Elizabeth Taylor

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Why is She famous

Elizabeth Taylor is a two-time Academy Award-winning actress with a career that stretches back to the 1940s. She has been married eight times (twice to legendary actor Richard Burton) and became infamous for breaking up other people's marriages. She showed off her unique beauty in films like Butterfield 8 (1960) and Cleopatra (1963) -- one of the most expensive productions up to that time -- but now she's known for her eight marriages, some serious diamond jewelry and contributions to the fight against AIDS.

Elizabeth Taylor Quote

" Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells."

86 Sex Appeal

If the young Elizabeth Taylor was an up and coming talent today, she'd probably be considered one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols. In her prime, Taylor possessed sultry, sexy features, a very voluptuous figure, and was very open about her passion for lovemaking.

Taylor was dating billionaire Howard Hughes, who was known for his liaisons with several hot, young Hollywood starlets, when she was just 17. Hughes could have had just about any woman he wanted back in the day, which is an indication of just how gorgeous young Liz was.

Her performance as the uber-sensual Maggie "The Cat" in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958) is the epitome of Taylor's seductiveness.

93 Success

Elizabeth Taylor has been famous since 1944, when she landed the leading role in National Velvet at the age of 12.

She received three Academy Award nominations for Best Actress between 1957-1959, and although she didn't take home Oscar himself, the best was yet to come for the beautiful starlet.

During the 1960s, she won the coveted Oscar for Best Actress twice; for her role as a call girl in 1960's BUtterfield 8, and for her portrayal of the loudmouth, alcoholic Martha in 1966's Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, which also earned her the British Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as a New York Film Critics Circle prize. She also made history as the first actress to earn a cool million for a single movie appearance, for 1963's Cleopatra.

Taylor became a leader in the fight against AIDS following the diagnosis of close friend and Giant (1956) co-star Rock Hudson in 1985. She was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 1992 Oscar ceremony for her support of AIDS research. A year later, she received the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.

The London-born actress was made a Dame by none other than Queen Elizabeth II in 2000. Dame Elizabeth became a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center Honors in 2002.

Elizabeth Taylor Biography

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London, England on February 27, 1932. Although her mother had a brief career stint as a stage actress in the U.S., her parents were actually art dealers from St. Louis, Missouri and relocated to London to open a gallery. Eventually, the Taylors moved back to the States and settled in Los Angeles just before war broke out in Europe in 1939.

Following a screen test for Universal Studios, nine-year-old Elizabeth was signed to a contract, and made her screen debut at in 1942's There's One Born Every Minute. She was signed to MGM in 1942, and it was there that she had early success as a child actor.

elizabeth taylor, the velvet-eyed beauty

In 1944, at the tender age of 12, Elizabeth landed her first lead role in National Velvet. The film established the young girl with the sparkling, violet eyes as a bona fide star. More parts followed and by 1949, she had graduated to her first adult role, as the romantic lead in Conspirator.

Elizabeth was a grown 18-year-old when she married hotel heir Nicky Hilton in May 1950, the same year she starred in the classic, Father of the Bride. Hilton was the first in a series of seven husbands, and the marriage lasted less than nine months. In 1951, while on loan to Paramount, she received her first serious notice by critics for her performance in A Place In The Sun, directed by George Stevens.

Taylor wed for the second time in February 1952. With husband Michael Wilding, a British actor 20 years her senior with who she had two sons. Michael Jr. was born in 1953, and Christopher in 1955. She continued to appear in a series of films for MGM during these years, but it wasn't until she reunited with Stevens in 1956's Giant (also starring James Dean, in his final screen appearance), that a new phase in her career commenced.

elizabeth taylor adored by men

The actress divorced for the second time on January 30, 1957. Three days later, she married movie producer Mike Todd in Acapulco. Todd was 24 years her senior, but Taylor acknowledges that of all her marriages, this was her happiest. The couple had a daughter, Elizabeth "Liza" Todd in August of that year.

Elizabeth Taylor received her first Oscar nod as Best Actress for 1957's Raintree County. Four days before the ceremony, Todd, flying in his private plane named "The Lucky Liz," was killed when the plane crashed over New Mexico.

Only seven months after giving birth to her daughter Elizabeth, Taylor had already begun working on her next film, appearing as Maggie "The Cat" in 1958's Cat On A Hot Tin Roof opposite newcomer Paul Newman, and received a second Oscar nomination.

It wasn't long after mourning the loss of husband No. 3 that Taylor wed again. Eddie Fisher had been a popular singer in the early 1950s. He was one of the late Mike Todd's closest friends, and best man at Liz and Mike's wedding. He divorced actress Debbie Reynolds to marry Liz, and the press vilified Elizabeth for having broken up their marriage when the couple wed in May 1959.

That same year, Taylor received a third Oscar nomination for 1959's Suddenly, Last Summer. While Oscar eluded her for a third time, she was honored with the Golden Globe for Best Actress.

For her next role, Taylor reluctantly starred as a prostitute in 1960's BUtterfield 8, fulfilling contractual obligations to MGM. Again she was nominated for Best Actress by the Motion Picture Academy, but few, including Liz herself, thought she could win with this role.

elizabeth taylor: queen of the nile... and hollywood

Taylor was in London filming Cleopatra when she became seriously ill and needed an emergency tracheotomy in order to save her life. Taylor survived, and a few weeks later, showed up at the Oscar ceremony. To the astonishment of many, her name was announced as the winner in her category. Elizabeth hobbled up to the stage on crutches, with the surgical scar still visible on her throat.

