Actress Elizabeth Taylor remains one of Hollywood’s most beloved Golden Age starlets more than a decade after her 2011 death. The actress wins great acclaim for her performances in the films, Butterfield 8 and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. After her breakout performance as a child in 1944’s National Velvet. Elizabeth is a talent to reckon with on both the stage and the screen. She is perhaps equally famous for her torrid love affairs and marriages. The latter of which she’s an eight over the course of her lifetime. She was also a fashion icon! Join Facts Verse as we take a look at the magnificent life of Elizabeth Taylor.
1942’s There’s One Boring Every Minute
She makes her film debut when she is a young girl. She is appearing in 1942’s There’s One Born Every Minute when she is just ten years old. The young actress achieves stardom with her appearance a few years later in 1944’s National Velvet. It delivers an incredibly mature and considered performance for her age. Elizabeth is just 12 years old and she uses the stardom she attains from her performance in the film. She jumpstart an incredible and varied entertainment career into her adult years.
As an adult, Elizabeth’s most memorable performances included her turn in the 1960 feature Butterfield 8. As well as in the 1965 feature Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? All in all, the actress’s career spans over six decades, and she maintains both success and respect in the industry. She appreciates her raw and emotional acting talents and also respects her wardrobe, her jewelry collection, and her ability. Starting tabloid drama with her various beaus.
Domestic Life in Los Angeles
Elizabeth Taylor was born in London, England, on February 27, 1932. Elizabeth’s parents are American art dealers, though they are residing in London at the time that Elizabeth is born. World War II starts after Elizabeth’s birth. It prompts the family to return to the United States and settle down for domestic life in Los Angeles.
Before marrying her husband and becoming an art dealer, Taylor’s mom had been an actress. Because of this, Elizabeth grew up with a strong affinity for the arts. She starts practicing dance when she is three years old. It leads to her giving a recital for Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret while in London.
After relocating to California, a family friend notices Elizabeth’s performing talents. Recommending to her parents have her screen test for a gig in the entertainment industry. Elizabeth’s parents end up taking her for a screen test, which offers a contract by Universal Studios! Elizabeth signs the contract and makes her debut in her first feature film at the age of 10 years old. The 1942’s There’s One Born Every Minute.
1944’s National Velvet
1942’s There’s One Born Every Minute is young Elizabeth’s first role in a feature film. It is 1944’s National Velvet that makes the girl a star. In between the two features, Elizabeth can be in 1943’s Lassie Come Home. Elizabeth and her parents campaign for months to get her role in National Velvet which makes her a star. She appears in the film when she is just 12 years old, and the film is a huge hit!
There are plenty of child stars around when Elizabeth Taylor breaks into the scene in her double digits. Few of them consist of the maturity that Elizabeth did. She became known for delivering performances that seemed wise beyond their years. A few surprises when Elizabeth shows that she’s fully capable of transitioning into adult dramatic roles after coming of age.
1950s Father of the Bride
At the age of 18, Elizabeth takes on her most mature role. It is when she appears alongside Spencer Tracy in the 1950’s Father of the Bride. The audience is more than willing to accept Elizabeth Taylor as a new leading lady. She is no trouble filling those shoes. She continues acting successfully throughout her early adult years. Other features she appears in during the time, include Elephant Walk, Rhapsody, and The Last Time I Saw Paris.
Up until her adulthood, Elizabeth Taylor is famous predominantly for her talents. However, in her adult years, she became equally well known for her torrid love affairs and numerous rocky marriages. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support! Subscribe to the channel if you’d like to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
Elizabeth Taylor and Nicky Hilton
Elizabeth becomes an adult and engages in romances with other celebrity figures. The resulting tabloid material boosts the actress’s success in the entertainment industry. One of Elizabeth’s strangest romances was with eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes. Howard is famous for film production and his aviation hobby, as well as for his OCD tendencies and the fact that he prefers not to leave the house too much.
