Whoopi Goldberg has joined the celebrities paying tribute to late movie icon Dame Elizabeth Taylor, praising her good friend and mentor as "a magnificent woman".
The Hollywood legend died from congestive heart failure on Wednesday morning (23Mar11) and stars including Sir Elton John and LaToya Jackson have been among the first to publicly mourn her passing.
Goldberg remembered the Cleopatra star during a segment on her U.S. talk show The View on Wednesday, when she recalled one of the first and most valuable lessons she ever learned from Taylor.
Goldberg said, "She was a big part of my life. It was because of her that I learned about collecting things. This is day one when we met. She said to me, 'Careers go up and down, so you need to get them (movie executives) to get you a present.'
"She said, 'I know Sandy (Goldberg's manager), I'll help you work this out', because you must always know, when your career (dwindles), you can look around and see the things that you got that your agent didn't commission, that just is yours, so you can see your career, like mementos.
"She really mentored me."
And the Ghost actress admitted she shared Taylor's naughty sense of humour: "It was so bawdy, even I was like, 'Really? You just said... That just came out of your mouth?'
"She was just a magnificent woman. She was a great broad and a good friend and she said things in good times and in bad. She was just great."