Liz Taylor's many ties to Long Island
Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor in the 1958 film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Part of the motion picture was filmed on Long Island. Credit: HO/AFP/Getty Images
Elizabeth Taylor had a history on Long Island, both professionally and personally.
Part of the 1958 motion picture "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" was shot at a 1910 red brick Muttontown estate, according to newspaper reports. During filming, she stayed at a Huntington Bay Tudor known as Far Horizons, the home's owners told Jyll Kata of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, who is currently listing the house for $3.499 million.
Taylor was photographed dining at Rothmann's in East Norwich during that time, and a few years later ate there with husband No. 5 (also No. 6) Richard Burton, a spokeswoman for the restaurant said.
The couple once stayed the weekend at a waterside guesthouse at the Glen Cove estate, now gone, known as the Pembroke. It was 1964, and Burton was on Broadway doing "Hamlet," said Jane Loew, whose father, Arthur Loew Sr., son of the MGM founder and Loews theater chain founder Marcus Loew, owned the property.
Loew recalled a particularly memorable conversation at the house. "Richard said, 'Do you see that brooch and ring Elizabeth is wearing?' They were made of emeralds and diamonds. 'Those are the only two pieces she's going to get from me,' " Loew said. The conversation always made her laugh, she said, because Burton would go on to buy Taylor the Taj-Mahal diamond and other expensive baubles.
The couple sometimes stayed at the Quogue home of their attorney, the late Aaron Frosch. "They'd come for a couple of days when they were in New York," said Joan Hollander, Frosch's sister-in-law. She dined with Taylor and Burton at the house in 1967. "It was a very nice family Thanksgiving," Hollander said. The Burtons stayed in a carriage house on the Shinnecock Road property. "We just finished restoring it," said Rose Germano, now the homeowner. "We were going to make an Elizabeth Taylor room there."
Frederick Wilkinson, who owns the Quogue Cab Co., worked for Frosch at the time, driving Taylor to and from the airport and cleaning the pool. "I would get very happy when she would come out for a swim," he laughed.
In 1973, Taylor and Burton retreated to the house in an effort to repair their first marriage. But reporters tracked them down, chasing rumors of a divorce.
Taylor caused a minor sensation when she shopped at the A&P on Montauk Highway. She and Burton also were spotted playing tennis before she left for California to see her ailing mother. When she returned, she stayed in Manhattan while Burton stewed in Quogue. She soon announced their separation.
Other local connections: She shot scenes from the 1967 movie "Reflections in a Golden Eye" in Garden City and once spent a weekend in the late 1970s at Andy Warhol's Montauk estate, following her second divorce from Burton.
