Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor DBE (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was English-American actress, businesswoman, and humanitarian. Although she was born in London, her parents were American, and she therefore held dual citizenship. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s, and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She continued her career successfully into the 1960s, and remained a well-known public figure for the rest of her life. In 1999, the American Film Institute named her the seventh-greatest female screen legend.

Born in London to socially prominent American parents, Taylor moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1939. She made her acting debut in a minor role in the Universal Pictures film There's One Born Every Minute (1942) but the studio ended her contract after a year. She was then signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and became a popular teen star after appearing in National Velvet (1944). She transitioned to more mature roles in the 1950s, when she starred in the comedy Father of the Bride (1950) and received critical acclaim for her performance in the drama A Place in the Sun (1951).

Despite being one of MGM's most bankable stars, Taylor wished to end her career in the early 1950s. She resented the studio's control and disliked many of the films to which she was assigned. She began receiving roles she enjoyed more in the mid-1950s, beginning with the epic drama Giant (1956), and starred in several critically and commercially successful films in the following years. These included two film adaptations of plays by Tennessee Williams: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959); Taylor won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for the latter. Although she disliked her role as a call girl in Butterfield 8 (1960), her last film for MGM, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

During the production of the film Cleopatra in 1961, Taylor and co-star Richard Burton began an extramarital affair, which caused a scandal. Despite public disapproval, she and Burton continued their relationship and were married in 1964. Dubbed "Liz and Dick" by the media, they starred in 11 films together, including The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Taylor received the best reviews of her career for Woolf, winning her second Academy Award and several other awards for her performance. She and Burton divorced in 1974, but reconciled soon after, and remarried in 1975. The second marriage ended in divorce in 1976.

Taylor's acting career began to decline in the late 1960s, although she continued starring in films until the mid-1970s, after which she focused on supporting the career of her sixth husband, United States Senator John Warner (R-Virginia). In the 1980s, she acted in her first substantial stage roles and in several television films and series. She also became the first celebrity to launch a perfume brand. Taylor was one of the first celebrities to take part in HIV/AIDS activism. She co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. From the early 1990s until her death, she dedicated her time to philanthropy, for which she received several accolades, including the Presidential Citizens Medal.

Throughout her career, Taylor's personal life was the subject of constant media attention. She was married eight times to seven men, converted to Judaism, endured several serious illnesses, and led a jet set lifestyle, including assembling one of the most expensive private collections of jewelry in the world. After many years of ill health, Taylor died from congestive heart failure in 2011, at the age of 79.

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early on in her youth and kept the world hooked on with since.

Considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden years, as well as a larger-than-life celebrity, Elizabeth Taylor has starred in over fifty films, winning two Academy Awards. As much as her acting skills and beauty has kept her in the public eye, she is also famous for her eight marriages and her devotion to raising money for research to fight AIDS.

Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in Hampstead, Although she was born an English subject, her parents, Sara Sothern (née Sara Viola Warmbrodt) and Francis Lenn Taylor, were Americans, art dealers from St. Louis, Missouri (her father had gone to London to set up a gallery). Her mother had been an actress on the stage, but gave up that vocation when she married. Elizabeth lived in London until the age of seven, when the family left for the US when the clouds of war began brewing in Europe in 1939. They sailed without her father, who stayed behind to wrap up the loose ends of the art business. a wealthy district of north-west London, the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor (1897–1968) and Sara Viola Warmbrodt (1895–1994), who were Americans residing in England. Taylor's older brother, Howard Taylor, was born in 1929. Both of her parents were originally from Arkansas City, Kansas. Her father was an art dealer and her mother a former actress whose stage name was 'Sara Sothern'. Sothern retired from the stage when she and Francis Taylor married in 1926 in New York City. Taylor's two first names are in honour of her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Mary (Rosemond) Taylor. A dual citizen of the UK and the U.S., she was born a British subject through her birth on British soil and an American citizen through her parents.

The family relocated to Los Angeles, where Mrs. Taylor's own family had moved. Mr. Taylor followed not long afterward. A family friend noticed the strikingly beautiful little Elizabeth and suggested that she be taken for a screen test. Her test impressed executives at Universal Pictures enough to sign her to a contract. Her first foray onto the screen was in There's One Born Every Minute (1942), released when she was ten. Universal dropped her contract after that one film, but Elizabeth was soon picked up by MGM.

The family lived in London during Taylor's childhood.[1]:11–19 Their social circle included artists such as Augustus John and Laura Knight, and politicians such as Colonel Victor Cazalet.[1]:11–19 Cazalet was Taylor's unofficial godfather, and an important influence in her early life.[1]:11–19 She was enrolled in Byron House, a Montessori school in Highgate, and was raised according to the teachings of Christian Science, the religion of her mother and Cazalet.[1]:3,11–19,20–23

In early 1939, the Taylors decided to return to the United States due to fear of impending war in Europe.[1]:22–26 United States ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy contacted her father, urging him to return to the US with his family.[6] Sara and the children left first in April 1939 aboard the ocean liner SS Manhattan, and moved in with Taylor's maternal grandfather in Pasadena, California.[1]:22–28[7] Francis stayed behind to close the London gallery, and joined them in December.[1]:22–28 In early 1940, he opened a new gallery in Los Angeles. After briefly living in Pacific Palisades with the Chapman family, the Taylor family settled in Beverly Hills, where the two children were enrolled in Hawthorne School.[1]:27–34

The first production she made with that studio was Lassie Come Home (1943), and on the strength of that one film, MGM signed her for a full year. She had minuscule parts in her next two films, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) and Jane Eyre (1943) (the former made while she was on loan to 20th Century-Fox). Then came the picture that made Elizabeth a star: MGM's National Velvet (1944). She played Velvet Brown opposite Mickey Rooney. The film was a smash hit, grossing over $4 million. Elizabeth now had a long-term contract with MGM and was its top child star. She made no films in 1945, but returned in 1946 in Courage of Lassie (1946), another success. In 1947, when she was 15, she starred in Life with Father (1947) with such heavyweights as William Powell, Irene Dunne and Zasu Pitts, which was one of the biggest box office hits of the year. She also co-starred in the ensemble film Little Women (1949), which was also a box office huge success.

Throughout the 1950s, Elizabeth appeared in film after film with mostly good results, starting with her role in the George Stevens film A Place in the Sun (1951), co-starring her good friend Montgomery Clift. The following year, she co-starred in Ivanhoe (1952), one of the biggest box office hits of the year. Her busiest year was 1954. She had a supporting role in the box office flop Beau Brummell (1954), but later that year starred in the hits The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) and Elephant Walk (1953). She was 22 now, and even at that young age was considered one of the world's great beauties. In 1955 she appeared in the hit Giant (1956) with James Dean.

Sadly, Dean never saw the release of the film, as he died in a car accident in 1955. The next year saw Elizabeth co-star with Montgomery Clift in Raintree County (1957), an overblown epic made, partially, in Kentucky. Critics called it dry as dust. In addition, Clift was seriously injured during the film, with Taylor helping save his life. Despite the film's shortcomings and off-camera tragedy, Elizabeth was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Southern belle Susanna Drake. However, on Oscar night the honor went to Joanne Woodward for The Three Faces of Eve (1957).

In 1958 Elizabeth starred as Maggie Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). The film received rave reviews from the critics and Elizabeth was nominated again for an Academy Award for best actress, but this time she lost to Susan Hayward in I Want to Live! (1958). She was still a hot commodity in the film world, though. In 1959 she appeared in another mega-hit and received yet another Oscar nomination for Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). Once again, however, she lost out, this time to Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (1959). Her Oscar drought ended in 1960 when she brought home the coveted statue for her performance in BUtterfield 8 (1960) as Gloria Wandrous, a call girl who is involved with a married man. Some critics blasted the movie but they couldn't ignore her performance. There were no more films for Elizabeth for three years. She left MGM after her contract ran out, but would do projects for the studio later down the road. In 1963 she starred in Cleopatra (1963), which was one of the most expensive productions up to that time--as was her salary, a whopping $1,000,000. The film took years to complete, due in part to a serious illness during which she nearly died.

This was the film where she met her future and fifth husband, Richard Burton (the previous four were Conrad Hilton, Michael Wilding, Mike Todd--who died in a plane crash--and Eddie Fisher). Her next films, The V.I.P.s (1963) and The Sandpiper (1965), were lackluster at best. Elizabeth was to return to fine form, however, with the role of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Her performance as the loudmouthed, shrewish, unkempt, yet still alluring Martha was easily her finest to date. For this she would win her second Oscar and one that was more than well-deserved. The following year, she and Burton co-starred in The Taming of the Shrew (1967), again giving winning performances. However, her films afterward were box office failures, including Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), The Comedians (1967) Boom! (1968) (again co-starring with Burton), Secret Ceremony (1968), The Only Game in Town (1970), X, Y and Zee (1972), Hammersmith Is Out (1972) (with Burton again), Ash Wednesday (1973), Night Watch (1973), The Driver's Seat (1974), The Blue Bird (1976) (considered by many to be her worst), A Little Night Music (1977), and Winter Kills (1979) (a controversial film which was never given a full release and in which she only had a small role). Since then, she has appeared in some movies, both theatrical and made-for-television, and a number of television programs. In February 1997, Elizabeth entered the hospital for the removal of a brain tumor. The operation was successful. As for her private life, she divorced Burton in 1974, only to remarry him in 1975 and divorce him, permanently, in 1976. She had two more husbands, U.S. Senator John Warner and construction worker Larry Fortensky, whom she met in rehab.

In 1959, Taylor converted to Judaism, and continued to identify herself as Jewish throughout her life, being active in Jewish causes. Upon the death of her friend, actor Rock Hudson, in 1985, she began her crusade on the behalf of AIDS sufferers. In the 1990s, she also developed a successful series of scents. In her later years, her acting career was relegated to the occasional TV-movie or TV guest appearance.

In California, Taylor's mother was frequently told that her daughter should audition for films.[1]:27–30 Taylor's eyes in particular drew attention; they were blue to the extent of appearing violet, and were rimmed by dark double eyelashes, caused by a genetic mutation.[8][1]:9 Sara was initially opposed to Taylor appearing in films, but after the outbreak of war in Europe made return there unlikely, she began to view the film industry as a way of assimilating to American society.[1]:27–30 Francis Taylor's Beverly Hills gallery had gained clients from the film industry soon after opening, helped by the endorsement of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, a friend of the Cazalets.[1]:27–31 Through a client and a school friend's father, Taylor auditioned for both Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in early 1941.[5]:27–37 Both studios offered Taylor contracts, and Sara Taylor chose to accept Universal's offer.[5]:27–37

Taylor began her contract in April 1941 and was cast in a small role in There's One Born Every Minute (1942).[5]:27–37 She did not receive other roles, and her contract was terminated after a year.[5]:27–37 Universal's casting director explained her dislike of Taylor, stating that "the kid has nothing ... her eyes are too old, she doesn't have the face of a child".[5]:27–37 Biographer Alexander Walker agrees that Taylor looked different from the child stars of the era, such as Shirley Temple and Judy Garland.[5]:32 Taylor later said that, "apparently, I used to frighten grown ups, because I was totally direct".[9]

Taylor received another opportunity in late 1942, when her father's acquaintance, MGM producer Samuel Marx, arranged for her to audition for a minor role in Lassie Come Home (1943), which required a child actress with an English accent .[1]:22–23,27–37 After a trial contract of three months, she was given a standard seven-year contract in January 1943.[1]:38–41 Following Lassie, she appeared in minor uncredited roles in two other films set in England – Jane Eyre (1943), and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944).[1]:38–41

Taylor was cast in her first starring role at the age of 12, when she was chosen to play a girl who wants to compete as a jockey in the exclusively male Grand National in National Velvet.[1]:40–47 She later called it "the most exciting film" of her career.[10] MGM had been looking for a suitable actress with a British accent and the ability to ride horses since 1937, and chose Taylor at the recommendation of White Cliffs director Clarence Brown, who knew she had the required skills.[1]:40–47

As she was deemed too short, filming was pushed back several months to allow her to grow; she spent the time practicing riding.[1]:40–47 In developing her into a new star, MGM required her to wear braces to correct her teeth, and had two of her baby teeth pulled out.[1]:40–47 The studio also wanted to dye her hair and change the shape of her eyebrows, and proposed that she use the screen name "Virginia", but Taylor and her parents refused.[9]

National Velvet became a box-office success upon its release on Christmas 1944.[1]:40–47 Bosley Crowther of The New York Times stated that "her whole manner in this picture is one of refreshing grace",[11] while James Agee of The Nation wrote that she "is rapturously beautiful... I hardly know or care whether she can act or not."[12]

Taylor later stated that her childhood ended when she became a star, as MGM started to control every aspect of her life.[9][13][1]:48–51 She described the studio as a "big extended factory", where she was required to adhere to a strict daily schedule:[9] days were spent attending school and filming at the studio lot, and evenings in dancing and singing classes, and in practising the following day's scenes.[1]:48–51 Following the success of National Velvet, MGM gave Taylor a new seven-year contract with a weekly salary of $750, and cast her in a minor role in the third film of the Lassie series, Courage of Lassie (1946).[1]:51–58 The studio also published a book of Taylor's writings about her pet chipmunk, Nibbles and Me (1946), and had paper dolls and coloring books made after her.[1]:51–58

When Taylor turned 15 in 1947, MGM began to cultivate a more mature public image for her by organizing photo shoots and interviews that portrayed her as a "normal" teenager attending parties and going on dates.[5]:56–57; 65–74 Film magazines and gossip columnists also began comparing her to older actresses such as Ava Gardner and Lana Turner.[5]:71 Life called her "Hollywood's most accomplished junior actress" for her two film roles that year.[5]:69 In the critically panned Cynthia (1947), Taylor portrayed a frail girl who defies her over-protective parents to go to the prom; in the period film Life with Father (1947), opposite William Powell and Irene Dunne, she portrayed the love interest of a stockbroker's son.[14][1]:58–70[15]

They were followed by supporting roles as a teenaged "man-stealer" who seduces her peer's date to a high school dance in the musical A Date with Judy (1948), and as a bride in the romantic comedy Julia Misbehaves (1948). This became a commercial success, grossing over $4 million in the box office.[16][1]:82 Taylor's last adolescent role was as Amy March in Mervyn LeRoy's Little Women (1949). While this version did not match the popularity of the previous 1933 film adaptation of Louisa M. Alcott's novel, it was a box-office success.[17] The same year, Time featured Taylor on its cover, and called her the leader among Hollywood's next generation of stars, "a jewel of great price, a true sapphire".[18]

