Elizabeth Taylor was born in Britain but lived primarily in the United States. She died on March 23, 2011. She was a huge star of classic Hollywood films in the '50s after starting out as a child actor in the '40s. Afterwards, she became the highest-paid movie actress in the world in the 1960s and remained a prominent public figure for the remainder of her life. She was named number seven on the American Film Institute's list of the best female film legends in 1999.
Although she was born in London to American socialites, Taylor and her family relocated to Los Angeles when she was seven years old in 1939. Universal Pictures terminated her contract after just one year of her acting debut in the 1942 picture There's One Born Every Minute, in which she had a little part. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed her following her role in National Velvet (1944), catapulting her to teen stardom. In the 1950s, she became known for her more serious performances, such as in the comedic film Father of the Bride (1950) and the critically acclaimed drama A Place in the Sun (1951). She co-starred with Joan Fontaine and Robert Taylor in the 1952 historical adventure epic Ivanhoe. Taylor wanted to retire from acting in the early 1950s, even though she was one of MGM's most lucrative actresses. Many of the studio-assigned films were terrible, and she despised the control they exerted on her.
Starting with the epic drama Giant (1956) in the mid-1950s, she started getting better parts, and in the years that followed, she starred in a string of critically acclaimed and financially successful films. Among these were two films based on Tennessee Williams's plays: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), the latter of which earned Taylor a Golden Globe for Best Actress. She won the Oscar for Best Actress in BUtterfield 8 (1960), her final picture for MGM, despite her disdain of the character of a call lady. Taylor and co-star Richard Burton started an affair while filming Cleopatra in 1961, which led to a controversy. They kept dating and eventually tied the knot in 1964, despite widespread criticism of their relationship. They appeared in eleven films together, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1967), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), The Sandpiper (1965), and The V.I.P.s (1963), which earned them the nickname "Liz and Dick" in the media. (in 1966). Woolf earned Taylor her second Oscar and a slew of other accolades, as well as the finest reviews of her career. She filed for a divorce from Burton in 1974, but they quickly reunited and remarried in 1975. In 1976, the second marriage came to an end with a divorce.
Although Taylor kept appearing in films until the mid-1970s, when she shifted her concentration to bolstering the career of her sixth husband, US Senator John Warner, her acting career started to wane. She had her first major roles on stage and in a number of TV movies and series in the 1980s. She followed in Sophia Loren's footsteps as the second famous person to establish a perfume line. When it came to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Taylor was an early celebrity activist. She helped establish two important organizations: the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (1991) and the American Foundation for AIDS Research (1985). Her philanthropic work, which began in the early 1990s and continued until her death, earned her several honors, the most recent of which was the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2001.
The media never stopped covering Taylor's private life as she progressed through her profession. She had eight marriages to seven different men, converted to Judaism, suffered through several major illnesses, and lived the high life, amassing one of the world's most valuable private jewelry collections. In 2011, at the age of 79, Taylor passed away from congestive heart failure, following a long battle with illness.
Life in the beginning
Birthplace: Heathwood, 8 Wildwood Road, Hampstead Garden Suburb, northwest London, England; place of Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor's birth: 27 February 1932.3–10? Francis Lenn Taylor, an art dealer, and Sara Sothern, a stage actress, were both born in the United States and originally from Arkansas City, Kansas. As a result, she was born with the dual citizenship of the United States and Britain.3–10?
Their first child, a son called Howard, was born in 1929, the same year they relocated to London and established an art gallery on Bond Street. Howard passed away in 2020.
When Taylor was a kid, his family resided in London.11–19? They were friends with politicians like Colonel Victor Cazalet and artists like Augustus John and Laura Knight.11–19? Cazalet had a significant impact on Taylor's early upbringing and was somewhat of an unofficial godfather to her.11–19? Raised in accordance with the beliefs of Christian Science—the faith of her mother and Cazalet—she attended Byron House School, a Montessori school in Highgate.3,?from 11 to 19,?2020–2023, maybe?
The approaching threat of war in Europe prompted the Taylors to make the decision to return to the United States in early 1939.22, 24, and 26? Joseph P. Kennedy, the US ambassador, phoned her father and begged him to bring his family back to the US. To Pasadena, California, to live with Taylor's maternal grandpa, Sara and the children boarded the ocean liner SS Manhattan in April 1939.ages 22–28? In December, Francis accompanied them after staying behind to close the London exhibition.ages 22–28? He established a second Los Angeles gallery in the early 1940s. Having spent some time in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, with the Chapman family, the Taylors eventually made Beverly Hills, California, their permanent home. There, their two children attended Hawthorne School.Age range: 27–34?
From 1941 until 1949, the years of early roles and teen fame
While living in California, Taylor's mom often heard that her daughter should try out for acting roles.27–30? Taylor's eyes stood out due to their unusual color—a blue that bordered on violet—and the black double eyelashes that framed them—a result of a genetic abnormality.9? Despite Sara's initial opposition, she eventually came to see Taylor's appearances in films as a means of assimilation into American society, especially when the advent of war in Europe made a return there seem implausible.27–30? With the support of gossip writer Hedda Hopper, a friend of the Cazalets, Francis Taylor's Beverly Hills gallery quickly attracted patrons from the film business.27, 30, or 31? In early 1941, Taylor tried out for Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer through a customer and the father of a schoolmate.ages 27–37? After receiving contract offers from both studios, Sara Taylor ultimately decided to take Universal up on their offer.ages 27–37?
The contract that Taylor signed in April 1941 was for a tiny part in 1942's There's One Born Every Minute.ages 27–37? The company cut ties with her after only a year, and she never got any other assignments.ages 27–37? "The kid has nothing... her eyes are too old, she doesn't have the face of a child," the casting director of Universal said when asked why she didn't like Taylor.ages 27–37? Biographer Alexander Walker concurs that, compared to other teen idols like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland, Taylor had a distinct appearance.32? That "apparently, I used to frighten grown ups, because I was totally direct" was something Taylor covered later on.
Samuel Marx, an acquaintance of Taylor's father and an MGM producer, set up an audition for a small part in Lassie Come Home (1943), which needed a young actor with an English accent. This was another chance for Taylor in late 1942.22–23, the same?ages 27–37? January 1943 saw the end of her three-month trial period and the start of her usual seven-year contract.range of 38–41? She went on to make brief cameo appearances in two more English-set films after Lassie, portraying Helen Burns in Jane Eyre (1943) and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944).range of 38–41?
