94 Facts About Liz Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was a British-American actress.

Liz Taylor 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.

Liz Taylor then became the world's highest paid movie star in the 1960s, remaining a well-known public figure for the rest of her life.

Liz Taylor made her acting debut with a minor role in the Universal Pictures film There's One Born Every Minute, but the studio ended her contract after a year.

Liz Taylor transitioned to mature roles in the 1950s, when she starred in the comedy Father of the Bride and received critical acclaim for her performance in the drama A Place in the Sun.

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Liz Taylor resented the studio's control and disliked many of the films to which she was assigned.

Liz Taylor began receiving more enjoyable roles in the mid-1950s, beginning with the epic drama Giant, and starred in several critically and commercially successful films in the following years.

Liz Taylor received the best reviews of her career for Woolf, winning her second Academy Award and several other awards for her performance.

Liz 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.

Liz Taylor became the second celebrity to launch a perfume brand, after Sophia Loren.

Liz Taylor co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985 and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991.

Liz Taylor 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.

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on February 27,1932, at Heathwood, her family's home on 8 Wildwood Road in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London, England.

Liz Taylor received dual British-American citizenship at birth as her parents, art dealer Francis Lenn Taylor and retired stage actress Sara Sothern, were United States citizens, both originally from Arkansas City, Kansas.

Liz Taylor 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.

In California, Liz Taylor's mother was frequently told that her daughter should audition for films.

Sara was initially opposed to Liz 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.

Liz Taylor began her contract in April 1941 and was cast in a small role in There's One Born Every Minute.

Liz Taylor did not receive other roles, and her contract was terminated after a year.

Liz 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, which required a child actress with an English accent.

Liz 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.

Liz Taylor later called it "the most exciting film" of her career.

Liz Taylor later stated that her childhood ended when she became a star, as MGM started to control every aspect of her life.

Liz Taylor described the studio as a "big extended factory", where she was required to adhere to a strict daily schedule: days were spent attending school and filming at the studio lot, and evenings in dancing and singing classes, and in practising the following day's scenes.

When Liz 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.

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Liz Taylor made the transition to adult roles when she turned 18 in 1950.

Liz 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.

Liz Taylor next starred in the romantic comedy Love Is Better Than Ever.

Liz Taylor was not happy about the project, finding the story superficial and her role as Rebecca too small.

Liz Taylor had been loaned to Paramount Pictures for the film after its original star, Vivien Leigh, fell ill.

Liz Taylor disliked historical films in general, as their elaborate costumes and make-up required her to wake up earlier than usual to prepare.

Liz Taylor later said that she gave one of the worst performances of her career in Beau Brummell.

Liz 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.

Liz Taylor found her role as a mentally disturbed Southern belle fascinating, but overall disliked the film.

Liz Taylor had completed only two weeks of filming in March 1958, when Todd was killed in a plane crash.

Liz Taylor received her third Academy Award nomination and her first Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance.

Liz Taylor 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.

Liz Taylor played a famous model attempting to leave her husband for a lover, and Burton her estranged millionaire husband.

Liz Taylor received her second Academy Award, and BAFTA, National Board of Review, and New York City Film Critics Circle awards for her performance.

Liz 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.

Liz Taylor had gained weight, was nearing middle age, and did not fit in with New Hollywood stars such as Jane Fonda and Julie Christie.

Liz Taylor 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.

Liz Taylor's only film released in 1974, the Italian Muriel Spark adaptation The Driver's Seat, was a failure.

Liz 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.

Liz Taylor 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.

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Liz Taylor starred in several television films, playing gossip columnist Louella Parsons in Malice in Wonderland, a "fading movie star" in the drama There Must Be a Pony, and a character based on Poker Alice in the eponymous Western.

Liz Taylor re-united with director Franco Zeffirelli to appear in his French-Italian biopic Young Toscanini, and had the last starring role of her career in a television adaptation of Sweet Bird of Youth, her fourth Tennessee Williams play.

Liz Taylor's few acting roles included characters in the animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers and The Simpsons, and cameos in four CBS series – The Nanny, Can't Hurry Love, Murphy Brown, and High Society – in one night in February 1996 to promote her new fragrance.

Liz Taylor received American and British honors for her career: the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1993, the Screen Actors Guild honorary award in 1997, and a BAFTA Fellowship in 1999.