Transition to adult roles (1950–1951) Taylor made the transition to adult roles when she turned 18 in 1950. In her first mature role, the thriller Conspirator (1949), she plays a woman who begins to suspect that her husband is a Soviet spy.[1]:75–83 Taylor had been only 16 at the time of its filming, but its release was delayed until March 1950, as MGM disliked it and feared it could cause diplomatic problems.[1]:75–83[19] Taylor's second film of 1950 was the comedy The Big Hangover (1950), co-starring Van Johnson.[20] It was released in May. That same month, Taylor married hotel-chain heir Conrad Hilton Jr. in a highly publicized ceremony.[1]:99–105 The event was organized by MGM, and used as part of the publicity campaign for Taylor's next film, Vincente Minnelli's comedy Father of the Bride (1950), in which she appeared opposite Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett as a bride preparing for her wedding.[1]:99–105 The film became a box-office success upon its release in June, grossing $6 million worldwide, and was followed by a successful sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), ten months later.[21]

Taylor's next film release, George Stevens' A Place in the Sun (1951), marked a departure from her earlier films. According to Taylor, it was the first film in which she had been asked to act, instead of simply being herself,[13] and it brought her critical acclaim for the first time since National Velvet.[1]:96–97 Based on Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy (1925), it featured Taylor as a spoiled socialite who comes between a poor factory worker (Montgomery Clift) and his pregnant girlfriend (Shelley Winters).[1]:91 Stevens cast Taylor as she was "the only one ... who could create this illusion" of being "not so much a real girl as the girl on the candy-box cover, the beautiful girl in the yellow Cadillac convertible that every American boy sometime or other thinks he can marry".[1]:92[22]

A Place in the Sun was a critical and commercial success, grossing $3 million.[23] Herb Golden of Variety said that Taylor's "histrionics are of a quality so far beyond anything she has done previously, that Stevens' skilled hands on the reins must be credited with a minor miracle."[24] A.H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote that she gives "a shaded, tender performance, and one in which her passionate and genuine romance avoids the pathos common to young love as it sometimes comes to the screen".[25]

Continued success at MGM (1952–1955) Taylor next starred in the romantic comedy Love Is Better Than Ever (1952).[1]:124–125 According to Alexander Walker, MGM cast her in the "B-picture" as a reprimand for divorcing Hilton in January 1951 after only nine months of marriage, which had caused a public scandal that reflected negatively on her.[1]:124–125 After completing Love Is Better Than Ever, Taylor was sent to Britain to take part in the historical epic Ivanhoe (1952), which was one of the most expensive projects in the studio's history.[1]:129–132 She was not happy about the project, finding the story superficial and her role as Rebecca too small.[1]:129–132 Regardless, Ivanhoe became one of MGM's biggest commercial successes, earning $11 million in worldwide rentals.[26]

Taylor's last film made under her old contract with MGM was The Girl Who Had Everything (1953), a remake of the pre-code drama A Free Soul (1931).[1]:145 Despite her grievances with the studio, Taylor signed a new seven-year contract with MGM in the summer of 1952.[1]:139–143 Although she wanted more interesting roles, the decisive factor in continuing with the studio was her financial need; she had recently married British actor Michael Wilding, and was pregnant with her first child.[1]:139–143 In addition to granting her a weekly salary of $4,700, MGM agreed to give the couple a loan for a house, and signed her husband for a three-year contract.[1]:141–143 Due to her financial dependency, the studio now had even more control over her than previously.[1]:141–143

Taylor's first two films made under her new contract were released ten days apart in early 1954.[1]:153 The first was Rhapsody, a romantic film starring her as a woman caught in a love triangle with two musicians. The second was Elephant Walk, a drama in which she played a British woman struggling to adapt to life on her husband's tea plantation in Ceylon. She had been loaned to Paramount Pictures for the film after its original star, Vivien Leigh, fell ill.[1]:148–149

In the fall, Taylor starred in two more film releases. Beau Brummell was a Regency era period film, another project in which she was cast against her will.[1]:153–154 Taylor disliked historical films in general, as their elaborate costumes and make-up required her to wake up earlier than usual to prepare. She later said that she gave one of the worst performances of her career in Beau Brummell.[1]:153–154 The second film was Richard Brooks' The Last Time I Saw Paris, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story. Although she had wanted to be cast in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) instead, Taylor liked the film, and later stated that it "convinced me I wanted to be an actress instead of yawning my way through parts".[1]:153–157[27] While The Last Time I Saw Paris was not as profitable as many other MGM films, it garnered positive reviews.[1]:153–157[27] Taylor became pregnant again during the production, and had to agree to add another year to her contract to make up for the period spent on maternity leave.[1]:153–157

By the mid-1950s, the American film industry was beginning to face serious competition from television, which resulted in studios producing fewer films, and focusing instead on their quality.[5]:158–165 The change benefited Taylor, who finally found more challenging roles after several years of career disappointments.[5]:158–165 After lobbying director George Stevens, she won the female lead role in Giant (1956), an epic drama about a ranching dynasty, which co-starred Rock Hudson and James Dean.[5]:158–165 Its filming in Marfa, Texas, was a difficult experience for Taylor, as she clashed with Stevens, who wanted to break her will to make her easier to direct, and was often ill, resulting in delays.[5]:158–165[28] To further complicate the production, Dean died in a car accident only days after completing filming; grieving Taylor still had to film reaction shots to their joint scenes.[5]:158–166 When Giant was released a year later, it became a box-office success, and was widely praised by critics.[5]:158–165 Although not nominated for an Academy Award like her co-stars, Taylor garnered positive reviews for her performance, with Variety calling it "surprisingly clever",[29] and The Manchester Guardian lauding her acting as "an astonishing revelation of unsuspected gifts". It named her one of the film's strongest assets.[30]

MGM re-united Taylor with Montgomery Clift in Raintree County (1957), a Civil War drama which it hoped would replicate the success of Gone with the Wind (1939).[1]:166–177 Taylor found her role as a mentally disturbed Southern belle fascinating, but overall disliked the film.[1]:166–177 Although the film failed to become the type of success MGM had planned,[31] Taylor was nominated for the first time for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.[32]

Taylor considered her next performance as Maggie the Cat in the screen adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) a career "high point." But it coincided with one of the most difficult periods in her personal life.[13] After completing Raintree Country, she had divorced Wilding and married producer Mike Todd. She had completed only two weeks of filming in March 1958, when Todd was killed in a plane crash.[1]:186–194 Although she was devastated, pressure from the studio and the knowledge that Todd had large debts led Taylor to return to work only three weeks later.[1]:195–203 She later said that "in a way ... [she] became Maggie", and that acting "was the only time I could function" in the weeks after Todd's death.[13]

During the production, Taylor's personal life drew more attention when she began an affair with singer Eddie Fisher, whose marriage to actress Debbie Reynolds had been idealized by the media as the union of "America's sweethearts".[1]:203–210 The affair – and Fisher's subsequent divorce – changed Taylor's public image from a grieving widow to a "homewrecker". MGM used the scandal to its advantage by featuring an image of Taylor posing on a bed in a négligée in the film's promotional posters.[1]:203–210 Cat grossed $10 million in American cinemas alone, and made Taylor the year's second-most profitable star.[1]:203–210 She received positive reviews for her performance, with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times calling her "terrific",[33] and Variety praising her for "a well-accented, perceptive interpretation".[34] Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award[32] and a BAFTA.[35]

Taylor's next film, Joseph L. Mankiewicz' Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), was another Tennessee Williams adaptation, and co-starred Montgomery Clift and Katharine Hepburn. The independent production earned Taylor $500,000 for playing the role of a severely traumatized patient in a mental institution.[1]:203–210 Although the film was a drama about mental illness, childhood traumas, and homosexuality, it was again promoted with Taylor's sex appeal; both its trailer and poster featured her in a white swimsuit. The strategy worked, as the film was a financial success.[36] Taylor received her third Academy Award nomination[32] and her first Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance.[1]:203–210

By 1959, Taylor owed one more film for MGM, which it decided should be BUtterfield 8 (1960), a drama about a high-class sex worker, in an adaptation of a John O'Hara 1935 novel.[1]:211–223 The studio correctly calculated that Taylor's public image would make it easy for audiences to associate her with the role.[1]:211–223 She hated the film for the same reason, but had no choice in the matter, although the studio agreed to her demands of filming in New York and casting Eddie Fisher in a sympathetic role.[1]:211–223 As predicted, BUtterfield 8 was a major commercial success, grossing $18 million in world rentals.[1]:224–236 Crowther wrote that Taylor "looks like a million dollars, in mink or in negligée",[37] while Variety stated that she gives "a torrid, stinging portrayal with one or two brilliantly executed passages within".[38] Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.[1]:224–236

After completing her MGM contract, Taylor starred in 20th Century-Fox's Cleopatra (1963). According to film historian Alexander Doty, this historical epic made her more famous than ever before.[39] She became the first actress to be paid $1 million for a role; Fox also granted her 10% of the film's profits, as well as shooting the film in Todd-AO, a widescreen format for which she had inherited the rights from Mike Todd.[5]:10–11[1]:211–223 The film's production – characterized by costly sets and costumes, constant delays, and a scandal caused by Taylor's extramarital affair with her co-star Richard Burton – was closely followed by the media, with Life proclaiming it the "Most Talked About Movie Ever Made".[5]:11–12,39,45–46, 56 Filming began in England in 1960, but had to be halted several times due to bad weather and Taylor's ill health.[5]:12–13 In March 1961, she developed nearly fatal pneumonia, which necessitated a tracheotomy; one news agency erroneously reported that she had died.[5]:12–13 Once she had recovered, Fox discarded the already filmed material, and moved the production to Rome, changing its director to Joseph Mankiewicz, and the actor playing Mark Antony to Burton.[5]:12–18 Filming was finally completed in July 1962.[5]:39 The film's final cost was $62 million, making it the most expensive film made up to that point.[5]:46

Cleopatra became the biggest box-office success of 1963 in the United States; the film grossed $15.7 million at the box office.[5]:56–57 Regardless, it took several years for the film to earn back its production costs, which drove Fox near to bankruptcy. The studio publicly blamed Taylor for the production's troubles and unsuccessfully sued Burton and Taylor for allegedly damaging the film's commercial prospects with their behavior.[5]:46 The film's reviews were mixed to negative, with critics finding Taylor overweight and her voice too thin, and unfavorably comparing her with her classically trained British co-stars.[5]:56–58[1]:265–267[40] In retrospect, Taylor called Cleopatra a "low point" in her career, and said that the studio had cut out the scenes which provided the "core of the characterization".[13]

Taylor intended to follow Cleopatra by headlining an all-star cast in Fox's black comedy What a Way to Go! (1964), but negotiations fell through, and Shirley MacLaine was cast instead. In the meantime, film producers were eager to profit from the scandal surrounding Taylor and Burton, and they next starred together in Anthony Asquith's The V.I.P.s (1963), which mirrored the headlines about them.[5]:42–45[1]:252–255,260–266 Taylor played a famous model attempting to leave her husband for a lover, and Burton her estranged millionaire husband. Released soon after Cleopatra, it became a box-office success.[1]:264 Taylor was also paid $500,000 to appear in a CBS television special, Elizabeth Taylor in London, in which she visited the city's landmarks and recited passages from the works of famous British writers.[5]:74–75

After completing The V.I.P.s, Taylor took a two-year hiatus from films, during which Burton and she divorced their spouses and married each other.[5]:112 The supercouple continued starring together in films in the mid-1960s, earning a combined $88 million over the next decade; Burton once stated, "They say we generate more business activity than one of the smaller African nations."[5]:193[41] Biographer Alexander Walker compared these films to "illustrated gossip columns", as their film roles often reflected their public personae, while film historian Alexander Doty has noted that the majority of Taylor's films during this period seemed to "conform to, and reinforce, the image of an indulgent, raucous, immoral or amoral, and appetitive (in many senses of the word) 'Elizabeth Taylor'".[1]:294[42] Taylor and Burton's first joint project following her hiatus was Vincente Minelli's romantic drama The Sandpiper (1965), about an illicit love affair between a bohemian artist and a married clergyman in Big Sur, California. Its reviews were largely negative, but it grossed a successful $14 million in the box office.[5]:116–118

Their next project, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), an adaptation of a play of the same name by Edward Albee, featured the most critically acclaimed performance of Taylor's career.[5]:142,151–152[1]:286 She and Burton starred as Martha and George, a middle-aged couple going through a marital crisis. In order to convincingly play 50-year-old Martha, Taylor gained weight, wore a wig, and used make-up to make herself look older and tired – in stark contrast to her public image as a glamorous film star.[5]:136–137[1]:281–282 At Taylor's suggestion, theater director Mike Nichols was hired to direct the project, despite his lack of experience with film.[5]:139–140 The production differed from anything she had done previously, as Nichols wanted to thoroughly rehearse the play before beginning filming.[5]:141 Woolf was considered ground-breaking for its adult themes and uncensored language, and opened to "glorious" reviews.[5]:140,151 Variety wrote that Taylor's "characterization is at once sensual, spiteful, cynical, pitiable, loathsome, lustful, and tender."[43] Stanley Kauffmann of The New York Times stated that she "does the best work of her career, sustained and urgent".[44] The film also became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year.[5]:151–152[1]:286 Taylor received her second Academy Award, and BAFTA, National Board of Review, and New York City Film Critics Circle awards for her performance.

