, Taylor received a titanium elephant wallet.
When it came to her family, Taylor liked to spoil them too. If they inherited her dazzling eyes, they would have acquired a special collection from her.
“She had these amazing blue eyes that people always said were violet,” Mendelsohn explained. “Both her sons and her brother Howard had those dazzling turquoise blue eyes. She was always buying them the best cashmere sweaters to fit their eyes. They needed to be the softest cashmere sweaters. They must have a whole shelf in their closet full.” That color because of their eyes.”
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“She wasn't afraid to spend her money to give someone the perfect gift that would only come from her,” he said. “If someone lost a dog, she would be the first to give them a new pet. A dog, a cat, any animal they wanted — she would give them one.”
If anyone wants to impress a movie star, all they have to do is give her her jewelry. Mendelsohn recalls how one of Taylor's favorite pastimes was to have him bring in her boxes containing her various diamonds, just to look at them.
“She had a jewelry cabinet,” Mendelsohn recalls. “She was like a little girl admiring her gifts. She certainly had beautiful pieces, especially from her two great loves – Mike Todd and Richard Burton.”
Elizabeth Taylor shows off some of the many diamonds given to her by Richard Burton. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
“She had a lot of emotional pieces from (Burton),” Mendelsohn added of the man who married Taylor twice.
According to Taylor's website, Burton has showered her with gifts “just because” over the years. During their courtship in Rome, during the 1963 revival of “Cleopatra,” he often took her shopping for emeralds and diamonds.
“I can't deny that Richard gave me some wonderful gifts on birthdays and Christmas, but in truth, he was so romantic that he would use any excuse to give me a piece of jewelry,” Taylor recalled in her book, A Love Affair with Jewelry.
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Elizabeth Taylor married – then divorced – her “Cleopatra” co-star Richard Burton twice. (Frank Edwards/Photos International/Getty Images)
“He would give me 'It's Tuesday, I love you' gifts,” Taylor wrote. “'It's a beautiful day' gifts.” “Let's go for a walk. I want to buy you something.” Over the years, I've come to think of these jewelry as my, “It's Tuesday, I love you” jewelry. “And I never knew when he would come up with the most extraordinary ring or something so beautiful and simple.”
It was also Burton who bought her many of her exquisite jewelry, including the 69-carat pear-shaped diamond that came to be called the Burton Taylor Diamond. She later auctioned it off to fund a hospital in Botswana.
Taylor would go on to own one of America's most important private jewelry collections, Vanity gallery I mentioned. It included rare pearls, diamonds, rubies and emeralds. Many of Taylor's prized pieces have been put up for auction at Christie's.
Jewelry owned by Elizabeth Taylor is on display at the press preview of the “Elizabeth Taylor Collection” auction on December 1, 2011 in New York City. (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)
Taylor did not discriminate when it came to jewelry, Mendelsohn said.
“When I first started working with her, it was her 60th birthday,” Mendelsohn recalls. “I saw these earrings that looked like something she wanted. They had amethysts in them and they were shiny. They weren't expensive — like a hundred dollars. I was so impressed that I bought them for her because they were similar to her style. She appreciated them so much. It made her feel so excited to think about them “
When Taylor took home the Gentlemen's title in 2000, she returned the favor.
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“I remember wanting this watch, which was called The Black Watch, and I thought it was so cool,” Mendelsohn said. “I didn't ask her to. But while she was looking for jewelry, she bought two and said she was going to give them to her kids. We went back to L.A., and we were messing around. Then she turned around. She gave me the watch and said, 'This will always be yours.'
“The thing is, the black guards are the men who guard the queen,” Mendelsohn said. She gave the other watch to another dear friend of hers, Jose, her hairdresser. “These are the men watching me,” she felt, “just like the Black Watchmen.” Watch the Queen of England“.'”
Kyle MacLachlan, who co-starred with Taylor in the 1994 film “The Flintstones,” recently claimed that the actress “had to get a gift every day” while bringing the live-action version of the cartoon to life.
John Goodman, Elizabeth Perkins, and Elizabeth Taylor in a scene from the 1994 film The Flintstones. (Universal/Getty Images)
“Dinner's on Me” host Jesse Tyler Ferguson shouted, “Wait, wait, whoa. She had to get a present?”
“A gift every day,” the “Sex and the City” alum repeated.
“And in the dressing room, and in the trailer, it had to be surrounded by greenery. I said that these spaces go directly into my contract… a gift every day.”
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Elizabeth Taylor reportedly asked for a gift every day while filming “The Flintstones.” (Michael Butland/Getty Images)
MacLachlan (65 years old) gave the example of “jewellery” as a type of gift Star of “National Velvet”. I will expect.
“This is second-hand now,” he added, saying he heard the story from producer Bruce Cohen. Bruce probably told me and said, 'Never tell anyone that.' “I'm like it's too late.”
“The Flintstones” was Taylor's final film, although she continued to work in television, including the TV movie “These Old Broads” in 2001.
Elizabeth Taylor is one of the most iconic icons of the Golden Age of Hollywood filmmaking. (Getty Images)
In The Flintstones, Taylor played Wilma Flintstone's mother, Pearl Slaghubbell.
After her death in 2011, The Flintstones producer Bruce Cohen told The Hollywood Reporter: “The moment she said yes, we wanted to make it a special experience for her.”
“Lavender was her favorite color, so we made lavender stairs up to her trailer, and filled the trailer with lavender flowers on her first day of work. I was also told that it was tradition to give her lavish gifts on her first day of production, so we wanted to… We do that too.”
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Elizabeth Taylor was seen here during a night in 2007. She died in 2011. (Getty Images)
Cohen said that when he went to her house to pack the wardrobe before production began, she whispered to him, “Baby, you know I love gifts on the first day of filming.” I said: Yes, I heard this hadith. Then she whispered, “I love Cartier, darling.”
“We didn't have an allowance for Elizabeth Taylor gifts in the budget, so I went to Mr. Spielberg, who was the executive producer, and said, 'Steven, I want you to write me a personal check, so I can go shopping for Elizabeth Taylor.' He loved the idea and understood why we couldn't fit it into the budget.”
Fox News Digital's Bree Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
