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 England 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); and 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.
Brief 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
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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