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Elizabeth Taylor

February 15, 2024

For other uses, see Elizabeth Taylor (disambiguation).

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor DBE (27 February 1932 – 23 March 2011) was a British and American actress. 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 then became the world's highest paid movie star in the 1960s, remaining 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 of Classic Hollywood cinema.

Dame

Elizabeth Taylor

DBE
Publicity photo, late 1950s
Born
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor

(1932-02-27)27 February 1932
London, England
Died23 March 2011(2011-03-23) (aged 79)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S.
Citizenship
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
OccupationActress
Years active1942–2007
WorksFull list
Spouses
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    (m. 1950; div. 1951)​
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    (m. 1952; div. 1957)​
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    (m. 1957; died 1958)​
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    (m. 1959; div. 1964)​
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    (m. 1964; div. 1974)​
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    (m. 1975; div. 1976)​
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    (m. 1976; div. 1982)​
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    (m. 1991; div. 1996)​
Children4
Parents
AwardsFull list
Websiteelizabethtaylor.com

Born in London to socially prominent American parents, Taylor moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1939 at the age of 7. She made her acting debut with 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 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). She starred in the historical adventure epic Ivanhoe (1952) with Robert Taylor and Joan Fontaine. 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 more enjoyable roles 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, they 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, remarrying 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. In the 1980s, she acted in her first substantial stage roles and in several television films and series. She became the second celebrity to launch a perfume brand after Sophia Loren. 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.

Early life edit

 
Two-year old Taylor, mother Sara Sothern, and brother Howard, in 1934

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on 27 February 1932, at Heathwood, her family's home at 8 Wildwood Road in Hampstead Garden Suburb, northwest London, England.[1]: 3–10  She received dual British-American citizenship at birth as her parents, art dealer Francis Lenn Taylor and stage actress Sara Sothern, were United States citizens, both originally from Arkansas City, Kansas.[1]: 3–10 [a]

They moved to London in 1929 and opened an art gallery on Bond Street; their first child, a son named Howard, was born the same year. 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 School, 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.[5] 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 [6] 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, Los Angeles, with the Chapman family, the Taylor family settled in Beverly Hills, California, where the two children were enrolled in Hawthorne School.[1]: 27–34 

Acting career edit

See also: Elizabeth Taylor filmography and List of awards and nominations received by Elizabeth Taylor

1941–1949: Early roles and teenage stardom edit

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.[7][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.[8]: 27–37  Both studios offered Taylor contracts, and Sara Taylor chose to accept Universal's offer.[8]: 27–37 

Taylor began her contract in April 1941 and was cast in a small role in There's One Born Every Minute (1942).[8]: 27–37  She did not receive other roles, and her contract was terminated after a year.[8]: 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."[8]: 27–37  Biographer Alexander Walker agrees that Taylor looked different from the child stars of the era, such as Shirley Temple and Judy Garland.[8]: 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 

 
Mickey Rooney and Taylor in National Velvet (1944), her first major film role

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 practicing 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 

 
Taylor and Jane Powell in A Date with Judy (1948)

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.[8]: 56–57, 65–74  Film magazines and gossip columnists also began comparing her to older actresses such as Ava Gardner and Lana Turner.[8]: 71  Life called her "Hollywood's most accomplished junior actress" for her two film roles that year.[8]: 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), 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]

1950–1951: Transition to adult roles edit

 
With Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride (1950)

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 "Nicky" 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 ($72,979,253 in 2022 dollars [21]), and was followed by a successful sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), ten months later.[22]

 
Taylor c. 1955

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 [23]

A Place in the Sun was a critical and commercial success, grossing $3 million.[24] 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."[25] 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."[26]

1952–1955: Continued success at MGM edit

 
Portrait, 1952

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 eight 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.[27]

 
Van Johnson and Taylor in the romantic drama The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

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 ($51,408 in 2022 dollars [21]), 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 

 
Publicity photo, 1954

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 [28] While The Last Time I Saw Paris was not as profitable as many other MGM films, it garnered positive reviews.[1]: 153–157 [28] 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 

1956–1960: Critical acclaim edit

 
Taylor and Rock Hudson in Giant (1956)

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.[8]: 158–165  The change benefited Taylor, who finally found more challenging roles after several years of career disappointments.[8]: 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.[8]: 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.[8]: 158–165 [29] To further complicate the production, Dean died in a car accident only days after completing filming; the grieving Taylor still had to film reaction shots to their joint scenes.[8]: 158–166  When Giant was released a year later, it became a box-office success, and was widely praised by critics.[8]: 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",[30] and The Manchester Guardian lauding her acting as "an astonishing revelation of unsuspected gifts." It named her one of the film's strongest assets.[31]

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,[32] Taylor was nominated for the first time for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.[33]

 
In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

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 slip 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",[34] and Variety praising her for "a well-accented, perceptive interpretation."[35] Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award[33] and a BAFTA.[36]

Taylor's next film, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), was another Tennessee Williams adaptation, with a screenplay by Gore Vidal and also starring 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.[37] Taylor received her third Academy Award nomination[33] 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 call girl, in an adaptation of a John O'Hara 1935 novel of the same name.[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",[38] while Variety stated that she gives "a torrid, stinging portrayal with one or two brilliantly executed passages within."[39] Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.[1]: 224–236 

1961–1967: Cleopatra and other collaborations with Richard Burton edit

 
Richard Burton as Mark Antony with Taylor as Cleopatra in Cleopatra (1963)

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.[40] She became the first movie star to be paid $1 million for a role; Fox also granted her 10% of the film's gross profits, as well as shooting the film in Todd-AO, a widescreen format for which she had inherited the rights from Mike Todd.[8]: 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."[8]: 11–12, 39, 45–46, 56  Filming began in England in 1960, but had to be halted several times because of bad weather and Taylor's ill health.[8]: 12–13  In March 1961, she developed nearly fatal pneumonia, which necessitated a tracheotomy; one news agency erroneously reported that she had died.[8]: 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.[8]: 12–18  Filming was finally completed in July 1962.[8]: 39  The film's final cost was $62 million (equivalent to $600 million in 2022), making it the most expensive film made up to that point.[8]: 46 

Cleopatra became the biggest box-office success of 1963 in the United States; the film grossed $15.7 million at the box office (equivalent to $150 million in 2022).[8]: 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.[8]: 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.[8]: 56–58 [1]: 265–267 [41] In retrospect, Taylor called Cleopatra a "low point" in her career, and said that the studio had cut out the scenes which she felt 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.[8]: 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 (equivalent to $4.78 million in 2022) 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.[8]: 74–75 

 
Taylor and Burton in The Sandpiper (1965)

After completing The V.I.P.s, Taylor took a two-year hiatus from films, during which she and Burton divorced their spouses and married each other.[8]: 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."[8]: 193 [42] 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 [43] 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 (equivalent to $130 million in 2022).[8]: 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.[8]: 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.[8]: 136–137 [1]: 281–282  At Taylor's suggestion, theatre director Mike Nichols was hired to direct the project, despite his lack of experience with film.[8]: 139–140  The production differed from anything she had done previously, as Nichols wanted to thoroughly rehearse the play before beginning filming.[8]: 141  Woolf was considered ground-breaking for its adult themes and uncensored language, and opened to "glorious" reviews.[8]: 140, 151  Variety wrote that Taylor's "characterization is at once sensual, spiteful, cynical, pitiable, loathsome, lustful, and tender."[44] Stanley Kauffmann of The New York Times stated that she "does the best work of her career, sustained and urgent."[45] The film also became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year.[8]: 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.

