Uneasy Lies the Head . . .

Elizabeth Taylor, in Rome filming 20th Century-Fox's Cleopatra, opened a can of spoiled beans, ate them, and was carted away feet first to a Roman hospital with a galloping case of food poisoning. That alone was enough to make headlines everywhere. But Liz had opened more than a can of beans.

Looking as gaunt as a secondhand scarecrow, Husband Eddie Fisher flew back from a TV performance in Lisbon and hurried to his sick wife's bedside. Actor Richard Burton--who plays Mark Antony in the picture--flew in from Paris, where he had been moonlighting in a minor part in The Longest Day. Meanwhile, rumors flew every which way.

Fisher, according to gossip, has lost the magic he once had for Liz when he whisked her off to Grossinger's in 1958. Burton, according to gossip, has made more than his mark as Antony. Taylor, according to gossip, is merely using the Burton rumors to shield the real truth: that she is mad, mad, mad for her personable director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 53, who, however, is very busy shooting all day and scripting all night.

According to cold fact, 20th Century-Fox has poured at least $19 million into the picture. The total cost will probably run to $25 million, making it the most expensive motion picture ever made. As far as most studio executives are concerned, Taylor could have an affair with Mao Tse-tung--provided she stays on the job in Rome. The trade freely predicts that 20th Century-Fox may never become 21st Century-Fox if Taylor should bug out of the film now.

Liz's jowls may be thickening a bit and her slacks may have become a mite tauter than they need be, but she is still the serpent of denial. "I stop being queen at home," she has purred. "At home, my husband takes over as King Tut." Or perhaps as King Tut, tut.

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