Rise to Fame
She was negotiating Cleopatra terms reportedly from her bathtub in 1959, with Eddie Fisher relaying the offer. The terms: $1 million plus 10% of the gross. Fox accepted, then proceeded to nearly bankrupt itself, spending $44 million across two years of production. She walked away with $7 million. MGM had signed her at ten, National Velvet at twelve made her bankable, and back-to-back Oscar nominations from Tennessee Williams adaptations made her untouchable enough to demand terms like that. Every actor who's ever asked for backend points owes her a thank-you note.
In the Spotlight
The movies won her two Oscars, but the activism is what aged best. She started raising money for AIDS research in 1984, when most of Hollywood wouldn't touch the subject and studio heads hung up on her calls. She co-founded amfAR in 1985 and later established her own foundation. Three rounds of congressional testimony helped get the Ryan White CARE Act funded. That wasn't in the job description. The total haul over her lifetime: reportedly more than $270 million. Her jewelry collection sold for $137.2 million at Christie's after she died, which got the headlines. The foundation got the results.
Side Notes
Eight marriages, seven husbands. The first, to Nicky Hilton, lasted eight months. The third, to producer Mike Todd, ended when his plane crashed. The fourth, to Eddie Fisher, started as a scandal because Fisher was married to her friend Debbie Reynolds. The Vatican condemned the Cleopatra set affair as "erotic vagrancy." She married Richard Burton twice anyway. Her last wedding, to construction worker Larry Fortensky, happened at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch with thirteen paparazzi helicopters overhead. She later said every man after Burton was "really just company."
Final Chapter
Her funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park began 15 minutes late at her own request. Colin Farrell read Gerard Manley Hopkins, her grandson played 'Amazing Grace' on trumpet, and the service followed Jewish rites. A private memorial at the Warner Bros. lot drew nearly 400 people; Michael Caine spoke, and Elton John closed with 'Blue Eyes.'