 
Taylor and Burton in 1965

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.[8]: 186–189  Although it received generally negative reviews, Burton produced it as a film, Doctor Faustus (1967), with the same cast.[8]: 186–189  It was also panned by critics and grossed only $600,000 in the box office (equivalent to $5.27 million in 2022).[8]: 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.[8]: 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."[8]: 168  Critics found the play to be fitting material for the couple, and the film became a box-office success by grossing $12 million (equivalent to $105.32 million in 2022).[8]: 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 owing to his substance abuse problems. Determined to secure his involvement in the project, Taylor even offered to pay for his insurance.[8]: 157–161  But Clift died from a heart attack before filming began; he was replaced in the role by Marlon Brando.[8]: 175, 189  Reflections was a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release.[8]: 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.[8]: 228–232 

1968–1979: Career decline edit

 
Taylor in 1971

Taylor's career was in decline by the late 1960s. She had gained weight, was in her late 30s and did not fit in with New Hollywood stars such as Jane Fonda and Julie Christie.[8]: 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.[8]: 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.[8]: 238–246  The former, based on Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, features her as an ageing, serial-marrying millionaire, and Burton as a younger man who turns up on the Mediterranean island on which she has retired.[8]: 211–217  Secret Ceremony is a psychological drama that also stars Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum.[8]: 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.[8]: 287 [46]

The three 1972 films in which Taylor acted were somewhat more successful. X Y & Zee, 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.[8]: 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,[8]: 316  Taylor received some good reviews, with Vincent Canby of The New York Times writing that she has "a certain vulgar, ratty charm",[47] and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times saying, "The spectacle of Elizabeth Taylor growing older and more beautiful continues to amaze the population."[48] Her performance won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival.[46]

 
In Divorce His, Divorce Hers (1973), Taylor's last film with Burton

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.[8]: 357  Her other films released in 1973 were the British thriller Night Watch (1973) and the American drama Ash Wednesday (1973).[8]: 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.[49] Her only film released in 1974, the Italian Muriel Spark adaptation The Driver's Seat (1974), was a failure.[8]: 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).[8]: 388–389, 403 

1980–2007: Stage and television roles; retirement edit

 
Taylor in 1981 at an event honoring her career

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.[8]: 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.[8]: 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.[8]: 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",[50] 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."[51] 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.[8]: 413–425 [1]: 347–362 [52] 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.[8]: 413–425 [1]: 347–362  After the failure of Private Lives, Taylor dissolved her theatre company.[53] Her only other project that year was the television film Between Friends.[54]

 
Taylor and Bob Hope perform in a United Service Organization show aboard the training aircraft carrier USS Lexington during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of naval aviation in 1986

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.[8]: 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),[55] 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,[49] and the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Chaplin Award in 1986.[56]

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),[57] and cameos in four CBS series – The Nanny, Can't Hurry Love, Murphy Brown, and High Society – all airing on February 26, 1996, to promote her new fragrance.[58]

Her last theatrically released film was in the critically panned, but commercially successful, The Flintstones (1994), in which she played Pearl Slaghoople in a brief supporting role.[8]: 436  Taylor received American and British honors for her career: the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1993,[59] the Screen Actors Guild honorary award in 1997,[60] and a BAFTA Fellowship in 1999.[61] 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.[62][63] 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.[8]: 436 [64] She gave one last public performance in 2007, when she performed the play Love Letters at an AIDS benefit at the Paramount Studios with James Earl Jones,.[8]: 436 

Other ventures edit

HIV/AIDS activism edit

Taylor was one of the first celebrities to participate in HIV/AIDS activism and helped to raise more than $270 million for the cause since the mid-1980s.[65] 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.[66] 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."[67]

 
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (left) alongside Taylor (right), who is testifying in 1990 before the House Budget Committee on HIV-AIDS Funding

Taylor began her philanthropic efforts in 1984, helping to organize and by hosting the first AIDS fundraiser to benefit the AIDS Project Los Angeles.[67][68] In August 1985, she and 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.[67][68] The following month, the foundation merged with Mathilde Krim's AIDS foundation to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).[69][70] 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.[67][68][71] 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.[71] 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.[67]

Taylor testified before the Senate and House for the Ryan White Care Act in 1986, 1990, and 1992.[70][72] 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.[67][68] Taylor also founded the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center to offer free HIV/AIDS testing and care at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, DC, and the Elizabeth Taylor Endowment Fund for the UCLA Clinical AIDS Research and Education Center in Los Angeles.[70] 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.[73] 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 Project Inform in the 1980s and 1990s.[74]

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.[70]

Fragrance and jewelry brands edit

 
Taylor promoting her first fragrance, Passion, in 1987

Taylor created a collection of fragrances whose unprecedented success helped establish the trend of celebrity-branded perfumes in later years.[75][76][77] In collaboration with Elizabeth Arden, Inc., she began by launching two best-selling perfumes – Passion in 1987, and White Diamonds in 1991.[76] Taylor personally supervised the creation and production of each of the 11 fragrances marketed in her name.[76] According to biographers Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, she earned more money through the fragrance collection than during her entire acting career,[8]: 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.[76] In 2005, Taylor also founded a jewelry company, House of Taylor, in collaboration with Kathy Ireland and Jack and Monty Abramov.[78]

Personal life edit

Marriages, relationships, and children edit

Throughout her adult years, Taylor's personal life, especially her eight marriages (two to the same man), 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  In 1948, MGM arranged for her to date football champion Glenn Davis and she announced plans for them to marry once he returned from Korea.[79] The following year, Taylor was briefly engaged to William Pawley Jr., son of US ambassador William D. Pawley.[80][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 years old 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.[81][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  Taylor suffered a miscarriage during one of his violent outbursts.[82][83][84] She announced their separation on December 14 1950,[85] and was granted a divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty on January 29 1951, eight months after their wedding.[86][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. 6 January 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, and were divorced on January 26, 1957.[87]

 
Taylor with her third husband Mike Todd and her three children in 1957

Taylor was three months pregnant when she married her third husband, theatre 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.[8]: 5–6 [1]: 188  His death in a plane crash on 22 March 1958, left Taylor devastated.[8]: 5–6 [1]: 193–202  She was comforted by a friend of hers and Todd's, singer Eddie Fisher, with whom she soon began an affair.[8]: 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."[8]: 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.[8]: 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.[8]: 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.[88] 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.[8]: 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.[8]: 99–100  Burton subsequently adopted Liza Todd and Maria McKeown (b. 1961), a German orphan whose adoption process Taylor had begun while married to Fisher.[89][90]

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."[8]: 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."[91] They divorced for the first time in June 1974, but reconciled, and remarried in Kasane, Botswana, on 10 October 1975.[8]: 376, 391–394  The second marriage lasted less than a year, ending in divorce in July 1976.[8]: 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."[8]: vii, 437  Soon after her final divorce from Burton, Taylor met her sixth husband, John Warner, a Republican politician from Virginia.[8]: 402–405  They were married on 4 December 1976, after which Taylor concentrated on working for his electoral campaign.[8]: 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.[8]: 402–405  Taylor and Warner separated in December 1981, and divorced on 5 November 1982.[8]: 410–411 

After the divorce from Warner, Taylor dated actors Anthony Geary[92] and George Hamilton,[93] and was engaged to Mexican lawyer Victor Luna in 1983–1984,[8]: 422–434  and New York businessman Dennis Stein in 1985.[94] She met her seventh and last husband, construction worker Larry Fortensky, at the Betty Ford Center in 1988.[8]: 437 [1]: 465–466  They were married at the Neverland Ranch of her close friend Michael Jackson on October 6, 1991.[95] The wedding was again subject to intense media attention, with one photographer parachuting to the ranch and Taylor selling the wedding pictures to People for $1 million (equivalent to $2.15 million in 2022), which she used to start her AIDS foundation.[96][70] Taylor and Fortensky divorced on October 31, 1996,[8]: 437  but remained in contact for life.[97] She attributed the split to her painful hip operations and his obsessive-compulsive disorder.[98][99] 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.[100] At the end of 2010, she wrote him a letter that read: "You’re a part of my life that cannot be carved out nor do I ever wish it to be."[101] 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.[102] Although they had been divorced for almost 15 years, Taylor left Fortensky $825,000 in her will.[103]

Support for Jewish and Zionist causes edit

Taylor was raised as a Christian Scientist, and converted to Judaism in 1959.[8]: 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, and had wanted to do so "for a long time",[104] 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."[105] 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.[106][107] 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.[108][107] 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.[106] In addition to purchasing bonds, Taylor helped to raise money for organizations such as the Jewish National Fund,[106] and sat on the board of trustees of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.[109]

Taylor 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.[106] In 1976, she offered herself as a replacement hostage after more than 100 Israeli civilians were taken hostage in the Entebbe skyjacking.[106] 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.[109]

