Elizabeth Taylor
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- This article is about the actress. There are also articles about the painter and the novelist of the same name.
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Elizabeth Taylor (born February 27, 1932) is an English-born Academy Award winning actress.
She was born Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor in Hampstead, London, England, the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor (December 28, 1897-November 20, 1968) and Sara Viola Warmbrodt (August 21, 1896-September 11, 1994). Her older brother is Howard Taylor (born 1929).
Though sometimes referred to as "Liz," she is not fond of that name. She prefers her given name to be pronounced Eee-lizabeth. Her given and middle names were in honor of her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Taylor, who was born Elizabeth Mary Rosemond.
Taylor was born with dual British and American citizenship. Her American parents were both originally from Arkansas City, Kansas. Her father was an art dealer and her mother a former actress whose stage name was Sara Sothern. Sara retired from the stage when she and Francis Taylor married in 1926 in New York.
At the age of three, Elizabeth began taking ballet lessons. After the UK entered World War II, her parents decided to return to the United States to avoid hostilities. Her mother took the children first, while her father remained in London to wrap up matters in the art business. They settled in Los Angeles, California, where Sara's family, the Warmbrodts, were then living.
Taylor appeared in her first motion picture at the age of nine for Universal. They let her contract drop and she was signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her first movie with that studio was Lassie Come Home (1943). This drew favorable attention. After a couple more movies, the second on loan-out to 20th Century Fox, she appeared in her first leading role and achieved child star status playing Velvet Brown, a young girl who trains a horse to win the Grand National in Clarence Brown's movie National Velvet (1944) with Mickey Rooney. National Velvet was a big hit, grossing over $4,000,000 at the box-office, and she was signed to a long term contract.
She attended school on the MGM lot and University High School in Los Angeles, where she received her diploma on January 26, 1950.
Taylor is famous for her beauty, violet eyes and raven hair. Considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, she also gained great respect as an accomplished actress.
Elizabeth Taylor won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performances in BUtterfield 8 (1960) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). She was nominated for Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).
In 1963, she became the highest paid movie star up until that time when she accepted $1,000,000 to play the title role in the lavish production of Cleopatra for 20th Century Fox. And it was during the filming of that movie that she worked for the first time with future husband, Richard Burton, who played Mark Antony.
She has been married eight times to seven husbands:
- Hotel heir Nicky Hilton (married May 6, 1950-divorced January 29, 1951)
- Actor Michael Wilding (married February 21, 1952-divorced January 26, 1957)
- Producer Mike Todd (married February 2, 1957-his death March 22, 1958)
- Singer Eddie Fisher (married May 12, 1959-divorced March 6, 1964)
- Actor Richard Burton (married March 15, 1964-divorced June 26, 1974)
- Actor Richard Burton (2nd Marriage) (married October 10, 1975-divorced July 29, 1976)
- Senator John Warner (married December 4, 1976-divorced November 7, 1982)
- Teamster construction-equipment operator Larry Fortensky (married October 6, 1991-divorced October 31, 1996)
Taylor and Wilding had two sons, Michael Howard Wilding (born January 6, 1953) and Christopher Edward Wilding (born February 27, 1955). She and Todd had one daughter, Elizabeth Frances Todd, called "Liza," (born August 6, 1957). And in 1964, she and Fisher started adoption proceedings for a daughter, who Burton later adopted, Maria Burton (born August 1, 1961).
In recent years, Taylor has found comfort in her little dog. She has reportedly said that she "goes nowhere without her little Maltese, Sugar. Sugar has spent more time in her bed than any of the men she has had in her whole life. Eight husbands and one dog..." In an interview with American magazine W, Taylor says she was "happiest while with Todd and Burton, but now has to be content with her Maltese dog Sugar for company." She explains, "I've never loved a dog like this in my life. It's amazing. Sometimes I think there's a person in there. There's something to say for this kind of love - it's unconditional."
Taylor has also appeared a number of times on television, including the 1973 made-for-TV movie with then husband, Richard Burton, titled Divorce His - Divorce Hers. In 1985, she played movie columnist Louella Parsons in Malice in Wonderland and appeared in the mini-series North and South. And in 2001, she played an agent in These Old Broads. She has also appeared on a number of TV programs, including General Hospital, All My Children and The Simpsons (as the voice of Maggie).
She has also acted on stage in revivals of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes (1982) and Noel Coward's Private Lives (1983), the latter she starred in with former husband, Richard Burton.
She also launched two perfumes, "Passion" and "White Diamonds," that together earn an estimated $200,000,000 in annual sales.
Taylor has a passion for jewelry. Over the years, she has owned a number of well known pieces, two of the most talked about being the 33.19 carat (6.638 g) Krupp Diamond and the 69.42 carat (13.884 g) pear shaped Taylor-Burton Diamond, which were among many dazzling gifts from husband Richard Burton. Her enduring collection of jewelry has been eternalized with her book My Love Affair with Jewelry (2002). In 2005, she partnered with Jack and Monty Abramov of Mirabelle Luxury Concepts in Los Angeles to introduce the House of Taylor Jewelry.
Taylor has devoted much time and energy to AIDS-related charities and fundraising. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) (http://www.amfar.org/) after the death of her former co-star and friend, Rock Hudson. She also created her own AIDS foundation. By 1999, she had helped to raise an estimated $50,000,000 to fight the disease.
