Elizabeth Taylor was born in London on Feb. 27, 1932, to American parents who fled the looming war in 1939 by returning to the United States. In 1942, the budding beauty caught the eye of talent scouts in Los Angeles and was cast in There's One Born Every Minute. The next year, MGM signed her to a long-term contract.Taylor's popularity skyrocketed with her roles in Lassie Come Home (1943) and National Velvet (1944). By the early '50s, she had moved into grown-up parts in Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Ivanhoe (1952) and Elephant Walk (1954). She won the Best Actress Oscar in 1961 for Butterfield 8 and again in 1967 for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (opposite her two-time husband, Richard Burton).
Health issues restricted Taylor's screen appearances in later years to occasional feature films such as 1994's The Flintstones and made-for-TV fare such as 2001's These Old Broads. She died March 23, 2011.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?On a serene New England campus, emasculated professor George (Richard Burton) and his rancorous wife, Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), turn an evening of cocktails into an unrelenting onslaught of wrenching disclosures and bellowed epithets. Soon, the couple's guests -- junior professor Nick (George... Read More
CleopatraThe winner of four Oscars, this epic saga of love, greed and betrayal stars Elizabeth Taylor as the passionate and ambitious Egyptian queen who's determined to hold on to the throne and seduces the Roman emperor Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison). When Caesar is murdered, she redirects her attentions to... Read More
Suddenly, Last SummerIn Tennessee Williams's tale of sexual repression set in 1937 New Orleans, rich widow Mrs. Venable (Katharine Hepburn) is distraught over the death of her son Sebastian during his vacation to Europe, where the two had traveled together every summer. This time, Sebastian had taken his cousin... Read More
The Taming of the ShrewElizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton seem to be channeling the legendary dramas of their marriage in this boisterous and bawdy adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic comedy, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. A younger sister cannot wed until her older, shrewish sister Katharina (Taylor) marries... Read More
Butterfield 8Elizabeth Taylor won a Best Actress Oscar as Gloria Wandrous, a stylish call girl who yearns to go straight, especially after she thinks she's found Mr. Right. But self-loathing socialite Weston (Laurence Harvey) proves he's not up to the task. As she sorts out her feelings, her only real friend is... Read More