Style and jewelry collection edit

 
Taylor in a studio publicity photo in 1953

Taylor is considered a fashion icon both for her film costumes and personal style.[110][111][112] At MGM, her costumes were mostly designed by Helen Rose and Edith Head,[113] and in the 1960s by Irene Sharaff.[111][114] 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).[110][111][112] Her make-up look in Cleopatra (1963) started a trend for "cat-eye" make-up done with black eyeliner.[8]: 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.[8]: 237–238, 258–259, 275–276  She also published a book about her collection, My Love Affair with Jewelry, in 2002.[111][115] Taylor helped to popularise the work of fashion designers Valentino Garavani[113][116] and Halston.[111][117] She received a Lifetime of Glamour Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) in 1997.[118] 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,[119] and the clothes and accessories for a further $5.5 million.[120]

Illness and death edit

 
Taylor's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the days following her death in 2011

Taylor struggled with health problems for most of her life.[65] She was born with scoliosis[121] 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.[8] She was treated for the pneumonia with bacteriophage.[122] In 1968 she underwent an emergency hysterectomy, which exacerbated her back problems and contributed to hip problems. Perhaps self-medicating, 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.[8]: 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).[123][124] Taylor was a heavy smoker until she experienced a severe bout of pneumonia in 1990.[125]

Taylor's health increasingly declined during the last two decades of her life and she rarely attended public events after 1996.[121] Taylor had serious bouts of pneumonia in 1990 and 2000,[68] two hip replacement surgeries in the mid-1990s,[65] a surgery for a benign brain tumor in 1997,[65] and successful treatment for skin cancer in 2002.[121] She used a wheelchair due to her back problems and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004.[126][127] Six weeks after being hospitalized, she died of the illness aged 79 on 23 March 2011, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.[128] Her funeral took place the following day at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The service was a private Jewish ceremony presided 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."[129] She was entombed in the cemetery's Great Mausoleum.[130]

Los Angeles residence edit

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.[131]

Legacy edit

More than anyone else I can think of, Elizabeth Taylor represents the complete movie phenomenon – what movies are as an art and an industry, and what they have meant to those of us who have grown up watching them in the dark... Like movies themselves, she's grown up with us, as we have with her. She's someone whose entire life has been played in a series of settings forever denied the fourth wall. Elizabeth Taylor is the most important character she's ever played.[132]

—Vincent Canby of The New York Times in 1986

Taylor was one of the last stars of classical Hollywood cinema[133][134] and one of the first modern celebrities.[135] 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.[136] 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.[137][138][139] 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."[140]

Regardless of the acting awards she won during her career, Taylor's film performances were often overlooked by contemporary critics;[10][141] 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."[140] Her film roles often mirrored her personal life, and many critics continue to regard her as always playing herself, rather than acting.[138][140][142] 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."[143] 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."[144] 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."[145] 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."[146][b] Similarly, Ben W. Heineman Jr. and Cristine Russell write in The Atlantic that her role in Giant "dismantled stereotypes about women and minorities."[147]

Taylor is considered a gay icon, and received widespread recognition for her HIV/AIDS activism.[140][148][149][150] 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",[148] and Sir Nick Partridge of the Terrence Higgins Trust called her "the first major star to publicly fight fear and prejudice towards AIDS."[151] 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."[152] 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."[153]

Since Taylor’s passing, House of Taylor,[154] Elizabeth Taylor’s estate, has preserved Taylor’s legacy through content, partnerships, and products. The estate is managed by three trustees selected by Elizabeth prior to her passing. They continue to be involved with The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation[155] and oversee The Elizabeth Taylor Archive.

In 2022, House of Taylor released Elizabeth The First,[156] a 10-part podcast series with Imperative Entertainment and Kitty Purry Productions and narrated by Katy Perry. In December of 2022, Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour[157] of an Icon by Kate Andersen Brower, the first Elizabeth Taylor biography authorized by the estate, was released.

In 2019, it was announced that Rachel Weisz would portray Taylor in A Special Relationship, an upcoming film about Taylor’s journey from actress to activist written by Simon Beaufoy.[158]

In 2024, it was announced that Kim Kardashian would executive produce and feature in a docuseries about Taylor. Commissioned by the BBC, it's been given the working title Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar.[159]

Explanatory notes edit

  1. ^ In October 1965, as her then-husband Richard Burton was British, she signed an oath of renunciation at the US Embassy in Paris, but with the phrase "abjure all allegiance and fidelity to the United States" struck out. US State Department officials declared that her renunciation was invalid due to the alteration, and Taylor signed another oath, this time without alteration, in October 1966.[2] She applied for restoration of US citizenship in 1977, during then-husband John Warner's Senate campaign, stating she planned to remain in America for the rest of her life.[3][4]
  2. ^ For example, National Velvet (1944) was about a girl attempting to compete in the Grand National despite gender discrimination; A Place in the Sun (1951) is "a cautionary tale from a time before women had ready access to birth control"; her character in BUtterfield 8 (1960) is shown in control of her sexuality; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) "depicts the anguish that befalls a woman when the only way she can express herself is through her husband's stalled career and children".[146]

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh Walker, Alexander (1990). Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Taylor. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3769-5.
  2. ^ Boyce, Richard H. (April 14, 1967). "Liz Taylor Renounces U.S. Citizenship". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  3. ^ "Liz Taylor Applies To Be U.S. Citizen". Toledo Blade. February 19, 1978. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  4. ^ Wilson, Earl (June 15, 1977). "Will Liz Taylor be our First Lady?". St. Joseph Gazette. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
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General sources edit

  • Capua, Michelangelo (2002). Montgomery Clift: A Biography. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-1432-1.
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  • Curtis, James (2011). Spencer Tracy: A Biography. Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-178524-6.
  • Doty, Alexander (2012). "Elizabeth Taylor: The Biggest Star in the World". In Wojcik, Pamela Robertson (ed.). New Constellations: Movie Stars of the 1960s. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-5171-5.
  • Daniel, Douglass K. (2011). Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-25123-9.
  • Dye, David (1988). Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., pp. 226–227.
  • Gehring, Wes D. (2006) [2003]. Irene Dunne: First Lady of Hollywood. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5864-0.
  • Hernán, Vera; Gordon, Andrew M. (2003). Screen Saviors: Hollywood Fictions of Whiteness. Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 0-8476-9947-1.
  • Heymann, David C. (1995). Liz: An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor. Birch Lane Press. ISBN 1-55972-267-3.
  • Kashner, Sam; Schoenberger, Nancy (2010). Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century. JR Books. ISBN 978-1-907532-22-1.
  • Kelley, Kitty (1981). Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-5676-3.
  • Lewis, Roger (2023). Erotic Vagrancy: Everything about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. London: Hachette. ISBN 978-0-85-738172-9.
  • Lower, Cheryl Bray; Palmer, R. Barton (2001). Joseph L. Mankiewicz: Critical Essays with an Annotated Bibliography and a Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0987-7.
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  • Rojek, Chris (2012). Fame Attack: The Inflation of Celebrity and its Consequences. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-84966-071-6.
  • Sternheimer, Karen (2015). Celebrity Culture and the American Dream (Second ed.). Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-1-138-02395-6.
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  • Walker, Alexander (1990). Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Taylor. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3769-5.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elizabeth Taylor.
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Elizabeth Taylor.

