Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) was one of the most revered actresses of the 20th century. With a career spanning 70 years, she served as an icon for generations of moviegoers.
Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) was one of the most revered actresses of the 20th century. With a career spanning 70 years, she served as an icon for generations of moviegoers.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
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Today, we are talking about one of the most revered actresses of the 20th century. With a career spanning 70 years, she served as an icon for generations of moviegoers.
Let’s give it up for Elizabeth Taylor.
Elizabeth Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in London. Her father was an American art dealer. Her mother had been a stage actress before getting married.
Elizabeth would become known for her striking eyes, which were naturally violet.
Elizabeth spent her earliest years in England, where she learned to horseback ride. But when World War II appeared on the horizon, the family fled.
They settled in Beverly Hills, and with Hollywood just next door, Elizabeth’s mother encouraged her daughter to act.
In 1942, 10 year old Elizabeth made her big screen debut, in a film called “There’s One Born Every Minute.” Her career, initially, seemed to stall out. But then, an audition came through for a new movie called “National Velvet.” For years, the casting directors had searched for a young actress, who could horseback ride and speak in an English accent.
Elizabeth fit the role perfectly, except for one small detail: she was too short. Eventually, the studio delayed production for several months, in hopes that she would get a bit taller. Elizabeth later said that she “willed herself to grow” three inches.
National Velvet became an enormous hit, grossing more than four million dollars. Elizabeth, at just 12 years old, became a star.
But National Velvet wasn’t an entirely positive experience. Elizabeth fell off a horse on set, breaking her back and leaving her with a lifetime injury. She also had to sign a long, and restrictive, contract with MGM.
Though she didn’t have much formal acting training, Elizabeth seamlessly transitioned from child star to movie vixen.
At 18, as she began taking on more adult roles, she also entered into her first marriage with hotel heir, Nicky Hilton. Over 3,000 fans gathered outside the church. But the marriage only lasted about a year. Elizabeth would go on to marry seven more times, with the paparazzi following her every move.
While her love life made international headlines, Elizabeth continued to shine on the big screen. She delivered dynamic performances in the drama A Place in the Sun, and the film adaptation of the Edna Ferber novel, Giant, co-starring James Dean. Two years later, she dazzled audiences in the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The year after, she starred in another Williams classic, Suddenly Last Summer. In 1960, Elizabeth earned her first Oscar, winning the Best Actress award for her role as a call girl in Butterfield 8.
The public's obsession with Taylor's love was reinvigorated when she began dating Richard Burton. They’d fallen in love while on the set of Cleopatra, a film that not only heightened Taylor's clout but also cost 37 million to make -- the most expensive production at the time. In 1966, she won her second Academy award for Best Actress, for her role as Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Elizabeth would go on to marry Richard Burton not once – but twice.
Elizabeth had beauty, wealth, fame and a notoriously huge jewelry collection – but she also dealt with a number of health issues, struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse, and had several near-death experiences. In the early 1980s she went to rehab, one of the first celebrities to do so,..
Eventually, Elizabeth got sober, and moved into a new phase of her career: activist. After her friend, the actor Rock Hudson, was diagnosed with AIDS, Elizabeth helped establish the American Foundation for AIDS Research. In its first year, the foundation awarded $1.5 million in research grants.
Taylor overcame a litany of health problems throughout the 1990s, from diabetes to congestive heart failure. She had both hips replaced, and in 1997, had a brain tumor removed.
On March 23, 2011, Taylor passed away from heart failure. Known for always being late, she asked for her funeral to start 15 minutes after it was supposed to – so she could be, in the afterlife, as she was while she was still alive.