At the tender age of twelve, Taylor landed her first leading part in National Velvet, playing the character of a young girl who aspires to ride in the Grand National, an event that is strictly reserved for male horses.Range: 40–47? That picture was "the most exciting film" she had ever made, she said afterwards. For years, beginning in 1937, MGM sought an actress who could ride horses and had a British accent. Director Clarence Brown of White Cliffs suggested Taylor because he thought she has the requisite abilities.Range: 40–47? Back then, Taylor wasn't tall enough for the part, so production had to wait a few months so she could put on a little more height. Taylor, in the meanwhile, worked on her horseback riding skills.Range: 40–47?
In an effort to help Taylor become a movie star, MGM had two of her baby teeth extracted and had her wear braces to straighten her teeth.Range: 40–47? Although the studio suggested using the stage name "Virginia" and wanted Taylor to get her hair dyed and eyebrows shaped differently, her parents and Taylor herself rejected the idea.
The 1944 holiday season saw the debut of National Velvet, which was a financial smash.Range: 40–47? "Her whole manner in this picture is one of refreshing grace," said Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, and "is rapturously beautiful... I hardly know or care whether she can act or not" said James Agee of The Nation.
Later in life, Taylor said that she felt her childhood come to an end when she got famous and MGM began to micromanage her.The numbers 48–51? She said that the studio was like a "big extended factory actory" and that she had to follow a rigid timetable every day. School and the studio lot were her daily routines. Taylor attended singing and dance lessons in the evenings and prepared for the next day's performances by practicing the scenes.The numbers 48–51? After National Velvet was a smashing hit, MGM offered Taylor a new seven-year deal that paid $750 per week. In Courage of Lassie (1946), the third installment of the Lassie film series, they gave her a little part.Questions 51–58? In addition to having paper dolls and coloring books manufactured in Taylor's likeness, MGM released Nibbles and Me (1946), a collection of Taylor's essays on her pet chipmunk.Questions 51–58?
By scheduling picture sessions and interviews that showed Taylor as a "normal" adolescent going out on dates and attending parties when she turned fifteen in 1947, MGM started to build a more mature public image for her.56–57, or...65 to 74? She was also the subject of comparisons to veteran actors like Lana Turner and Ava Gardner in film publications.71? Life magazine hailed her as "Hollywood's most accomplished junior actress" for her successful performance in two films that year.Is it 69? Taylor played two roles in 1947: one as a fragile girl who goes to the prom against her overprotective parents in the highly acclaimed film Cynthia, and the other as the love interest of a stockbroker's son in the period picture Life with Father, co-starring William Powell and Irene Dunne.From 58 to 70?
After that, she had supporting parts in a couple more films, including Julia Misbehaves (1948), a romantic comedy, and A Date with Judy (1948), a musical about a young "man-stealer" who woos her classmate's date to a school dance. It was a financial triumph, making more than $4 million at the box office.82?
In the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Little Women (1949) by Mervyn LeRoy, Taylor played her final teen role as Amy March. Time magazine featured Taylor on its cover that year, praising her as "a jewel of great price, a true sapphire" and describing her as the leading star of Hollywood's upcoming age.
Transition to adult responsibilities: 1950–1951.
When Taylor reached 18 in 1950, she began to assume more mature responsibilities. She portrays a wife who starts to suspect her husband of being a Soviet spy in her first serious role, the 1949 thriller Conspirator.Is it 75-83? Taylor was just sixteen years old when production began, but MGM was opposed to the picture and worried it may lead to international tensions, so it wasn't released until March 1950.Is it 75-83? The Big Hangover (1950), a comedy co-starring Van Johnson, was Taylor's second feature of the year. May saw its release. Taylor wed hotel magnate Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr. that very month in a wedding that received a lot of media attention.Is it 99–105? As part of the marketing push for her upcoming picture, Vincente Minnelli's comedic Father of the Bride (1950), in which she co-starred with Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett as a bride getting ready for her wedding, MGM staged the event.Is it 99–105? After its June release, the picture proved a financial success, earning $6 million globally ($75,983,402 in 2023 dollars). Ten months later, in 1951, a sequel, Father's Little Dividend, also did well at the box office.
When Taylor released her next picture, A Place in the Sun (1951) with George Stevens, it was a radical change from her previous works. Taylor claims that this was the first picture that challenged her to act rather than be herself, and that it was also the first time she had received critical praise since National Velvet.page 96–97? The film starred Montgomery Clift as a poor factory worker and Shelby Winters as his pregnant lover, with Taylor playing the role of a spoilt socialite based on Theodore Dreiser's 1925 classic An American Tragedy.91? Stevens depicted Taylor as "the only one ... who could create this illusion" that she was "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." :?92?
Both critics and audiences loved A Place in the Sun, and the film made $3 million at the box office. Herb Golden of Variety remarked that Stevens' expert hands on the reins deserve credit for a little miracle since Taylor's "histrionics are of a quality so far beyond anything she has done previously." A.H. The New York Times' Weiler praised her for delivering "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."
Success at MGM Persisted from 1952 to 1955
Taylor went on to feature in Love Is Better Than Ever, a romantic comedy, in 1952.A range of 124 to 125??? Alexander Walker claims that MGM reprimanded her for causing a public controversy by casting her in the "B-picture" after her divorce from Hilton in January 1951, following barely eight months of marriage.A range of 124 to 125??? One of the most costly productions in the studio's history, the historical epic Ivanhoe (1952) took Taylor to Britain after he finished Love Is Better Than Ever.Pages 129–132? She had reservations about the production since she thought the plot was lacking depth and that her part as Rebecca was underdeveloped.Pages 129–132? Regardless, with over $11 million in rental revenue throughout the world, Ivanhoe became one of MGM's most lucrative commercial hits.
A remake of the pre-code drama A Free Soul (1931), Taylor's final picture under her former contract with MGM was The Girl Who Had Everything (1953).145? In spite of her complaints about the studio, Taylor renewed her contract with MGM for another seven years in the summer of 1952.the range of 139 to 143? She had just tied the knot with British actor Michael Wilding and was expecting her first kid, so she had to stay with the studio even though she desired more exciting parts.the range of 139 to 143? Along with signing her husband to a three-year contract and offering her a weekly income of $4,700 ($53,524 in 2023 dollars), MGM also agreed to provide the pair with a home loan.The numbers 141 and 143? The studio had greater power over her than before because of her financial dependence.The numbers 141 and 143?