In 1966, Taylor and Burton performed Doctor Faustus for a week in Oxford to benefit the Oxford University Dramatic Society; he starred and she appeared in her first stage role as Helen of Troy, a part which required no speaking.[5]:186–189 Although it received generally negative reviews, Burton produced it as a film, Doctor Faustus (1967), with the same cast.[5]:186–189 It was also panned by critics and grossed only $600,000 in the box office.[5]:230–232 Taylor and Burton's next project, Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967), which they also co-produced, was more successful.[5]:164 It posed another challenge for Taylor, as she was the only actor in the project with no previous experience of performing Shakespeare; Zeffirelli later stated that this made her performance interesting, as she "invented the part from scratch".[5]:168 Critics found the play to be fitting material for the couple, and the film became a box-office success by grossing $12 million.[5]:181, 186

Taylor's third film released in 1967, John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye, was her first without Burton since Cleopatra. Based on a novel of the same name by Carson McCullers, it was a drama about a repressed gay military officer and his unfaithful wife. It was originally slated to co-star Taylor's old friend Montgomery Clift, whose career had been in decline for several years due to his substance abuse problems. Determined to secure his involvement in the project, Taylor even offered to pay for his insurance.[5]:157–161 But Clift died from a heart attack before filming began; he was replaced in the role by Marlon Brando.[5]:175,189 Reflections was a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release.[5]:233–234 Taylor and Burton's last film of the year was the adaptation of Graham Greene's novel, The Comedians, which received mixed reviews and was a box-office disappointment.[5]:228–232

Taylor's career was in decline by the late 1960s. She had gained weight, was nearing middle age, and did not fit in with New Hollywood stars such as Jane Fonda and Julie Christie.[5]:135–136[1]:294–296,307–308 After several years of nearly constant media attention, the public was tiring of Burton and her, and criticized their jet set lifestyle.[5]:142, 151–152[1]:294–296,305–306 In 1968, Taylor starred in two films directed by Joseph Losey – Boom! and Secret Ceremony – both of which were critical and commercial failures.[5]:238–246 The former, based on Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, features her as an aging, serial-marrying millionaire, and Burton as a younger man who turns up on the Mediterranean island on which she has retired.[5]:211–217 Secret Ceremony is a psychological drama which also stars Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum.[5]:242–243, 246 Taylor's third film with George Stevens, The Only Game in Town (1970), in which she played a Las Vegas showgirl who has an affair with a compulsive gambler, played by Warren Beatty, was unsuccessful.[5]:287[45]

The three films in which Taylor acted in 1972 were somewhat more successful. Zee and Co., which portrayed Michael Caine and her as a troubled married couple, won her the David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress. She appeared with Burton in the adaptation of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood; although her role was small, the producers decided to give her top-billing to profit from her fame.[5]:313–316 Her third film role that year was playing a blonde diner waitress in Peter Ustinov's Faust parody Hammersmith Is Out, her tenth collaboration with Burton. Although it was overall not successful,[5]:316 Taylor received some good reviews, with Vincent Canby of The New York Times writing that she has "a certain vulgar, ratty charm",[46] and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times saying, "The spectacle of Elizabeth Taylor growing older and more beautiful continues to amaze the population".[47] Her performance won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival.[45]

Taylor and Burton's last film together was the Harlech Television film Divorce His, Divorce Hers (1973), fittingly named as they divorced the following year.[5]:357 Her other films released in 1973 were the British thriller Night Watch (1973) and the American drama Ash Wednesday (1973).[5]:341–349,357–358 For the latter, in which she starred as a woman who undergoes multiple plastic surgeries in an attempt to save her marriage, she received a Golden Globe nomination.[48] Her only film released in 1974, the Italian Muriel Spark adaptation The Driver's Seat (1974), was a failure.[5]:371–375

Taylor took fewer roles after the mid-1970s, and focused on supporting the career of her sixth husband, Republican politician John Warner, a US Senator. In 1976, she participated in the Soviet-American fantasy film The Blue Bird (1976), a critical and box-office failure, and had a small role in the television film Victory at Entebbe (1976). In 1977, she sang in the critically panned film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical A Little Night Music (1977).[5]:388–389,403

After a period of semi-retirement from films, Taylor starred in The Mirror Crack'd (1980), adapted from an Agatha Christie mystery novel and featuring an ensemble cast of actors from the studio era, such as Angela Lansbury, Kim Novak, Rock Hudson, and Tony Curtis.[5]:435 Wanting to challenge herself, she took on her first substantial stage role, playing Regina Giddens in a Broadway production of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes.[5]:411[1]:347–362 Instead of portraying Giddens in negative light, as had often been the case in previous productions, Taylor's idea was to show her as a victim of circumstance, explaining, "She's a killer, but she's saying, 'Sorry fellas, you put me in this position'".[1]:349

The production premiered in May 1981, and had a sold-out six-month run despite mixed reviews.[5]:411[1]:347–362 Frank Rich of The New York Times wrote that Taylor's performance as "Regina Giddens, that malignant Southern bitch-goddess ... begins gingerly, soon gathers steam, and then explodes into a black and thunderous storm that may just knock you out of your seat",[49] while Dan Sullivan of the Los Angeles Times stated, "Taylor presents a possible Regina Giddens, as seen through the persona of Elizabeth Taylor. There's some acting in it, as well as some personal display."[50] She appeared as evil socialite Helena Cassadine in the day-time soap opera General Hospital in November 1981.[1]:347–362 The following year, she continued performing The Little Foxes in London's West End, but received largely negative reviews from the British press.[1]:347–362

Encouraged by the success of The Little Foxes, Taylor and producer Zev Buffman founded the Elizabeth Taylor Repertory Company.[1]:347–362 Its first and only production was a revival of Noël Coward's comedy Private Lives, starring Taylor and Burton.[5]:413–425[1]:347–362[51] It premiered in Boston in early 1983, and although commercially successful, received generally negative reviews, with critics noting that both stars were in noticeably poor health – Taylor admitted herself to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center after the play's run ended, and Burton died the following year.[5]:413–425[1]:347–362 After the failure of Private Lives, Taylor dissolved her theater company.[52] Her only other project that year was television film Between Friends.[53]

From the mid-1980s, Taylor acted mostly in television productions. She made cameos in the soap operas Hotel and All My Children in 1984, and played a brothel keeper in the historical mini-series North and South in 1985.[5]:363–373 She also starred in several television films, playing gossip columnist Louella Parsons in Malice in Wonderland (1985), a "fading movie star" in the drama There Must Be a Pony (1986),[54] and a character based on Poker Alice in the eponymous Western (1987).[1]:363–373 She re-united with director Franco Zeffirelli to appear in his French-Italian biopic Young Toscanini (1988), and had the last starring role of her career in a television adaptation of Sweet Bird of Youth (1989), her fourth Tennessee Williams play.[1]:363–373 During this time, she also began receiving honorary awards for her career – the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1985,[48] and the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Chaplin Award in 1986.[55]

In the 1990s, Taylor focused her time on HIV/AIDS activism. Her few acting roles included characters in the animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1992) and The Simpsons (1992, 1993),[56] and cameos in four CBS series – The Nanny, Can't Hurry Love, Murphy Brown, and High Society – in one night in February 1996 to promote her new fragrance.[57]

Her last theatrically released film was in the critically panned, but commercially very successful, The Flintstones (1994), in which she played Pearl Slaghoople in a brief supporting role.[5]:436 Taylor received American and British honors for her career: the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1993,[58] the Screen Actors Guild honorary award in 1997,[59] and a BAFTA Fellowship in 1999.[60] In 2000, she was appointed a Dame Commander in the chivalric Order of the British Empire in the millennium New Year Honours List by Queen Elizabeth II.[61] After supporting roles in the television film These Old Broads (2001) and in the animated sitcom God, the Devil and Bob (2001), Taylor announced that she was retiring from acting to devote her time to philanthropy.[5]:436[62] She gave one last public performance in 2007 when, with James Earl Jones, she performed the play Love Letters at an AIDS benefit at the Paramount Studios.[5]:436

Taylor was one of the first celebrities to participate in HIV/AIDS activism and helped to raise more than $270 million for the cause.[63] She began her philanthropic work after becoming frustrated with the fact that very little was being done to combat the disease despite the media attention.[64] She later explained for Vanity Fair that she "decided that with my name, I could open certain doors, that I was a commodity in myself – and I'm not talking as an actress. I could take the fame I'd resented and tried to get away from for so many years – but you can never get away from it – and use it to do some good. I wanted to retire, but the tabloids wouldn't let me. So, I thought: If you're going to screw me over, I'll use you."[65]

Taylor began her philanthropic efforts in 1984 by helping to organize and by hosting the first AIDS fundraiser to benefit the AIDS Project Los Angeles.[65][66] In August 1985, she and Dr. Michael Gottlieb founded the National AIDS Research Foundation after her friend and former co-star Rock Hudson announced that he was dying of the disease.[65][66] The following month, the foundation merged with Dr. Mathilde Krim's AIDS foundation to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).[67][68] As amfAR's focus is on research funding, Taylor founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) in 1991 to raise awareness and to provide support services for people with HIV/AIDS, paying for its overhead costs herself.[65][66][69] Since her death, her estate has continued to fund ETAF's work, and donates 25% of royalties from the use of her image and likeness to the foundation.[69] In addition to her work for people affected by HIV/AIDS in the United States, Taylor was instrumental in expanding amfAR's operations to other countries; ETAF also operates internationally.[65]

Taylor testified before the Senate and House for the Ryan White Care Act in 1986, 1990, and 1992.[68][70] She persuaded President Ronald Reagan to acknowledge the disease for the first time in a speech in 1987, and publicly criticized presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton for lack of interest in combatting the disease.[65][66] Taylor also founded the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center to offer free HIV/AIDS testing and care at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D. C., and the Elizabeth Taylor Endowment Fund for the UCLA Clinical AIDS Research and Education Center in Los Angeles.[68] In 2015, Taylor's business partner Kathy Ireland claimed that Taylor ran an illegal "underground network" that distributed medications to Americans suffering from HIV/AIDS during the 1980s, when the Food and Drug Administration had not yet approved them.[71] The claim was challenged by several people, including amfAR's former vice president for development and external affairs, Taylor's former publicist, and activists who were involved in the Project Inform in the 1980s and 1990s.[72]

She was bridesmaid for Jane Powell for her first marriage. Powell was bridesmaid for Taylor at her first marriage. Ranked #72 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] Discharged from hospital, but later rushed back in after a suffering a brain seizure. Said to be comfortable. [February 1997]

Underwent successful surgery to remove the benign brain tumor. [February 1997] She saved Montgomery Clift's life when he had a near fatal car crash. She entered the car through the back door, crawled to the front seat and removed the two front teeth from Clift's throat that threatened to choke him.

Her daughter, Liza Todd, with Mike Todd, is a sculptor, who has two sons, Quinn and Rhys, with her husband artist Hap Tivey.

Has appeared solo on the cover of PEOPLE magazine 14 times, second only to Princess Diana (as of 1996). Liz and Richard Burton appeared together on stage in a 1983 revival of "Private Lives." Her episode of Biography (1987) was the highest-rated episode of that series on Arts & Entertainment (thru the end of 1995).

American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. [1993]

Liz was a close friend of Montgomery Clift until his death in 1966. They met for the first time when Paramount decided that she had to accompany him to the premiere of The Heiress (1949) because they were both to star in the upcoming A Place in the Sun (1951). They liked each other right away. Clift used to call her "Bessie Mae". When he had a car accident a few years later that disfigured him, he had just left a party at Liz's house. It was she who found him first, got into the wreck and removed some teeth from his throat that threatened to choke him. Her perfumes have been Passion (1987), White Diamonds (1991), Diamonds and Rubies, Diamonds and Emeralds, Diamonds and Sapphires and Black Pearls (1995).

At one point during her life-threatening illness while filming BUtterfield 8 (1960), she was actually pronounced dead.

First actress to earn $1,000,000 for a movie role (in Cleopatra (1963)). Along with Julie Andrews, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II on New Year's Eve, 1999. Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#16). [1995]

Lived in BelAir house once owned by Frank Sinatra when he was married to first wife, Nancy. Born at 2:15 AM GMT

She owned some of the world's most magnificent jewelry, including the 33-carat "Krupp Diamond", the Duchess of Windsor diamond brooch, the Grand Duchess of Russia emeralds, the "LaPeregina 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.").

Considered Michael Jackson among her closest friends.

In the early 1970s, she planned to star in the movie version of the hit 1971 Broadway play "Twigs" by George Furth, in which she would have played four characters -- three sisters and their aged, cranky Bronx-Irish mother -- but the project never materialized.

Stepmother of the late Michael Todd Jr., who was actually her senior by three years.

She was a recipient of the 2002 John F. Kennedy Center Honors.

Admitted in an interview with Barbara Walters in the late 1990s that she was still willing to act but, because of her medical problems, no movie company would insure her. In addition to many other medical problems, including a benign brain tumor she had removed, she has broken her back four times. This caused her severe pain when walking or standing for long amounts of time.

She is mentioned in the lyrics of several songs, including some versions of the Frank Sinatra standard "Nancy (with the Laughing Face)", the Allan Sherman song "Oh Boy" (wherein Sherman giggled "oh boy" in reference to "her men"), "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (written by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson, performed by the likes of Eddie Cantor and Nina Simone) and "Lady Nina" by the rock band Marillion.

The stories of her Oscar win for BUtterfield 8 (1960) have grown legendary. It is generally accepted as truth that she won Oscar voters by a vote of sympathy, because of the recent death of her husband, Mike Todd, and her near-fatal illness and emergency tracheotomy to save her life (her scar was very visible on Oscar night). Wisecracker and Rat Pack member Shirley MacLaine, who was favored to win for her role in The Apartment (1960), said afterwards that "I lost out to a tracheotomy."

The premiere of her film Father of the Bride (1950) took place two days after her real-life marriage to Conrad Hilton Jr.. The publicity surrounding the event is credited with helping to make the film so successful. The marriage lasted as long as the 3 month European honeymoon. Irreconcilable differences were cited in the divorce court. She was voted the 11th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Had four children. Two sons with Michael Wilding: Michael Howard (born January 6, 1953) and Christopher Edward (born February 27, 1955). Her daughter with Mike Todd, Elizabeth Frances Todd, called "Liza", was born August 6, 1957. Her daughter, Maria Burton, (adopted 1962 with Eddie Fisher; re-adopted 1964 with Richard Burton) was born August 1, 1961.

Ranked #7 in the American Film Insitutes list of the 50 'Greatest American Screen Legends', the top 25 male and top 25 female.

Although born in England, her parents were actually Americans, who were just working in England. Her ancestry included English (with many colonial American roots going back to the 1600s), as well as Swiss-German (from an immigrant maternal great-grandfather), Northern Irish (Scots-Irish), French, and more distant Dutch, Welsh, and Danish.

Premiere Magazine ranked her as #40 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).

Announced in November 2004 she has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, but vowed to continue raising funds for AIDS charities and to build a Richard Burton Memorial Theatre in Cardiff, Wales. Is portrayed by Sherilyn Fenn in Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995).

Was unable to give evidence at Michael Jackson's trial due to illness.

She was (along with Marisa Berenson) co-matron of honor at Liza Minnelli's and David Gest's wedding.

Along with Mark Hamill and Joe Mantegna, she was one of only three actors to play both themselves and a fictional character in The Simpsons (1989). She supplied the voice of Maggie Simpson in the Season Four episode "Lisa's First Word" and portrayed herself in the Season Four episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled".

She and Richard Burton starred together in 11 movies: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The V.I.P.s (1963), Under Milk Wood (1971), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), The Sandpiper (1965), Hammersmith Is Out (1972), Doctor Faustus (1967), Divorce His - Divorce Hers (1973), The Comedians (1967), Cleopatra (1963) and Boom! (1968). She had an uncredited cameo in Burton's film Anne of the Thousand Days (1969).

In 1969, Richard Burton bought her one of the world's largest and most beautiful diamonds from the jeweler Cartier after losing an auction for the 69-carat, pear-shaped stone to the jeweler, who won with a $1-million bid. The rough diamond that would yield the prized stone weighed 244 carats and was found in 1966 at South Africa's Premier mine. Harry Winston cut and polished the diamond, which was put up for auction in 1969. Burton purchased the diamond from Cartier the next day for $1,069,000 to give to Taylor. The small premium was the result of the publicity Cartier garnered from selling the stone, then called the "Burton-Cartier Diamond," to the then "world's most famous couple." Ten years later, the twice-divorced-from-Burton Taylor herself auctioned off the "Burton-Taylor Diamond" to fund a hospital in Botswana. The last recorded sale of the Taylor-Burton was in 1979 for nearly $3,000,000 to an anonymous buyer in Saudi Arabia. The ring was the center of the classic Here's Lucy (1968) episode "Lucy Meets the Burtons," in which Lucy Carter, played by Lucille Ball, gets the famous ring stuck on her finger. The actual ring was used and the episode was the highest rated episode of the very popular series.

