Elizabeth Taylor, who was arguably the biggest star in the history of Hollywood, has passed away aged 79 her publicist has confirmed to US news outlets. She died in her sleep after a life that saw both gargantuan highs and also a string of health problems.
The London born actress started out in the 1940s as a child actor in movies such as Lassie Come Home, National Velvet and Little Women, however her rise to become the biggest movie star on the planet came during the 50s with roles in movies such as A Place In The Sun, Giant and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
In 1960 she became the first actor ever to be paid $1 million dollars upfront for a film, for Cleopatra. Taylor then proved she was more than just a pretty face in the 60s winning Oscars for Butterfield 8 and Whos Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, but even by this point she was having health problems.
Taylor nearly died of pneumonia in 1960 during the filming of Cleopatra and needed a tracheotomy to save her (which was one of the reason the film became legendarily expensive, as Taylor needed time off, and then production was moved from the UK to Italy on the advice of her doctor). Shed also broken her back five times, had a benign brain tumour removed in 1997, suffered from skin cancer, and more recently had to deal with congestive heart failure.
In fact her retirement from film was more by force than choice, as she said in the late 90s that insurance companies wont cover her for screen work anymore. This rather tragically means that her final major screen appearance was as Pearl Slaghoople in 1994s The Flintstones (although she did appear in the TV movie These Old Broads in 2001). Thankfully though, she has a string of iconic movies from her past, including Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Giant, Suddenly Last Summer and Quo Vadis which more than outweigh her slightly ignominious final role.
Offscreen Taylor famously had six husdands, and stayed active in the fight against AIDS (many say she raised more money to help fight the disease than any other person alive), had her own perfume and jewellery lines, and even had her own Twitter account – http://twitter.com/DameElizabeth!
She was truly a legend and will be sadly missed.
Dame Elizabeth Taylor – February 27th, 1932-March 23rd, 2011 – RIP