Ten days separated the premieres of Taylor's first two films produced under her new deal in early 1954.153? She had her first romantic film role in the musical Rhapsody, in which she played a woman entangled in a love triangle with two musicians. In her second film, Elephant Walk, she portrayed a British woman who was married to a Ceylonese tea planter and was having a hard time adjusting to life there. After the film's initial lead, Vivien Leigh, became unwell, Paramount Pictures borrowed her for the role.numbers 148 and 149?
Taylor had two additional picture releases that autumn. She was once again coerced into appearing in Beau Brummell, a Regency-era historical picture.Page numbers 153–154? Because of the extra time it took to get ready for the historical films' elaborate costumes and makeup, Taylor generally detested them. Afterwards, she said that her performance in Beau Brummell was her weakest to date.Page numbers 153–154? The Last Time I Saw Paris, directed by Richard Brooks and adapted from a novel by F. The short tale written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. "Convinced me I wanted to be an actress instead of yawning my way through parts." Taylor said later on about the film, even though she had originally hoped to be in The Barefoot Contessa (1954).pages 153–157? Although it did not make as much money as previous MGM pictures, The Last Time I Saw Paris was well-received by critics.pages 153–157? Taylor had to agree to an extra year of her contract to compensate for the time she spent on maternity leave after becoming pregnant again during filming.pages 153–157?
1956–1960: Highly regarded by critics
Studios in the United States started making fewer films and putting more effort into their quality in the mid-1950s as a response of the increasing competition from television.Positions 158–165? After years of disappointing jobs, Taylor was able to break into more demanding roles thanks to the transformation.Positions 158–165? Giant (1956), an epic drama about a ranching family, co-starred Rock Hudson and James Dean, and she secured the female lead part after persuading director George Stevens.Positions 158–165? Taylor had a rough time of it while filming in Marfa, Texas. She had fights with Stevens, who tried to break her will so she would be easier to direct, and she was sick a lot, which caused delays.Positions 158–165? Tragically, Dean passed unexpectedly in a vehicle crash only days after filming wrapped; Taylor, who was already mourning, had to record reaction shots to their sequences together.the range of 158 to 166? One year later, Giant was a critical and commercial smash upon its debut.Positions 158–165? Despite not receiving an Oscar nomination like her co-stars, Taylor received rave reviews for her performance. Variety praised her acting, calling it "surprisingly clever," and The Manchester Guardian called it "an astonishing revelation of unsuspected gifts." The film even singled her out as one of its strongest points.
Raintree County (1957), a Civil War drama starring Montgomery Clift and reunited Taylor, was MGM's attempt to repeat the popularity of Gone with the Wind (1939).pages 166–177? Although she didn't appreciate the picture as a whole, Taylor thought her part as a damaged Southern belle was interesting.pages 166–177? Taylor received her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress, even though the picture did not become the kind of hit that MGM had hoped it would.
However, Taylor's next performance, as Maggie the Cat in the 1958 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, occurred during a very trying time in her personal life, and she regarded it as a career "high point." She wed producer Mike Todd after her divorce from Wilding and the completion of Raintree Country. In March of 1958, she had barely finished filming for two weeks when Todd tragically died in an airplane tragedy.the years 186–194? Despite her grief, Taylor returned to work just three weeks later due to studio pressure and the fact that she knew Todd had substantial obligations.the range of 195–203? Subsequently, she said that "in a way... [she] became Maggie" and that performing "was the only time I could function" in the post-Todd weeks.
The media had romanticized Eddie Fisher's marriage to Debbie Reynolds as the wedding of "America's sweethearts." When Taylor had an affair with Fisher during filming, her private life became more public.The number 203-210? Public perception of Taylor shifted from that of a distraught widow to that of a "homewrecker" due to the affair and Fisher's eventual divorce. MGM took advantage of the situation by using a slip of Taylor's on the film's advertising posters.The number 203-210? With $10 million from U.S. theaters alone, Taylor became the second most lucrative star of the year with Cat.The number 203-210? Numerous critics lauded Taylor's performance, with Variety describing her as having "a well-accented, perceptive interpretation" and The New York Times' Bosley Crowther describing her as "terrific."
One more Tennessee Williams adaptation that followed Taylor's 1959 picture, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Suddenly, Last Summer, had Montgomery Clift, Katharine Hepburn, and a screenplay by Gore Vidal. Playing a mentally ill patient who has suffered significant trauma earned Taylor half a million dollars in the indie film.The number 203-210? The film's trailer and poster showcased Taylor in a white bikini, despite the fact that it dealt with serious themes including homosexuality, childhood trauma, and mental illness. The plan was successful, as the picture made a lot of money. The performance earned Taylor her third nomination for an Oscar and her first Golden Globe for Best Actress.The number 203-210?
By 1959, Taylor still had one more picture to shoot for MGM. They settled on BUtterfield 8 (1960), a drama based on the 1935 novel by the same name by John O'Hara, which portrayed a wealthy call girl.number range: 211-223? The studio's assessment that audiences would naturally link Taylor to the part was spot on.number range: 211-223? Even though the company gave in to her requests to shoot in New York and cast Eddie Fisher in a sympathetic part, she still loathed the picture for the same reason.number range: 211-223? Forecastedly, Battlefield 8 was a huge financial success, earning $18 million from rentals throughout the world.lines 224–236? Variety praised Taylor's performance, calling it "a torrid, stinging portrayal with one or two brilliantly executed passages within," while Crowther said that Taylor "looks like a million dollars, in mink or in negligée." The role earned Taylor her first Oscar for Best Actress.lines 224–236?
From 1961 until 1967, Richard Burton worked with Cleopatra and on other projects.
