Elizabeth Taylor, Iconic Actress and Humanitarian, Dies at 79

Elizabeth Taylor, the legendary actress and widely respected leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, died March 23, 2011, at Cedars Sinai Medica; Center in Los Angeles. She was 79.

According to news reports, the cause was congestive heart failure.

A winner of two Oscars who was known as much for her professional achievements as for her personal life, which included eight marriages, Taylor one of the most visible celebrities of the past 50 years.

In addition to her vast body of film work, Taylor worked extensively in television and built a successful business career.

Her son, Michael Wilding, released a statement on her passing:

“My mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor, and love. Though her loss is devastating to those of us who held her so close and so dear, we will always be inspired by her enduring contribution to our world. Her remarkable body of work in film, her ongoing success as a businesswoman, and her brave and relentless advocacy in the fight against HIV/AIDS, all make us all incredibly proud of what she accomplished. We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it. Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will live forever in our hearts.”

“We have just lost a Hollywood giant,” said Elton John, a longtime friend of Taylor. “More importantly, we have lost an incredible human being.”

Actor Anthony Geary, who worked with Taylor on the daytime drama General Hospital, said, “Elizabeth was more than a great star, she was an amazing human being. Her world famous physical beauty paled in comparison to the beauty that radiated from her heart and soul. She had great humor, didn’t take herself too seriously, and had the most wonderful bawdy laugh. She was a fierce and loyal friend and tireless advocate. She dedicated herself to education, treatment and the search for a cure for HIV/AIDS long before it was fashionable to do so. Back in the dark days of ignorance and prejudice against people stricken with the disease, Elizabeth was at the forefront of the battle. Ever ready to give love, comfort and dignity to those whose lives had been devastated and cut short, her generosity was nothing short of spectacular. It made her furious to hear anyone claim that people who had HIV/AIDS were somehow morally inferior or that the disease was some kind of punishment. I was fortunate enough to call her my friend, and every moment I spent in her company was unforgettable. I loved her very much. The world is a little darker, a little colder, a little less beautiful without her.”

Taylor won her Oscars for Butterfield 8 in 1960 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966. In 1993, she received a special Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for her advocacy on behalf of AIDS research and other causes.

Other noteworthy films included National Velvet, Father of the Bride, A Place in the Sun, Giant, Raintree County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly, Last Summer and Cleopatra.

On the small screen, her resume included daytime and nighttime series, miniseries, made-for-television movies, specials, voice-overs for animation, commercials, talk-show appearances and more.

Notable appearances included the daytime drama General Hospital and All My Children; the evening series Hotel, Murphy Brown, The Nanny and The Simpsons; the movies Divorce His-Divorce Hers, Victory in Entebbe, Sweet Bird of Youth, Poker Alice and These Old Broads; and the miniseries North and South.

She was born Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor in London on February 27, 1932. Her father was an art dealer her mother an American stage actress. She began ballet lessons at an early age, and at age 3, danced for British princesses Elizabeth (the future queen) and Margaret Rose at London’s Hippodrome.

When World War II began the family moved to southern California, where her father opened an art gallery in Beverly Hills. In 1942, Elizabeth Taylor made her screen debut with a minor part in the comedy There’s One Born Every Minute. She then tested for the MGM film Lassie Come Home. She got the part, and a contract with the studio.

Her beauty and screen presence drew attention immediately, and she became a star in her early teens.

Taylor had eight marriages and seven husbands. Her first marriage, to hotel heir Conrad Hilton Jr., lasted from May to December of1950, when they divorced. She was age 18. In 1952 she wed British actor Michael Wilding. The four-year union produced two sons, Michael Jr. and Christopher.

She married producer Michael Todd in 1957. They had a daughter, also named Elizabeth. When Todd died in a 1958 plane crash, Taylor was a widow at 26. The best man at the Taylor-Todd wedding was singer-actor Eddie Fisher, who was married to actress at the time. Fisher left Reynolds to marry Taylor in 1959.

While living in London, where she and Fisher moved for the filming of Cleopatra, she met Welsh actor Richard Burton, who also was married. They began a relationship and eventually left their respective spouses for a marriage of their own. The couple had a daughter, Maria. She and Burton married in 1964, divorced in 1974, remarried in 1974, and divorced again in 1976.

Four months after her second divorced from Burton she married John Warner, a former secretary of the Navy. Warner was elected a U.S. senator from Virginia in 1978. They divorced in 1982.

Finally, in 1991, Taylor married Larry Fortensky, a truck driver and construction worker she met in 1988, while they both were undergoing treatment at the Betty Ford Center. The couple separated in 1995 and divorced in 1997.

Her philanthropic work included assistance for the Israeli War Victims Fund, the Variety Clubs International and the American Foundation for her work in support of AIDS research. In 2000, Queen Elizabeth II made the London-born Taylor a dame — the female equivalent of a knight — for her contributions to the entertainment industry and to charity. In 1993, she was celebrated with a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute.

Survivors include her daughters Maria Burton-Carson and Liza Todd-Tivey, sons Christopher and Michael Wilding, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.