Colin Farrell at Elizabeth Taylor's Funeral Leaves Some Scratching Heads

A rep for Collin Farrell confirmed to E! News that it is was the Colin Farrell who is the only known celebrity to attend Elizabeth Taylor's funeral. Farrell did not only attend the funeral, but was part of the ceremony reciting a poem.  It is unclear as to the connection between Farrell and Taylor, leaving many Hollywood columnist scratching their heads today. It wasn't long ago that Taylor was publicly praising him, telling Kim Kardashian in her Harper's Bazaar interview earlier this year that he was one of the few current actor she would love to work with.

1961 Technicolor Corp Academy Award Sold on eBay

A 1961 scientific and engineering Academy Awards was sold on eBay today.  The plaque style Academy Award was for Technicolor Corps  printing system that allowed editing, without cutting the negative, for 65 and 70mm Super Wide screen features such as WEST SIDE STORY, MY FAIR LADY and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA among others. The plaque design Academy Award sold for $4,150.00 the auction closed March 25, 2011.

This style plaque award was also used for for Best Supporting Actor/Actress, Editing, Special Effects, Sound and many other categories prior to being changed to the statuette design.

Plaster Oscar pulled From eBay at request of Academy

Plaster Oscar removed from ebay March 24, 2011

A plaster Oscar listed on eBay was recently removed by the owner at the request of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.  The plaster Oscar was claimed to be from the war years when Oscars were made from plaster for three years due to metal shortages.  After the war the recipients had the option to exchange their plaster one for metal, at which time the Academy destroyed the plaster statuette.  There are only two "known" to exist still today.  The term "known" really means plaster statuettes the Academy recognizes as genuine plaster Oscars from the era.  The Academy is known for bringing claim of infringement of copyright on any Oscar related memorabilia item they cannot independently verify having a hand in sanctioning.  Which roughly translates into, if they are not sure what it is you have than it is an unauthorized item.  Further the seller of any item flagged by the Academy will be asked to surrender the item to the Academy via their general legal counsel Quinn Emanuel.  Academy Assistant General Counsel Scott Miller has boasted in interviews that he keeps a collection of seized Oscars in his office.

This is not to say the Oscar listed on eBay was in anyway illegitimate, however records of an item such as a plaster Oscar were not kept.  Nor were the plaster Oscars marked in any way to identify them as such.  This seems to be one major problem with unusual Oscar memorabilia.  The Academy seems to lack records and or an unwillingness to provide any relevant data towards perpetuating the sale of memorabilia.

Below is the original listing description:

This item came from the estate of an entertainment producer.  The Academy Award is made of plaster (which was done during the WWII years); the base is wood, and there is no nameplate on the statuette.  As you can see, there is some splitting to the plaster, but I have been told that this can easily repaired by a restoration expert.

Elizabeth Taylor Memorabilia A Hot Commodity

A trend common with many high profile deaths holds true for Elizabeth Taylor.  Seven of her movies, including "Cleopatra," "Suddenly, Last Summer" and "National Velvet,"  were among the  top 100 bestsellers on Amazon.com over the last two days.  Also, the number of items sold on eBay with the words "Elizabeth Taylor" in the title shot up by 1600 percent Thursday, compared to last week, and the number of live listings with the words "Elizabeth Taylor" in the title increased by 24 percent Thursday since last week, CBS News National Correspondent Ben Tracy reports.  There is a lot of nostalgia generated by this," says People Magazine Executive Editor JD Heyman . "A lot of interest in ... her romances, her jewels and certainly, the movies she made."

Elizabeth Taylor Andy Warhol Could Bring $30 Million

An Andy Warhol original Elizabeth Taylor portrait could sell for $30 million at a Christie's auction in May, according to several reports. The painting will be put up for auction on May 12 at Christie's. A Hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen bought the rarely seen "Liz #5" silkscreen painting in 2005 for an undisclosed amount, according to the Wall Street Journal.Cohen reportedly elected to put the painting up for auction two weeks before Taylor's death. According a spokesperson for London based Christie's in statement to the L.A. Times "The events are not connected," referring to the sale of the Warhol in proximity to Taylor's passing. Warhol painted a series of Elizabeth Taylor portraits in 1963.  Christie's sold actor Hugh Grant's 1963 Warhol portrait of Taylor, "Liz," for $23.5 million four years ago, the Journal reported.

Elizabeth Taylor My Final Thoughts

Following Hollywood news the way I do, I could not help but anticipate the recent departure of Elizabeth Taylor.  For me her passing is a symbolic closing of the final chapter in Hollywood's classic era.  Elizabeth was one of the last big contract players to be signed and work under the studio star system.  Although the era has been gone for more than 50 years, having the likes of stars such as Elizabeth Taylor amongst us bridged that gap in time. There is no doubt she lead a life of imperfection, trials and hardships.  Somehow through it all she managed to find meaningful purpose and live a fulfilling life.  Yes the era of La Liz is gone, but happily her memory will live on through her tireless humanitarian work and films in which she graced the silver screen. Here's looking at you Ms. Taylor.

Today In Hollywood History March 25, 2011

2001 - 73rd Annual Academy Awards - hosted by Steve Martin, were Russell Crowe (Gladiator) as Best Actor and Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) as Best Actress. Steven Soderbergh won the Best Director award for Traffic.

1954 - 26th Academy Awards - "From Here to Eternity," Holden & A Hepburn win

1985 - 57th Academy Awards - "Amadeus," F Murray Abraham & Sally Field win

1991 - 63rd Academy Awards - "Dance with Wolves," Kathy Bates & J Irons win

1996 - 68th Academy Awards - "Braveheart," Nicholas Cage & Susan Sarandon win