Publishers in a frenzy to release Liz Taylor memoirs

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It has not even been a week since Elizabeth Taylor passed away but book projects on her have already been brought forward.

British publishers Mainstream, JR Books, Macmillan and Faber are all prioritising biographies about Taylor to be published in the coming weeks.

Mainstream's book, Elizabeth Taylor: The Lady, The Lover, The Legend: 1932-2011 by Hollywood biographer David Bret, is being released 'imminently' with Mainstream's managing director Bill Campbell claiming the author feared legal reprisals from Taylor because of its contents.

'We are the only new book,' the Independent quoted Campbell as saying. 'We have been holding it back because it is controversial in parts. Current libel laws would have prevented it. I would call it as much a tribute as it is revelatory," he said.

Bret's book claims Taylor 'was the most controversial Hollywood icon since Mae West', and contains revelations about the late actress' mother, who it is alleged had lesbian affairs and romances with directors to win her daughter parts.

There are also allegations surrounding Taylor's ex-husband Richard Burton's 'bisexuality' and the millions the former actress blew on houses, diamonds and yachts.

JR Books is bringing forward the paperback release of its 2010 title Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century.

Pan Macmillan is reprinting 25,000 copies of its 2007 biography, Elizabeth.

Faber has brought forward by a year the paperback release of William J Mann's How to be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood, originally scheduled for July 2012.

'She didn't co-operate with our book, I don't think she liked co-operating with them,' Faber editor Walter Donohue said.

'William spoke to people around her, people who had worked with her or her parents. There had been so much written about her private life, but ours was not about that,' he stated.

Brokeback Mountain star Jake Gyllenhaal is planning to direct films in the future because he constantly worries about his longevity as an actor.

The actor fears his onscreen appeal will eventually wane and he wants to expand his Hollywood career by making his own movies.

'Well, I do have a number of things that I'm developing. That's probably where the future lies for me -- but I'm not going to give up the day job just yet. I'd like to see where it goes,' the Daily Star quoted him as saying.

'You're always wondering how long this will last. It's a piece of being an actor. There's always someone more talented or younger than you. But I also like to write. In years to come, I think that will expand. I won't just be scrapping for the next job. Maybe I'll create something for myself,' he added.

Singer Gwen Stefani has donated $1 million to the relief effort in Japan.

The money, presented to Save the Children's Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund, will help finance ongoing recovery efforts in the country.

'The disaster in Japan is beyond heartbreaking, and I want to do anything I can to help,' the New York Daily News quoted Stefani as saying in a press release.

'I've been inspired by Japan for many years and have a true love, appreciation and respect for the Japanese people and their culture,' she said.

The rocker first visited Japan in 1996 while on tour with her band No Doubt, and since then Tokyo's Harajuku area has served as the inspiration for much of the singer's work.

She has dubbed her backup dancers the 'Harajuku Girls', dressing them in the neighborhood's famed nonconformist style.

In 2006, she released the Harajuku Lovers collection under her fashion label L.A.M.B. -- a line heavily influenced by Japanese street fashion.

Stefani also announced plans for a limited-edition T-shirt to be released on nodoubt.com next week and a charity auction that will allow fans to bid on a chance to attend an exclusive fund-raising event in Los Angeles -- all proceeds to go directly to aid efforts.