Decades before Big Sur became a favorite destination for celebrity weddings and Jennifer Aniston’s reported secret rendezvous with her new wellness-guru boyfriend, this rugged, gorgeous stretch of the California coast became the setting for one of the 11 movies that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Turner made together, while they carried on their own epic Hollywood romance.

In 1965, Taylor and Burton co-starred in The Sandpiper,” a fun but sudsy melodrama about an extramarital affair between a beautiful proto-hippie artist and a married Christian minister in the leadup to the sexual revolution. Also enjoying a starring role is the breathtaking scenery. Many of exteriors were filmed in and around Big Sur, including at Pfeiffer Beach, Garrapata State Park and along Highway 1.

A pivotal scene

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