Auctioned off her diamond-and-emerald engagement ring from Richard Burton to raise money for an AIDS charity.

Her third husband Mike Todd gave her a 29-carat diamond ring during their marriage, a feat topped by fifth husband Richard Burton when he gave her the 69-carat "Burton-Cartier" (later renamed "Burton-Taylor") diamond. Fourth-husband Eddie Fisher said that a $50,000 diamond could keep Taylor happy for approximately four days. She was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II at the 2000 New Year's Honours List for her services to drama.

Writer Charles Bukowski, in his newspaper column (and later book) "Notes of a Dirty Old Man", revealed that he loathed Taylor as an absurd icon of the celebrity-mad, media-besotted American culture that he despised. 1976: Won the title of "Most Memorable Eyebrows" in a magazine poll. The first runner up was Lassie.

Was unable to attend the civil partnership ceremony of her friend Sir Elton John in England due to her illness. (December 2005)

Became friends with Marlon Brando while shooting Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967). Brando agreed to pick up her Best Actress Award for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) from the New York Film Critics Circle. When Brando made his appearance at the NYFCC Award ceremony at Sardi's on January 29, 1967, he berated the critics, querying them as to why they hadn't recognized Liz before. He then flew to Dahomey, Africa, where she was shooting The Comedians (1967) with Richard Burton to personally deliver the award, a development Burton thought odd. Several years later Brando socialized with the Burtons, visiting them on their famous yacht the Kalizma, while they plied the Mediterreanean. Brando's ex-wife Anna Kashfi, in her book "Brando for Breakfast" (1979), claimed that Brando and Burton got into a fist fight aboard the yacht, probably over Liz, but nothing of the incident appears in Burton's voluminous diaries. In his diaries, Burton found Brando to be quite intelligent but believed he suffered, like Liz did, from becoming too famous too early in his life and believed their affinity for one another was based on this (both Liz and Marlon would later befriend Michael Jackson, another superstar-cum-legend who had become too famous too soon). Burton recognized Brando as a great actor, but felt he would have been more suited to silent films due to the deficiency in his voice (the famous "mumble"). As a silent film star, Burton believed Brando would have been the greatest motion picture actor ever.

In 2006, she introduced a line of diamond and precious stone jewelry called "House of Taylor". The designs were said to be inspired by certain favorite pieces in her own collection. She actually wrote a book on jewelry and is considered to be an authority on the subject.

Cancelled her appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, prompting renewed fears about her health. The acting legend usually attends an annual charity dinner organized by the American Foundation For AIDS Research (AMFAR), which always coincides with the South of France festival. However, Taylor - who also pulled out in 2004 due to health problems - was replaced by Sharon Stone and Liza Minnelli at the gala. (May 2005) Underwent radiation therapy in 2002 for basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer.

After her son Michael had renounced his American citizenship for possession of marijuana, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to block his deportation (1988).

Her beloved dog, a Maltese named Sugar, died in 2005. Some months later, she purchased Daisy, one of Sugar's descendants.

Her older brother Howard Taylor was born in 1929.

Was a frequent guest at the infamous "Studio 54"

Appeared on Larry King Live (1985) to refute claims that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and was close to death. (30 May 2006)

Former stepmother of Carrie Fisher, Todd Fisher, Kate Burton, Jessica Burton, Virginia Warner, John Warner Jr., Mary Warner and Julie Fortensky Henderson.

Announced her retirement from acting in 2003.

In Italy, she was exclusively dubbed until the mid-1950s by Germana Calderini. As she matured, she was dubbed by Fiorella Betti. For two of her most celebrated roles--Leslie Lynnton Benedict in Giant (1956) and Catherine Holly in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)--Taylor was dubbed respectively by Micaela Giustiniani and Lydia Simoneschi, the only time either actress lent their voice to her.

Organized "A Commitment to Life", a celebrity event to benefit AIDS research after her Giant (1956) co-star Rock Hudson became ill in 1985. The event featured former First Lady Betty Ford, Burt Lancaster, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis Jr., and Burt Reynolds. More than $1.3 million was raised.

Her AIDS organization AMFAR raised $83 million in the twelve years following its creation in 1985.

Did not attend The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) due to her opposition to the Iraq war.

In 1963, while the highest paid American business executive earned $650,000 and President John F. Kennedy's salary was $150,000, she received at least $2.4 million.

In a 2007 interview with Entertainment Tonight (1981)'s Mary Hart, Taylor revealed that she had recently telephoned ex-husband Eddie Fisher and spoke to him for the first time in nearly forty years.

Painful hip replacements in the mid-1990s largely contributed to the demise of her last marriage.

Received $500,000 divorce settlement from Conrad Hilton Jr., 1951.

Mentioned in Walter Kirn's novel "Thumbsucker".

Inducted into the California Hall of Fame in Sacramento (5 December 2007).

The 1963 Andy Warhol portrait of hers was sold for $ 23,7 million to an anonymous bidder at a Christie's auction in New York (14 November 2007).

After the death of husband Mike Todd, she and Todd's son sued the company Ayer Lease Plan, Inc. for $5,000,000 charging negligence. They were awarded only $40,000, of which $13,000 went to attorney's fees. The remaining $27,000 went to their daughter, Frances.

In 2006, she donated $500,000 to the New Orleans AIDS Task Force to purchase mobile medical unit for AIDS sufferers in New Orleans.

Taylor and Shirley Jones are the only actresses to win Oscars for playing prostitutes in the same year: Taylor for BUtterfield 8 (1960) (Best Actress) and Jones for Elmer Gantry (1960) (Best Supporting Actress).

She was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of her outstanding contribution to film culture. Her first Oscar nomination for Raintree County (1957) marks her first of 4 consecutive nominations, a feat she shares with Jennifer Jones (1943-1946), Thelma Ritter (1950-1953), Marlon Brando (1951-1954) and Al Pacino (1972-1975).

Hospitalized with congestive heart failure and pneumonia in July 2008 and was briefly on a life support machine. Actively sought the role of Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady (1964), but Audrey Hepburn was cast instead. Has a street named after her in Iowa City, Iowa.

Nominated for the 1981 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for "The Little Foxes" as well as winning a Special Theatre World Award for the same.

Underwent heart surgery in October 2009 to repair a leaky valve.

Was a heavy smoker from ages 18 to 58, usually two packs a day. She finally quit at her physician's recommendation following a severe bout with pneumonia in 1990.

Returned to work seven months after giving birth to her daughter Liza Todd in order to begin filming Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).

First husband Conrad Hilton Jr. was physically abusive, which was partly caused by a drug problem. Fourth husband Eddie Fisher was a close friend of her late husband Mike Todd. Fisher left his wife Debbie Reynolds to be with Taylor.

Ex-husband Larry Fortensky underwent five hours of brain surgery and was in a coma for six weeks after falling off a balcony on January 28, 1999. Taylor immediately notified the hospital she would personally guarantee all Fortensky's medical expenses.

Was at one point going to star in The Public Eye (1972) with Richard Burton. See the trivia page for the film for more information.

On Monday evening, November 8, 2010, Andy Warhol's "Men in Her Life", a 1962 painting based on an image of Elizabeth Taylor between husbands, was auctioned at Phillips de Pury & Company's new salesroom on Park Avenue in New York City. An unidentified bidder bought it for $63.3 million.

Although Taylor was raised as a Christian Scientist, in 1959, at the age of 27, she converted to Judaism. She denied that her conversion was motivated by her marriages to Mike Todd or Eddie Fisher (both of whom were Jewish), saying that she had always been drawn to Judaism. Her conversion took place at Temple Israel of Hollywood, where she had studied Torah and Jewish history and traditions under Rabbi Max Nussbaum. It is traditional for converts to receive a Hebrew equivalent to their names upon conversion (since they wouldn't have received one shortly after birth, as those born into Judaism would have); Taylor's was Elisheba Rachel, Elisheba being the Hebrew for "Elizabeth," and Rachel being the name of Jacob's second wife in the Torah.

Her obituary published in The New York Times was written by theater critic and cultural reporter Mel Gussow, who had died in 2005. The newspaper's obituary editor said the piece was "too good to throw away".

Had a tubal ligation at age 25 and a hysterectomy when she was 36.

Delivered all three of her biological children via Caesarean section.

Her biological grandchildren are Leila (b. 1971), Naomi (b. 1974) and Tarquin (b. 1989), via her son Michael Wilding Jr., Andrew (b. 1984) and Lowell (b. 1992), via her son Christopher Edward Wilding, and Quinn (b. 1986) and Rhys (b. 1991), via her daughter Liza Todd. Her adoptive grandchildren are Eliza (b. 1982) and Richard (b. 2001), via her adoptive daughter Maria Burton, and Caleb (b. 1983) via Christopher. Launched 12 perfumes and colognes - Passion 1988, Passion for Men 1989, White Diamonds 1991, Diamonds and Emeralds 1993, Diamonds and Rubies 1993, Diamonds and Sapphires 1993, Black Pearls 1996, Sparkling White Diamonds 1999, Brilliant White Diamonds 2001, Forever Elizabeth 2002, Gardenia 2003 and Violet Eyes 2010.

On March 1, 2013, her fifth (and sixth) husband, Richard Burton, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was placed next to Elizabeth's star at 6336 Hollywood Boulevard.

A casting agent said of her as a 19 year old: "The kid has nothing. Her eyes are too old.".

Despite playing their mother on Giant (1956), Taylor was just 2 years older than Fran Bennett, 4 years older than Dennis Hopper and 9 months younger than Carroll Baker.

Is one of 14 Best Actress Oscar winners to have not accepted their Academy Award in person, Taylor's being for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). The others are Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Judy Holliday, Vivien Leigh, Anna Magnani, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Anne Bancroft, Patricia Neal, Maggie Smith, Glenda Jackson and Ellen Burstyn. Was the 53rd actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for BUtterfield 8 (1960) at The 33rd Annual Academy Awards (1961) on April 17, 1961. Credited Montgomery Clift with making her take acting seriously. Taylor was so impressed by Clift's incredible preparation and concentration to play a role that she actively began to seek better parts and give more dynamic performances.

She was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of Carol Ferris (created in 1959). Ferris was created as Green Lantern/Hal Jordan's love interest, and eventually she turned into super-heroine Star Sapphire. Taylor was 27 years old at the point of her creation.

Disliked it when people referred to her by the nickname "Liz".

Former neighbor of Julie London.

Taylor and her husband, Mike Todd, had planned for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) to be her final film, as she intended to retire from the screen. Todd had made a verbal agreement about this with MGM, but after his death, MGM forced Taylor to make BUtterfield 8 (1960) in order to fulfill the terms of her studio contract. As a result, Taylor refused to speak to the director for the entire production, and hated the film.

Michael Jackson's music video "Leave Me Alone" (from his 1987 album Bad) was created as tribute for Elizabeth Taylor, taking several footage of Taylor from her most famous movies, mixing it using the CGI technology that existed in that time.

She had a great and loyal friendship with 1950s actor James Dean, who co-starred with her in Giant (1956). Dean suddenly died in a car accident in Cholame, California in the early fall of 1955, just before the filming of Giant was wrapping up production. It was reported that Taylor felt so distressed and devastated upon hearing the news of her good friend's tragic death that she had to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a few days. Taylor was a major supporter of the state of Israel.

Has appeared in over 1,000 magazine covers around the world.

Appeared on the cover of Life magazine a record 14 times (more than any other movie star), starting when she was just 15 years old.

Daughter Elizabeth "Liza" Frances was born six weeks early in 1957 she weighed 4 lbs 14 oz at birth. She had over 35 sibling-in-laws, as several of her husbands came from large families.

Close friend of Carole Bayer Sager.

Became a great-grandmother in 1998.

Taylor underwent more than 40 operations during her lifetime and was hospitalized at least 100 times. She reportedly told doctors in 2010 that she didn't want any more life-saving surgeries despite being in daily pain. Elizabeth's ex-husband Larry Fortensky passed away in July 2016 at age 64, having been in a coma since May. The news of Larry's death was confirmed on Facebook and Twitter by relatives, but an official press announcement was not made until April 2017.

Was considered for the role of Alexis on Dynasty (1981).

Frequently got her hair done by Alexandre, Carrie White, José Eber or Larry Waggoner.

Her final wedding cost an estimated $1.5 million.

Turned down the lead role in Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970) because she wanted to shoot in Spain where Richard Burton was filming his latest movie, not in Mexico.

Robert Wagner told in his biography that when Liz Taylor woke up in the morning, it was useless to wait for her to have breakfast, because the time she comes, it was time for dinner.

Eddie Fisher married her 3½ hours after divorcing Debbie Reynolds.

Got married all over the world: Beverly Hills, California (1950); London, England (1952); Acapulco, Mexico (1957); Las Vegas, Nevada (1959); Montreal, Canada (1964); Kasane, Botswana (1975); Middleburg, Virginia (1976); Los Olivos, California (1991).

Got divorced all over the world: Los Angeles, California (1951 & 1996); Mexico City, Mexico (1957); Puerta Vallarta, Mexico (1964); Sarden, Switzerland (1974); Port-au-Prince, Haiti (1976); Wellington, Virginia (1982).

MGM's publicity department announced her separation from Michael Wilding on July 18, 1956. (They'd been sleeping in separate bedrooms for more than a year.) Taylor and Mike Todd, acquainted since June 30, began dating the next day and were red carpet official by early September.

Debbie Reynolds was Matron of Honor at her wedding to Mike Todd.

Norma Heyman was Matron of Honor at her wedding to Larry Fortensky.

Mara Taylor (her brother's wife) was Matron of Honor at her wedding to Eddie Fisher.

Graduated from University High School in 1950.

Had rhinoplasty in her late teens and a chin implant in her late fifties.

Is one of 16 actresses to have received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for a performance where they acted out a labor and/or birth; hers being for Raintree County (1957). The others in chronological order are Luise Rainer for The Good Earth (1937), Jane Wyman for Johnny Belinda (1948), Eleanor Parker for Caged (1950), Leslie Caron for The L-Shaped Room (1962), Shirley MacLaine for Irma la Douce (1963), Vanessa Redgrave for Isadora (1968), Geneviève Bujold for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Marsha Mason for Cinderella Liberty (1973), Ann-Margret for Tommy (1975), Ellen Burstyn for Same Time, Next Year (1978), Jessica Lange for Sweet Dreams (1985), Meryl Streep for A Cry in the Dark (1988), Samantha Morton for In America (2002), Ellen Page for Juno (2007), and Gabourey Sidibe for Precious (2009).

Once admitted that without painkillers, she'd have no life.

Close friend Colin Farrell read Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo" aloud before Taylor was laid to rest at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale (CA).

In 2002, Taylor acknowledged in print that she had received liposuction in the past "...but then it all came back." "It was, like, totally gross" said Taylor of the fat regain.