After Taylor's contract with MGM ended, she starred in Cleopatra (1963) for 20th Century-Fox. Alexander Doty, a film historian, claims that she became even more renowned after starring in this historical epic. In addition to shooting the picture in Todd-AO, a widescreen format that she had acquired from Mike Todd, she became the first movie actress to get $1 million for a part, and Fox also gave her 10% of the gross revenues.Ten or eleven?:?number range: 211-223? With its expensive sets and costumes, many setbacks, and scandal stemming from Taylor's adulterous romance with co-star Richard Burton, the creation of the picture was constantly monitored by the media. Life magazine even proclaimed it the "Most Talked About Movie Ever Made."eleven or twelve?39,?the range of 45–46,?56? Production started in England in 1960, but weather delays and Taylor's health problems forced many setbacks.12–13? One news agency mistakenly announced her death in March 1961 when she had nearly deadly pneumonia and needed a tracheotomy.12–13? After she got well, Fox scrapped the previously shot scenes and relocated the production to Rome, where Joseph Mankiewicz took over as director and Richard Burton replaced him as Mark Antony.12–18? July 1962 was the final month of filming.:?Is it 39? The film was the most costly to date, clocking in at $62 million (or $625 million in 2023 dollars).46?
With $15.7 million (about $156 million in 2023 dollars), Cleopatra was the most financially successful American picture of 1963.Between 56 and 57? Regardless, the film's return on investment (ROI) took a long time to materialize, bringing Fox dangerously close to insolvency. In a failed lawsuit, the studio claimed that Burton and Taylor's actions hurt the film's financial prospects, and the studio publicly blamed Taylor for the production's problems.46? Some critics said Taylor looked overweight and had a thin voice, while others compared her negatively to her British co-stars who had classical training. The film received mixed to unfavorable reviews overall.Do you mean 56-58?:?pages 265-267? Taylor later referred to Cleopatra as a "low point" in her career and expressed her disappointment that the studio had removed the sequences that she believed were the "core of the characterization."
Taylor had planned to feature in Fox's black comedy What a Way to Go! with an all-star ensemble, following in the footsteps of Cleopatra. (1964), but the casting of Shirley MacLaine was unexpected when discussions failed. Meanwhile, studios were quick to cash in on the Taylor-Burton controversy, and the two actors featured in Anthony Asquith's 1963 picture The V.I.P.s, which was based on the story's headlines.Range: 42–45?:?between 252 and 255,?A range of 260 to 266? Burton portrayed the role of the famous model whose spouse has grown distant from her, while Taylor played the role of the model's boyfriend. Success at the box office followed its release shortly after Cleopatra.:?264? Elizabeth Taylor in London, a CBS television program in which she toured the city's attractions and read excerpts from the works of renowned British authors, cost Taylor $500,000 (about $4.98 million in 2023).What about 74–75?
During the two years that followed the completion of The V.I.P.s, Taylor was married to Burton and divorced her husband.112? According to Burton, "They say we generate more business activity than one of the smaller African nations." The supercouple continued to perform together in films starting in the mid-1960s, and they earned a total of $88 million over the following decade.193? As their onscreen personas frequently mirrored their real-life personas, biographer Alexander Walker likened these films to "illustrated gossip columns." On the other hand, film historian Alexander Doty observed that most of Elizabeth Taylor's films from this era appeared to "conform to, and reinforce, the image of an indulgent, raucous, immoral or amoral, and appetitive (in many senses of the word) 'Elizabeth Taylor'."294, huh? In 1965, after Taylor's break, she and Burton worked together again on Vincente Minelli's romantic drama The Sandpiper, which centered on an extramarital affair in Big Sur, California, between a married priest and a bohemian artist. Despite receiving mostly unfavorable reviews, it managed to earn $14 million at the box office, which would be $135 million in 2023.from 116 to 118?
Next on their agenda is Who Fears Virginia Woolf? In the 1966 film, which was based on Edward Albee's play of the same name, Taylor gave the most lauded performance of her career.142 years old?pages 151–152?:?286? She co-starred with Burton as middle-aged lovers George and Martha, who were experiencing marital problems. In a complete departure from her public persona as a stunning movie actress, Taylor put on weight, sported a wig, and applied heavy makeup to effectively become Martha, a 50-year-old.Numbers 136 and 137?:?The numbers 281-282? Although he had no background in filmmaking, Taylor recommended that Mike Nichols, a director of theater, take charge of the production.the range of 139 to 140? Because Nichols intended to give the play a full run-through before filming began, this production was unlike anything she had done before.141? Woolf received "glorious" acclaim upon its release because of the groundbreaking nature of her work, which dealt with mature subjects and language without censorship.140,?151? The film was a huge financial success, and Variety praised Taylor's performance, calling it "characterization is at once sensual, spiteful, cynical, pitiable, loathsome, lustful, and tender." The New York Times' Stanley Kauffmann said that Taylor "does the best work of her career, sustained and urgent."pages 151–152?:?286? In addition to her second Oscar, Taylor's performance earned her accolades from the New York City Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, and BAFTA.
Taylor and Burton raised money for the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1966 by performing Doctor Faustus for a week at Oxford. He was the lead actor, while she made her stage debut as Helen of Troy, a role that did not involve any speaking.the range of 186–189? Despite the mostly unfavorable reviews, Burton turned it into a 1967 picture, Doctor Faustus, with the same actors.the range of 186–189? Not only did reviewers give it low marks, but movie barely made $600,000 at the box office (or $5.48 million in 2023 dollars).The numbers 230 and 232? Success came for Franco Zeffirelli and Taylor & Burton in their 1967 co-production of The Taming of the Shrew.164? Taylor faced an additional obstacle because she was the only performer on the film who had never performed Shakespeare before. However, Zeffirelli subsequently said that this was really an asset to her performance as it meant she "invented the part from scratch."168? Reviewers thought the play was perfect for the pair, and the movie did well at the box office, earning $12 million (or $109.65 million in 2023).181,?Is it 186?
After Cleopatra, Taylor had not worked without Burton since 1967's Reflections in a Golden Eye, her third feature picture with John Huston. It was a dramatic adaptation of Carson McCullers's book about a gay military officer and his infidelity-plagued wife. The initial cast included Taylor's longtime buddy Montgomery Clift, whose career had been taking a nosedive for a while due to his drug use. In his pursuit of his participation in the project, Taylor went to extreme lengths, including offering to cover his insurance premiums.Between 157 and 161? However, Marlon Brando took over for Clift after he passed away from a heart attack just before production began.175,?189? When it came out, Reflections bombed both critically and commercially.The numbers 233-234? The Comedians, Taylor and Burton's final feature of the year based on Graham Greene's novel, was a critical and commercial disaster.228–232 (inclusive)?