February 15, 2024
elizabeth, taylor, other, uses, disambiguation, dame, elizabeth, rosemond, taylor, february, 1932, march, 2011, british, american, actress, began, career, child, actress, early, 1940s, most, popular, stars, classical, hollywood, cinema, 1950s, then, became, wo. For other uses see Elizabeth Taylor disambiguation Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor DBE 27 February 1932 23 March 2011 was a British and American actress 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 then became the world s highest paid movie star in the 1960s remaining 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 of Classic Hollywood cinema DameElizabeth TaylorDBEPublicity photo late 1950sBornElizabeth Rosemond Taylor 1932 02 27 27 February 1932London EnglandDied23 March 2011 2011 03 23 aged 79 Los Angeles California U S Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park Glendale California U S CitizenshipUnited KingdomUnited StatesOccupationActressYears active1942 2007WorksFull listSpousesConrad Hilton Jr m 1950 div 1951 wbr Michael Wilding m 1952 div 1957 wbr Mike Todd m 1957 died 1958 wbr Eddie Fisher m 1959 div 1964 wbr Richard Burton m 1964 div 1974 wbr m 1975 div 1976 wbr John Warner m 1976 div 1982 wbr Larry Fortensky m 1991 div 1996 wbr Children4ParentsFrancis Lenn TaylorSara SothernAwardsFull listWebsiteelizabethtaylor wbr comBorn in London to socially prominent American parents Taylor moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1939 at the age of 7 She made her acting debut with 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 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 She starred in the historical adventure epic Ivanhoe 1952 with Robert Taylor and Joan Fontaine 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 more enjoyable roles 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 they 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 remarrying 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 In the 1980s she acted in her first substantial stage roles and in several television films and series She became the second celebrity to launch a perfume brand after Sophia Loren 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 Contents 1 Early life 2 Acting career 2 1 1941 1949 Early roles and teenage stardom 2 2 1950 1951 Transition to adult roles 2 3 1952 1955 Continued success at MGM 2 4 1956 1960 Critical acclaim 2 5 1961 1967 Cleopatra and other collaborations with Richard Burton 2 6 1968 1979 Career decline 2 7 1980 2007 Stage and television roles retirement 3 Other ventures 3 1 HIV AIDS activism 3 2 Fragrance and jewelry brands 4 Personal life 4 1 Marriages relationships and children 4 2 Support for Jewish and Zionist causes 4 3 Style and jewelry collection 4 4 Illness and death 4 5 Los Angeles residence 5 Legacy 6 Explanatory notes 7 References 7 1 Citations 7 2 General sources 8 External linksEarly life edit nbsp Two year old Taylor mother Sara Sothern and brother Howard in 1934Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on 27 February 1932 at Heathwood her family s home at 8 Wildwood Road in Hampstead Garden Suburb northwest London England 1 3 10 She received dual British American citizenship at birth as her parents art dealer Francis Lenn Taylor and stage actress Sara Sothern were United States citizens both originally from Arkansas City Kansas 1 3 10 a They moved to London in 1929 and opened an art gallery on Bond Street their first child a son named Howard was born the same year 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 School 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 5 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 6 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 Los Angeles with the Chapman family the Taylor family settled in Beverly Hills California where the two children were enrolled in Hawthorne School 1 27 34 Acting career editSee also Elizabeth Taylor filmography and List of awards and nominations received by Elizabeth Taylor 1941 1949 Early roles and teenage stardom edit 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 7 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 8 27 37 Both studios offered Taylor contracts and Sara Taylor chose to accept Universal s offer 8 27 37 Taylor began her contract in April 1941 and was cast in a small role in There s One Born Every Minute 1942 8 27 37 She did not receive other roles and her contract was terminated after a year 8 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 8 27 37 Biographer Alexander Walker agrees that Taylor looked different from the child stars of the era such as Shirley Temple and Judy Garland 8 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 nbsp Mickey Rooney and Taylor in National Velvet 1944 her first major film roleTaylor 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 practicing 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 nbsp Taylor and Jane Powell in A Date with Judy 1948 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 8 56 57 65 74 Film magazines and gossip columnists also began comparing her to older actresses such as Ava Gardner and Lana Turner 8 71 Life called her Hollywood s most accomplished junior actress for her two film roles that year 8 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 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 1950 1951 Transition to adult roles edit nbsp With Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride 1950 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 Nicky 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 72 979 253 in 2022 dollars 21 and was followed by a successful sequel Father s Little Dividend 1951 ten months later 22 nbsp Taylor c 1955Taylor 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 23 A Place in the Sun was a critical and commercial success grossing 3 million 24 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 25 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 26 1952 1955 Continued success at MGM edit nbsp Portrait 1952Taylor 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 eight 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 27 nbsp Van Johnson and Taylor in the romantic drama The Last Time I Saw Paris 1954 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 51 408 in 2022 dollars 21 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 nbsp Publicity photo 1954Taylor 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 28 While The Last Time I Saw Paris was not as profitable as many other MGM films it garnered positive reviews 1 153 157 28 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 1956 1960 Critical acclaim edit nbsp Taylor and Rock Hudson in Giant 1956 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 8 158 165 The change benefited Taylor who finally found more challenging roles after several years of career disappointments 8 158 165 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 8 158 165 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 8 158 165 29 To further complicate the production Dean died in a car accident only days after completing filming the grieving Taylor still had to film reaction shots to their joint scenes 8 158 166 When Giant was released a year later it became a box office success and was widely praised by critics 8 158 165 Although not nominated for an Academy Award like her co stars Taylor garnered positive reviews for her performance with Variety calling it surprisingly clever 30 and The Manchester Guardian lauding her acting as an astonishing revelation of unsuspected gifts It named her one of the film s strongest assets 31 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 32 Taylor was nominated for the first time for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance 33 nbsp In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958 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 slip 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 34 and Variety praising her for a well accented perceptive interpretation 35 Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award 33 and a BAFTA 36 Taylor s next film Joseph L Mankiewicz s Suddenly Last Summer 1959 was another Tennessee Williams adaptation with a screenplay by Gore Vidal and also starring 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 37 Taylor received her third Academy Award nomination 33 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 call girl in an adaptation of a John O Hara 1935 novel of the same name 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 negligee 38 while Variety stated that she gives a torrid stinging portrayal with one or two brilliantly executed passages within 39 Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance 1 224 236 1961 1967 Cleopatra and other collaborations with Richard Burton edit nbsp Richard Burton as Mark Antony with Taylor as Cleopatra in Cleopatra 1963 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 40 She became the first movie star to be paid 1 million for a role Fox also granted her 10 of the film s gross profits as well as shooting the film in Todd AO a widescreen format for which she had inherited the rights from Mike Todd 8 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 8 11 12 39 45 46 56 Filming began in England in 1960 but had to be halted several times because of bad weather and Taylor s ill health 8 12 13 In March 1961 she developed nearly fatal pneumonia which necessitated a tracheotomy one news agency erroneously reported that she had died 8 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 8 12 18 Filming was finally completed in July 1962 8 39 The film s final cost was 62 million equivalent to 600 million in 2022 making it the most expensive film made up to that point 8 46 Cleopatra became the biggest box office success of 1963 in the United States the film grossed 15 7 million at the box office equivalent to 150 million in 2022 8 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 8 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 8 56 58 1 265 267 41 In retrospect Taylor called Cleopatra a low point in her career and said that the studio had cut out the scenes which she felt 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 8 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 equivalent to 4 78 million in 2022 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 8 74 75 nbsp Taylor and Burton in The Sandpiper 