Elizabeth Taylor British Actress Known for Cleopatra

Early life

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on 27 February 1932 in Hampstead Garden Suburb, north-west London. Her parents were Americans living in Britain: her father, Francis Lenn Taylor, ran an art gallery, and her mother, Sara Sothern, had been a stage actress. She held both British and American citizenship from birth. She attended Byron House School, a Montessori school in Highgate, and was brought up in the Christian Science faith.

In 1939, with war approaching in Europe, the family left for California. Her father later opened a new gallery in Beverly Hills, and clients from the film business soon began to suggest that his daughter should audition. In 1941 she signed with Universal Pictures, which dropped her after a year, and she then joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Career

Taylor made her screen debut in a small part in There's One Born Every Minute (1942). At MGM she appeared in Lassie Come Home (1943) and had a minor role in Jane Eyre (1943). Her first starring part, at twelve, was a girl who dreams of racing in the Grand National in National Velvet (1944), which made her a young star. She followed it with Life with Father (1947) and Little Women (1949), in which she played Amy March.

In adult roles, she appeared in Father of the Bride (1950) and its sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951). A Place in the Sun (1951) brought her first serious critical praise. Further MGM work included Ivanhoe (1952), in which she played Rebecca, and The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954). She then took the female lead in the epic Giant (1956) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Raintree County (1957). The next years brought two Tennessee Williams adaptations, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). The latter won her the Golden Globe for best actress in a drama. BUtterfield 8 (1960), in which she played Gloria Wandrous, was her last film for MGM.

She then played the title role in Cleopatra (1963), for which she became the first film star to be paid one million dollars. The production moved from England to Rome and cost more than any film before it. While making it she met Richard Burton, and the two went on to star together in eleven films, among them The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and The Taming of the Shrew (1967). Her performance as Martha in Woolf drew the best reviews of her career. Later work included Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Hammersmith Is Out (1972), The Blue Bird (1976) and The Mirror Crack'd (1980). In the 1980s she took on stage parts in New York and appeared in television productions such as North and South (1985). Late credits include a part in the film The Flintstones (1994). Her screen credits number 71, running from 1942 to 2002.

Recognition

Taylor won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for BUtterfield 8 and for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and received five nominations in that category in all. For the second of these she also won a BAFTA Award. Her other honors include the Silver Bear for best actress in 1972 for Hammersmith Is Out, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1984, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1993 and the BAFTA Fellowship in 1999. She was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1987, a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1999, and also received the Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Citizens Medal and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In total her record lists 26 wins and 6 nominations.

Public roles

From the 1980s Taylor was among the first major celebrities to campaign on HIV/AIDS. She co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985 and started the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. Her charity work later earned her several of the honors listed above. She also launched a perfume brand.

Personal life

Taylor married eight times, to seven men. Her husbands were Conrad Hilton Jr. (1950 to 1951), Michael Wilding (1952 to 1957), the producer Mike Todd (1957 to 1958), the singer Eddie Fisher (1959 to 1964), Richard Burton (1964 to 1974 and again in 1975 to 1976), Senator John Warner (1976 to 1982) and Larry Fortensky (1991 to 1996). All except the marriage to Todd ended in divorce; Todd died in 1958. She had four children. She died on 23 March 2011.