Got Sharon Tate fired as an extra from The Sandpiper (1965) in 1964 because she felt threatened by Sharon's youth and beauty -- which she freely admitted.

She was scheduled for What a Way to Go! (1964) but dropped out so the role went to Shirley MacLaine. Stars in seven Oscar Best Picture nominees: Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Ivanhoe (1952), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Cleopatra (1963) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and was an uncredited walk-on in three others: Quo Vadis (1951), Becket (1964) and Anne of the Thousand Days (1969).

In February 1972, Raquel Welch upset Elizabeth when she "crashed" her birthday bash after Elizabeth specifically uninvited her.

Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6336 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

She was only 34 when she made her last successful film. Curiously, the Best Actress Oscar for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) did nothing for Taylor's career and she starred in just 12 more features, zero after The Mirror Crack'd (1980) unless you count the unreleased Young Toscanini (1988).

Prior to marrying Conrad Hilton Jr. at age 18, Taylor had already been engaged twice: to football player Glenn Davis when she was 16, and to U.S. Army pilot William Pawley Jr. when she was 17.

Engaged to Mexican lawyer Victor Luna. [1983]

Engaged to New York businessman Dennis Stein. [1985]

Was replaced by Angie Dickinson for the role of Miss Adrian in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993).

Was replaced by Cher for the lead in Faithful (1996).

Usually awoke between 9 and 10 AM--though by the early 2000s she was reportedly sleeping in until noon on a typical day.

She has appeared in five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Lassie Come Home (1943), National Velvet (1944), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).

Was engaged 13 times: eight followed by marriage and five that she called off.

[on turning 53 years old] I think I'm finally growing up - and about time.

I had a hollow leg. I could drink everyone under the table and not get drunk. My capacity was terrifying.

My mother says I didn't open my eyes for eight days after I was born, but when I did, the first thing I saw was an engagement ring. I was hooked.

I don't pretend to be an ordinary housewife.

[Cannes, May 2001] If not to make the world better, what is money for?

[on her weight fluctuations] When you're fat, the world is divided into two groups - people who bug you and people who leave you alone. The funny thing is, supporters and saboteurs exist in either camp.

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

Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses.

I don't remember much about Cleopatra (1963). There were a lot of other things going on.

One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues.

[About Montgomery Clift] The most gorgeous thing in the world and easily one of the best actors.

You find out who your real friends are when you're involved in a scandal.

[on Eddie Fisher] I'm not taking anything away from Debbie [Debbie Reynolds] because she never really had it. [2005] Acting is, to me now, artificial. Seeing people suffer is real. It couldn't be more real. Some people don't like to look at it in the face because it's painful. But if nobody does, then nothing gets done.

[2005] There's still so much more to do. I can't sit back and be complacent, and none of us should be. I get around now in a wheelchair, but I get around.

[on Michael Jackson] What is a genius? What is a living legend? What is a mega star? Michael Jackson - that's all. And when you think you know him, he gives you more . . . I think he is one of the finest people to hit this planet, and, in my estimation, he is the true King of Pop, Rock and Soul.

[on John Wayne] His image had as much impact in the world as many of our presidents have had, but Duke was a great actor, a great humanitarian, but always himself. To be a friend was a lifetime thing.

Food is one of life's great pleasures - I hate dieting!

I believe in mind over matter and doing anything you set your mind on.

I, along with the critics, have never taken myself very seriously.

[on Michael Jackson] He is part of my heart. We would do anything for each other.

[on Michael Wilding] I'm afraid in those last few years I gave him a rather rough time. Sort of henpecked him and probably wasn't mature enough for him. It wasn't that we had anything to fight over. We just weren't happy.

[on John Wayne] He is as tough as an old nut and as soft as a yellow ribbon.

[on Clark Gable] He was the epitome of the movie star -- so romantic, such bearing, such friendliness.

[on Montgomery Clift] Monty was the most emotional actor I have ever worked with. And it is contagious.

[on Marilyn Monroe] She seemed to have a kind of unconscious glow about her physical self that was innocent, like a child. When she posed nude, it was 'Gee, I am kind of, you know, sort of dishy,' like she enjoyed it without being egotistical.

I will love Michael Jackson forever. (On Michael Jackson's death)

[on the death of Michael Jackson] I just don't believe that Michael would want me to share my grief with millions of others. How I feel is between us. Not a public event.

Richard came on the set and sort of sidled over to me and said: "Has anybody ever told you that you're a very pretty girl?" 'I thought, Oy gevalt, the great lover, the great wit, the great Welsh intellectual, and he comes out with a corny line like that! But then I noticed his hands were shaking as if he had Saturday night palsy. He had the worst hangover I'd ever seen. And he was obviously terrified of me. I just took pity on him. I realized he really was human. That was the beginning of our affair.

[on her conversion to Judaism] It had absolutely nothing to do with my past marriage to Mike [Todd] or my upcoming marriage to Eddie Fisher, both of whom were Jewish. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time.

I don't entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I'm me. God knows, I'm me. I have the emotions of a child in the body of a woman. I was rushed into womanhood for the movies. It caused me long moments of unhappiness and doubt.

The ups and downs, the problems and stress, along with all the happiness, have given me optimism and hope because I am living proof of survival.

I've come through things that would have felled an ox. That fills me with optimism, not just for myself but for our particular species.

[on Michael Jackson] He is one of the most normal people I know.

I hate being called "Liz", because it can sound like such a hiss.

[on Cleopatra (1963)] They had cut out the heart, the essence, the motivations, the very core, and tacked on all those battle scenes. It should have been about three large people, but it lacked reality and passion. I found it vulgar.

[on BUtterfield 8 (1960), for which she won an Oscar] A piece of shit.

Straight sex, gay sex, bisexual sex, use a condom whoever you are.

If someone's dumb enough to offer me a million dollars to make a picture, I'm certainly not dumb enough to turn it down.

[to Larry Fortensky in 1990, when she was in the hospital battling bacterial pneumonia] When this is over, I will marry you.

If I love somebody, I love them always.

[1972] I would give up everything I have. I would live in a shack--if I could give Richard a baby.

[1992] Larry sees through the world of bullshit I live in. He's very protective.

I have to be stronger and more appreciative of what I do have.

Every breath you take today should be with someone else in mind.

Never let yourself think beyond your means...mental, emotional or any otherwise.

Humor is the only way to stay alive.

[last Tweet, 2/9/11] My interview in Bazaar with Kim Kardashian West came out!!!

A woman will try and dominate a man. She will try and get away with it. But really, inside herself, she wants to be dominated. . . . She wants the man to take her. And she wants to lean on him--not have him lean on her. If he does lean on her, everything goes slightly off key, like a bad chord. She hopes it will pass, that the guy will come through. When it doesn't, she begins to needle him. If nothing happens, she goes on needling--until he stops listening. At that moment, she becomes bitter and he goes deaf. Finally, there is no more dialogue, they have no rapport.

I've been lucky all my life. Everything was handed to me. Looks, fame, honors, love. I rarely had to fight for anything. But I paid for that luck with disasters.

[in a letter to Larry Fortensky, 2010] Larry darling, you will always be a big part of my heart! I'll love you for ever.

Taylor was honored with several awards for her philanthropic work. She was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honour in 1987, and received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993, the Screen Actors' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanitarian service in 1997, the GLAAD Vanguard Award in 2000, and the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2001.[68]

Taylor was the first celebrity to create her own collection of fragrances.[73][74] In collaboration with Elizabeth Arden, Inc., she began by launching two best-selling perfumes – Passion in 1987, and White Diamonds in 1991.[73] Taylor personally supervised the creation and production of each of the 11 fragrances marketed in her name.[73] According to biographers Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, she earned more money through the fragrance collection than during her entire acting career,[5]:436 and upon her death, the British newspaper The Guardian estimated that the majority of her estimated $600 million-$1 billion estate consisted of revenue from fragrances.[73] In 2005, Taylor also founded a jewelry company, House of Taylor, in collaboration with Kathy Ireland and Jack and Monty Abramov.[75]

Throughout her adult years, Taylor's personal life, especially her eight marriages, drew a large amount of media attention and public disapproval. According to biographer Alexander Walker, "Whether she liked it or not ... marriage is the matrix of the myth that began surrounding Elizabeth Taylor from [when she was sixteen]".[1]:126 MGM organized her to date football champion Glenn Davis in 1948, and the following year, she was briefly engaged to William Pawley Jr., son of US ambassador William D. Pawley.[1]:75–88 Film tycoon Howard Hughes also wanted to marry her, and offered to pay her parents a six-figure sum of money if she were to become his wife.[1]:81–82 Taylor declined the offer, but was otherwise eager to marry young, as her "rather puritanical upbringing and beliefs" made her believe that "love was synonymous with marriage".[13] Taylor later described herself as being "emotionally immature" during this time due to her sheltered childhood, and believed that she could gain independence from her parents and MGM through marriage.[13]

Taylor was 18 when she married Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr., heir to the Hilton Hotels chain, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills on May 6, 1950.[1]:106–112 MGM organized the large and expensive wedding, which became a major media event.[1]:106–112 In the weeks after their wedding, Taylor realized that she had made a mistake; not only did she and Hilton have few interests in common, but he was also abusive and a heavy drinker.[1]:113–119 She was granted a divorce in January 1951, eight months after their wedding.[1]:120–125

Taylor married her second husband, British actor Michael Wilding – a man 20 years her senior – in a low-key ceremony at Caxton Hall in London on February 21, 1952.[1]:139 She had first met him in 1948 while filming The Conspirator in England, and their relationship began when she returned to film Ivanhoe in 1951.[1]:131–133 Taylor found their age gap appealing, as she wanted "the calm and quiet and security of friendship" from their relationship;[13] he hoped that the marriage would aid his career in Hollywood.[1]:136 They had two sons: Michael Howard (b. January 6, 1953) and Christopher Edward (b. February 27, 1955).[1]:148,160 As Taylor grew older and more confident in herself, she began to drift apart from Wilding, whose failing career was also a source of marital strife.[1]:160–165 When she was away filming Giant in 1955, gossip magazine Confidential caused a scandal by claiming that he had entertained strippers at their home.[1]:164–165 Taylor and Wilding announced their separation on July 18, 1956,[76] and were divorced in January 1957.[77]

Taylor married her third husband, theater and film producer Mike Todd, in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, on February 2, 1957.[1]:178–180 They had one daughter, Elizabeth "Liza" Frances (b. August 6, 1957).[1]:186 Todd, known for publicity stunts, encouraged the media attention to their marriage; for example, in June 1957, he threw a birthday party at Madison Square Garden, which was attended by 18,000 guests and broadcast on CBS.[5]:5–6[1]:188 His death in a plane crash on March 22, 1958, left Taylor devastated.[5]:5–6[1]:193–202 She was comforted by Todd's and her friend, singer Eddie Fisher, with whom she soon began an affair.[5]:7–9[1]:201–210 As Fisher was still married to actress Debbie Reynolds, the affair resulted in a public scandal, with Taylor being branded a "homewrecker".[5]:7–9[1]:201–210 Taylor and Fisher were married at the Temple Beth Sholom in Las Vegas on May 12, 1959; she later stated that she married him only due to her grief.[5]:7–9[1]:201–210[13]

While filming Cleopatra in Italy in 1962, Taylor began an affair with her co-star, Welsh actor Richard Burton, although Burton was also married. Rumors about the affair began to circulate in the press, and were confirmed by a paparazzi shot of them on a yacht in Ischia.[5]:27–34 According to sociologist Ellis Cashmore, the publication of the photograph was a "turning point", beginning a new era in which it became difficult for celebrities to keep their personal lives separate from their public images.[78] The scandal caused Taylor and Burton to be condemned for "erotic vagrancy" by the Vatican, with calls also in the US Congress to bar them from re-entering the country.[5]:36 Taylor was granted a divorce from Fisher on March 5, 1964 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, and married Burton 10 days later in a private ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Montreal.[5]:99–100 Burton subsequently adopted Liza Todd and Maria Burton (b. August 1, 1961), a German orphan whose adoption process Taylor had begun while married to Fisher.[79][80]

Dubbed "Liz and Dick" by the media, Taylor and Burton starred together in 11 films, and led a jet-set lifestyle, spending millions on "furs, diamonds, paintings, designer clothes, travel, food, liquor, a yacht, and a jet".[5]:193 Sociologist Karen Sternheimer states that they "became a cottage industry of speculation about their alleged life of excess. From reports of massive spending [...] affairs, and even an open marriage, the couple came to represent a new era of 'gotcha' celebrity coverage, where the more personal the story, the better."[81] They divorced for the first time in June 1974, but reconciled, and remarried in Kasane, Botswana, on October 10, 1975.[5]:376,391–394 The second marriage lasted less than a year, ending in divorce in July 1976.[5]:384–385,406 Taylor and Burton's relationship was often referred to as the "marriage of the century" by the media, and she later stated, "After Richard, the men in my life were just there to hold the coat, to open the door. All the men after Richard were really just company."[5]:vii,437 Soon after her final divorce from Burton, Taylor met her sixth husband, John Warner, a Republican politician from Virginia.[5]:402–405 They were married on December 4, 1976, after which Taylor concentrated on working for his electoral campaign.[5]:402–405 Once Warner had been elected to the Senate, she started to find her life as a politician's wife in Washington, D.C., boring and lonely, becoming depressed, overweight, and increasingly addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol.[5]:402–405 Taylor and Warner separated in December 1981, and divorced a year later in November 1982.[5]:410–411

After the divorce from Warner, Taylor dated actor Anthony Geary, and was engaged to Mexican lawyer Victor Luna in 1983–1984,[5]:422–434 and New York businessman Dennis Stein in 1985.[82] She met her seventh – and last – husband, construction worker Larry Fortensky, at the Betty Ford Center in 1988.[5]:437[1]:465–466 They were married at the Neverland Ranch of her long-time friend Michael Jackson on October 6, 1991.[63] The wedding was again subject to intense media attention, with one photographer parachuting to the ranch[63] and Taylor selling the wedding pictures to People for $1 million, which she used to start her AIDS foundation.[68] Taylor and Fortensky divorced in October 1996,[5]:437 but remained in contact for life.[83] She attributed the split to her painful hip operations and his obsessive-compulsive disorder.[84][85] In the winter of 1999, Fortensky underwent brain surgery after falling off a balcony and was comatose for six weeks; Taylor immediately notified the hospital she would personally guarantee his medical expenses.[86] At the end of 2010, she wrote him a letter that read: "Larry darling, you will always be a big part of my heart! I'll love you for ever."[87] Taylor's last phone call with Fortensky was on February 7, 2011, one day before she checked into the hospital for what turned out to be her final stay; he told her she would outlive him.[88] Although they had been divorced for almost 15 years, Taylor left Fortensky $825,000 in her will.[89]

aylor was raised as a Christian Scientist, and converted to Judaism in 1959.[5]:173–174[1]:206–210 Although two of her husbands – Mike Todd and Eddie Fisher – were Jewish, Taylor stated that she did not convert because of them, but had wanted to do so "for a long time",[90] and that there was "comfort and dignity and hope for me in this ancient religion that [has] survived for four thousand years... I feel as if I have been a Jew all my life".[91] Walker believed that Taylor was influenced in her decision by her godfather, Victor Cazalet, and her mother, who were active supporters of Zionism during her childhood.[1]:14

