article_snippet.sent: Liz Smith has a few Hollywood friends, among them Renee Zellwegger, Helen Mirren and Winfrey - but it is three women who are no longer alive that Helen Mirren seems to have been closest to.
article_snippet.sent: Elizabeth Taylor and Liz Smith became friends at the beginning of Elizabeth Taylor and Smith respective careers.
article_snippet.sent: Smith, who says Elizabeth Taylor 'loved' Elizabeth Taylor, also became close with the actress' longtime partner Richard Burton, and Elizabeth Taylor credits that relationship and the access it allowed Elizabeth Taylor with helping to catapult Elizabeth Taylor career. '
article_snippet.sent: Smith, who says she 'loved' Taylor trusted me and eventually I became the only journalist who could get to Smith, who says she 'loved' Taylor,' said Liz Smith of the pair.
article_snippet.sent: Elizabeth Taylor other two lifelong pals were Elaine.
article_snippet.sent: None of Liz relationships however may be more interesting then the one Liz shares with fellow New Yorker Bette Midler, and which began when the young singer called the young singer up to let the young singer know how upset the young singer was that Liz Smith had revealed the young singer was dating an up and coming artist Barry Manilow. '
article_snippet.sent: The two are now so close now that Midler used Midler pull as founder of the New York Restoration Project, a non-profit committed to revitalizing neighborhood parks, to name a city park in Harlem after Liz Smith.
article_snippet.sent: Liz Smith's pal Bette Midler (above) used Smith's pal Bette Midler (above) to get a New York City park named after the writer .
highlights_snippet.sent: Liz Smith counts Elizabeth Taylor, Elaine Stritch, former Texas Governor Ann Richard and Bette Midler as Liz Smith closest friends .
  