Cleopatra was the most expensive film ever produced up to that point and making Hollywood history, Elizabeth Taylor became the highest paid movie star when she asked for and received $1,000,000 to star as the Queen of the Nile. It was also on the set of that film where she met her future fifth husband, Richard Burton.

Cleopatra finally premiered in 1963, but didn't do well at the box office. She again co-starred with Burton in The V.I.P.s in 1963, and divorced Eddie Fisher in March 1964; nine days later, she and Burton were married.

Liz and Dick were hounded by the media, particularly the tabloid press. Hollywood's golden couple teamed up once again for 1965's The Sandpiper and in 1966's Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?. It was an unglamorous role in which Taylor played an overweight, loudmouth alcoholic.

Both Taylor and Burton were nominated by the Academy for their highly intense performances and Elizabeth took home her second Oscar for the role. She next appeared with Marlon Brando in Reflections In A Golden Eye in 1967. That same year, she reunited with Burton for the drama The Comedians.

Taylor continued to appear in a series of films that did poorly at the box office, including Dr. Faustus and Under Milk Wood, which all co-starred her husband.

In 1972, Taylor was awarded the Best Actress prize at the Berlin Film Festival for her part in Hammersmith Is Out.

elizabeth taylor experiences a twist of fate

The title of Taylor and Burton's next project proved prophetic. In 1972, the pair starred in a made-for-TV movie entitled Divorce His - Divorce Hers. In June 1974, after 10 years of marriage, the star couple divorced. Sixteen months later, they remarried; 10 months after that, they were divorced for a second time.

It was through Burton that Taylor owned some of the world's most magnificent jewelry, including the the 33-carat "Krupp Diamond," the Duchess of Windsor diamond brooch, the Grand Duchess of Russia emeralds, the "La Peregina Pearl" (which was a Valentine present to her from Richard Burton), and the famous pear-shaped 69-carat "Burton-Cartier Diamond" Burton gave her in 1969 (subsequently renamed the "Burton-Taylor Diamond." Taylor auctioned off her diamond-and-emerald engagement ring from Burton after their divorce to raise money for an AIDS charity. In December 1976, Liz married husband number six, Virginia senator John Warner. They divorced in 1982.

Taylor appeared in a handful of feature films over the next several years, including 1980's The Mirror Crack'd, in which she played an aging movie star. Throughout the 1980s, Taylor appeared in several made-for-TV movies, including 1985's Malice In Wonderland and 1987's Poker Alice.

In 1985, Taylor became the chairperson for the first major AIDS benefit. Her crusade in the fight against the disease intensified following the death of her close friend Rock Hudson later that year.

In 1987, Taylor launched a line of perfumes, starting with one called Passion. Other fragrances followed, including White Diamonds, Diamonds and Emeralds and Black Pearls.

Taylor married again in 1991, this time to construction worker Larry Fortensky, who was 20 years her junior. They divorced in 1996.

Taylor became the voice of Maggie Simpson in a 1992 episode of The Simpsons, when Maggie uttered her first word. She received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 1992 Oscar ceremony and took home the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1993. Taylor returned to the big screen to play Fred's mother-in-law, Pearl Slaghoople, in 1994's feature film The Flintstones.

elizabeth taylors recieves great honors

In February 1997, Taylor experienced another health scare when she underwent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. One of Taylor's more recent performances was in 2001, when she appeared in the made-for-TV movie These Old Broads, along with Shirley MacLaine and Debbie Reynolds, whose marriage she had broken up some four decades prior. Two years after being made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000, Elizabeth Taylor received the Kennedy Center Honors.

In 2003, one year after undergoing radiation therapy for a form of skin cancer, Taylor announced her retirement from acting. Soon after, she announced she had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, but vowed to continue raising funds for AIDS charities and to build the Richard Burton Memorial Theatre in Cardiff, Wales.

In 2005, Taylor canceled her appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, prompting renewed fears about her health. Sharon Stone and Liza Minnelli stood in for her at an annual charity dinner organized by the American Foundation For AIDS Research (AMFAR), which always coincides with the Cannes.

In 2006, Taylor introduced a line of diamond and precious-stone jewelry called House of Taylor. The designs are said to be inspired by certain favorite pieces in her own collection. Taylor herself is considered to be an authority on the subject -- not surprising given her affinity for precious stones. She also continued her contributions to AIDS that same year with a $500,000 donation to the New Orleans AIDS Task Force to purchase mobile medical unit for AIDS sufferers in New Orleans.

elizabeth taylor's health fails

In 2008, Elizabeth Taylor was hospitalized with congestive heart failure and pneumonia and was briefly on a life support machine. In 2009, she underwent heart surgery in October 2009 to repair a leaky valve.

Taylor was hospitalized again in early 2011, and her celebrated life came to an end the morning of Wednesday, March 23rd, in a hospital in Los Angeles. She is survived by 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren

Always her best at playing dames with attitude, Taylor became more of an icon than an actress in her later years. And though she eventually starred in more than 50 films, Taylor's greatest work came in the middle of her career with Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? (1967).

With a career and life marked by tragedy, success, irony, and numerous ups and downs, Elizabeth Taylor was -- and will always be -- a veritable Hollywood icon.

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