By the late 1960s, Taylor's career had started to wane. She didn't belong among the New Hollywood A-listers like Jane Fonda and Julie Christie, who were all in their late 30s and had put on weight.135–136? Yes, please!:?pages 294–296,...from 307 to 308? After years of being the center of attention, the public finally had enough of Burton and her jet-setting lifestyle and began to condemn them.142 years old?pages 151–152?:?pages 294–296,...from 305 to 306? Joseph Losey directed two films starring Taylor in 1968 - Boom! as well as Secret Ceremony, both of which bombed at the box office and with critics.questions 238–246? She plays a retired millionaire who has seen better days, and Burton plays a younger guy who shows up on the island where she lives in the first adaptation, which is based on Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.(211) to (217)? Along with Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum, Secret Ceremony is a psychological drama.from 242 to 243,?246? Playing a Las Vegas showgirl whose affair with Warren Beatty's character, a compulsive gambler, proved unsuccessful in George Stevens's third feature film from 1970, The Only Game in Town.287?
There was a little greater success for the three pictures that Taylor was in 1972. She was named Best Foreign Actress by the David di Donatello for her role as a troubled married pair in X Y & Zee, which starred Michael Caine. The filmmakers chose to give her top billing so they could capitalize on her reputation, even though her role was modest, in the adaptation of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood, in which she featured with Burton.numbers 313 through 316? Her eighth picture with Burton that year was Hammersmith Is Out, a Faust spoof starring Peter Ustinov, in which she played a blonde diner server. Despite the fact that, all things considered, it failed:?316? Reviewers were generally positive about Taylor, with The New York Times' Vincent Canby praising her "a certain vulgar, ratty charm" and the Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert remarking, "The spectacle of Elizabeth Taylor growing older and more beautiful continues to amaze the population." The Berlin Film Festival awarded her the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance.
The Harlech Television film Divorce His, Divorce Hers (1973) was the final collaboration between Taylor and Burton before their divorce the following year.357? Night Watch (1973), a thriller from Britain, and Ash Wednesday (1973), a drama from the United States, were her other 1973 releases.from 34 to 349,?No. 357–358, huh? The second film earned her a Golden Globe nomination; it was about a lady who tries to salvage her marriage by undergoing a series of cosmetic procedures. The Driver's Seat (1974), an Italian version of Muriel Spark's novel, was her sole feature film release that year, and it bombed.From 37 to 175?
John Warner, a Republican politician and US senator, was Taylor's sixth spouse, and from the mid-1970s, she devoted more time to supporting his career. She was in the critically panned and commercially unsuccessful Soviet-American fantasy picture The Blue Bird (1976) and had a tiny part in the 1976 TV movie Victory at Entebbe (1976). She made her film debut in 1977's A Little Night Music, a cinematic version of Stephen Sondheim's musical that received mixed reviews.358, 389,?403?
1980–2007: Acting on stage and screen; retirement
Adapted on a mystery book by Agatha Christie, The Mirror Crack'd (1980) starred Taylor after a period of semi-retirement from cinema. The picture also included an ensemble cast of studio-era stars, including Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, Angela Lansbury, and Rock Hudson.435? She wanted to test herself, so she played Regina Giddens in a Broadway production of The Little Foxes, by Lillian Hellman.Who is 411?:?Pages 347–362? Taylor wanted to portray Giddens as a victim of circumstance rather than a villain, as had frequently been the case in earlier performances. He explained, "She's a killer, but she's saying, 'Sorry fellas, you put me in this position.'"Is it 349?
The show debuted in May 1981 and ran for six months to sold-out crowds despite receiving mixed reviews.Who is 411?:?Pages 347–362? Actress Elizabeth Taylor played the role of Regina Giddens on General Hospital from November 1981 to November 1982. Pages 347–362? The British press gave her The Little Foxes mostly bad reviews the year after she kept playing it on the West End of London.:?Pages 347–362?
With the support of producer Zev Buffman, Elizabeth Taylor established the Elizabeth Taylor Repertory Company after the success of The Little Foxes.Pages 347–362? The revival of Private Lives, a comedy by Noël Coward, starring Taylor and Burton, was its sole production.Range: 413–425?:?Pages 347–362? Although it did well at the box office, the play's critics panned it because of the actors' obviously unhealthy conditions; after the play's run ended, Taylor checked herself into a rehab for substance abuse, and Burton passed away the year after that. The production opened in Boston in early 1983.Range: 413–425?:?Pages 347–362? Taylor disbanded her theater company following the failure of Private Lives. Between Friends, a television film, was her sole other production that year.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Taylor's acting career took a turn toward television. During 1984, she appeared in cameos on both All My Children and Hotel, and in 1985, she portrayed a brothel owner in the historical miniseries North and South.From 363 to 373. Her television film credits include Malice in Wonderland (1985), in which she played gossip writer Louella Parsons; There Must Be a Pony (1986), a drama about a "fading movie star"; and the eponymous Western (1987), in which she played a figure based on Poker Alice.From 363 to 373. The French-Italian biography Young Toscanini(1988) was her second collaboration with director Franco Zeffirelli, and the 1989 television production of Sweet Bird of Youth—her fourth play by Tennessee Williams—was her final major part.From 363 to 373. She started getting honorary accolades for her work around this time as well, in 1985 with the Cecil B. DeMille Award and in 1986 with the Chaplin Award from the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
During the 1990s, Taylor was very active in the fight against HIV/AIDS. On February 26, 1996, she made cameo appearances on four CBS shows—The Nanny, Can't Hurry Love, Murphy Brown, and High Society—to promote her new fragrance. Her limited acting career included roles in Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1992) and The Simpsons (1992, 1993).
The Flintstones (1994), in which she had a small supporting part as Pearl Slaghoople, was both critically acclaimed and economically successful, marking her final cinema release.436? Among Taylor's many accolades during her career were the AFI Life Achievement Award (1993), the Screen Actors Guild honorary award (1997), and a BAFTA Fellowship (1999)—honors bestowed both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In the 2000 New Year Honours List, she was named Dame Commander in the Chivalric Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Following supporting roles in 2001's These Old Broads and 2001's God, the Devil and Bob, Taylor announced her retirement from acting to focus on philanthropy.436? At an AIDS benefit at the Paramount Studios in 2007, she made her final public appearance as a performer alongside James Earl Jones in the play Love Letters.436?
