BUtterfield 8 is a realist novel. It is a loosely based upon the life of socialite and flapper Starr Faithfull, whose unsolved death in 1931 became a tabloid sensation. Reviews were mixed but the novel was a best-seller. It was adapted for a 1960 movie Starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey. A paperback edition published at the same time sold more than one million copies.This was the first movie by Elizabeth Taylor to win an Oscar. She had been nominated several times, but passed over. Her Oscar drought ended in 1960 when she brought home the coveted statue for her performance in BUtterfield 8 (1960) as Gloria Wandrous, a call girl who is involved with a married man. Some critics blasted the movie but they couldn't ignore her performance. She hated to make the picture but was forced to make it as she was under contract to MGM. It is reported that she refused to talk the directors or producers. They just told her what to do and she did it. At one point during her life-threatening illness while filming BUtterfield 8, she was actually pronounced dead.