1965 After completing The V I P s Taylor took a two year hiatus from films during which she and Burton divorced their spouses and married each other 8 112 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 8 193 42 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 43 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 equivalent to 130 million in 2022 8 116 118 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 8 142 151 152 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 8 136 137 1 281 282 At Taylor s suggestion theatre director Mike Nichols was hired to direct the project despite his lack of experience with film 8 139 140 The production differed from anything she had done previously as Nichols wanted to thoroughly rehearse the play before beginning filming 8 141 Woolf was considered ground breaking for its adult themes and uncensored language and opened to glorious reviews 8 140 151 Variety wrote that Taylor s characterization is at once sensual spiteful cynical pitiable loathsome lustful and tender 44 Stanley Kauffmann of The New York Times stated that she does the best work of her career sustained and urgent 45 The film also became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year 8 151 152 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 nbsp Taylor and Burton in 1965In 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 8 186 189 Although it received generally negative reviews Burton produced it as a film Doctor Faustus 1967 with the same cast 8 186 189 It was also panned by critics and grossed only 600 000 in the box office equivalent to 5 27 million in 2022 8 230 232 Taylor and Burton s next project Franco Zeffirelli s The Taming of the Shrew 1967 which they also co produced was more successful 8 164 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 8 168 Critics found the play to be fitting material for the couple and the film became a box office success by grossing 12 million equivalent to 105 32 million in 2022 8 181 186 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 owing to his substance abuse problems Determined to secure his involvement in the project Taylor even offered to pay for his insurance 8 157 161 But Clift died from a heart attack before filming began he was replaced in the role by Marlon Brando 8 175 189 Reflections was a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release 8 233 234 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 8 228 232 1968 1979 Career decline edit nbsp Taylor in 1971Taylor s career was in decline by the late 1960s She had gained weight was in her late 30s and did not fit in with New Hollywood stars such as Jane Fonda and Julie Christie 8 135 136 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 8 142 151 152 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 8 238 246 The former based on Tennessee Williams The Milk Train Doesn t Stop Here Anymore features her as an ageing serial marrying millionaire and Burton as a younger man who turns up on the Mediterranean island on which she has retired 8 211 217 Secret Ceremony is a psychological drama that also stars Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum 8 242 243 246 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 8 287 46 The three 1972 films in which Taylor acted were somewhat more successful X Y amp Zee 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 8 313 316 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 8 316 Taylor received some good reviews with Vincent Canby of The New York Times writing that she has a certain vulgar ratty charm 47 and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times saying The spectacle of Elizabeth Taylor growing older and more beautiful continues to amaze the population 48 Her performance won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival 46 nbsp In Divorce His Divorce Hers 1973 Taylor s last film with BurtonTaylor and Burton s last film together was the Harlech Television film Divorce His Divorce Hers 1973 fittingly named as they divorced the following year 8 357 Her other films released in 1973 were the British thriller Night Watch 1973 and the American drama Ash Wednesday 1973 8 341 349 357 358 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 49 Her only film released in 1974 the Italian Muriel Spark adaptation The Driver s Seat 1974 was a failure 8 371 375 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 8 388 389 403 1980 2007 Stage and television roles retirement edit nbsp Taylor in 1981 at an event honoring her careerAfter 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 8 435 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 8 411 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 8 411 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 50 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 51 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 Noel Coward s comedy Private Lives starring Taylor and Burton 8 413 425 1 347 362 52 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 8 413 425 1 347 362 After the failure of Private Lives Taylor dissolved her theatre company 53 Her only other project that year was the television film Between Friends 54 nbsp Taylor and Bob Hope perform in a United Service Organization show aboard the training aircraft carrier USS Lexington during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of naval aviation in 1986From 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 8 363 373 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 55 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 49 and the Film Society of Lincoln Center s Chaplin Award in 1986 56 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 57 and cameos in four CBS series The Nanny Can t Hurry Love Murphy Brown and High Society all airing on February 26 1996 to promote her new fragrance 58 Her last theatrically released film was in the critically panned but commercially successful The Flintstones 1994 in which she played Pearl Slaghoople in a brief supporting role 8 436 Taylor received American and British honors for her career the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1993 59 the Screen Actors Guild honorary award in 1997 60 and a BAFTA Fellowship in 1999 61 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 62 63 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 8 436 64 She gave one last public performance in 2007 when she performed the play Love Letters at an AIDS benefit at the Paramount Studios with James Earl Jones 8 436 Other ventures editHIV AIDS activism edit Taylor was one of the first celebrities to participate in HIV AIDS activism and helped to raise more than 270 million for the cause since the mid 1980s 65 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 66 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 67 nbsp Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi left alongside Taylor right who is testifying in 1990 before the House Budget Committee on HIV AIDS FundingTaylor began her philanthropic efforts in 1984 helping to organize and by hosting the first AIDS fundraiser to benefit the AIDS Project Los Angeles 67 68 In August 1985 she and 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 67 68 The following month the foundation merged with Mathilde Krim s AIDS foundation to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research amfAR 69 70 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 67 68 71 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 71 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 67 Taylor testified before the Senate and House for the Ryan White Care Act in 1986 1990 and 1992 70 72 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 67 68 Taylor also founded the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center to offer free HIV AIDS testing and care at the Whitman Walker Clinic in Washington DC and the Elizabeth Taylor Endowment Fund for the UCLA Clinical AIDS Research and Education Center in Los Angeles 70 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 73 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 Project Inform in the 1980s and 1990s 74 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 70 Fragrance and jewelry brands edit nbsp Taylor promoting her first fragrance Passion in 1987Taylor created a collection of fragrances whose unprecedented success helped establish the trend of celebrity branded perfumes in later years 75 76 77 In collaboration with Elizabeth Arden Inc she began by launching two best selling perfumes Passion in 1987 and White Diamonds in 1991 76 Taylor personally supervised the creation and production of each of the 11 fragrances marketed in her name 76 According to biographers Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger she earned more money through the fragrance collection than during her entire acting career 8 436 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 76 In 2005 Taylor also founded a jewelry company House of Taylor in collaboration with Kathy Ireland and Jack and Monty Abramov 78 Personal life editMarriages relationships and children edit Throughout her adult years Taylor s personal life especially her eight marriages two to the same man 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 In 1948 MGM arranged for her to date football champion Glenn Davis and she announced plans for them to marry once he returned from Korea 79 The following year Taylor was briefly engaged to William Pawley Jr son of US ambassador William D Pawley 80 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 years old 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 81 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 Taylor suffered a miscarriage during one of his violent outbursts 82 83 84 She announced their separation on December 14 1950 85 and was granted a divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty on January 29 1951 eight months after their wedding 86 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 6 January 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 and were divorced on January 26 1957 87 nbsp Taylor with her third husband Mike Todd and her three children in 1957Taylor was three months pregnant when she married her third husband theatre 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 8 5 6 1 188 His death in a plane crash on 22 March 1958 left Taylor devastated 8 5 6 1 193 202 She was comforted by a friend of hers and Todd