The pinnacle of Buffman's career as an impresario was when he produced Elizabeth Taylor in her theatrical debut in The Little Foxes, a play by Lillian Hellman. It happened at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale — on Feb. 27, 1981, Taylor's 49th birthday — and the show went on to be a smash on Broadway.

"From the moment I persuaded Elizabeth to do a Broadway show, I became her shepherd, her keeper, her doctor, her shrink, her best friend," said Buffman, who also paired Taylor and her ex-husband, Richard Burton (they were married and divorced twice), in an infamous production of Noel Coward's Private Lives whose many troubles kept gossip columnists gleefully busy. "In the beginning, my relationship with her was wonderful. Later it got more difficult with the drugs and booze."