Liz Taylor gave one last public performance in 2007 when, with James Earl Jones, she performed the play Love Letters at an AIDS benefit at the Paramount Studios.

Liz Taylor began her philanthropic work after becoming frustrated with the fact that very little was being done to combat the disease despite the media attention.

Liz Taylor began her philanthropic efforts in 1984 by helping to organize and by hosting the first AIDS fundraiser to benefit the AIDS Project Los Angeles.

Liz Taylor testified before the Senate and House for the Ryan White Care Act in 1986,1990, and 1992.

Liz Taylor was honored with several awards for her philanthropic work.

Liz Taylor 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.

Liz Taylor created a collection of fragrances whose unprecedented success helped establish the trend of celebrity-branded perfumes in later years.

Liz Taylor personally supervised the creation and production of each of the 11 fragrances marketed in her name.

In 2005, Liz Taylor founded a jewelry company, House of Liz Taylor, in collaboration with Kathy Ireland and Jack and Monty Abramov.

Liz Taylor was 18 years old when she married Conrad Hilton Jr.

Hilton caused Liz Taylor to have a miscarriage after one of his violent outbursts.

Liz Taylor was granted a divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty on January 29,1951, eight months after their wedding.

Liz 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.

Liz Taylor had first met him in 1948 while filming The Conspirator in England, and their relationship began when she returned to film Ivanhoe in 1951.

Liz Taylor found their age gap appealing, as she wanted "the calm and quiet and security of friendship" from their relationship; he hoped that the marriage would aid his career in Hollywood.

Liz Taylor married her third husband, theater and film producer Mike Todd, in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, on February 2,1957.

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Liz Taylor was comforted by Todd's and her friend, singer Eddie Fisher, with whom she soon began an affair.

Liz 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.

Liz Taylor met her seventh – and last – husband, construction worker Larry Fortensky, at the Betty Ford Center in 1988.

The wedding was again subject to intense media attention, with one photographer parachuting to the ranch and Liz Taylor selling the wedding pictures to People for $1 million, which she used to start her AIDS foundation.

Liz Taylor attributed the split to her painful hip operations and his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Liz Taylor was raised as a Christian Scientist, and converted to Judaism in 1959.

Liz Taylor was 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.

Liz Taylor 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.

Liz Taylor had a small role in the television film made about the incident, Victory at Entebbe, and narrated Genocide, an Academy Award-winning documentary about the Holocaust.

Liz Taylor is considered a fashion icon both for her film costumes and personal style.

Liz Taylor's make-up look in Cleopatra started a trend for "cat-eye" make-up done with black eyeliner.

Liz Taylor collected jewelry through her life, and owned the 33.

Liz Taylor published a book about her collection, My Love Affair with Jewelry, in 2002.

Liz Taylor helped to popularize the work of fashion designers Valentino Garavani and Halston.

Liz Taylor received a Lifetime of Glamour Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1997.

Liz Taylor struggled with health problems for most of her life.

Liz Taylor was born with scoliosis and broke her back while filming National Velvet in 1944.

Liz Taylor was prone to other illnesses and injuries, which often necessitated surgery; in 1961, she survived a near-fatal bout of pneumonia that required a tracheotomy.

Liz Taylor 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.

Liz Taylor relapsed later in the decade and entered rehabilitation again in 1988.

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Liz Taylor was a heavy smoker until she experienced a severe bout of pneumonia in 1990.

Liz Taylor had serious bouts of pneumonia in 1990 and 2000, two hip replacement surgeries in the mid-1990s, a surgery for a benign brain tumor in 1997, and successful treatment for skin cancer in 2002.

Liz Taylor used a wheelchair due to her back problems and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004.

Liz Taylor's funeral took place the following day at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Liz Taylor lived at 700 Nimes Road in the Bel Air district of Los Angeles from 1982 until her death in 2011.

Liz Taylor was one of the last stars of classical Hollywood cinema and one of the first modern celebrities.

Liz Taylor was portrayed as different from "ordinary" people, and her public image was carefully crafted and controlled by MGM.

In contrast, Mel Gussow of The New York Times stated that "the range of [Liz Taylor's] acting was surprisingly wide", despite the fact that she never received any professional training.

Liz Taylor has been discussed by journalists and scholars interested in the role of women in Western society.