Various other endeavors
Abolition of the HIV/AIDS epidemic
Taylor helped collect about $270 million for the cause of HIV/AIDS since the mid-1980s, and she was one of the first celebrities to do so. After seeing that, despite widespread media coverage, the sickness was receiving little attention, she embarked on her charitable activity. Vanity Fair reported that she later "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."
In 1984, Taylor launched her charitable work by assitating in the organization and presentation of the inaugural AIDS fundraiser in support of the AIDS Project Los Angeles. Following the announcement of her friend and former co-star Rock Hudson's impending death from AIDS in August 1985, she and Michael Gottlieb established the National AIDS Research Foundation. A month later, it became known as the American charity for AIDS Research (amfAR) after merging with Mathilde Krim's AIDS charity. Since amfAR primarily provides funds for research, in 1991, Taylor established the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) to bring attention to the epidemic and offer assistance to those living with HIV/AIDS; she also covered the organization's administrative expenses. Following her passing, her bequest has maintained financial support for ETAF by donating 25% of earnings generated by her likeness and image. Taylor has done a lot of good for individuals living with HIV/AIDS in the US, but she has also played a key role in amfAR's worldwide expansion and ETAF's global operations.
The Ryan White Care Act was the subject of Taylor's testimony in 1986, 1990, and 1992 before both the House and the Senate. Her efforts led to President Reagan's first public acknowledgment of the sickness in 1987, and she openly blasted Bush and Clinton for their indifference to the fight against the disease. Additionally, Taylor established the Elizabeth Taylor Endowment Fund at the UCLA Clinical AIDS Research and Education Center in Los Angeles, as well as the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center in Washington, DC, to provide free HIV/AIDS testing and treatment at the Whitman-Walker Clinic. Kathy Ireland, a business associate of Taylor's, made allegations in 2015 that, in the 1980s, before the FDA authorized the drugs, Taylor oversaw an illicit "underground network" that supplied HIV/AIDS patients in the United States. Activists from Project Inform in the '80s and '90s, as well as Taylor's former publicist and amfAR's former VP for development and external relations, all cast doubt on the assertion.
As a result of her charitable efforts, Taylor received several accolades. Honors bestowed upon her include the following: 1987—Knight of the French Legion of Honour; 1993—Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award; 1997—Screen Actors' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanitarian service; 2000—GLAAD Vanguard Award; 2001—Presidential Citizens Medal.
Names of perfumes and jewels
The extraordinary success of Taylor's scent collection paved the way for subsequent celebrity-branded perfumes. She started by releasing two fragrances with Elizabeth Arden, Inc. that were huge hits: Passion (1987) and White Diamonds (1991). There are eleven perfumes bearing Taylor's name, and she oversaw their development and manufacturing herself. Her fragrance line brought her more money than her acting career did, say her biographers Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger.436? Upon her passing, the British publication The Guardian reported that her scent revenues made up the bulk of her estimated $600 million-$1 billion fortune. Along with Kathy Ireland, Jack and Monty Abramov, and herself, Taylor established House of Taylor, a jewelry firm, in 2005.
="life outside of work"
During her adult years, Taylor's private life—particularly her eight marriages, two of which were to the same man—attracted much criticism and media scrutiny. This whole Elizabeth Taylor story started when she was sixteen years old, says historian Alexander Walker: "Whether she liked it or not... marriage is the matrix of the myth."126? She revealed her intention to marry American football champion Glenn Davis upon his return from Korea in 1948, after MGM had arranged for them to date. Taylor had a brief engagement to William Pawley Jr. the next year. Pawley is the son of US ambassador William D. Pawley.Is it 75-88? Howard Hughes, a film magnate, was also interested in marrying her; he even offered to pay her parents a six-figure sum as a down payment.81–82? Oh my! Although she turned down the offer, Taylor was eager to tie the knot as soon as possible because of her "rather puritanical upbringing and beliefs" which led her to believe that "love was synonymous with marriage." Looking back, Taylor said that she was "emotionally immature" as a child because of her sheltered upbringing, and she thought that marriage would give her independence from her parents and Motown.
At the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills on May 6, 1950, Taylor wed Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr., heir to the Hilton Hotels company, when she was eighteen years old.Is it 106 or 112? The lavish nuptials, orchestrated by MGM, were a mega-media event.Is it 106 or 112? Taylor began to regret her decision in the weeks after her wedding to Hilton. The couple had few shared interests, and Hilton was aggressive and an alcoholic.Numbers 113–119? A miscarriage occurred during one of Taylor's angry outbursts. Eight months after they were married, on January 29, 1951, she filed for a divorce citing mental cruelty, and she made the announcement on December 14, 1950.range of 120 to 125?
In a low-key ceremony at Caxton Hall in London on February 21, 1952, Taylor wed British actor Michael Wilding, who was 20 years her senior.:?139? She met him in 1948 in England while shooting The Conspirator, and they started dating in 1951 when she came back to film Ivanhoe.131–133? Whoa! The attraction of their age difference to Taylor was immediate. He thought that marriage would help his Hollywood career, while she desired "the calm and quiet and security of friendship" from their relationship.136? Michael Howard was born on January 6, 1953, and Christopher Edward was born on February 27, 1955; they were married for a long time.How about 148?What is 160? Taylor and Wilding's relationship deteriorated as she gained self-assurance and Wilding's career collapsed, adding fuel to the fire of marital discord.between 160 and 165?? Confidential, a gossip magazine, made headlines in 1955 when she was filming Giant because it claimed he had invited strippers at their house.from 164 to 165? The couple began their divorce proceedings on January 26, 1957, after Taylor and Wilding declared their separation on July 18, 1956.
