Elizabeth Taylor, photographed in 1961 by a young Douglas Kirkland. “It was actually Elizabeth Taylor who gave me my first break,” Kirkland says. “And it was that first meeting with her that changed my life forever.”

*Top,* London, 1963, by Kirkland; *above,* Richard Burton, Taylor, and director Joseph Losey on the set of 1968’s *Boom!,* by Gered Mankowitz.

Taylor prepares to shoot the Kabuki dance movements on the set of *Boom!*, by Mankowitz.

Wearing a gown by Barbara Matera on the set of *A Little Night Music,* Vienna, 1976. Photographed by Norman Parkinson.

A break between scenes on the set of *Boom!,* by Mankowitz.

Burton and Taylor, photographed by Milton Greene in London, 1963. The couple would marry for the first time a year later.

On the way to the opera, Paris, 1963. Photographed by Kirkland.

David Bowie and Taylor, photographed by Terry O’Neill the day the two first met, at director George Cukor’s house in Beverly Hills, 1974.

In Vienna during the filming of *A Little Night Music.* Photographed by O’Neill.

On the set of Cukor’s 1976 film, *The Blue Bird,* photographed by Greene at the palace of Catherine the Great, now the Hermitage Museum, in St. Petersburg.

On the set of *A Little Night Music.* Shot by O’Neill.

A rare candid, shot by Gary Bernstein. “I like this shot a lot,” Bernstein says. “She liked it as well, especially because it showed off the famous Elizabeth Taylor Diamond.”

Forever Elizabeth

Photographers Douglas Kirkland, Gered Mankowitz, Norman Parkinson, Milton Greene, Terry O’Neill, and Gary Bernstein offer different looks at Hollywood’s brightest star

In many ways, we have Elizabeth Taylor to thank (or curse) for the modern age of stardom: she was one of the first actresses to garner as much attention for her personal life as for her work; she was an early activist for AIDS/H.I.V., an effort that earned her presidential recognition and no shortage of gratitude from the community for whom she raised more than $270 million; she was the first celebrity to have her own line, with Elizabeth Arden, of fragrances, earning her more money than she ever made acting; and, perhaps most tellingly, Taylor was photographed endlessly in all stages, and states, of a life that was long and glamorous but not entirely without disruption and heartbreak.

Forever Elizabeth, a new collection of images by the photographers who captured her best—from Terry O’Neill to Norman Parkinson to Eva Sereny—duly makes that point. And yet, as you spend more time with the book, you come to realize that you can’t tear your eyes away from the pages as easily as you might flit from one star’s Instagram account to another’s. Elizabeth Taylor, it turns out, may have been the inspiration for an entire generation, but she was an altogether singular actress, and woman. —Nathan King

Forever Elizabeth: Iconic Photographers on a Legendary Star is out now from ACC Art Books

Photos: © Gered Mankowitz (Boom!, all); © Norman Parkinson (in red); © Milton Greene (Burton in suit,The Blue Bird); © Terry O’Neill (Bowie; under tree; A Little Night Music, black-and-white); © Gary Bernstein (candid); © Douglas Kirkland (all others)