Following her conversion, Taylor became an active supporter of Jewish and Zionist causes.[92][93] In 1959, she purchased $100,000 worth of Israeli bonds, which led to her films being banned by Muslim countries throughout the Middle East and Africa.[94][93] She was also barred from entering Egypt to film Cleopatra in 1962, but the ban was lifted two years later after the Egyptian officials deemed that the film brought positive publicity for the country.[92] In addition to purchasing bonds, Taylor helped to raise money for organizations such as the Jewish National Fund,[92] and sat on the board of trustees of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.[95]

She also advocated for the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel, cancelled a visit to the USSR because of its condemnation of Israel due to the Six-Day War, and signed a letter protesting the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 of 1975.[92] In 1976, she offered herself as a replacement hostage after more than 100 Israeli civilians were taken hostage in the Entebbe skyjacking.[92] She had a small role in the television film made about the incident, Victory at Entebbe (1976), and narrated Genocide (1981), an Academy Award-winning documentary about the Holocaust.[95]

Taylor is considered a fashion icon both for her film costumes and personal style.[96][97][98] At MGM, her costumes were mostly designed by Helen Rose and Edith Head,[99] and in the 1960s by Irene Sharaff.[97][100] Her most famous costumes include a white ball gown in A Place in the Sun (1951), a Grecian dress in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), a green A-line dress in Suddenly Last Summer (1959), and a slip and a fur coat in BUtterfield 8 (1960).[96][97][98] Her make-up look in Cleopatra (1963) started a trend for "cat-eye" make-up done with black eyeliner.[5]:135–136

Taylor collected jewelry through her life, and owned the 33.19-carat (6.638 g) Krupp Diamond, the 69.42-carat (13.884 g) Taylor-Burton Diamond, and the 50-carat (10 g) La Peregrina Pearl, all three of which were gifts from husband Richard Burton.[5]:237–238,258–259,275–276 She also published a book about her collection, My Love Affair with Jewelry, in 2002.[97][101] Taylor helped to popularize the work of fashion designers Valentino Garavani[99][102] and Halston.[97][103] She received a Lifetime of Glamour Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) in 1997.[104] After her death, her jewelry and fashion collections were auctioned by Christie's to benefit her AIDS foundation, ETAF. The jewelry sold for a record-breaking sum of $156.8 million,[105] and the clothes and accessories for a further $5.5 million.[106]

Los Angeles residence Taylor lived at 700 Nimes Road in the Bel Air district of Los Angeles from 1982 until her death in 2011. The art photographer Catherine Opie created an eponymous photographic study of the house in 2011.[107]

Taylor struggled with health problems for most of her life.[63] She was born with scoliosis[108] and broke her back while filming National Velvet in 1944.[1]:40–47 The fracture went undetected for several years, although it caused her chronic back problems.[1]:40–47 In 1956, she underwent an operation in which some of her spinal discs were removed and replaced with donated bone.[1]:175 Taylor was also prone to other illnesses and injuries, which often necessitated surgery; in 1961, she survived a near-fatal bout of pneumonia that required a tracheotomy.[5]

In addition, she was addicted to alcohol and prescription pain killers and tranquilizers. She was treated at the Betty Ford Center for seven weeks from December 1983 to January 1984, becoming the first celebrity to openly admit herself to the clinic.[5]:424–425 She relapsed later in the decade, and entered rehabilitation again in 1988.[1]:366–368 Taylor also struggled with her weight – she became overweight in the 1970s, especially after her marriage to Senator John Warner, and published a diet book about her experiences, Elizabeth Takes Off (1988).[109][110] Taylor was a heavy smoker until she experienced a severe bout of pneumonia in 1990.[111]

Taylor's health increasingly declined during the last two decades of her life, and she rarely attended public events after about 1996.[108] Taylor had serious bouts of pneumonia in 1990 and 2000,[66] underwent hip replacement surgery in the mid-1990s,[63] underwent surgery for a benign brain tumor in 1997,[63] and was successfully treated for skin cancer in 2002.[108] She used a wheelchair due to her back problems, and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004.[112][113] Six weeks after being hospitalized, she died of the illness at age 79 on March 23, 2011, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.[114] Her funeral took place the following day at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The service was a private Jewish ceremony presided over by Rabbi Jerome Cutler. At Taylor's request, the ceremony began 15 minutes behind schedule, as, according to her representative, "She even wanted to be late for her own funeral".[115] She was entombed in the cemetery's Great Mausoleum.[116]

Taylor was one of the last stars of classical Hollywood cinema,[118][119] and one of the first modern celebrities.[120] During the era of the studio system, she exemplified the classic film star. She was portrayed as different from "ordinary" people, and her public image was carefully crafted and controlled by MGM.[121] When the era of classical Hollywood ended in the 1960s, and paparazzi photography became a normal feature of media culture, Taylor came to define a new type of celebrity, whose real private life was the focus of public interest.[122][123][124] According to Adam Bernstein of The Washington Post, "[m]ore than for any film role, she became famous for being famous, setting a media template for later generations of entertainers, models, and all variety of semi-somebodies."[125]

Regardless of the acting awards she won during her career, Taylor's film performances were often overlooked by contemporary critics;[10][126] according to film historian Jeanine Basinger, "No actress ever had a more difficult job in getting critics to accept her onscreen as someone other than Elizabeth Taylor... Her persona ate her alive."[125] Her film roles often mirrored her personal life, and many critics continue to regard her as always playing herself, rather than acting.[123][125][127] In contrast, Mel Gussow of The New York Times stated that "the range of [Taylor's] acting was surprisingly wide", despite the fact that she never received any professional training.[10] Film critic Peter Bradshaw called her "an actress of such sexiness it was an incitement to riot – sultry and queenly at the same time", and "a shrewd, intelligent, intuitive acting presence in her later years".[128] David Thomson stated that "she had the range, nerve, and instinct that only Bette Davis had had before – and like Davis, Taylor was monster and empress, sweetheart and scold, idiot and wise woman".[129] Five films in which she starred – Lassie Come Home, National Velvet, A Place in the Sun, Giant, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – have been preserved in the National Film Registry, and the American Film Institute has named her the seventh greatest female screen legend of classical Hollywood cinema.

Taylor has also been discussed by journalists and scholars interested in the role of women in Western society. Camille Paglia writes that Taylor was a "pre-feminist woman" who "wields the sexual power that feminism cannot explain and has tried to destroy. Through stars like Taylor, we sense the world-disordering impact of legendary women like Delilah, Salome, and Helen of Troy."[130] In contrast, cultural critic M.G. Lord calls Taylor an "accidental feminist", stating that while she did not identify as a feminist, many of her films had feminist themes and "introduced a broad audience to feminist ideas".[131][b] Similarly, Ben W. Heineman Jr. and Cristine Russell write in The Atlantic that her role in Giant "dismantled stereotypes about women and minorities".[132]

Taylor is considered a gay icon, and received widespread recognition for her HIV/AIDS activism.[125][133][134][135] After her death, GLAAD issued a statement saying that she "was an icon not only in Hollywood, but in the LGBT community, where she worked to ensure that everyone was treated with the respect and dignity we all deserve",[133] and Sir Nick Partridge of the Terrence Higgins Trust called her "the first major star to publicly fight fear and prejudice towards AIDS".[136] According to Paul Flynn of The Guardian, she was "a new type of gay icon, one whose position is based not on tragedy, but on her work for the LGBTQ community".[137] Speaking of her charity work, former President Bill Clinton said at her death, "Elizabeth's legacy will live on in many people around the world whose lives will be longer and better because of her work and the ongoing efforts of those she inspired."[138]

She has had three fairly distinct career personas: as the winsome child star of movies like National Velvet (1944); as a fiery prima donna, the acknowledged "world's most beautiful woman" and star of movies like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Butterfield 8 (1960); and as an older Hollywood grande dame, tabloid favorite, and friend to pop stars like Elton John and Michael Jackson. Her tempestuous marriage to Welsh actor Richard Burton made them Hollywood's reigning couple in the 1960s: they starred together as lovers in Cleopatra (1963, with Taylor as Cleopatra and Burton as Marc Antony) and then played battling spouses in the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Taylor had seven husbands and eight marriages in all: hotelier Nicky Hilton (1950-51, divorced), actor Michael Wilding (1952-57, divorced), producer Mike Todd (1957 until his 1958 death in a plane crash), singer Eddie Fisher (1959-64, divorced), actor Richard Burton (1964-74, divorced), Burton again (1975-76, divorced again), politician John Warner (1976-82, divorced), and construction worker Larry Fortensky (1991-96, divorced). Taylor won best actress Oscars for Butterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 2000 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Taylor was the first actress to earn a million dollars for one film,

דיים אליזבת רוזמונד טיילור

''''''(באנגלית: Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor;‏ 27 בפברואר 1932 – 23 במרץ 2011) הייתה שחקנית בריטית-אמריקאית. זוכת שני פרסי אוסקר.

בצעירותה נחשבה לאחת הנשים היפות בעולם, בין היתר בשל צבע עיניה הייחודי, המזכיר את הצבע סגול. הייתה ידועה באורח חייה הראוותני, בנישואיה הרבים לבעלים שונים, במתנות הראוותניות שהעניקו לה בזמן יחסיהם ובכך שמכרה אותם בגיל מבוגר יותר במחיר מופקע, לאור השתייכותם אליה. ובמערכת היחסים המתוחה עם אחד מבעליה, השחקן ריצ'רד ברטון, ובידידותה עם מייקל ג'קסון.

טיילור נולדה למשפחה נוצרית. שניים מבעליה היו יהודים (אדי פישר ומייק טוד) וטענה שהגיור הרפורמי שלה לא היה רק למענם. טיילור הייתה ידועה בפועלה ומאמציה למען הציונות ולמען יהודים.

תוכן עניינים 1 ילדות ונעורים - ילדת הפלא בהוליווד 2 קריירת משחק בוגרת 3 חייה הפרטיים 3.1 נישואים 3.2 עסקים והתנדבות 4 פרסים ותוארי כבוד 5 מותה 6 קישורים חיצוניים ילדות ונעורים - ילדת הפלא בהוליווד אליזבת טיילור נולדה ברובע המפסטד, לונדון שבאנגליה. הוריה פרנסיס לן טיילור ושרה ויולה וורמברודט, שהיו אמריקנים שחיו בבריטניה. בזכותם בנוסף לאזרחותה הבריטית השיגה גם אזרחות אמריקאית. מצד אביה, טיילור היא צאצאית לבתי אצולה אנגליים ולבית המלוכה הסקוטי, כמו גם לבית פלנטג'נט.

הוריה של טיילור באו מארקנסו סיטי, קנזס. אביה היה סוחר אמנות ואמה שחקנית לשעבר, שפרשה מעולם התיאטרון על מנת להינשא לאביה של טיילור בשנת 1926. בגיל שלוש החלה טיילור ללמוד בלט. לאחר כניסת בריטניה למלחמת העולם השנייה, החליטו הוריה לחזור לארצות הברית, על מנת שלא להיקלע ללוחמה. המשפחה השתקעה בלוס אנג'לס.

בגיל תשע הופיעה טיילור בסרטה הראשון עבור אולפני יוניברסל. אולפנים אלו לא העריכו את כישוריה, ואיפשרו לה לחתום על חוזה עם חברת MGM. חברה זו ליהקה את טיילור לתפקיד הראשי בשובר הקופות הקלאסי "לאסי חוזרת הביתה" (1943), שהיווה את פריצתה בעולם הקולנוע. לאחר מספר סרטים נוספים היא הופיעה לראשונה בתפקיד הראשי כ"ולווט בראון", נערה העוסקת באילוף סוסים, בסרט "נשיונל ולווט" (1944). הסרט זכה להצלחה גדולה ואיפשר לטיילור לחתום עם MGM על חוזה ארוך טווח. טיילור המשיכה להופיע בסרטים, במקביל ללימודיה בבית הספר התיכון. בשנים אלו הופיעה במספר המשכים לסדרת "לאסי", וכן שיחקה בסרט "ג'יין אייר" (1943), ובלהיטים כגון "החיים עם אבא" (1947), "אבי הכלה" (1950) (כבתו של ספנסר טרייסי, סרט שהיה להצלחה והוליד סרט המשך בשנת 1951 בשם "הרווח הקטן של אבא"), או "נשים קטנות" (1949). בסרטים אלו שיחקה דמות חיובית של מתבגרת חביבה וספורטיבית.

בשנת 1950 סיימה את לימודיה בבית הספר התיכון, ובשנה זו נישאה בפעם הראשונה, ליורש אימפריית המיליונים של מלונות הילטון, קונרד הילטון הבן. היו אלו נישואי בוסר שהסתיימו לאחר מספר חודשים, והיו אך הראשונים בשורה ארוכה של זיווגים כושלים, ולעיתים טראגיים.

קריירת משחק בוגרת החל משנות ה-50 נחשבה טיילור לאחת השחקניות המובילות בהוליווד, מעמד בו החזיקה עד לסוף שנות ה-60. היא זכתה פעמיים בפרס האוסקר כשחקנית הטובה ביותר. בפעם הראשונה בשנת 1960 עבור הסרט "באטרפילד 8", בו גילמה פרוצה יוקרתית החווה חיי אהבה מתוסבכים, ובו שיחקה לצד בעלה, השחקן אדי פישר. בשנת 1966 זכתה טיילור בפרס פעם נוספת בשל משחקה בסרט "מי מפחד מוירג'יניה וולף?", דרמה העוסקת בחיי הנישואים של זוג במשבר, בו שיחקה לצד בעלה, השחקן הוולשי ריצ'רד ברטון. טיילור הייתה מועמדת לפרס בשנת 1957 עבור תפקידה בסרט "ריינטרי קאונטי", בו שיחקה אל מול מונטגומרי קליפט, בשנת 1958 עבור תפקידה בסרט על פי מחזהו של טנסי ויליאמס, "חתולה על גג פח לוהט" בו שיחקה לצד פול ניומן, ובשנת 1959 עבור תפקידה בסרט "פתאום, בקיץ האחרון", אף הוא על פי מחזהו של טנסי ויליאמס, בו שיחקה לצד קתרין הפבורן ומונטגומרי קליפט.

בנוסף לסרטים אלו שיחקה בלהיטים הוליוודיים גדולים כקוו ואדיס (1951), "מקום תחת השמש" (1951), "הפעם האחרונה שראיתי את פריז" ו"ענק" (1956) סרט בו שיחקה לצד רוק הדסון ואגדת הקולנוע ג'יימס דין שהיה זה אחד משלושת הסרטים שצילם בימי חייו.