Elizabeth entered into her first marriage when she was just 17. Her husband at the time was the wealthy hotel heir Nicky Hilton, and the marriage didn’t last for very long. After Nicky, Elizabeth’s second husband was an actor by the name of Michael Wilding. However, most Elizabeth Taylor fans and historians believe that the true love of the actress’s life was actor Richard Burton, whom she married on two occasions.
1956′ Giant
When Elizabeth started becoming tabloid fodder due to her rocky relationships, she didn’t let that affect her dramatic performances one bit. In fact, the drama in her real life arguably helped her channel more powerful dramatic performances on the screen and the stage. She continued giving successful performances through the 1950s, including in A Place in the Sun and the 1956 hit feature Giant.
1956’s Giant adapt from the novel of the same name by author Edna Farber, and the film is also notable for the fact that it features one of the three starring performances that Hollywood legend James Dean gave during his lifetime. Elizabeth matched the star and then some, and her raw talent helped James deliver a performance for the ages.
1960s Butterfield 8
A few years after her performance in the film Giant, Elizabeth gave another successful turn acting in the Hollywood adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She subsequently acted in another adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ work with Suddenly Last Summer. Both of these films garnered Elizabeth immense acclaim, but it was her performance in 1960’s Butterfield 8 that netted the actress her very first Academy Award for Best Actress.
In 1958, Elizabeth’s current husband died in a plane crash. The man’s name was Mike Todd, and he was a film producer. After his death, Elizabeth became involved with his friend, Eddie Fisher. Elizabeth’s love affair with Eddie got too hot and heavy, and it ended up breaking off Eddie’s marriage. Elizabeth and Eddie marry, though their marriage lasts for five years.
It was after her divorce from Eddie Fisher that Elizabeth Taylor married actor Richard Burton. The two meet while working on the 1963 feature Cleopatra and marry in 1964. The relationship took the public’s obsession with Elizabeth Taylor’s personal life to a new level, as the two involves in drama.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
In addition to the drama that the two engaged in during their own personal time together, Elizabeth and Richard also engaged in plenty of dramas together on the screen and stage. In addition to their performance together in Cleopatra that resulted in the two getting married for the first time, they also continued acting alongside each other throughout their relationship. They did so on both the screen and the stage, with many of their collaborations drawing great acclaim.
In 1965, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton could be seen again on the screen together in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Today, the film is considered to be slightly ahead of it’s time because of its psychological drama, and Elizabeth’s central performance as the titular character earned her a second Academy Award for Best Actress. In the years after her performance in that film, Elizabeth’s career and personal life went through many ups and downs, but the actress always kept her cool and made it through whatever obstacles showed up in her way. Some of the actress’s later career work included a guest appearance on General Hospital, though she decided during her later years that she wanted to focus more on philanthropy than on continuing to act.
HIV/AIDS Foundation in 1991
Elizabeth Taylor had been a good friend of actor Rock Hudson, who passed away in 1985 after losing a battle to the then-new illness known as AIDS. After this, Elizabeth became passionate about finding a cure for the illness, starting the Elizabeth Taylor HIV/AIDS Foundation in 1991. The foundation was created for the purpose of supporting those that had been diagnosed with the illness, but most importantly, for generating funds to help research cures.
Although Elizabeth was essentially retired from acting by the 1990s, she won numerous awards throughout the decade for all that she had contributed to entertainment during her lifetime. One such award was AFI’s Life Achievement Award, which she was given in 1993. In the year 2000, she became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
During the actress’s later years, Elizabeth had to fight through a variety of health issues before her eventual death. She began suffering from congestive heart failure and diabetes during the 1990s, and also had to have both of her hips replaced. In the late 1990s, she had to undergo surgery in order to have a brain tumor removed. After successful heart surgery in 2009, Elizabeth started experiencing pain again and ended up passing away from her congestive heart failure on March 23, 2011. At the time of her death, the actress was 79 years old and survived by four children.
Although Elizabeth Taylor essentially retired from acting well before her eventual death, she still left behind more than enough iconic acting performances for one lifetime. Comment down below to share which of Elizabeth’s performances you enjoy watching the best, or if you were surprised to learn that she was married eight times! As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
