Elizabeth Taylor is one of the prettiest faces in film history. Here are some interesting tidbits about this legendary beauty.
1.) Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in 1932 in London, England of American parents.
2.) She is well remembered in the entertainment world for getting married and divorced several times. She got married 8 times to seven husbands, the most for an actress.
3.) She was an American actress, an internationally celebrated and award-winning performer.
4.) At the age of 7, Elizabeth Taylor returned to the United States in 1939.
5.) At the age of 10, she was discovered by talent scouts and made her motion-picture debut in “There's One Born Every Minute”.
6.) In 1940, Taylor signed a long-term contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio.
7.) Among her successful pictures as a child performer include Lassie, Come Home (1943), Jane Eyre (1944), National Velvet (1944), Life with Father (1947), A Date with Judy (1948), and Little Women (1949).
8.) During her teenage, her popular films were “Father of the Bride” (1950) and “Father's Little Dividend” (1957).
9.) Taylor achieved stardom with her performance in “A Place in the Sun” (1951).
10.) Notable films of Taylor in the 1950s include Ivanhoe (1952), The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), Giant (1956), Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).
11.) She won her first Academy Award for best actress for her role in Butterfield 8 (1960).
12.) Taylor won her second Academy Award for her performance as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).
13.) Her other films in the 1960s include The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), and Secret Ceremony (1968).
14.) In the 1970s, she was plagued by problems with alcohol and marital complications. Her acting career suffered greatly.
15.) She also made appearances on television and ventured into theater, pursued other interests, such as cosmetics entrepreneur and AIDS activist.
16.) Taylor received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her activism in 1993.
17.) She was honored by the American Film Institute with its Life Achievement Award also in 1993.
18.) Taylor was named a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 1999.
19.) In 2002, Elizabeth Taylor was honored by the Kennedy Center for her contribution to the cultural life of the United States.
20.) She died on March 23, 2011 at the age of 79 due to heart failure.
21.) Taylor is regarded as one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
22.) She is one of the world’s most famous film stars and highly recognized for her acting ability, glamorous lifestyle, beauty and distinctive violet eyes.
23.) When asked why she married so often, she replied, "I was taught by my parents that if you fall in love, if you want to have a love affair, you get married. I guess I'm very old-fashioned."
24.) She married actor Richard Burton twice.
25.) Taylor had many romances outside her marriages. Her other notable dates included Frank Sinatra, Henry Kissinger and Malcolm Forbes.
26.) She had two sons, a daughter and an adopted daughter named Maria.
27.) At age 27, she converted to Judaism taking the name Elisheba Rachel.
28.) A jewelry fanatic, at her death, Taylor's jewelry collection was reportedly worth $150 million.
29.) Taylor was hospitalized more than 70 times and had at least 20 major operations.
30.) Taylor is a tough woman. She broke her back five times, had both her hips replaced, had a hysterectomy and suffered from dysentery and phlebitis.
31.) She also punctured her esophagus, survived a benign brain tumor operation in 1997 and skin cancer, and faced life-threatening bouts with pneumonia twice, one in 1961 requiring an emergency tracheotomy.
32.) She was addicted to painkillers and sleeping pills for 35 years.
33.) She also suffered from alcoholism and was treated two months at the Betty Ford Clinic.
34.) Taylor has been called the "greatest movie star of all, "the greatest actress in film history and is known to possessed "that rarest of virtues—simple kindness”.
35.) She raised more than $200 million for AIDS research and bringing international attention and resources to addressing the epidemic.
36.) She received a $750,000 advance payment for Elizabeth Takes Off: On Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Self-Image and Self-Esteem (1988).
37.) Elizabeth Taylor left an estate estimated at $600 million to $1 billion.
38.) Most of her wealth came from business ventures despite for being an actress for so long.
39.) Taylor was one of the first major stars to pose nude in the popular men’s magazine ‘Playboy’.
40.) She is also among the first to remove her clothes onscreen.
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