On February 2, 1957, in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, Taylor wed Mike Todd, a producer for theater and films, while she was three months along in her pregnancy.from 178 to 180? Elizabeth "Liza" Frances was born to them on August 6, 1957.Is it 186? For instance, in June 1957, Todd hosted a birthday bash at Madison Square Garden, which drew 18,000 people and was shown on CBS; this was just one example of how he wanted the media to focus on his marriage.Five or six?:?188? The news of his tragic death in an airplane crash on March 22, 1958, shocked Taylor.Five or six?:?pages 193-202? Singer Eddie Fisher, a mutual friend of hers and Todd's, consoled her, and she quickly had an affair with him.7–9?:?Twenty-one to ten? Actress Debbie Reynolds remained Fisher's spouse. One public issue that came out of the encounter was the labeling of Taylor as a "homewrecker."7–9?:?Twenty-one to ten? Taylor and Fisher were wed at Las Vegas's Temple Beth Sholom on May 12, 1959. Taylor subsequently claimed that her sadness was the sole reason she wed Fisher.7–9?:?Twenty-one to ten?
Despite Burton's marriage, Taylor started an affair with her co-star, the Welsh actor Richard Burton, when they were filming Cleopatra in Italy in 1962. Reports of the affair started circulating in the media, and a paparazzi photo of the two of them on an Ischia boat proved it.Age range: 27–34? Sociologist Ellis Cashmore claims that the photo's release was a "turning point" that ushered in a new age in which public perception of celebrities overwhelmed their private lives. The issue led to the Vatican denouncing Taylor and Burton for "erotic vagrancy" and there were efforts in the US Congress to prevent them from returning to the nation.Is it 36? Taylor wed Burton in a secret ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Montreal ten days after receiving a divorce decree from Fisher on March 5, 1964, in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.Do you mean 99-100? Later on, Burton took in two orphans: Liza Todd and Maria McKeown, a German girl whose adoption had started while Taylor was still married to Fisher (born 1961).
Known as "Liz and Dick" in the press, Taylor and Burton had a glamorous existence as a jet-set couple who spent millions on "furs, diamonds, paintings, designer clothes, travel, food, liquor, a yacht, and a jet."193? According to sociology expert Karen Sternheimer, the couple "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." They experienced a first divorce in June 1974, but later reconciled and remarried in Kasane, Botswana, on 10 October 1975.Is it 376?Is it 391-394? The second union was short-lived, too, since it ended in divorce papers filed in July 1976.:?384–385,?406? Whoa! The media frequently used the term "marriage of the century" to describe Taylor and Burton's union. Looking back, she said, "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."point seven,?437? John Warner, a Republican politician from Virginia, became Taylor's sixth spouse not long after her final divorce from Burton.The numbers 402-405?! Taylor devoted himself to his presidential campaign after their December 4, 1976, wedding.The numbers 402-405?! Warner began adjusting to life in Washington, D.C., as the wife of a senator, after her husband's election. despondent, alone, gaining weight, and developing an addiction to drink and prescription narcotics:?The numbers 402-405?! After breaking up in December 1981, Taylor and Warner finally got a divorce on November 5, 1982.From 410 to 411?
Prior to her engagement to Mexican lawyer Victor Luna (1983–1984), Taylor dated actors Anthony Geary and George Hamilton following her divorce from Warner.questions 422-434? in 1985, and a businessman from New York named Dennis Stein. Larry Fortensky, a construction worker, was her seventh and final spouse, whom she met in 1988 at the Betty Ford Center.437?:?those numbered 465–466? Michael Jackson, a personal friend of hers, officiated the wedding ceremony at his Neverland Ranch on October 6, 1991. One photographer parachuted to the ranch for the wedding, and Taylor sold the images to People for $1 million (about $2.24 million in 2023 dollars), which she used to create her AIDS charity. The wedding was once again the focus of significant media attention. Oct. 31, 1996 was the date of Taylor and Fortensky's divorce.437? yet kept in touch throughout their lives. Her invasive hip surgeries and his OCD were the causes of their breakup, she said. Following an accident from a balcony that left Fortensky unconscious for six weeks and requiring brain surgery in the winter of 1999, Taylor promptly informed the hospital that she would personally pay for his medical bills. Last year, before she went into the hospital for her final stay, Taylor called Fortensky on the phone. In her letter, she wrote: "You're a part of my life that cannot be carved out nor do I ever wish it to be." On February 7, 2011, she made her last phone chat with him. She will outlast him, he assured her. Despite their almost fifteen-year divorce, Taylor nevertheless managed to leave Fortensky $825,000 in her will.
Colin Farrell, the actor, was her platonic buddy in her last years. When they spoke on the phone, insomnia and its treatment were common topics of conversation.
Religion of Judaism
Taylor converted to Judaism in 1959 after growing up as a Christian Scientist.from 173 to 174?:?twenty-six to ten? While two of her husbands, Mike Todd and Eddie Fisher, were Jewish, Taylor insisted that she never converted for their sake. She had wanted to convert "for a long time" and found "comfort, 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." Walker speculated that Taylor's godfather, Victor Cazalet, and her mother, who were active Zionists during her childhood, had an influence on her decision.14?
In the years after her conversion, Taylor did much to further Jewish and Zionist objectives. Arab nations in the Middle East and Africa outlawed her films after she bought $100,000 in Israeli bonds in 1959. The Egyptian government also banned her from visiting the country in 1962 so she couldn't make Cleopatra, but they eventually reversed the ban since they saw the picture as good for Egypt's reputation. Taylor served on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's board of trustees and helped generate funds for groups like the Jewish National Fund in addition to buying bonds.
In addition to signing a letter criticizing the 1975 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, Taylor canceled a trip to the Soviet Union over its criticism of Israel during the Six-Day War and fought for the ability of Soviet Jews to move to Israel. She volunteered to be a new captive in 1976, following the abduction of over a hundred Israeli citizens in the Entebbe skyjacking. She narrated the Holocaust documentary Genocide (1981), which won an Academy Award, and had a brief appearance in the 1976 television film Victory at Entebbe.
Array of fashionable pieces and precious jewels
Both her on-screen attire and her own sense of style have made Taylor a style icon. Helen Rose, Edith Head, and Irene Sharaff were the main costume designers for her at MGM throughout the 1960s. She is most known for her roles in BUtterfield 8, where she wore a slip and a fur coat, A Place in the Sun (1951), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly Last Summer (1959), all of which included white ball gowns (1951, 1958, 1959, 1960). The iconic "cat-eye" style of black eyeliner first appeared on her in Cleopatra (1963).135–136? Yes, please!
