Diamonds, Disney, and Dame Elizabeth Taylor: A Fabulous Antique Necklace Moment at the Oscars

Seventy years ago, Elizabeth Taylor sparkled at the Oscars in an antique necklace gifted by her second husband, Michael Wilding

Tomorrow, the spotlight will shine on the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood. Before the stars step on to the red carpet this year, let’s look back at a special jewelry moment at the Oscars seven decades ago.

Michael Wilding and Elizabeth Taylor attend the 26th Academy Awards ceremony at the the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood on March 25, 1954 (PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy)

As the curtain rose at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood on the evening of March 25, 1954, Elizabeth Taylor’s chiffon skirts rustled as she waited in the wings. “Are these things on?” emcee Donald O’Connor joked into the microphones after one of his punchlines was met with mild mumblings from the members of the audience, who were waiting impatiently to learn the names of the winners of the 26th Academy Awards. Lots of the top nominated stars were nowhere to be seen in the theater. Many were out of town for other commitments. In fact, so many nominees were on the east coast that the ceremony was also simulcast from Rockefeller Center in New York, with the actor Frederic March handling hosting duties at the NBC Center Theatre.

O’Connor and March finished their tandem opening acts and ushered in a live commercial presentation from the show’s sponsor, Oldsmobile. Paul Douglas and Betty White sang the praises of the carmaker’s new Starfire model. And then, back in Los Angeles, Donald O’Connor introduced the evening’s first two presenters: Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding, who would announce the winners of the awards for Best Documentary Short Subject and Best Documentary Feature.

The audience broke into applause as twenty-two-year-old Elizabeth stepped out on to the stage in her glamorous gown and jewels. She was followed by her husband, the forty-one-year-old English actor Michael Wilding, who wore a crisp tuxedo. Unusually, Wilding (and O’Connor, and some of the other men appearing on stage) wore blue shirts instead of the usual white option–a choice that was designed to make them look white, not gray, on black-and-white television sets. Indeed, one columnist who was present in the theater in Hollywood crabbed, “You should really be telling me what took place, because you were at home watching the show on TV, and since the movie awards were planned for and played to the television cameras you saw the show much better than I did.”