Taylor Stars in Wedding Today : Marriage: This will be eighth trip down the aisle for actress. Press helicopters are likely to be uninvited guests at Michael Jackson’s ranch.

At a ranch fittingly named Neverland Valley, the flowers, tables and other props are in place. One former president and several stars are in the wings, to play unaccustomed roles as extras. An army of security guards stands prepared to keep out the uninvited.

The stage is set for Elizabeth Taylor’s latest production--her eighth marriage--to Larry Fortensky, the 39-year-old construction worker who becomes her seventh husband today.

It will be perhaps the 59-year-old actress’s most spectacular role since she filmed “Cleopatra”--and met her fifth, and sixth, husband, Richard Burton. She met Fortensky while undergoing drug treatment at the Betty Ford Center.

At this made-for-Hollywood event, the palatial setting provided by singer Michael Jackson on his 2,700-acre estate includes several lakes, a compound of two large homes, a carnival area with several amusement rides, as well as a zoo containing a giraffe and other exotic animals.

Inevitably, the nuptials are a sensation for the tabloid television shows and magazines that find endless material in the running soap opera of Taylor’s life.

The fact that she has not starred in a hit movie in 25 years seems not to matter. The mythology of Elizabeth Taylor, her celebrity, transcends such a fact.

Up to a dozen helicopters are rumored heading toward the Santa Ynez Valley, 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, filled with reporters and cameramen struggling for an aerial glimpse.

Pictures and even minor details about the wedding, even its guest list, are at a premium because New York Newsday columnist Liz Smith, along with fashion photographer Herb Ritts, obtained exclusive rights from Taylor to cover the event. In exchange, Smith agreed to donate an undisclosed portion of proceeds from the sale of her articles to AIDS research, a cause espoused by Taylor. Ritts will donate all proceeds, “minus expenses,” according to his agent.

In a statement, Smith, whose work is distributed by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, said, “I have never employed checkbook journalism but this is such a good cause.”

While Syndicate vice president Don Michel could not estimate how much Smith’s two planned articles might generate, Ritts’ agent, Marysa Maslansky, predicted, “The total sales of the pictures will top $1 million.”

Television rights still are going begging. An NBC deal rumored to be in the millions fell through. “The amount of money they were looking for, plus the additional production costs to cover the wedding, made it too great a financial risk,” NBC spokeswoman Pat Schultz said.

With the limitations on coverage, the competition for access has taken on a circus-like atmosphere. Some reporters speak of mysterious “high-tech” devices they will somehow spirit into Jackson’s ranch, to record all.

One tabloid, the Globe, plans to have two choppers on hand, along with a refueling truck and ground crew stationed at a nearby vineyard. Another, the Star, has rented a hot-air balloon as part of what writer Barry Levine called a “well-planned air and ground assault on Liz Taylor’s wedding.”

“They won’t be able to see anything,” Mike Sterns of Regal Rents, which is providing equipment, said smugly. “It’s all inside a tent.”

Just the same, Jackson is said to have hired two helicopters of his own to chase off intruding aircraft.

The 160 guests expected are said to include former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, actor Roddy McDowall, artist David Hockney and singer Janet Jackson. Marianne Williamson, a lecturer and self-described “spiritual psychotherapist” who is considered Hollywood’s “guru” of the moment, will perform the ceremony, which is said to include white doves released into the sky and blaring trumpets as the ceremony concludes.

Celebrity florists and caterers, apparently sworn to secrecy, are not answering questions about their reported involvement. But Gavin de Becker, a well-known owner of the security company that guarded the wedding ceremonies of Michael J. Fox and Victoria Principal, said he was annoyed by the hoopla and snorted: “I’d be thrilled to let everybody know I’m not doing it.”

Taylor previously married hotel scion Conrad Hilton Jr. in 1950, actor Michael Wilding in 1952, producer Mike Todd in 1957, singer Eddie Fisher in 1959, actor Richard Burton in 1964 and 1975, and Sen. John Warner in 1976. Hilton, Wilding, Todd and Burton are now deceased.

After the nuptials, Taylor is scheduled to return to promotions for her new perfume, “White Diamonds.” Fortensky, married and divorced twice before, is expected to accompany her.

Fortensky, however, has a 2-year-old bench warrant for his arrest still outstanding. The Teamster hard hat was ordered to join a three-month program after his 1987 conviction for drunk driving. Neil Papiano, Taylor’s attorney, said Fortensky thought his stay at the Ford clinic had met that requirement and described the warrant as “just a paperwork situation.”

A court officer at the South Orange County Municipal Court, however, said Fortensky will have to appear personally before Judge Arthur Koelle to resolve the matter.

Elizabeth Taylor’s Previous Marriages

Actress Elizabeth Taylor’s marriage today will be her eighth marriage. Here is a look at her previous seven marriages, two of which were to actor Richard Burton: * No. 1: To Conrad Nicholas (Nicky) Hilton Jr. , son of C.N. Hilton, the hotel magnate, in Hollywood on May 6, 1950. They divorced eight months later in January, 1951. Hilton Jr. died of a heart attack in 1969.

* No. 2: To British film star Michael Wilding , more than 20 years her senior, in London in February, 1952. They had two children together, both boys, and divorced in early 1957. Wilding died in 1979 from head injuries suffered in a fall.

* No. 3: To producer Michael Todd , a few months later in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1957. She converted to Judaism and had one child by Todd, a girl. This marriage ended tragically in March, 1958, when Todd died in a plane crash in New Mexico.

* No. 4: To Todd’s close friend, singer Eddie Fisher , in Las Vegas in May, 1959. Together they adopted a girl in 1961. They divorced in 1964. Fisher, now 63, still entertains.

* Nos. 5 and 6: To actor Richard Burton in March, 1964 in Montreal, Canada; they separated in 1973 and divorced in June, 1974. They remarried in 1975 in Botswana but divorced again in 1976. Burton died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Geneva, Switzerland, in August, 1984.

* No. 7: To U.S. Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) in Virginia in December, 1976. They divorced in 1982. Warner is still in politics.

SOURCE: Current Biography Yearbook; Times News File

Compiled by researcher Tracy Thomas