Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor
Born	Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor February 27, 1932 London, England
Died	March 23, 2011 (aged 79) Los Angeles, California, US
Cause of death	Congestive heart failure
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, US
Nationality	Anglo-American
Other names	Liz Taylor
Ethnicity	White
Years active	1942–2003
Religion	Judaism
Spouse	Conrad Hilton Jr. (1950–1951) Michael Wilding (1952–1957) Mike Todd (1957–1958) Eddie Fisher (1959–1964) Richard Burton (1964–1974; 1975–1976) John Warner (1976–1982) Larry Fortensky (1991–1996)
Children	2 sons, 2 daughters
Parents	Francis Lenn Taylor (deceased) Sara Sothern (deceased)
Awards	NYFCC Award for Best Actress 1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? NBR Award for Best Actress 1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actress 1972 Hammersmith Is Out AFI Life Achievement Award 1993 Lifetime Achievement

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE (born February 27, 1932 – died March 23, 2011) was an English-born American actress.

Life and career

Taylor was born in London to American parents who returned to the United States on the onset of World War II. Considered to be a beautiful child, she started acting in movies at the age of 10, first in Lassie Come Home (1942), followed by National Velvet (1944). Throughout her teens, she appeared in various supporting roles and easily made the transition to young adult parts.

Her first major role was in A Place in the Sun in 1950, with Montgomery Clift. Working steadily during the 1950s, notable movies have included; The Father of the Bride (1951), Ivanhoe (1952), Elephant Walk (1954), Rhapsody (1954), Giant (1956), Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Suddenly last Summer (1959), BUtterfield 8 (1960), etc.

Burton and Taylor in Cleopatra

In 1963, she played the lead role in Cleopatra and met actor Richard Burton, who became her fifth husband in 1964. They appeared in several movies together; The V.I.P's (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf ? (1966), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Boom (1968). She also starred in Secret Ceremony (1969), X, Y and Zee (1972) and Ash Wednesday (1973).

She has won two Academy Awards for best actress, the first for her performance in Butterfield 8, the second for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. In 1999 she won the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, a lifetime achievement award.

Taylor often received media attention because of her many illnesses and controversial marriages to well known figures such as Nicky Hilton, Michael Wilding, Mike Todd, Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton (twice), John Warner. She has two sons with Michael Wilding and a daughter with Mike Todd. She also adopted a daughter while married to Richard Burton.

In later life, she became a highly dedicated fundraiser for AIDS.

Death

Taylor had a number of health problems. In 2004, she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure; in 2009 she underwent cardiac surgery for it; in early 2011, new symptoms related to congestive heart failure caused her to be admitted into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment. Taylor died on March 23, 2011, surrounded by her four children at the same medical center in in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 79.

References

• The Illustrated Who's Who of the Cinema, Lloyd, Fuller & Dessler, Portland House, New York, 1987.