Strong Women in Cinema: 1/18/19

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Elizabeth Taylor (American; 1932-2011): Elizabeth Taylor began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s, and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She continued her career successfully into the 1960s, and remained a well-known public figure for the rest of her life with a strong identification as an AIDS research advocate. In 1999, the American Film Institute named her the seventh-greatest female screen legend.

National Velvet (1944) is the story of a 12-year-old girl, Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor), who lives in the small town of Sewels in Sussex, England. She wins a spirited gelding in a raffle and decides to train him for the Grand National steeplechase. Velvet is aided by a penniless young drifter named Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney) who is brought into the Browns’ home as a hired hand. Mi and Velvet travel to the Grand National where they hire a professional jockey, but the night before the race Velvet senses the jockey lacks faith in her horse, the Pie, and will lose. Velvet convinces Mi to dismiss the jockey, leaving them without a rider. That night, Mi overcomes his fear of riding and intends to race Pie himself. Instead, he discovers that Velvet has slipped on the jockey silks and intends to ride the horse herself.