In 1992, she received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The following year, 1993, she received the AFI Life Achievement Award. And in 2002, she was a Kennedy Center Honoree.
She received the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth in 1999, and may now be addressed as "Dame Elizabeth."
Though she was thrilled with this honor, Taylor cracked, "I've always been a broad, now I'm a dame."
In the early 1980s, she moved to 700 Nimes Road in Bel-Air, California, which is her current home. The fenced and gated property is on tour maps sold at street corners and is frequently passed by tour guides.
In November 2004, Taylor announced that she has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, a terminal condition in which the heart pumps insufficient amounts of blood throughout the body. She has broken her back five times, has survived a benign brain tumor operation, and has faced life-threatening bouts with pneumonia twice.
Elizabeth Taylor's hand and foot prints are immortalized in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6336 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.
Filmography
- There's One Born Every Minute (1942) (Universal) ... Gloria Twine
- Lassie Come Home (1943) (MGM) ... Priscilla
- The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) (MGM) ... Betsy at 10 (uncredited)
- Jane Eyre (1944) (20th Century Fox) ... Helen Burns (uncredited)
- National Velvet (1944) (MGM) ... Velvet Brown
- Courage of Lassie (1946) (MGM) ... Kathie Merrick
- Life with Father (1947) (MGM) ... Mary
- Cynthia (1947) (MGM) ... Cynthia Bishop
- A Date with Judy (1948) (MGM) ... Carol Pringle
- Julia Misbehaves (1948) (MGM) ... Susan Packett
- Little Women (1949) (MGM) ... Amy March
- Conspirator (1949) (MGM) ... Melinda Greyton
- The Big Hangover (1950) (MGM) ... Mary Belney
- Father of the Bride (1950) (MGM) ... Kay Banks
- Quo Vadis? (1951) (MGM) ... Christian prisoner in arena (uncredited)
- Father's Little Dividend (1951) (MGM) ... Kay "Kitten" Dunston
- A Place in the Sun (1951) (Paramount) ... Angela Vickers
- Love Is Better Than Ever (1952) (MGM) ... Anastacia "Stacie" Macaboy
- Ivanhoe (1952) (MGM) ... Rebecca
- The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) (MGM) ... Jean Latimer
- Rhapsody (1954) (MGM) ... Louise Durant
- Elephant Walk (1954) (Paramount) ... Ruth Wiley
- Beau Brummell (1954) (MGM) ... Lady Patricia
- The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) (MGM) ... Helen Ellswirth/Wills
- Giant (1956) (Warner Bros.) ... Leslie Lynnton Benedict
- Raintree County (1957) (MGM) ... Susanna Drake
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) (MGM) ... Maggie "The Cat" Pollitt
- Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) (Columbia) ... Catherine Holly
- Scent of Mystery (1960) (Michael Todd Company) ... the real Sally Kennedy (uncredited)
- BUtterfield 8 (1960) (MGM) ... Gloria Wandrous
- Cleopatra (1963) (20th Century Fox) ... Cleopatra
- The V.I.P.s (1963) (MGM) ... Frances Andros
- The Sandpiper (1965) (MGM) ... Laura Reynolds
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) (Warner Bros.) ... Martha
- The Taming of the Shrew (1967) (Columbia) ... Katharina
- Doctor Faustus (1967) (Columbia) ... Helen of Troy
- Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) (Warner Bros.) ... Leonora Penderton
- The Comedians (1967) (MGM) ... Martha Pineda
- Boom (1968) (Universal) ... Flora Goforth
- Secret Ceremony (1968) (Universal) Leonora
- Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) (Universal) ... Courtesan (uncredited)
- The Only Game in Town (1970) (20th Century Fox) ... Fran Walker
- Zee and Co. (1972) (Columbia) ... Zee Blakeley ... aka X, Y and Zee
- Under Milk Wood (1973) (Altura Films International) ... Rosie Probert
- Hammersmith Is Out (1972) (Cinerama Releasing Corporation) ... Jimmie Jean Jackson
- Night Watch (1973) (Avco Embassy Pictures) ... Ellen Wheeler
- Ash Wednesday (1973) (Paramount) ... Barbara Sawyer
- The Driver's Seat (1974) (Rizzoli Film S.p.a.) ... Lise
- The Blue Bird (1976) (20th Century Fox) ... Queen of Light
- A Little Night Music (1977) (New World Pictures) ... Desiree Armfelt
- Winter Kills (1979) (Avco Embassy Pictures) ... Lola Comante (uncredited)
- The Mirror Crack'd (1980) (Associated Film Distribution) ... Marina Rudd
- Il Giovane Toscanini (1988) (RAI) ... Nadina Bulichoff
- The Flintstones (1994) (Universal) ... Pearl Slaghoople
External links
- Template:Imdb name
- Kennedy Center bio. for Elizabeth Taylor (http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entitY_id=3813&source_type=A)
- American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) (http://www.amfar.org/)
References
- Diamond Bug. "Elizabeth Taylor's life-long love affair with Jewelry" (http://diamondbug.blogspot.com/2005/05/elizabeth-taylors-life-long-love.html). Retrieved May 15, 2005.de:Elizabeth Taylor
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