Elizabeth Taylor

 Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor DBE (February 27 1932 - 23 March, 2011) was a British and American actress. In the 1940s, Taylor began acting as a child actor and became one of the most well-known actors in the world of classical Hollywood film in the 1950s. In the 1960s she became the highest-paid film star worldwide and remained an influential public figure throughout her life. In 1999 the American Film Institute named her as the seventh-greatest female screen hero in Classic Hollywood cinema.Born in London to socially prominent American parents, Taylor moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1939. After just a year, Taylor began her acting career with an unimportant role in the Universal Pictures film "There's One Born Every minute (1942)." After appearing in National Velvet (1944), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed her. In the 1950s, she shifted to roles that were more mature. She starred in the comedy Father of the Bride (1950), and was recognized for her performance in A Place in the Sun (1951). Taylor was determined to end her career in 1950s, despite being one of MGM’s most successful stars. Taylor was dissatisfied with the studio's control, and she was not a fan of the films that they given her. In the mid-1950s she began to receive more roles, beginning with the dramatic drama Giant (1956). The actress continued to make waves on screen and during the following years. This included two film adaptations of the plays of Tennessee Williams: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959); Taylor won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for the latter. Despite her displeasure with her part in BUtterfield 8 (1960), the final MGM film she was in, Taylor won the Academy Award as Best Actress for this performance. This film starred Taylor as well as Richard Burton in an affair that caused controversy. Despite the public's protests, they maintained their relationship and were married in 1964. They were known as "Liz" as well as "Dick" in the press. They appeared together in 11 films, including The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (65), The Taming of the Shrew(677) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1967). (1966). Taylor received the Academy Award for Woolf with her second Academy Award, as well as a host of other prizes. She and Burton divorced in 1974 however they reconciled shortly thereafter and remarried in 1975. The second marriage ended with divorce in 1976.Taylor's acting career started to decline in the latter part of the 1960s. However, she continued to appear in films until the mid-1970s, after which she focused on supporting the career of her husband's sixth, United States Senator John Warner (R-Virginia). In the late 1980s, she acted in her first major stage roles and in several TV series and films. She became the second celebrity to create a perfume company, after Sophia Loren. Taylor was among the first celebs to take part in HIV/AIDS activism. She co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985, as well as the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. She devoted her life to philanthropy from the early 1990s through her death. For this she was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal. In her professional life Taylor's private life was the subject of constant media attention. Taylor was married to seven times, was converted to Judaism and suffered several serious ailments. Taylor also lived a lavish lifestyle that included one of the largest private collections of jewelry in the country. After many years of ill health, Taylor died from congestive heart failure in 2011, at the age of 79.v