Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, arguably the last great female star ofthe Hollywood studio system, has died at the age of 79˳
The Oscar-winning star died in the early hours of the morning at Cedars-Sinai medical centre in Los Angeles, from congestive heart failure, according to her spokeswoman Sally Morrison˳ She said Taylor’s children were at her side˳
Dame Elizabeth, who had been in ill health for a number of years, was taken to the hospital with heart failure six weeks ago˳ A spokeswoman for the hospital said: “She passed away at 1˳28 [0828 GMT]˳” Taylor’s luminous screen presence, allied to a colourful private life, made her a mainstay of US popular culture for more than 50 years˳ She won her first best actress Oscar for playing the self-styled “slut of the world” in 1960s BUtterfield 8˳ Her second came courtesy of an electrifying turn opposite then-husband Richard Burton in the 1966 drama Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf˳
Born in Hampstead, north London, Taylor relocated to the US in 1939 and made her screen debut as a nine-year-old in the 1942 Universal comedy There’s One Born Every Minute˳ She found fame as the perky child star of Lassie Come Home and National Velvet before graduating to adult roles with the 1950 comedy Father of the Bride˳
The following year she rustled up one of her most vibrant and vital performances in A Place in the Sun˳ George Stevens’s melodrama cast her as a spoiled debutante who bewitches Montgomery Clift’s ambitious social climber˳ According to the critic Andrew Sarris, the film’s young actors were “the most beautiful couple in the history of cinema˳ Those gigantic close-ups of them kissing were unnerving – like gorging on chocolate sundaes˳”
Other notable roles were in Giant, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly, Last Summer and Reflections in a Golden Eye˳ Yet Taylor’s on-screen prowess was often upstaged by the ongoing soap-opera of her personal life˳ She was married eight times to seven husbands and sparked a scandal when she began an affair with the British actor Richard Burton on the set of Cleopatra˳
The couple wed in 1964 and divorced a decade later˳ They remarried in 1975 and then split again the following year˳ Throughout this period they were embraced as the hydra-headed emblem of Hollywood glamour, their lives a whirl of ritzy premieres, champagne receptions and indulgent movie collaborations˳ “It was probably the most chaotic time of my life,” Taylor would later recall˳ “It was fun and it was dark – oceans of tears – but there were some good times too˳”
Throughout her life, Taylor seemed drawn to fragile souls and those in need˳ She reportedly saved the life of the notoriously self-destructive Montgomery Clift following a car crash in 1956˳ Spurred on by the 1985 death of her friend Rock Hudson, she helped found the American Federation for Aids Research and went on to raise an estimated $50m to fight the disease˳ More recently, she rode to the defence of Michael Jackson after the singer was arraigned on charges of child abuse˳
Away from the cameras, her own life was punctuated by health problems˳ She survived a brain tumour, suffered from a heart condition and reportedly broke her back on five separate occasions˳ In later life, she was largely confined to a wheelchair as a result of osteoporosis˳ Yet there was something resilient about Elizabeth Taylor – a fighting spirit belied by her famous good looks˳ “I’ve been through it all, baby,” she once boasted˳ “I’m Mother Courage˳”