s singer Eddie Fisher with whom she soon began an affair 8 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 8 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 8 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 8 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 88 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 8 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 8 99 100 Burton subsequently adopted Liza Todd and Maria McKeown b 1961 a German orphan whose adoption process Taylor had begun while married to Fisher 89 90 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 8 193 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 91 They divorced for the first time in June 1974 but reconciled and remarried in Kasane Botswana on 10 October 1975 8 376 391 394 The second marriage lasted less than a year ending in divorce in July 1976 8 384 385 406 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 8 vii 437 Soon after her final divorce from Burton Taylor met her sixth husband John Warner a Republican politician from Virginia 8 402 405 They were married on 4 December 1976 after which Taylor concentrated on working for his electoral campaign 8 402 405 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 8 402 405 Taylor and Warner separated in December 1981 and divorced on 5 November 1982 8 410 411 After the divorce from Warner Taylor dated actors Anthony Geary 92 and George Hamilton 93 and was engaged to Mexican lawyer Victor Luna in 1983 1984 8 422 434 and New York businessman Dennis Stein in 1985 94 She met her seventh and last husband construction worker Larry Fortensky at the Betty Ford Center in 1988 8 437 1 465 466 They were married at the Neverland Ranch of her close friend Michael Jackson on October 6 1991 95 The wedding was again subject to intense media attention with one photographer parachuting to the ranch and Taylor selling the wedding pictures to People for 1 million equivalent to 2 15 million in 2022 which she used to start her AIDS foundation 96 70 Taylor and Fortensky divorced on October 31 1996 8 437 but remained in contact for life 97 She attributed the split to her painful hip operations and his obsessive compulsive disorder 98 99 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 100 At the end of 2010 she wrote him a letter that read You re a part of my life that cannot be carved out nor do I ever wish it to be 101 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 102 Although they had been divorced for almost 15 years Taylor left Fortensky 825 000 in her will 103 Support for Jewish and Zionist causes edit Taylor was raised as a Christian Scientist and converted to Judaism in 1959 8 173 174 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 and had wanted to do so for a long time 104 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 105 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 106 107 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 108 107 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 106 In addition to purchasing bonds Taylor helped to raise money for organizations such as the Jewish National Fund 106 and sat on the board of trustees of the Simon Wiesenthal Center 109 Taylor 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 106 In 1976 she offered herself as a replacement hostage after more than 100 Israeli civilians were taken hostage in the Entebbe skyjacking 106 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 109 Style and jewelry collection edit nbsp Taylor in a studio publicity photo in 1953Taylor is considered a fashion icon both for her film costumes and personal style 110 111 112 At MGM her costumes were mostly designed by Helen Rose and Edith Head 113 and in the 1960s by Irene Sharaff 111 114 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 110 111 112 Her make up look in Cleopatra 1963 started a trend for cat eye make up done with black eyeliner 8 135 136 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 8 237 238 258 259 275 276 She also published a book about her collection My Love Affair with Jewelry in 2002 111 115 Taylor helped to popularise the work of fashion designers Valentino Garavani 113 116 and Halston 111 117 She received a Lifetime of Glamour Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America CFDA in 1997 118 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 119 and the clothes and accessories for a further 5 5 million 120 Illness and death edit nbsp Taylor s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the days following her death in 2011Taylor struggled with health problems for most of her life 65 She was born with scoliosis 121 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 8 She was treated for the pneumonia with bacteriophage 122 In 1968 she underwent an emergency hysterectomy which exacerbated her back problems and contributed to hip problems Perhaps self medicating 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 8 424 425 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 123 124 Taylor was a heavy smoker until she experienced a severe bout of pneumonia in 1990 125 Taylor s health increasingly declined during the last two decades of her life and she rarely attended public events after 1996 121 Taylor had serious bouts of pneumonia in 1990 and 2000 68 two hip replacement surgeries in the mid 1990s 65 a surgery for a benign brain tumor in 1997 65 and successful treatment for skin cancer in 2002 121 She used a wheelchair due to her back problems and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004 126 127 Six weeks after being hospitalized she died of the illness aged 79 on 23 March 2011 at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles 128 Her funeral took place the following day at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale California The service was a private Jewish ceremony presided 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 129 She was entombed in the cemetery s Great Mausoleum 130 Los Angeles residence edit 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 131 Legacy editMore than anyone else I can think of Elizabeth Taylor represents the complete movie phenomenon what movies are as an art and an industry and what they have meant to those of us who have grown up watching them in the dark Like movies themselves she s grown up with us as we have with her She s someone whose entire life has been played in a series of settings forever denied the fourth wall Elizabeth Taylor is the most important character she s ever played 132 Vincent Canby of The New York Times in 1986 Taylor was one of the last stars of classical Hollywood cinema 133 134 and one of the first modern celebrities 135 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 136 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 137 138 139 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 140 Regardless of the acting awards she won during her career Taylor s film performances were often overlooked by contemporary critics 10 141 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 140 Her film roles often mirrored her personal life and many critics continue to regard her as always playing herself rather than acting 138 140 142 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 143 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 144 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 145 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 146 b Similarly Ben W Heineman Jr and Cristine Russell write in The Atlantic that her role in Giant dismantled stereotypes about women and minorities 147 Taylor is considered a gay icon and received widespread recognition for her HIV AIDS activism 140 148 149 150 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 148 and Sir Nick Partridge of the Terrence Higgins Trust called her the first major star to publicly fight fear and prejudice towards AIDS 151 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 152 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 153 Since Taylor s passing House of Taylor 154 Elizabeth Taylor s estate has preserved Taylor s legacy through content partnerships and products The estate is managed by three trustees selected by Elizabeth prior to her passing They continue to be involved with The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation 155 and oversee The Elizabeth Taylor Archive In 2022 House of Taylor released Elizabeth The First 156 a 10 part podcast series with Imperative Entertainment and Kitty Purry Productions and narrated by Katy Perry In December of 2022 Elizabeth Taylor The Grit amp Glamour 157 of an Icon by Kate Andersen Brower the first Elizabeth Taylor biography authorized by the estate was released In 2019 it was announced that Rachel Weisz would portray Taylor in A Special Relationship an upcoming film about Taylor s journey from actress to activist written by Simon Beaufoy 158 In 2024 it was announced that Kim Kardashian would executive produce and feature in a docuseries about Taylor Commissioned by the BBC it s been given the working title Elizabeth Taylor Rebel Superstar 159 Explanatory notes edit In October 1965 as her then husband Richard Burton was British she signed an oath of renunciation at the US Embassy in Paris but with the phrase abjure all allegiance and fidelity to the United States struck out US State Department officials declared that her renunciation was invalid due to the alteration and Taylor signed another oath this time without alteration in October 1966 2 She applied for restoration of US citizenship in 1977 during then husband John Warner s Senate campaign stating she planned to remain in America for the rest of her life 3 4 For example National Velvet 1944 was about a girl attempting to compete in the Grand National despite gender discrimination A Place in the Sun 1951 is a cautionary tale from a time before women had ready access to birth control her character in BUtterfield 8 1960 is shown in control of her sexuality Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf 1966 depicts the anguish that befalls a woman when the only way she can express herself is through her husband s stalled career and children 146 References editCitations edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh Walker Alexander 1990 Elizabeth The Life of Elizabeth Taylor Grove Press ISBN 0 8021 3769 5 Boyce Richard H April 14 1967 Liz Taylor Renounces U S Citizenship The Pittsburgh Press Retrieved