Elizabeth Taylor Engaging as 'Ordinary' Women in Two TV Movies

ET was excellent as two women facing middle age: Below, in 1978's 'Return Engagement'
with Joseph Bottoms; above, in 1983's 'Between Friends,' with Carol Burnett.

As with Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Taylor became good friends with co-star Joseph Bottoms.

Even after Elizabeth Taylor’s glory days as a top box office star, she made movies regularly right until the mid-1970s. When Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton divorced a second time in ‘76, both quickly remarried, to far less volatile partners. Elizabeth helped new hubby John Warner win a senator’s seat and her weight went up to new highs, signaling among other things, semi-retirement.

This photo was from a series with celebrities wearing black turtlenecks/black background.

One of the few projects Elizabeth did during this time was Hallmark Hall of Fame's Return Engagement in 1978. Soon after her divorce from Warner in ’82, Taylor made Between Friends for HBO. What did the two television movies have in common? Aside from acting as bookmarks to her Warner years, Taylor plays women facing middle age and loneliness. One is a college professor, another is a pampered housewife. Elizabeth is not fab and fit in either, but she is quite touching in both.

ET as Emily Loomis.

Soft lighting, heavy makeup! 

In Return Engagement, Taylor plays college professor Emily Loomis, who had a brush with showbiz fame years ago. Now living a quiet life, Emily's peace is disrupted when she takes in a boarder. Stewart is a college student who is a show biz fan and a hyper personality, played by Joseph Bottoms. When he finds out that Emily was once in the biz, Stewart signs her up for the school fundraiser show. She balks, he persists, and sure enough, she gives in. They bond in rehearsals and bask in the enthused reception. Somewhere along the line, the history professor develops romantic feelings for her renter. Despite tears, he moves on, and Emily rejoins the world herself.

Elizabeth Taylor as a history professor, with a showbiz past.

Let me be direct. Return Engagement is a small, old-fashioned story, and was considered so even at the time. Most critics seized on this aspect and Taylor's size to pan the project. At this point, this was a knee jerk reaction for most pundits when it came to Elizabeth Taylor, anyway. But those who gave it a chance were pleased with the rapport between Taylor and Bottoms, and surprised that Elizabeth’s performance was simple and sincere, after years of playing blaring, baroque broads, after her classic role as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Thankfully, ET's Ann Miller flip was toned down for the actually movie!

For those who admire Taylor mainly for her beauty, you’ll need to put that bias aside to enjoy ET here. This is the Elizabeth Taylor that “inspired” Joan Rivers to rip on her weight for decades. At this time, this was a shock to audiences, but in hindsight, we got used to Elizabeth’s yo-yo weight gains, and her growing older. Edith Head dresses her simply, flatteringly, and most importantly, character appropriately. Though, for the student show, Taylor wears a tasteful red Halston! What is distracting, no matter what time of day or night, ET is in full '70s makeup: lots of bright red lipstick, smoky eye makeup, and magic marker eyebrows. It looks hard against the soft shadows of Taylor’s lighting. So does the jet black dye job, fashioned in a simple, but rather odd Ann Miller flip. 

Joseph Bottoms and ET, in a Halston from her own closet.
Let's just say the film wisely doesn't dwell on their song and dance number.

Yet, Taylor's performance draws you in and her visuals become less jarring. Emily, who took the divorce from her show biz partner/hubby hard, has reinvented herself as an academic and immersed her life in work. This is the antithesis to Taylor's life experience, but Elizabeth’s work here is restrained and natural. Once her character warms up to her young boarder, Taylor's humor comes into play, too. And though you expect to cringe during the rehearsals and performance of her former musical act, it's made clear Emily was window dressing, not the talent. ET approaches it straightforwardly, and it’s engrossing as the two grow closer. 

Joseph Bottoms was indeed adorable!