בניגוד לתדמיתה מהסרטים בהם הופיעה כנערה וכילדה, עסקו סרטיה כבוגרת בנושאים "קשים", כשבר בחיי נישואין, תשוקות מודחקות, והומוסקסואליות. דמותה הקולנועית הבוגרת מתקופה זו הייתה של אישה סוערת, מינית ומפתה. חייה הפרטיים הסוערים, השערוריות בהן הייתה מעורבת, כאשר השחקן אדי פישר עזב למענה את אשתו, דבי ריינולדס לאחר שהשניים נחשבו לזוג ההוליוודי המושלם, רק על מנת להעזב על ידי טיילור שנים ספורות לאחר מכן לטובת השחקן ריצ'רד ברטון, אשר אף הוא היה נשוי לאחרת כשהחל את יחסיו עם טיילור, תרמו לתדמית זו, והביאו את הקהל אל הקופות.

בשנת 1963 הייתה טיילור לשחקנית שקיבלה את השכר הגבוה ביותר בהוליווד, כאשר קיבלה את הסכום של מיליון דולר, על מנת לשחק בהפקת הראווה "קלאופטרה". הרומן שניהלה טיילור כקלאופטרה אל מול המצלמות עם ריצ'רד ברטון, ששיחק את מרקוס אנטוניוס לווה ברומן אמיתי בין טיילור וברטון, שלא חמק מעיני צלמי המגזינים.

פרשה זו קיבעה את תדמיתה של טיילור כ"קוטלת גברים", פאם פאטאל ברונטית, המשתמשת בגברים וזורקת אותם לאחר מכן לפי צרכיה. עם זאת, מערכת יחסיה עם ברטון נמשכה זמן רב וידעה עליות ומורדות, והסתיימה בצורה טרגית עם מותו הפתאומי של ברטון בגיל 58, בשנת 1984.

לאחר הסרט "קלאופטרה" הופיעה טיילור כ"מרתה" בסרט "מי מפחד מווירג'יניה וולף?" (1966). דמות זו מיצתה את כישרון המשחק של טיילור, שהציגה דמות של אישה קולנית, מתוסבכת, ואף מוזנחת, השקועה במערכת יחסים הרסנית עם בעלה, שגולם על ידי ברטון. סרט זה הביא לטיילור את פרס האוסקר השני בקריירה שלה, אך סימן מפנה לרעה, שכן לאחריו לא זכתה עוד טיילור לככב בלהיט קולנועי מהשורה הראשונה.

מאמצע שנות השבעים פג קסמה של טיילור. היא שמנה, הופעותיה הקולנועיות הפכו לנדירות, והסרטים בהם הופיעה לא נחשבו לחשובים, ולא זכו לפרסים. מתפקידיה האחרונים זכורה טיילור בתפקיד שולי כאמו החורגת של פרד בסרט "משפחת פלינסטון" וכן על קריינותה בסרט "ג'נוסייד". טיילור הופיעה לעיתים בטלוויזיה (לרבות הופעה בכמה מפרקי הסדרה משפחת סימפסון, פעם בדיבוב מגי ופעם בדיבוב דמותה המצוירת של עצמה), וכן בתיאטרון, בו זכתה להצלחה על בימות ברודוויי בשנות השמונים.

חייה הפרטיים נישואים במשך חייה הייתה טיילור נשואה שמונה פעמים לשבעה בעלים:

קונרד (ניקי) הילטון (6 במאי 1950 - 29 בינואר 1951). נישואי בוסר אלו הסתיימו בגירושים. השחקן מייקל וילדינג (21 בפברואר 1952 - 26 בינואר 1957). נישואים אלו הסתיימו בגירושים. המפיק מייק טוד (2 בפברואר 1957 - 22 במרץ 1958) נישואים אלו הסתיימו בצורה טראגית עם מותו של טוד. השחקן והזמר אדי פישר (12 במאי 1959 - 6 במרץ 1964) נישואים אלה הסתיימו בגירושים. השחקן ריצ'רד ברטון (15 במרץ 1964 - 26 ביוני 1974 ושוב בין 10 באוקטובר 1975 ל-29 ביולי 1976). שני הניסיונות הסתיימו בגירושים. סנטור ג'ון וורנר (4 בדצמבר 1976 - 7 בנובמבר 1982) נישואים אלה הסתיימו בגירושים. מפעיל הציוד המכני לארי פורטנסקי (6 באוקטובר 1991 - 31 באוקטובר 1996). גם נישואים אלו הסתיימו בגירושים. מנישואיה לווילדינג נולדו לטיילור שני בנים, מייקל הווארד וילדינג (1953) וכריסטופר אדוארד וילדינג (1955). מנישואיה לטוד נולדה לטיילור בת בשם אליזבת פרנסס ב-1957. בעת נישואיה לפישר החלה טיילור בהליכי אימוץ של בת, שהושלמו לאחר נישואיה לברטון. הבת, מריה ברטון, היא ילידת שנת 1961.

טיילור לא הייתה אזרחית ארצות הברית, שכן ויתרה על אזרחותה בתקופת נישואיה לברטון. היא התגוררה בשנותיה האחרונות בשכונת בל אייר בלוס אנג'לס במעמד של תושבת חוקית קבועה.

עסקים והתנדבות טיילור הייתה ידועה בחיבתה לתכשיטים. לאורך השנים רכשה מספר פריטים ידועי שם, לרבות יהלומים מפורסמים. בשנת 2002 כתבה ספר בשם "סיפור האהבה שלי עם תכשיטים", ובשנת 2005 יצרה מיזם עסקי עם תכשיטנים נודעים בלוס אנג'לס לשיווק תכשיטים תחת השם המסחרי "אליזבת טיילור". כן שיווקה במסגרת זו בשמים שזכו להצלחה.

זמן רב השקיעה טיילור במאבק במחלת האיידס. היא סייעה להקמת המרכז האמריקני למחקר האיידס, לאחר מותו של ידידה השחקן רוק הדסון שהיה אחד הידוענים הראשונים שנפלו קורבן למחלה. היא הקימה את מכון האיידס על שמה. מעריכים כי עד לשנת 1999 סייעה טיילור בהשגת מימון בסך חמישים מיליון דולר למחקר המחלה.

פרסים ותוארי כבוד טיילור הייתה מועמדת פעמים רבות לפרס האוסקר וזכתה בו פעמיים. כן זכתה בפרס האקדמיה לאמנויות הקולנוע על שם ג'ין הרשהולט, עבור פעילותה ההומניטרית, בשנת 1992. פרס נוסף על הישגיה במשחק קיבלה ממכון הסרטים האמריקאי בשנת 1993.

בשנת 1999 זכתה בתואר "דיים מפקדת" במסדר האימפריה הבריטית (DBE - Dame Commander of the British Empire) אותו קיבלה מהמלכה אליזבת השנייה. כן קיבלה בשנת 2001 את מדליית האזרחות של הנשיא, מנשיא ארצות הברית ביל קלינטון. התואר הוא השני בחשיבותו בתוארי הכבוד המוענקים לאזרחי ארצות הברית, והוא ניתן למי שביצעו מעשים ושירותים יוצאי דופן.

מפקד מסדר האמנויות והספרות גבירה מפקדת במסדר האימפריה הבריטית מדליית האזרחים הנשיאותית פרס מריאן אנדרסון (2000) פרס ז'אן הרשולט לפעילות הומניטרית פרס באפט"א למפעל חיים (1999) פרס אוסקר לשחקנית הטובה ביותר (1960) פרס אוסקר לשחקנית הטובה ביותר (1966) פרס מיוחד של עולם התאטרון (1981) פרס גילדת שחקני המסך למפעל חיים היכל התהילה של קליפורניה (2007) פרס מרכז קנדי פרס מכון הסרטים האמריקאי על מפעל חיים (1993) דוב הכסף לשחקנית הטובה ביותר (1972) מסדר האימפריה הבריטית פרס אוסקר האקדמיה הבריטית לאומנויות הקולנוע והטלוויזיה (1967) פרס גלובוס הזהב (1960) פרס גילדת שחקני המסך (1998) פרס גלובוס הזהב לשחקנית הטובה ביותר - סרט דרמה (1959) פרס דוד די דונטלו לשחקנית הזרה הטובה ביותר (1972) גלובוס הזהב על שם ססיל ב. דה-מיל (1984) פרס מועצת המבקרים הלאומית לשחקנית הטובה ביותר (1966) GLAAD Vanguard Award (2000) דוב הכסף לשחקנית הטובה ביותר פרס קריסטל (1985) מותה טיילור התמודדה עם מספר בעיות בריאות במהלך השנים. ב-2004 הוכרז כי היא סובלת מאי ספיקת לב גדושה, וב-2009 היא עברה ניתוח לב להחלפת מסתם לב. בפברואר 2011 הביאו תסמינים חדשים הקשורים לאי ספיקת לב לאשפוזה במרכז הרפואי סדרס-סיני בלוס אנג'לס לטיפול.

ב-23 במרץ 2011 נפטרה טיילור, מוקפת בארבעת ילדיה במרכז הרפואי סדרס-סיני בלוס אנג'לס שבקליפורניה, והיא בת 79. היא נקברה בטקס הלוויה צנוע בבית הקברות "פורסט לואן" בלוס-אנג'לס ליד קברי הוריה, ובסמוך לקברו של מייקל ג'קסון חברה הטוב.

קישורים חיצוניים מיזמי קרן ויקימדיה ויקיציטוט ציטוטים בוויקיציטוט: אליזבת טיילור ויקישיתוף תמונות ומדיה בוויקישיתוף: אליזבת טיילור Green globe.svg אתר האינטרנט הרשמי

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Considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden years, as well as a larger-than-life celebrity, Elizabeth Taylor has starred in over fifty films, winning two Academy Awards. As much as her acting skills and beauty has kept her in the public eye, she is also famous for her eight marriages and her devotion to raising money for research to fight AIDS.

Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in Hampstead, a wealthy district of north-west London, the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor (1897–1968) and Sara Viola Warmbrodt (1895–1994), who were Americans residing in England. Taylor's older brother, Howard Taylor, was born in 1929. Both of her parents were originally from Arkansas City, Kansas. Her father was an art dealer and her mother a former actress whose stage name was 'Sara Sothern'. Sothern retired from the stage when she and Francis Taylor married in 1926 in New York City. Taylor's two first names are in honour of her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Mary (Rosemond) Taylor. A dual citizen of the UK and the U.S., she was born a British subject through her birth on British soil and an American citizen through her parents.

She has had three fairly distinct career personas: as the winsome child star of movies like National Velvet (1944); as a fiery prima donna, the acknowledged "world's most beautiful woman" and star of movies like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Butterfield 8 (1960); and as an older Hollywood grande dame, tabloid favorite, and friend to pop stars like Elton John and Michael Jackson. Her tempestuous marriage to Welsh actor Richard Burton made them Hollywood's reigning couple in the 1960s: they starred together as lovers in Cleopatra (1963, with Taylor as Cleopatra and Burton as Marc Antony) and then played battling spouses in the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Taylor had seven husbands and eight marriages in all: hotelier Nicky Hilton (1950-51, divorced), actor Michael Wilding (1952-57, divorced), producer Mike Todd (1957 until his 1958 death in a plane crash), singer Eddie Fisher (1959-64, divorced), actor Richard Burton (1964-74, divorced), Burton again (1975-76, divorced again), politician John Warner (1976-82, divorced), and construction worker Larry Fortensky (1991-96, divorced). Taylor won best actress Oscars for Butterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 2000 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Taylor was the first actress to earn a million dollars for one film, for 1963's Cleopatra.

The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list.

In 1999, Taylor was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Taylor and Wilding had two sons, Michael Howard Wilding, and Christopher Edward Wilding. She and Todd had one daughter, Elizabeth Frances Todd, called "Liza". In 1964 she and Fisher started adoption proceedings for a daughter, whom Burton later adopted, Maria Burton. She became a grandmother on 25 August 1971, at age 39.

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE (born 27 February 1932), also known as Liz Taylor, is an English-American actress. She is known for her acting talent and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, including many marriages. Taylor is considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden age.

The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list.

Early years (1932–1942)

Taylor was born in Hampstead, a wealthy district of north-west London, the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor (1897–1968) and Sara Viola Warmbrodt (1895–1994), who were Americans residing in England. Taylor's older brother, Howard Taylor, was born in 1929. Both of her parents were originally from Arkansas City, Kansas. Her father was an art dealer and her mother a former actress whose stage name was 'Sara Sothern'. Sothern retired from the stage when she and Francis Taylor married in 1926 in New York City. Taylor's two first names are in honour of her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Mary (Rosemond) Taylor. A dual citizen of the UK and the U.S., she was born a British subject through her birth on British soil and an American citizen through her parents.

At the age of three, Taylor began taking ballet lessons with Vaccani. Shortly before the beginning of World War II, her parents decided to return to the United States to avoid hostilities. Her mother took the children first, arriving in New York in April 1939, while her father remained in London to wrap up matters in the art business, arriving in November.[3] They settled in Los Angeles, California, where Sara's family, the Warmbrodts, were then living.

Through Hopper, the Taylors were introduced to Andrea Berens, a wealthy English socialite and also fiancée of Cheever Cowden, chairman and major stockholder of Universal Pictures in Hollywood. Berens insisted that Sara bring Elizabeth to see Cowden, who she was adamant would be taken away by Elizabeth's breathtaking dark beauty; she was born with a mutation that caused double rows of eyelashes, which enhanced her appearance on camera. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer soon took interest in the British youngster as well but she failed to secure a contract with them after an informal audition with producer John Considine proved that she couldn't sing. However, on 18 September 1941, Universal Pictures signed Elizabeth to a six-month renewable contract at $100 a week.

Taylor appeared in her first motion picture at the age of nine in There's One Born Every Minute, her first and only film for Universal Pictures. Less than six months after she signed with Universal, her contract was reviewed by Edward Muhl, the studio's production chief. Muhl met with Taylor's agent, Myron Selznick (brother of David) and with Cheever Cowden. Muhl challenged Selznick's and Cowden's constant support of Taylor: "She can't sing, she can't dance, she can't perform. What's more, her mother has to be one of the most unbearable women it has been my displeasure to meet." Universal cancelled Taylor's contract just short of her tenth birthday in February 1942. Nevertheless on 15 October 1942, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed Taylor to $100 a week for up to three months to appear as Priscilla in Lassie Come Home.