December 1 2018 Liz Taylor Applies To Be U S Citizen Toledo Blade February 19 1978 Retrieved December 1 2018 Wilson Earl June 15 1977 Will Liz Taylor be our First Lady St Joseph Gazette Retrieved December 1 2018 Heymann 1995 p 14 Heymann 1995 p 27 Roxanne Palmer March 25 2011 Elizabeth Taylor Beautiful Mutant Slate Retrieved July 12 2021 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn Kashner Sam Schoenberger Nancy 2010 Furious Love Elizabeth Taylor Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century JR Books ISBN 978 1 907532 22 1 a b c d Cott Jonathan March 29 2011 Elizabeth Taylor The Lost Interview Rolling Stone Retrieved December 1 2018 a b c Gussow Mel March 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor 1932 2011 A Lustrous Pinnacle of Hollywood Glamour The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 Crowther Bosley December 15 1944 National Velvet Color Film With Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor at Music Hall Tall in Saddle Comes to the Palace The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 Agee James March 24 2011 Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet The Nation Archived from the original on April 13 2019 Retrieved December 1 2018 a b c d e f g h i Meryman Richard December 18 1964 I refuse to cure my public image Life Retrieved December 1 2018 Gehring 2006 pp 157 158 Life With Father 1947 American Film Institute Retrieved December 1 2018 Troyan 1999 p 211 Clark 2014 p 158 Elizabeth Taylor Star Rising Time August 9 2021 Retrieved December 7 2018 Conspirator 1950 American Film Institute Retrieved December 1 2018 The Big Hangover American Film Institute Retrieved December 1 2018 a b 1634 1699 McCusker J J 1997 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States Addenda et Corrigenda PDF American Antiquarian Society 1700 1799 McCusker J J 1992 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States PDF American Antiquarian Society 1800 present Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Consumer Price Index estimate 1800 Retrieved May 28 2023 Curtis 2011 pp 599 609 Moss 2004 p 159 Capua 2002 p 72 Moss 2004 p 166 Golden Herb August 29 1951 A Place in the Sun Variety Retrieved December 1 2018 Weiler A H August 29 1951 A Place in the Sun The New York Times Archived from the original on November 24 2015 Retrieved December 1 2015 Stubbs 2013 p 96 a b Daniel 2011 pp 80 81 Moss 2004 pp 215 219 Giant Variety October 10 1956 Retrieved December 1 2018 Elizabeth Taylor How Guardian critics rated her films The Guardian October 10 1956 Retrieved December 1 2018 Hernan amp Gordon 2003 p 26 a b c Elizabeth Taylor Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved December 1 2018 permanent dead link Crowther Bosley September 19 1958 The Fur Flies in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Talent Galore Found in Music Hall Film Acting Does Justice to Williams Play The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 Review Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Variety December 31 1958 Retrieved December 1 2018 Film Foreign Actress in 1959 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Retrieved December 1 2018 Lower amp Palmer 2001 p 158 Crowther Bosley November 17 1960 The Screen Elizabeth Taylor at Butterfield 8 Film Based on O Hara Novel in Premiere The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 Butterfield 8 Variety December 31 1960 Retrieved December 1 2018 Doty 2012 p 47 Doty 2012 pp 48 49 Bateman Christopher June 1 2010 Liz and Dick The Ultimate Celebrity Couple Vanity Fair Retrieved December 1 2018 Doty 2012 p 51 Review Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf Variety December 31 1965 Retrieved December 1 2018 Kauffman Stanley June 24 1966 Screen Funless Games at George and Martha s Albee s Virginia Woolf Becomes a Film The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 a b McCallum Simon February 27 2017 Late Liz 10 forgotten Elizabeth Taylor films British Film Institute Retrieved December 1 2018 Canby Vincent May 25 1972 Hammersmith is Out 1972 The New York Times Archived from the original on March 7 2016 Retrieved December 1 2018 Ebert Roger May 26 1972 Hammersmith is Out 1972 Roger Ebert Retrieved December 1 2018 a b Elizabeth Taylor Hollywood Foreign Press Association Retrieved December 1 2018 Rich Frank May 8 1981 Stage The Misses Taylor and Stapleton in Foxes The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 Ng David March 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor remembered Always a star even on the stage Los Angeles Times Retrieved December 1 2018 Brenner Marie May 9 1983 The Liz and Dick Show New York Retrieved December 1 2018 Hanauer Joan November 8 1983 Liz Zev Split United Press International Retrieved December 1 2018 Mark Deming 2016 Between Friends Movies amp TV Dept The New York Times Archived from the original on March 25 2016 Retrieved December 1 2018 O Connor John J October 3 1986 There Must Be a Pony with Elizabeth Taylor The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 Chaplin Award Gala Film Society of Lincoln Center Retrieved December 1 2018 Snierson Dan March 24 2011 Elizabeth Taylor Simpsons exec producer Al Jean remembers the film legend s one word turn as baby Maggie Entertainment Weekly Retrieved December 1 2018 Shales Tom February 28 1996 CBS Follows the Scent of Missing Pearls Los Angeles Times Retrieved December 1 2018 1993 Elizabeth Taylor Tribute American Film Institute Retrieved December 1 2018 34th Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient 1997 Elizabeth Taylor Screen Actors Guild Retrieved December 1 2018 100 BAFTA Moments Dame Elizabeth Taylor Receives the BAFTA Fellowship British Academy of Film and Television Arts January 15 2015 Retrieved December 1 2018 No 55710 The London Gazette Supplement December 30 1999 p 34 Queen honours movie Dames BBC May 16 2000 Retrieved December 1 2018 Liz Taylor retires from acting BBC News March 24 2003 Retrieved December 1 2018 a b c d Woo Elaine March 23 2011 From the Archives Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79 legendary actress Los Angeles Times Retrieved December 1 2018 CNN Larry King Live Interview with Dame Elizabeth Taylor CNN February 3 2003 Retrieved December 1 2018 a b c d e f Collins Nancy November 1992 Liz s AIDS Odyssey Vanity Fair Retrieved November 1 2018 a b c d e Yarbrough Jeff October 15 1996 Elizabeth Taylor The Advocate Interview The Advocate Retrieved December 1 2018 History amfAR Retrieved December 1 2018 a b c d e Timeline The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Retrieved December 1 2018 a b A look inside The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation UN AIDS January 26 2015 Archived from the original on February 23 2020 Retrieved December 1 2018 Ryan White CARE Act a Legislative History Health Resources and Services Administration Archived from the original on October 22 2020 Retrieved December 1 2018 Walker Peter December 3 2015 Elizabeth Taylor ran Dallas Buyers Club style HIV drugs ring from her home The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 Armstrong Walter December 10 2015 Did Liz Taylor Really Run a Bel Air Buyers Club for AIDS Meds As Kathy Ireland Claimed New York Retrieved December 1 2018 Lubitz Rachel March 21 2018 Why celebrity fragrances wouldn t exist without Elizabeth Taylor Mic a b c d Hughes Sali March 29 2011 Elizabeth Taylor the original celebrity perfumer The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 France Lisa Respers March 25 2011 Obsessions Elizabeth Taylor queen of cologne CNN Retrieved December 1 2018 House of Taylor Jewelry Inc Established Through Merger With Nurescell Inc PR Newswire May 23 2005 Archived from the original on November 17 2015 Retrieved December 1 2018 In Hollywood Elizabeth Taylor to Wed Glenn Davis on His Return The Tampa Times October 19 1948 p 18 Break Confirmed Young Pawley Admits He s Taylor s Ex Fiance Los Angeles Times September 20 1949 p 24 Hotel Heir Conrad Hilton Weds Elizabeth Taylor Los Angeles Times May 7 1950 p 1 Good Times and Bum Times but She s Here The New York Times September 29 2002 Retrieved August 19 2023 Hadleigh Boze October 20 2017 Elizabeth Taylor Tribute to a Legend Rowman amp Littlefield p 101 ISBN 978 1 4930 3106 1 Mann William J 2009 How to be a Movie Star Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood Houghton Mifflin Harcourt p 120 ISBN 978 0 547 13464 2 TO DIVORCE NICK HILTON Elizabeth Taylor Rules Out Possibility of Reconciliation The New York Times December 15 1950 Retrieved August 20 2023 Laura C Smith January 26 1996 Elizabeth Taylor s divorce from Nicky Hilton EW com Retrieved August 20 2023 Kelley 1981 p 128 Sternheimer 2015 p 174 Marikar Sheila March 28 2011 Elizabeth Taylor s Unseen Role Mother ABC News Retrieved December 1 2018 Q amp A An update on Elizabeth Taylor s four children St Petersburg Times January 12 2010 Archived from the original on January 8 2017 Retrieved December 1 2018 Sternheimer 2015 pp 200 201 Bowe Jillian April 12 2010 DC Interview Tony Geary on Liz Taylor I ll Always Cherish Her Daytime Confidential George Hamilton Says of Previous Flame Elizabeth Taylor A Year With Her Could Fill a Lifetime Closer May 23 2014 Staff August 12 1991 Eight Is Enough People Retrieved December 1 2018 McMillan Penelope October 7 1991 Amid Wedding Hoopla a Town Goes Hollywood Ceremony Liz Taylor Larry Fortensky vows draw the star struck and airborne onlookers to Santa Ynez Valley Los Angeles Times Baker KC October 21 2014 Elizabeth Taylor amp Michael Jackson at Her Final Wedding Never Before Seen Photos People Wedding Wednesday Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky Katie Callahan amp Co May 15 2019 20 20 February 14 1997 Elizabeth Taylor Discusses Her Life and Career CNN com January 15 2001 Archived from the original on November 21 2010 Retrieved May 2 2020 Liz rushes to the aid of stricken ex husband Larry thefreelibrary com March 14 1999 Elizabeth Taylor s Last Walk Down the Aisle ElizabethTaylor com November 2023 Larry Fortensky Breaks Silence on Ex Wife Elizabeth Taylor etonline com April 25 2011 Elizabeth Taylor wills more than 800K to her last husband Larry Fortensky nydailynews com April 24 2011 Oyster Marcy March 23 2011 Actress Elizabeth Taylor dies Jewish Telegraphic Agency Retrieved December 1 2018 Heymann 1995 p 195 a b c d e Eden Ami March 23 2011 In the JTA Archive Liz Taylor says trade me for Entebbe hostages