ELIZABETH TAYLOR BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY

On February 27, 1932 Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London, England.  She was born to American parents, Francis and Sara Taylor who were originally from St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was a successful art dealer who had his own gallery in London. Her mother was an actress working under the name Sara Sothern.  When they moved to London for her fathers art gallary, her mother gave up her acting.  Elizabeth has an older brother, Howard, who was born two years earlier. In 1939 the family moved to Los Angeles, California, where Taylor age 7 at the time, was encouraged and coached by her mother to seek work in the motion picture industry.
 
Elizabeth went for a screen test with executives at Universal Pictures.  They were impressed by her and she signed her first contract with them in 1941 for a salary of $200 per week.  Her first screen performance was, "Theres One Born Every Minute" 1942. Soon after Universal dropped her contract, but Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) stepped in and picked her up and she landed a part in, "Lassie Come Home" 1943.  This film convinced MGM to sign her for a full 1 year contract.  She had small roles in,"Jane Eyre" 1943 and "White Cliffs of Dover" 1944.  Following these roles, she was cast in," National Velvet" 1943.  This film became a major hit and grossed over $4 million.  She was a childhood major star and in after a year she starred in her next film, "Courage of Lassie" 1946.  At the age of 15 she went on to appear in, "Life with Father" 1947.  Taylor was begining to gain a reputation as a moody actress who demanded special treatment.  Throughout the rest of the 1940s and into the early 1950s Elizabeth appeared in film after film with mostly good results.
 
In may 1950, she married Conrad N. Hilton jr., but their union lasted only one year.  One year later she married again to Michael Wilding in February 1952 and together they had two sons. 
 
1954, at the young age of 22, turned out to be one of Elizabeth's busiest working year.  She had roles in, "Rhapsody" 1954, "Beau Brummell" 1954, "The Last Time I saw Paris" 1954 and "Elephant Walk" 1954.  1955 followed with, roles in, 1957 followed with an appearance in, "Raintree County", for which she received her first acamdemy award nomination.  In 1956 She had seperated from her husband, Wilding, in 1956 and in February 1957 she married producer Mike Todd. 
 
Another well known film, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" 1958 was her next film to make an appearance and again she was nominated for an Academy Award. In March 1958 her husband Mike Todd died in a plane crash. Taylor began trying to ease her grief with pills and alcohol.  However, this did not stop her from acting.  In 1959 she appeared in another mega-hit and received yet another Oscar nomination for," Suddenly" (1959).  All three however were lost to other female actresses.   However, finally in 1960 she brought home her Oscar for her performance in, "Butterfield 8" 1960.  The film did not receive great reviews but her performance was magnificent. 
 
For the next three years, she laid low and left her contract with MGM.  However, she could not completely stay away and in 1962 she returned to acting in the film, "Cleopatra" where she received a salary of $1,000,000, the first actress ever to earn this amount of money in a major film. On this film, she met her fifth husband, Richard Burton.  Upset and confused over her tangled relationships, Taylor attempted suicide in early 1962. However, in 1964 both had divorced their spouses and were married.
 
She worked on some films, but they were shredded by most critics until , "Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?" 1966 aclaimed by many as her best work up to this point.  This performance won her Oscar number two.
 
Elizabeth lost a dear friend, Rock Hudson in 1985 and this caused her to become a huge advocate for AIDS sufferers.  She is devoted to raising money for victims of the disease. She is known as one of Hollywood's most famous female actresses. She performed in over 50 films, won two academy awards and with her beautiful violet eyes, dark hair and light complexion she is one of the most beautiful woman in the entertainment industry.  In 1993 she was awarded the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award and was voted the 11th famous movie star of all time by Entertainment weekly. 
 
In 2003 she announced that she was ready to retire from the entertainment industry and shortly after in November 2004, Elizabeth was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. This did not stop her efforts to raise money for AIDS charities.  She also made it a goal to build a Richard Burton Memorial Theatre in Cardiff, Wales. She continued to pursue other interests and 2 years later in 2006 Elizabeth introduced a line of diamond and precious stone jewelry called, "House of Taylor" and even wrote a book on jewelry.  That same year, she donated $500,000 to the New Orleans AIDS Task Force to purchase mobile medical units for AIDS sufferers.  In December 5th, 2007 she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in Sacramento.  She has lived a dramatic but full-filling life. She is an amazing woman inside and out and continues to be charitable and giving and will always be admired and known as a woman with a larger then life persona.

Filmography

2001   These Old Broads
1994   The Flintstones
1989   Sweet Bird of Youth
1985   North and South
1985  Malice in Wonderland  
1983  Between Friends
1980   The Mirror Crack'd
1977   A Little Night Music
1976   The Blue Bird
1973   Ash Wednesday
1970   The Only Game in Town
1968   Secret Ceremony
1968  Boom
1967   The Comedians
1967  Reflections in a Golden Eye
1967  Doctor Faustus
1966   The Taming of the Shrew
1966  Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1965   The Sandpiper
1963   The V.I.P.'s
1963  Cleopatra
1960   Butterfield 8
1959  Suddenly, Last Summer
1958  Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
1957  Raintree County
1956  Giant
1954  The Last Time I Saw Paris
1954  Beau Brummell
1954  Elephant Walk
1954  Rhapsody
1953  The Girl Who Had Everything
1952  Ivanhoe
1952  Love is Better Than Ever
1951  A Place in the Sun
1951  Father's Little Dividend
1950  Father of the Bride
1950  The Big Hangover
1949  Conspirator
1949  Little Women
1948  Julia Misbehaves
1948  A Date with Judy
1947  Cynthia
1947  Life with Father
1946  Courage of Lassie
1944  National Velvet
1943  Lassie Come Home
1942  There's One Born Every Minute