A nude picture of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor has been released by a private collector, just over a week after the actress died of heart disease.
The picture is from the time when Taylor was just 24, and it is a possibility that it is the first time that the photograph has been shown publicly, reports dailymail.co.uk.
Taylor kneels down passionately on a white fur rug, and looks extremely sensual in the picture, which is said to have been an engagement gift from her to producer Michael Todd, her third husband.
The photograph was taken by one of her closest friends, actor and photographer Roddy McDowall. He persuaded her to pose naked by promising her it would be done tastefully, and that he did.
Taylor presented the intimate picture to Todd after his proposal in 1956. They married a few months later, but it was short-lived as Todd was killed in an air crash, just 13 months after their wedding day.
After the tragic incident, Taylor is believed to have given the nude photograph to her assistant and make-up artist Penny Taylor.
It was bought by private collector Jim Shaudis in 1980 and had been thought lost. But after her death March 23, he decided to release the image in public for fans of the star.
Taylor kneels down passionately on a white fur rug, and looks extremely sensual in the picture, which is said to have been an engagement gift from her to producer Michael Todd, her third husband.
The photograph was taken by one of her closest friends, actor and photographer Roddy McDowall. He persuaded her to pose naked by promising her it would be done tastefully, and that he did.
Taylor presented the intimate picture to Todd after his proposal in 1956. They married a few months later, but it was short-lived as Todd was killed in an air crash, just 13 months after their wedding day.
After the tragic incident, Taylor is believed to have given the nude photograph to her assistant and make-up artist Penny Taylor.
It was bought by private collector Jim Shaudis in 1980 and had been thought lost. But after her death March 23, he decided to release the image in public for fans of the star.