Jewish Telegraphic Agency Retrieved December 1 2018 a b Burstein Nathan March 25 2011 Elizabeth Taylor and Israel a lasting love The Washington Post Retrieved December 1 2018 Kelley 1981 p 134 a b Wiesenthal Center Mourns the Passing of Elizabeth Taylor Longtime Friend and Supporter Simon Wiesenthal Center March 23 2011 Archived from the original on September 26 2018 Retrieved December 1 2018 a b Horyn Cathy March 23 2011 An Alluring Beauty Exempt From Fashion s Rules The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 a b c d e Vesilind Emili March 23 2011 As a fashion icon Elizabeth Taylor could turn simple into sexy elegance into excess Los Angeles Times Retrieved December 1 2018 a b Fox Imogen March 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor style icon The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 a b Cosgrave Bronwyn March 24 2011 End Of An Era Vogue Retrieved December 1 2018 Release The Icon And Her Haute Couture The Collection Of Elizabeth Taylor Christie s September 20 2011 Retrieved December 1 2018 Peltason Ruth November 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor A Life in Jewels Vanity Fair Retrieved December 1 2018 Elizabeth Taylor Valentino Garavani Museum March 24 2011 Retrieved December 1 2018 Wohlfert Lee June 20 1977 Cover Story Dressing the Stars People Retrieved December 1 2018 Cowles Charlotte March 23 2011 A Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor Fashion Icon New York Retrieved December 1 2018 The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor Christies Retrieved December 1 2018 The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor The Icon and her Haute Couture Evening Sale III Christie s December 14 2011 Retrieved December 1 2018 a b c Elizabeth Taylor history of health problems The Daily Telegraph March 23 2011 Archived from the original on January 10 2022 Retrieved December 1 2018 Twilley Nicola December 14 2020 When a Virus Is the Cure The New Yorker Retrieved December 15 2020 Still as late as 1961 phage therapy had some American adherents including Elizabeth Taylor who received a dose of staph bacteriophage when she developed near fatal pneumonia during the filming of Cleopatra and needed an emergency tracheotomy Tanabe Karin March 24 2011 Elizabeth Taylor s Washington life Politico Retrieved December 1 2018 Harmetz Aljean January 20 1988 Liz Taylor at 55 Thin Again and Wiser The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 Taraborrelli J Randy 2007 Elizabeth The Biography of Elizabeth Taylor p 432 Dame Elizabeth Taylor dies at the age of 79 BBC News March 23 2011 Retrieved December 1 2018 Elizabeth Taylor dies aged 79 ABC News March 24 2011 Retrieved December 1 2018 Tourtellotte Bob March 23 2011 Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79 Reuters Retrieved December 1 2018 Private burial service held for Elizabeth Taylor CNN March 25 2011 Retrieved December 1 2018 MacAskill Ewen March 25 2011 Elizabeth Taylor s funeral takes place in LA s celebrity cemetery The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 Mitchell Owens January 25 2016 Tour Elizabeth Taylor s House and Garden in Bel Air Architectural Digest Archived from the original on March 29 2020 Retrieved March 23 2020 Canby Vincent May 4 1986 Film View Elizabeth Taylor Her Life Is The Stuff Of Movies The New York Times p 1 Retrieved December 1 2018 Ebert Roger March 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor a star in a category of her own dies at 79 Retrieved December 1 2018 Seymour Gene March 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor The Last Star CNN Retrieved December 1 2018 Gabler Neal March 25 2011 Taylor s celebrity her lasting legacy CNN Archived from the original on November 23 2015 Retrieved December 1 2018 Kuntz Jonathan March 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor Was the Original Modern Celebrity The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2018 Frankel Susannah October 26 2011 Elizabeth Taylor A life less ordinary The Independent Archived from the original on December 2 2018 Retrieved December 1 2018 JohnJoseph La March 24 2011 Elizabeth Taylor the icon s icon The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 Vaidyanathan Rajini March 23 2011 How Elizabeth Taylor redefined celebrity BBC News Retrieved December 1 2018 Rojek 2012 p 177 Cashmore 2006 p 75 a b Gabler Neal March 25 2011 Taylor s celebrity her lasting legacy CNN Archived from the original on November 23 2015 Retrieved December 1 2018 Sweeney Tanya June 8 2014 Cult of celebrity spreads The velvet rope revolution Irish Independent Retrieved December 1 2018 a b c d Bernstein Adam March 27 2011 Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79 The Washington Post Retrieved December 1 2018 French Philip March 24 2011 Elizabeth Taylor an enduring icon of Hollywood s golden age The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 Mathews Tom Dewe May 2 2000 She wasn t much of an actress but The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 Bradshaw Peter March 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor born to be Cleopatra The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 Thomson David March 24 2011 Elizabeth Taylor let the story melt away and just gaze The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 Paglia on Taylor A luscious opulent ripe fruit Salon March 24 2011 Retrieved December 1 2018 a b Lord M G November 27 2011 The Accidental Feminist How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice mglord com Archived from the original on March 30 2019 Retrieved December 1 2018 Elizabeth Taylor s Feisty Feminist Turn in Giant The Atlantic November 5 2013 Retrieved December 1 2018 a b Kane Matt March 24 2011 Dame Elizabeth Taylor Remembering a Trailblazing HIV AIDS Advocate GLAAD Archived from the original on December 2 2018 Retrieved December 1 2018 Green Jessica March 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor remembered as extraordinary gay rights ally PinkNews Retrieved December 1 2018 Stein Joel April 9 2011 Is It Possible To Become A Gay Icon Time Retrieved December 1 2018 Factbox Reactions to death of Elizabeth Taylor Reuters March 23 2011 Archived from the original on June 26 2018 Retrieved December 1 2018 Flynn Paul March 23 2011 Elizabeth Taylor gay icon The Guardian Retrieved December 1 2018 Great legend Elizabeth Taylor remembered BBC News March 24 2011 Retrieved December 1 2018 House of Taylor Elizabeth Taylor Retrieved December 12 2023 Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Team Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Retrieved December 12 2023 Spangler Todd September 15 2022 Katy Perry s Elizabeth the First Series About Elizabeth Taylor Sets Premiere Date Podcast News Roundup Variety Retrieved December 12 2023 Johnson Ted December 18 2022 Authorized Biography Shows How Elizabeth Taylor s Years In D C And Alarm Over The AIDS Crisis Led Her To Redefine Celebrity Activism Deadline Retrieved December 12 2023 McNary Dave October 28 2019 Rachel Weisz to Play Elizabeth Taylor in Biopic A Special Relationship Variety Retrieved December 12 2023 Ritman Alex January 29 2024 Kim Kardashian to Produce and Feature in Elizabeth Taylor Docuseries Variety Retrieved January 29 2024 General sources edit Capua Michelangelo 2002 Montgomery Clift A Biography McFarland amp Company ISBN 978 0 7864 1432 1 Cashmore Ellis 2006 Celebrity Culture Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 37310 4 Clark Beverly Lyon 2014 The Afterlife of Little Women Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 978 1 4214 1558 1 Curtis James 2011 Spencer Tracy A Biography Hutchinson ISBN 978 0 09 178524 6 Doty Alexander 2012 Elizabeth Taylor The Biggest Star in the World In Wojcik Pamela Robertson ed New Constellations Movie Stars of the 1960s Rutgers University Press ISBN 978 0 8135 5171 5 Daniel Douglass K 2011 Tough as Nails The Life and Films of Richard Brooks University of Wisconsin Press ISBN 978 0 299 25123 9 Dye David 1988 Child and Youth Actors Filmography of Their Entire Careers 1914 1985 Jefferson NC McFarland amp Co pp 226 227 Gehring Wes D 2006 2003 Irene Dunne First Lady of Hollywood Scarecrow Press ISBN 978 0 8108 5864 0 Hernan Vera Gordon Andrew M 2003 Screen Saviors Hollywood Fictions of Whiteness Rowman and Littlefield ISBN 0 8476 9947 1 Heymann David C 1995 Liz An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor Birch Lane Press ISBN 1 55972 267 3 Kashner Sam Schoenberger Nancy 2010 Furious Love Elizabeth Taylor Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century JR Books ISBN 978 1 907532 22 1 Kelley Kitty 1981 Elizabeth Taylor The Last Star Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 1 4516 5676 3 Lewis Roger 2023 Erotic Vagrancy Everything about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor London Hachette ISBN 978 0 85 738172 9 Lower Cheryl Bray Palmer R Barton 2001 Joseph L Mankiewicz Critical Essays with an Annotated Bibliography and a Filmography McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 0987 7 Moss Marilyn Ann 2004 Giant George Stevens a Life on Film University of Wisconsin Press ISBN 0 299 20430 8 Rojek Chris 2012 Fame Attack The Inflation of Celebrity and its Consequences Bloomsbury Academic ISBN 978 1 84966 071 6 Sternheimer Karen 2015 Celebrity Culture and the American Dream Second ed Taylor and Francis ISBN 978 1 138 02395 6 Stubbs Jonathan 2013 Historical Film A Critical Introduction Bloomsbury Academic ISBN 978 1 84788 498 5 Troyan Michael 1999 A Rose for Mrs Miniver The Life of Greer Garson The University Press of Kentucky ISBN 978 0 8131 9150 8 Walker Alexander 1990 Elizabeth The Life of Elizabeth Taylor Grove Press ISBN 0 8021 3769 5 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elizabeth Taylor nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Elizabeth Taylor Official website Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation ETAF Elizabeth Taylor at IMDb nbsp Elizabeth Taylor at the Internet Broadway Database nbsp Elizabeth Taylor at Playbill Vault nbsp Elizabeth Taylor at the British Film Institute better source needed Elizabeth Taylor at the BFI s Screenonline Elizabeth Taylor FBI Records The Vault FBI Appearances on C SPAN Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Elizabeth Taylor amp oldid 1207561184, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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