HOLLYWOOD -- As the days narrow between Elizabeth Taylor and age 65, the star is girlishly giggly, refreshingly self-deprecating and preoccupied by a cause she considers far more important than acting.

"The fact that I'm going to be 92, no, 65, depends on how you look at it. It's either very depressing or it's very nice," she said at a press conference here to promote her latest AIDS fundraising effort.

She stepped lively onstage with her little doggy Sugar bounding ahead, then hoisted her onto her lap, complaining about the snowy Maltese's heft.

"We went to the vet the other day and he said, 'She has to lose weight.' I was like, 'She, too?'" said Taylor.

"She has to lose a pound-and-a-half. Lucky bitch."

Taylor appeared to be in the middle of her weight range, neither notably slim nor heavy. Her inky black hair is now short and spiky and she was a mixture of glamor and comfort, wearing black slacks, open-toed high-heeled sandals, a burgundy moire tunic, dangly gold earrings and her trademark dramatic eye makeup.

The dress code will be black tie here Feb. 16 when Taylor is honored at a gala tribute at the Pantages Theatre. Michael Jackson will premiere a song he has written for his friend at the event, and John Travolta, Lily Tomlin, Magic Johnson, Ellen DeGeneres, Shirley MacLaine, Mira Sorvino, Tim Allen, Drew Barrymore, Carol Burnett, Naomi Judd, Kevin Bacon, Whoopi Goldberg, Patti LaBelle, Liza Minnelli, Rosie O'Donnell, Roseanne and Steven Seagal are among those scheduled to appear.

"I'm not bringing a date," Taylor said, adopting a stage whimper. "I don't know anybody. I'm going with my children like a good grandmother."

The evening will be taped to air as a primetime special, Happy Birthday Elizabeth: A Celebraton Of Life, on ABC later in February. All proceeds will go to Taylor's AIDS foundation, the reason she agreed to the fete.

"It's not because of my birthday. It's to celebrate life, not mine," she said.

Since she began her crusade against Hollywood homophobia and for AIDS research 14 years ago, Taylor is creditted with raising $100-million US.

"The fact that it's my birthday is just an excuse for me to try to make money for AIDS."

On her actual birthday, Feb. 27, Taylor will be at an AIDS event in Turkey.

Although she was suffering, along with the rest of us, from congestion from pollen blown into town on the Santa Ana winds, Taylor said her health is good and her continued absence from acting is just a matter of not finding an appealing part.

She was reluctant to look back at her life and career, and said she's still too self-conscious to watch her old movies.

"I don't look back a lot. I look forward more," she said.

Having forged a second career as a businesswoman with her perfume line, Taylor did mention one corporate-minded regret -- 20 years ago turning down a company that was developing a sugar substitute. It offered her 10% of gross profits if she'd be its spokesperson.

"I said, 'I don't want to be associated with a diet thing.' Ten percent!"

Taylor will talk about her business, her cause and her life on the Valentine's Day edition of ABC's 20/20 with Barbara Walters, an old friend.

"We've even dated the same guy," quipped Taylor.


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