How adorable was Joseph Bottoms? Although his character Stewart is a bit much, Bottoms is charming, enthusiastic, and wholesomely handsome. Taylor became close to him, and even tried to play matchmaker with daughter Liza. I also recall him gallantly defending Elizabeth against critics who focused on her weight.

Elizabeth Taylor & Carol Burnett in 'Between Friends,' one of HBO's first films.

Return Engagement is a marker to Taylor’s life as a Republican senator’s wife. Between Friends is one for Elizabeth, back in showbiz full time, and on her own. Again, don't expect classic drama or Elizabeth at her beautiful best. Though 1983’s Between Friends was made five years after Return Engagement, she looks ten years younger. In one of HBO’s first films, this was another step in Elizabeth trying to update her image. Even in her post-superstardom, Elizabeth wasn't afraid to take chances and put herself out there.

As with Joseph Bottoms, Taylor made yet another good friend in a co-star, this time Carol Burnett. The two play a pair of divorcees who form an unlikely friendship. The movie should have kept the catchier title of the source novel, Nobody Makes Me Cry. The story gives Carol the chance to play a tough career woman who likes hook ups, with no strings. Elizabeth plays a nice Jewish girl who just wants to marry again and have a man take care of her.

ET& Carol's divorcees become pinkie pals!

Burnett & Taylor became buds, too.

The diva duo won good personal reviews, but more than a few (male?) critics thought Carol playing mantrap Mary Catherine and ET as desperate Deborah, who can’t get a date, was a stretch. Why couldn't Carol play a desirable woman, because she's not a classic beauty? Burt Reynolds, in his heyday, said Carol was his pick to take on a desert island, because he thought her sexy and funny. As for Elizabeth, often cast as the femme fatale, some critics overlooked the aspect of the Taylor persona that softened people toward her—the thwarted efforts to find happiness through marriage. Some of the lines sound like Taylor could have written them: "I like being married, I like doing for a man." As for Carol, after a snowbound evening bonding over wine, ET’s character talks about her strong father, Burnett flatly says, "Mine drank." This was Burnett's own experience, too.

ET's Deborah Shapiro faces divorce and an empty nest with drinking.
Four months after 'Between Friends' aired, Taylor went to Betty Ford.

As the two women grow closer, Mary Catherine goes from realtor to real friend, and it becomes apparent that Deborah has a drinking problem. Between Friends aired Sept. of ‘83, and by December, Elizabeth Taylor was the first celebrity to go public about going to the Betty Ford Center. This makes some of the story elements and dialogue regarding Taylor’s character prophetic. Ultimately, Burnett's character gives up her free and easy ways and Taylor’s hits bottom with the bottle and her bogus rich boyfriend. 

Elizabeth's Deborah just wants things the way they used to be.
This is one of Taylor's best latter day performances.

The interaction between Elizabeth and Carol is marvelous, both straightforward and occasionally bawdy. Again, Taylor gets to play a middle-aged woman at a crossroads, much like herself, minus her extraordinary stardom. I always thought this was the key to the enduring popularity of Elizabeth Taylor. Despite the trappings, ET's life has been typical of her generation: gaining weight with motherhood, falling into the post-war cocktail and “mother's little helper” era, marital woes, facing middle age as a divorcee, health issues—in short, all stuff her fans went through. Heck, my Dad would foam at the mouth anytime an Elizabeth Taylor movie came on during her heyday, with all the usual criticism. After Taylor went public about Betty Ford, he softened up toward her, as he was an ex-drinker with health woes himself. 

Just as the modest Return Engagement was followed by the smash Broadway show The Little Foxes, starring Mrs. John Warner, the intimate Between Friends was followed by a splashy reunion with Richard Burton in Private Lives. Those Broadway shows received far more press and demonstrated her still-great stardom, but these two little TV movies show Elizabeth Taylor at her most warm and human.

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Carol & ET were big soap fans. Taylor already appeared on 'General Hospital'
as Helena Cassadine. Here, ET interrupts Carol's gig on 'All My Children.'