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Elizabeth Taylor biography

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Quick Facts

  • NAME: Elizabeth Taylor
  • OCCUPATION: Film Actress
  • BIRTH DATE: February 27, 1932
  • DEATH DATE: March 23, 2011
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: London, England
  • PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
  • Nickname: Liz Taylor
  • Full Name: Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE
  • Originally: Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
  • AKA: Elizabeth Taylor

Best Known For

Actress Elizabeth Taylor starred in films like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Butterfield 8, but was just as famous for her violet eyes and scandalous love life.


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Synopsis

Born in London on February 27, 1932, Elizabeth Taylor made her film debut in One Born Every Minute (1942) and achieved stardom with National Velvet (1944). Although she won Academy Awards for her work in Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1965),

Taylor was just as famous for her many marriages, extensive jewelry collection and stunning violet eyes.

Showbiz Background

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on February 27, 1932, in London, England. One of film's most celebrated stars, Elizabeth Taylor has fashioned a career that's covered more than six decades, accepting roles that have not only showcased her beauty, but her ability to take on emotionally charged characters.

Taylor's American parents, both art dealers, were residing in London when she was born. Soon after the outbreak of World War II, the Taylors returned to the United States and settled into their new life in Los Angeles.

Performance was in Taylor's blood. Her mother had worked as an actress until she married. At the age of 3, the young Taylor started dancing, and eventually gave a recital for Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Not long after relocating to California a family friend suggested the Taylors' daughter take a screen test.

Child Star

She soon signed a contract with Universal Studios, and made her screen debut at the age of 10 in There's One Born Every Minute (1942). She followed that up with a bigger role in Lassie Come Home (1943) and later The White Cliffs of Dover (1944).

Her breakout role, however, came in 1944 with National Velvet, in a role Elizabeth Taylor spent four months working to get. The film subsequently turned out to be a huge hit that pulled in more than $4 million and made the 12-year-old actress a huge star.

In the glare of the Hollywood spotlight, the young actress showed she was more than adept at handling celebrity's tricky terrain. Even more impressive was the fact that, unlike so many child stars before and after her, Taylor proved she could make a seamless transition to more adult roles.

Mainstream Success

Her stunning looks helped. At just 18 she played opposite Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride (1950). Taylor also showed her acting talents in 1954 with three films: The Last Time I Saw Paris, Rhapsody, and Elephant Walk, the latter of which saw Taylor take on the role of a plantation owner's wife who is in love with the farm's manager.

Her personal life only boosted the success of her films. For a time she dated millionaire Howard Hughes, then at the age of 17, Elizabeth Taylor made her first entrance into marriage, when she wed hotel heir, Nicky Hilton.

The union didn't last long and, in 1952, Taylor was walking down the aisle again—this time to marry actor Michael Welding. In all, Taylor has married eight times during life, including twice to actor Richard Burton.

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    • Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

      Hollywood's leading lady Elizabeth Taylor was married eight times—and two of them were to Richard Burton. The two fell in love on the set of the 1963 film Cleopatra, and though both were married at the time, by March 1964 they divorced their previous spouses and married each other. Their turbulent relationship kept them in the papers, and they divorced in 1974 and remarried in 1975, only to split again a year later.

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    • Numerous Nuptials

      Life imitates art in Hollywood, where passionate romances turn into short-lived marriages and quickie divorces. Numerous nuptials are one of the hallmarks of the celebrity lifestyle. Hollywood royalty Elizabeth Taylor married eight times—even more than real royalty King Henry VIII, who married six times. Here's a look at the famous individuals who tied the knot—and then tied it again, and again, and again.

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