Dinah!

In November 1977, Elizabeth appeared on Dinah Shore’s syndicated daytime talk show, Dinah!, during a salute to women who were first ladies in their respective fields of entertainment. (Lucille Ball, Ella Fitzgerald, and Beverly Sills were Dinah’s other first ladies.) Elizabeth was unable to join Dinah in her California studio, so the two got creative. “A few minutes before the show, I had a conversation with, unquestionably, one of the first ladies of the motion picture industry, Elizabeth Taylor,” she says. “The reason that we are talking to each other with telephones in our hand is that she is in her home in Georgetown, Washington, and we are here in Television City.”

Elizabeth, who has a feline companion seated on her lap for much of the conversation, is wearing some of her Bulgari emeralds and explains that she’s on her way to a party. “I’m sort of dressed up and I feel kind of silly because I know it’s a different time [for] you in California,” she says. Dinah reminds Elizabeth that in California, anything goes.

Given the show’s subject, the conversation naturally turns to acting. Dinah tells Elizabeth that she’s heard great word of mouth about her latest film, A Little Night Music, and that she’s done her own singing of Sondheim’s songs throughout. “You didn’t even call in your friend to do the looping on ‘Send in the Clowns’?” the singer teases Elizabeth.

Elizabeth says that, while her career isn’t important to her, acting is. “I have great respect for acting,” she says. “I have great respect for actors.”

Dinah asks Elizabeth, who was in the middle of campaigning for her husband, John Warner, whether he would mind if she took another acting role. “John wouldn’t mind if I acted again,” Elizabeth says, as the camera turns to her husband, who nods in agreement. “He would be delighted.” Dinah suggests that with John’s movie star good looks, he could play her leading man. “I think John and John Wayne should play twins or something,” Elizabeth says. “I think your John’s better looking,” Dinah says.