Career

Adolescent star

Lassie Come Home featured child star Roddy McDowall, with whom Taylor would share a lifelong friendship. Upon its release in 1943, the film received favourable attention for both McDowall and Taylor. On the basis for her performance in Lassie Come Home MGM signed Taylor to a conventional seven-year contract at $100 a week but increasing at regular intervals until it reached a hefty $750 during the seventh year. Her first assignment under her new contract at MGM was a loan-out to 20th Century Fox for the character of Helen Burns in a film version of the Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre (1944). During this period she also returned to England to appear in another Roddy McDowall picture for MGM, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). But it was Taylor's persistence in campaigning for the role of Velvet Brown in MGM's National Velvet that skyrocketed Taylor to stardom at the tender age of 12. Taylor's character, Velvet Brown, is a young girl who trains her beloved horse to win the Grand National. National Velvet, which also costarred beloved American favorite Mickey Rooney and English newcomer Angela Lansbury, became an overwhelming success upon its release in December 1944 and altered Taylor's life forever. Also, many of her back problems have been traced to when she hurt her back falling off a horse during the filming of National Velvet.

National Velvet grossed over US$4 million at the box office and Taylor was signed to a new long-term contract that raised her salary to $30,000 per year. To capitalize on the box office success of Velvet, Taylor was shoved into another animal opus, Courage of Lassie, in which a different dog named "Bill", cast as an Allied combatant in World War II, regularly outsmarts the Nazis, with Taylor going through another outdoors role. The 1946 success of Courage of Lassie led to another contract drawn up for Taylor earning her $750 per week, her mother $250, as well as a $1,500 bonus. Her roles as Mary Skinner in a loan-out to Warner Brothers' Life With Father (1947), Cynthia Bishop in Cynthia (1947), Carol Pringle in A Date with Judy (1948) and Susan Prackett in Julia Misbehaves (1948) all proved to be successful. Her reputation as a bankable adolescent star and nickname of "One-Shot Liz" (referring to her ability to shoot a scene in one take) promised her a full and bright career with Metro. Taylor's portrayal as Amy, in the American classic Little Women (1949) would prove to be her last adolescent role. In October 1948, she sailed aboard the RMS Queen Mary travelling to England where she would begin filming on Conspirator, where she would play her first adult role.

Transition into adult roles

When released in 1949, Conspirator bombed at the box office, but Taylor's portrayal of 21-year-old debutante Melinda Grayton (keeping in mind that Taylor was only 16 at the time of filming) who unknowingly marries a communist spy (played by 38-year-old Robert Taylor), was praised by critics for her first adult lead in a film, even though the public didn't seem ready to accept her in adult roles. Taylor's first picture under her new salary of $2,000 per week was The Big Hangover (1950), both a critical and box office failure, that paired her with screen idol Van Johnson. The picture also failed to present Taylor with an opportunity to exhibit her newly-realized sensuality. Her first box office success in an adult role came as Kay Banks in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride (1950), alongside Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett. The film spawned a sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), which Taylor's costar Spencer Tracy summarised with "boring...boring...boring." The film was received well at the box office but it would be Taylor's next picture that would set the course for her career as a dramatic actress.

In late 1949, Taylor had begun filming George Stevens' A Place In The Sun. Upon its release in 1951, Taylor was hailed for her performance as Angela Vickers, a spoiled socialite who comes between George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) and his poor, pregnant factory-working girlfriend Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters).

The film became the pivotal performance of Taylor's career as critics acclaimed it as a classic, a reputation it sustained throughout the next 50 years of cinema history. The New York Times' A.H. Weiler wrote, "Elizabeth's delineation of the rich and beauteous Angela is the top effort of her career," and the Boxoffice reviewer unequivocally stated "Miss Taylor deserves an Academy Award." "If you were considered pretty, you might as well have been a waitress trying to act – you were treated with no respect at all", she later bitterly reflected.

Even with such critical success as an actress, Taylor was increasingly unsatisfied with the roles being offered to her at the time. While she wanted to play the leads in The Barefoot Contessa and I'll Cry Tomorrow, MGM continued to restrict her to mindless and somewhat forgettable films such as: a cameo as herself in Callaway Went Thataway (1951), Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), Ivanhoe (1952), The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) and Beau Brummel (1954).

Taylor had made it perfectly clear that she wanted to play the role of Lady Rowena in Ivanhoe, but the part had already been given to Joan Fontaine and she was handed the thankless role of Rebecca. When she became pregnant with her first child, MGM forced her through The Girl Who Had Everything (even adding two hours to her daily work schedule) so as to get one more film out of her before she became too heavily pregnant. Taylor lamented that she needed the money, as she had just bought a new house with second husband Michael Wilding and with a child on the way things would be pretty tight. Taylor had been forced by her pregnancy to turn down Elephant Walk (1954), though the role had been designed for her. Vivien Leigh, to whom Taylor bore a striking resemblance, got the part and went to Ceylon to shoot on location. Leigh had a nervous breakdown during filming, and Taylor finally reclaimed the role after the birth of her child Michael Wilding, Jr. in January 1953.

Taylor's next screen endeavor, Rhapsody (1954), another tedious romantic drama, proved equally frustrating. Taylor portrayed Louise Durant, a beautiful rich girl in love with a temperamental violinist (Vittorio Gassman) and an earnest young pianist (John Ericson). A film critic for the New York Herald Tribune wrote: "There is beauty in the picture all right, with Miss Taylor glowing into the camera from every angle...but the dramatic pretenses are weak, despite the lofty sentences and handsome manikin poses."

Taylor's fourth period picture, Beau Brummell, made just after Elephant Walk and Rhapsody, cast her as the elaborately costumed Lady Patricia, which many felt was only a screen prop—a ravishing beauty whose sole purpose was to lend romantic support to the film's title star, Stewart Granger.

The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) fared only slightly better than her previous pictures, with Taylor being reunited with The Big Hangover costar Van Johnson. The role of Helen Ellsworth Willis was based on that of Zelda Fitzgerald and, although pregnant with her second child, Taylor went ahead with the film, her fourth in twelve months. Although proving somewhat successful at the box office, she still yearned for meatier roles.

1955–1979

Following a more substantial role opposite Rock Hudson and James Dean in George Stevens' epic Giant (1956), Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the following films: Raintree County (1957) opposite Montgomery Clift; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) opposite Paul Newman; and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)[8] with Montgomery Clift, Katharine Hepburn and Mercedes McCambridge.

In 1960, Taylor became the highest paid actress up to that time when she signed a one million dollar contract to play the title role in 20th Century Fox's lavish production of Cleopatra, which would eventually be released in 1963. During the filming, she began a romance with her future husband Richard Burton, who played Mark Antony in the film. The romance received much attention from the tabloid press, as both were married to other spouses at the time.

Taylor won her first Academy Award, for Best Actress in a Leading Role, for her performance as Gloria Wandrous in BUtterfield 8 (1960), which co-starred then husband Eddie Fisher.

Her second and final Academy Award, also for Best Actress in a Leading Role, was for her performance as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), playing opposite then husband Richard Burton. Taylor and Burton would appear together in six other films during the decade – The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Doctor Faustus (1967), The Comedians {1967} and Boom! (1968).

Taylor appeared in John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) opposite Marlon Brando (replacing Montgomery Clift who died before production began) and Secret Ceremony (1968) opposite Mia Farrow. However, by the end of the decade her box-office drawing power had considerably diminished, as evidenced by the failure of The Only Game in Town (1970), with Warren Beatty.

Taylor continued to star in numerous theatrical films throughout the 1970s, such as Zee and Co. (1972) with Michael Caine, Ash Wednesday (1973), The Blue Bird (1976) with Jane Fonda and Ava Gardner, and A Little Night Music (1977). With then-husband Richard Burton, she co-starred in the 1972 films Under Milk Wood and Hammersmith Is Out, and the 1973 made-for-TV movie Divorce His, Divorce Hers.

1980–2003

Taylor starred in the 1980 mystery/thriller The Mirror Crack'd opposite Kim Novak. In 1985, she played movie gossip columnist Louella Parsons in the TV film Malice in Wonderland opposite Jane Alexander, who played Hedda Hopper; and also appeared in the miniseries North and South. Her last theatrical film to date was 1994's The Flintstones. In 2001, she played an agent in the TV film These Old Broads. She has also appeared on a number television series, including the soap operas General Hospital and All My Children, as well as the animated series The Simpsons—once as herself, and once as the voice of Maggie Simpson. She has not done any acting since 2003.

Taylor has also acted on the stage, making her Broadway and West End debuts in 1982 with a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. She was then in a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives (1983), in which she starred with her former husband, Richard Burton. The student-run Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford was named for the famous couple after Burton appeared as Doctor Faustus in the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) production of the Marlowe play. Taylor played the ghostly, wordless Helen of Troy, who is entreated by Faustus to 'make [him] immortal with a kiss'.

Retirement, 2003–present

In November 2004, Taylor announced that she had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, a progressive condition in which the heart is too weak to pump sufficient blood throughout the body, particularly to the lower extremities: the ankles and feet. She has broken her back five times, had both her hips replaced, has survived a benign brain tumor operation, has survived skin cancer, and has faced life-threatening bouts with pneumonia twice. She is reclusive and sometimes fails to make scheduled appearances due to illness or other personal reasons. She now uses a wheelchair and when asked about it she said that she has osteoporosis and was born with scoliosis.

In 2005, Taylor was a vocal supporter of her friend Michael Jackson in his trial in California on charges of sexually abusing a child. He was acquitted.

On 30 May 2006, Taylor appeared on Larry King Live to refute the claims that she has been ill, and denied the allegations that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was close to death.

In late August 2006, Taylor decided to take a boating trip to help prove that she was not close to death. She also decided to make Christie's auction house the primary place where she will sell her jewellery, artwork, clothing, furniture and memorabilia (September 2006).

The February 2007 issue of Interview magazine was devoted entirely to Taylor. It celebrated her life, career and her upcoming 75th birthday.

On 5 December 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Taylor into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

Taylor was in the news recently for a rumoured ninth marriage to her companion Jason Winters. This has been dismissed as a rumour. However, she was quoted as saying, "Jason Winters is one of the most wonderful men I've ever known and that's why I love him. He bought us the most beautiful house in Hawaii and we visit it as often as possible," to gossip columnist Liz Smith. Winters accompanied Taylor to Macy's Passport HIV/AIDS 2007 gala, where Taylor was honoured with a humanitarian award. In 2008, Taylor and Winters were spotted celebrating the 4th of July on a yacht in Santa Monica, California. The couple attended the Macy's Passport HIV/AIDS gala again in 2008.

On 1 December 2007, Taylor acted on-stage again, appearing opposite James Earl Jones in a benefit performance of the A. R. Gurney play Love Letters. The event's goal was to raise $1 million for Taylor's AIDS foundation. Tickets for the show were priced at $2,500, and more than 500 people attended. The event happened to coincide with the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike and, rather than cross the picket line, Taylor requested a "one night dispensation." The Writers Guild agreed not to picket the Paramount Pictures lot that night to allow for the performance.

In October 2008, Taylor and Winters took a trip overseas to England. They spent time visiting friends, family and shopping.

Other interests

Taylor has a passion for jewellery. She is a client of well-known jewellery designer, Shlomo Moussaieff. Over the years she has owned a number of well-known pieces, two of the most talked-about being the 33.19-carat (6.64 g) Krupp Diamond and the 69.42-carat (13.88 g) pear-shaped Taylor-Burton Diamond, which were among many gifts from husband Richard Burton. Taylor also owns the 50-carat (10 g) La Peregrina Pearl, purchased by Burton as a Valentine's Day present in 1969. The pearl was formerly owned by Mary I of England, and Burton sought a portrait of Queen Mary wearing the pearl. Upon the purchase of the painting, the Burtons discovered that the British National Portrait Gallery did not have an original painting of Mary, so they donated the painting to the Gallery. Her enduring collection of jewellery has been documented in her book My Love Affair with Jewelry (2002) with photographs by the New York photographer John Bigelow Taylor (no relation).

Taylor started designing jewels for The Elizabeth Collection, creating fine jewellery with elegance and flair. The Elizabeth Taylor collection by Piranesi is sold at Christie's. She has also launched three perfumes, "Passion," "White Diamonds," and "Black Pearls," that together earn an estimated US$200 million in annual sales. In fall 2006, Taylor celebrated the 15th anniversary of her White Diamonds perfume, one of the top 10 best selling fragrances for more than the past decade.

Taylor has devoted much time and energy to AIDS-related charities and fundraising. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the death of her former costar and friend, Rock Hudson. She also created her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF). By 1999, she had helped to raise an estimated US$50 million to fight the disease.

In 2006, Taylor commissioned a 37-foot (11 m) "Care Van" equipped with examination tables and X Ray equipment and also donated US$40,000 to the New Orleans Aids task force, a charity designed for the New Orleans population with AIDS and HIV. The donation of the van was made by the Elizabeth Taylor HIV/AIDS Foundation and Macy's.[28]

In the early 1980s, Taylor moved to Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, which is her current home. She also owns homes in Palm Springs, London and Hawaii. The fenced and gated property is on tour maps sold at street corners and is frequently passed by tour guides.

Taylor was also a fan of the soap opera General Hospital. In fact, she was cast as the first Helena Cassadine, matriarch of the Cassadine family.

Taylor is a supporter of Kabbalah and member of the Kabbalah Centre. She encouraged long-time friend Michael Jackson to wear a red string as protection from the evil-eye during his 2005 trial for molestation, where he was eventually cleared of all charges. On 6 October 1991, Taylor had married construction worker Larry Fortensky at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.[citation needed] In 1997, Jackson presented Taylor with the exclusively written-for-her epic song "Elizabeth, I Love You", performed on the day of her 65th birthday celebration.

In October 2007, Taylor won a legal battle, over a Vincent van Gogh painting in her possession, when the US Supreme Court refused to reconsider a legal suit filed by four persons claiming that the artwork belongs to one of their Jewish ancestors, regardless of any statute of limitations.

Taylor attended Michael Jackson's private funeral on 3 September 2009.

Personal life

Marriages

Taylor has been married eight times to seven husbands:

Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (6 May 1950 – 29 January 1951) (divorced)

Michael Wilding (21 February 1952 – 26 January 1957) (divorced)

Michael Todd (2 February 1957 – 22 March 1958) (widowed)

Eddie Fisher (12 May 1959 – 6 March 1964) (divorced)

Richard Burton (15 March 1964 – 26 June 1974) (divorced)

Richard Burton (again) (10 October 1975 – 29 July 1976) (divorced)

John Warner (4 December 1976 – 7 November 1982) (divorced)

Larry Fortensky (6 October 1991 – 31 October 1996) (divorced)

Children

With Wilding (2 sons)

Michael Howard Wilding (born 6 January 1953)

Christopher Edward Wilding (born 27 February 1955)

With Todd (1 daughter)

Elizabeth Frances "Liza" Todd (born 6 August 1957)

With Burton (1 daughter)

Maria Burton (born 1 August 1961; adopted 1964)

In 1971 Taylor became a grandmother at the age of 39. She has 9 grandchildren.

Treatment for alcoholism

In the 1980s, she received treatment for alcoholism.

Filmography

List of awards and honours

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor was the second actress to win two Academy Awards both for Best Actress, the first award from a color film and the second from a black and white film. The first was Vivien Leigh. In 1999, Taylor was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.