A Visit from Liz Taylor

Genevieve Bujold with Elizabeth Taylor

During the filming of Anne of the Thousand Days, an unexpected guest was movie star Elizabeth Taylor. No, she did not play Anne Boleyn, though she certainly wanted to. She had to be told by her husband Richard Burton that frankly at age 35, she was 'too long in the tooth'.

Still, Elizabeth Taylor did make her presence known. Besides getting herself a cameo in the picture (as a masked courtier), she kept a watchful eye over Burton. Apparently, Taylor had been upset by rumours of an affair between him and his attractive young co-star Genevieve Bujold. To make sure he behaved himself (Burton was a notorious flirt when it came to the ladies), Taylor invited herself on set.

Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold relaxing during rehearsals.

Elizabeth Taylor making an appearance in the the film. She is wearing the famous 'La Peregrina Pearl' once owned by Queen Mary I (Anne Boleyn's stepdaughter).

Bujold was so irritated by Taylor that, as the story goes, she vowed to 'give that bitch an acting lesson she'll never forget'! In the memorable scene where Anne Boleyn confronts Henry VIII in the Tower of London on the night before her execution, Bujold gave a blistering performance - 'a display of acting skill I have seldom seen equaled in my career', according to the film's producer Hal Wallis -  and then triumphantly stormed off the set.

A half century after the film's release, Bujold was more complimentary towards Taylor. As she said in a recent interview, “She (Elizabeth) was playful... I didn’t know her very much, but she was always supremely pleasant with me.”