Throughout her life, Taylor accumulated a collection of jewels. Among her treasures were three diamonds—the 33.19-carat Krupp Diamond (6.638 g), the 69.42-carat Taylor-Burton Diamond (13.884 g), and the 50-carat La Peregrina Pearl (10 g), all of which were presents from her husband, Richard Burton.lines 237 and 238?lines 258 and 259,?273–276, maybe? Along with her collection, she wrote a book about it in 2002 called My Love Affair with Jewelry. Taylor was instrumental in elevating the profiles of Halston and Valentino Garavani, two prominent fashion designers. The CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) presented her with the Lifetime of Glamour Award in 1997. To support her AIDS nonprofit, ETAF, Christie's auctioned off her jewelry and couture collections after her death. The jewellery made history at $156.8 million, while the apparel and accessories brought in an additional $5.5 million.
Disease and mortality
Taylor had a tough time staying healthy for the majority of her life. In 1944, while filming National Velvet, she fractured her back, adding to her history of scoliosis.Range: 40–47? Despite the fact that it caused her persistent back pain, the fracture went unnoticed for a few years.Range: 40–47? The procedure that removed portions of her spinal discs and replaced them with donor bone took place in 1956.175? Taylor had a history of surgeries due to her susceptibility to various diseases and traumas; for example, she had a tracheotomy-induced near-fatal case of pneumonia in 1961.
She received bacteriophage treatment for her pneumonia.
She had an emergency hysterectomy in 1968, which made her hip and back issues worse. Addiction to alcohol and prescription painkillers and tranquilizers may have been a kind of self-medication for her. She became the first famous person to publicly admit herself to the Betty Ford Center for treatment for seven weeks, beginning in December 1983 and ending in January 1984.Question 424–425? Later in the decade, she had another relapse and returned to therapy in 1988.Question 366-368? Like many women, Taylor had a battle with her weight; she started gaining weight in the 1970s, particularly after she married Senator John Warner, and wrote a diet book about it called Elizabeth Takes Off (1988). Prior to her serious case of pneumonia in 1990, Taylor smoked heavily.
After 1996, Taylor's health began to deteriorate rapidly, and she hardly attended public events for the next two decades. During the 1990s and 2000s, Taylor suffered from severe pneumonia; in the mid-1990s, she underwent two hip replacement operations; in 1997, she had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor; and in 2002, she successfully treated skin cancer. After suffering from back pain and a 2004 diagnosis of congestive heart failure, she began using a wheelchair. Tragically, she passed away at the age of 79 on March 23, 2011, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, following a six-week hospitalization. Glendale, California's Forest Lawn Memorial Park was the site of her funeral the day after. Rabbi Jerome Cutler officiated the intimate Jewish ceremony. Taylor requested that the service start fifteen minutes later than planned because, as her spokesman put it, "She even wanted to be late for her own funeral." The Great Mausoleum of the cemetery thereafter became her last resting place.
Between 1982 and 2011, Taylor resided at 700 Nimes Road in Los Angeles's Bel Air neighborhood. In 2011, the home was the subject of an eponymous photography study by art photographer Catherine Opie.
Taylor was both an early celebrity and one of the final greats of vintage Hollywood. She was the quintessential Hollywood celebrity during the studio system's heyday. As far as the public was concerned, MGM meticulously built and managed her image to make her seem distinct from "ordinary" people. Taylor typified a new breed of star whose personal lives were the subject of widespread curiosity as the golden age of Hollywood drew to a close in the 1960s and paparazzi photography became commonplace in popular culture. "More than for any film role," explained Adam Bernstein of The Washington Post, "she became famous for being famous, setting a media template for later generations of entertainers, models, and all variety of semi-somebodies."
Many critics still consider Elizabeth Taylor to be playing herself rather than acting, even though she won numerous acting awards throughout her career. Film historian Jeanine Basinger said, "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." Taylor's film roles frequently reflected her real life. The New York Times' Mel Gussow, on the other hand, said that "the range of [Taylor's] acting was surprisingly wide" despite her lack of formal training. The five films in which she appeared were Lassie Come Home, National Velvet, A Place in the Sun, Giant, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Film critic Peter Bradshaw described her as "an actress of such sexiness it was an incitement to riot - sultry and queenly at the same time," while David Thomson praised her as "a shrewd, intelligent, intuitive acting presence in her later years." Bette Davis had the range, nerve, and instinct that only Taylor possessed, and like Davis, Taylor was both empress and sweetheart, scold and wise woman. —documented in the National Film Registry—and honored as the seventh-greatest female screen legend of vintage Hollywood film by the American Film Institute.
Journalists and academics curious in women's place in Western culture have also written on Taylor. Taylor, according to Camille Paglia, 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." On the other hand, cultural critic M.G. Similarly, Ben W. Heineman Jr. and Cristine Russell write in The Atlantic that Taylor's role in Giant "dismantled stereotypes about women and minorities." Lord refers to Taylor as a "accidental feminist" because, although she did not consider herself a feminist, many of her films dealt with feminist themes and "introduced a broad audience to feminist ideas."
Many people look up to Taylor because of her advocacy against HIV/AIDS and because she is an LGBT icon. In a statement released following her passing, GLAAD praised her as "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." Sir Nick Partridge of the Terrence Higgins Trust referred to her as "the first major star to publicly fight fear and prejudice towards AIDS." Paul Flynn of The Guardian characterized her as "a new type of gay icon, one whose position is based not on tragedy, but on her work for the LGBTQ community." In regards to her charitable work, former President Bill Clinton expressed his belief that "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."
Elizabeth Taylor's estate, House of Taylor, has been working to continue Taylor's legacy ever since her death by producing content, forming collaborations, and selling merchandise. Before Elizabeth passed away, she appointed three trustees to oversee the administration of her inheritance. In addition to supervising the Elizabeth Taylor Archive, they are actively involved with the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
House of Taylor collaborated with Imperative Entertainment and Kitty Purry Productions to launch Elizabeth The First, a 10-part audio series, in 2022. Katy Perry provided the narration. Released in December 2022, Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon by Kate Andersen Brower was the first biography of Elizabeth Taylor allowed by the estate.
A Special Relationship, Simon Beaufoy's planned biopic on Taylor's transition from actor to activist, will star Rachel Weisz. The casting announcement came in 2019.
A docuseries about Taylor would include Kim Kardashian as an executive producer and star in 2024. The BBC commissioned it, and Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar is the working title.