“ The news of Elizabeth Taylor’s passing has put an added sadness to this already gloomy day, but not everyone was shocked. The New York Times’ principal writer for the Taylor obituary died almost six full years ago. Mel Gussow, a Times theater critic, died after a battle with cancer in 2005. He was 71. Gussow had written over 4,000 pieces for the New York Times, one of them, apparently, was the Elizabeth Taylor obit they had ready to run for over half a decade.
