Colin Farrell befriended Elizabeth Taylor after hospital encounter
Colin Farrell has opened up about his friendship with late actress Dame Elizabeth Taylor, revealing they bonded after he sent his well wishes to her as she underwent heart surgery in 2009.
The Phone Booth star was a surprise mourner at the Cleopatra icon's funeral in 2011, and he later revealed they had been friends for 18 months before her death that March (11) and he has now told how they got to know each other after a chance encounter.
Farrell was at a hospital in October, 2009 for the birth of his son
Henry when he heard the actress was undergoing the operation, and
he later arranged to send flowers to Taylor but was stunned to
learn she had already sent him a bouquet.
They struck up a friendship, and the actor reveals he often used to
call his pal in the middle of the night for chats.
He tells Britain's Daily Mail, "I was at the hospital when Henry
was being born, and about an hour or two before he came into the
world, I went for a smoke, and a couple of guys came in and said
they were with Elizabeth Taylor, and I said: 'Oh, is she all
right?' They said: 'She's fine, she's just having a stent put in
her heart, it's no big deal.' I said: 'Tell her I said hello,
although she probably won't know who I am,' and they said: 'Oh, she
knows who you are all right' - which was one of the most pleasing
things I'd ever heard in my life.
"So Henry was born, we got home, and two days later I called my
publicist and said: 'Can you send some flowers to Elizabeth Taylor
from me, please?' She said: 'That's funny, but there are some
flowers here from Elizabeth Taylor to you!' And then ensued the
most unique friendship I've ever had, which lasted for the last 18
months of Elizabeth's life.
"I used to call her at 3am because I sleep at crazy hours and she
was an erratic sleeper, too. She was a great friend and a faithful
friend, and, oh, I loved her."
The Hollywood legend died of congestive heart failure on 23 March
(11).