The third time is a charm. That’s what they say, right? For Elizabeth Taylor, she thought she’d found true love with husband number three, Mike Todd. Fresh from marriage number two, she fell hard for the 47 year old Todd (she was only 24). He was also twice divorced. What drew Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd together? Was is the multiple marriages and an understanding of what happens when a marriage falls apart? Was it her beauty that drew his to her? Maybe it was the engagement ring that won her over. Maybe it was his larger than life personality. Sadly, we’ll never know.
Barely divorced from Michael Wilding, her second husband, Elizabeth and Mike Todd married on February 2, 1957 in Acapulco, with the town mayor officiating. Todd had proposed with a 29.4 carat emerald cut diamond ring. But then again, he was known to be a bit showy. There’s also the Cartier tiara he bought Liz. And a few months after the wedding, he threw a birthday party at Madison Square Garden with 18,000 attendance and it was broadcast on CBS (national TV). One would assume he loved the spotlight.
The couple, while only married for a little over a year, had one daughter together: Elizabeth “Liza” Frances Todd. Liza was born on August 6, 1957.
The love affair between Liz and Mike, as tempestuous as it was, was short lived (yet again for Liz), as Michael died in a plane crash on March 22, 1958. The plane, a twin-engine Lockheed Lodestar named The Lucky Liz, suffered engine failure, while being flown overloaded in icy conditions, at an altitude that was too high for having only one working engine under the heavy load. The plane went out of control and crashed, killing all four on board.
Elizabeth was devastated, calling Mike the love of her life. In one of her final interviews she said she was at her happiest with Mike Todd.
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