Elizabeth Taylor

World Famous People

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor is a living legend who crusades for research funds for AIDS. This outstanding actress is a loyal friend to those she loves.
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in Hampstead, London, England. She is the youngest child of two children. Because of the onset of World War II, the Taylors left England. They came to the United States and settled in Pasadena, California.

A friend of the family suggested that Elizabeth should be taken for a screen test. Universal Studios signed her to her first acting contract.

We remember Miss Taylor as a child star in "National Velvet" and "Lassie Come Home." We watched her grow up on the big screen. One of her more notable roles as an adult was portraying Cleopatra. While her acting career has always been a success, unfortunately, that is not the case with her private life.

In 1950, at the age of eighteen, Miss Taylor married for the first time to hotel scion Nicky Hilton Jr. The couple divorced the following year, and in 1952 Miss Taylor married actor Michael Wilding. Their marriage lasted until 1956 and the following year she married film producer Mike Todd. In March of 1958, Michael Todd was killed in a plane crash in New Mexico. Miss Taylor received a lot of public sympathy from her fans but this stopped abruptly in 1959, when Miss Taylor began an affair with singer Eddie Fisher, who was currently married to actress Debbie Reynolds. Eddie Fisher divorced his wife. He and Elizabeth Taylor were married in 1959. By 1963, Miss Taylor fell in love with her co-star Richard Burton. Both Burton and Taylor were married to someone else. They divorced their respective spouses and wed each other. They were married and divorced twice.

In 1983, Miss Taylor started having a growing dependency on drugs – painkillers and alcohol. She took the medication to escape the pain that she felt with her illness. She entered the Betty Ford Clinic. While at the clinic, Elizabeth Taylor had to clean up her room after herself, which was a first time for this woman. While America was shocked at the news, Elizabeth Taylor was taking everything in stride.

In August of 1984, actor Richard Burton passed away. This news devastated his former wife. On August 30, 1984, she attended her former husband’s funeral. Richard Burton was laid to rest in England. This devastated Miss Taylor, as she was still in love with this man regardless of the fact that they were no longer married or compatible. Up to this point, Richard Burton was the one man that Miss Taylor wished that she could have worked things out with.

When Miss Taylor heard that her friend actor Rock Hudson had AIDS, she went to be with him. Several of her other friends were also HIV positive. Miss Taylor tirelessly crusaded for money for AIDS. Outside of medical research, this remarkable woman educated the public and went to Congress for increased funding for AIDS. She was a one-woman crusade.


In 1985, she did return to acting and starred in a movie opposite Robert Wagner. While she was working, her crusade against AIDS was not far from her mind. She had very little free time with her endeavors but she still found time to develop her own fragrance, "Passion" which was the best selling fragrance of all time. She was still in a lot of pain from old injuries and went back on pain pills.

In the fall of 1988, Elizabeth Taylor was once again addicted to drugs. She was fighting weight gain and pills. She ingested 40 to 50 drugs a day, which she got from a variety of doctors who didn’t know anything about the other pills she was on. She once again entered the Betty Ford Center. While she was there she met and fell in love with Larry Fortensky who was at the center to overcome alcohol addiction. They both left the Betty Ford Center in 1989 and remained friends. Elizabeth Taylor was successful in losing weight and kicking the drug habit. She returned to work in 1989 in "Sweet Bird of Youth." This movie was about a movie star that faced aging with beauty. She was asked to do this role as the producers and directors knew she was perfect for the part. Despite her hectic schedule, she found time for Fortensky. They moved in together in 1989 but he found that he didn’t like the Hollywood scene; he wanted to be his own man. They still married in October of 1991 at Michael Jackson’s home in California. She soon set up The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. She made money for her foundation by selling her wedding pictures. Elizabeth then stepped up her crusade in raising funds for AIDS research. She uses the power of her name to raise funds for a cause that is close to her heart.

In the summer of 1994, Elizabeth Taylor’s mother died. The following year Miss Taylor had two hip replacement surgeries. She has an image of a survivor because she has overcome everything in stride – she is still who she is inside and allows herself to be seen. Her health problems put an added strain on her marriage and her and Larry were divorced. Her eighth marriage was over. Regardless of the fact that this amazing woman has difficulty walking from her hip surgeries, she is still in the public eye.

On February 20, 1997, Elizabeth Taylor was told that she needed to have brain surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. She proved again that she is a survivor with a new lease on life.

Regardless of what this woman is doing, she genuinely cares about her friends and will do what she thinks is best to help them. Miss Taylor is many things to many people: a mother, wife, movie star icon and humanitarian. She is a woman that is larger than life with a strong life force that keeps looking to the future. She is a true legend.