Happy Birthday Elizabeth Taylor!🎁
Celebrating the 85th birthday of the movie icon and great beauty, Elizabeth Taylor.
Elizabeth Rosemary Taylor was born on 25 February 1932 at her family home in London. Elizabeth seemed destined for stardom with her transcending blue eyes that appeared violet and her double layered eyelashes, caused by a genetic mutation. Elizabeth was also born with hypertrichosis, an excessive body hair condition. Her body was covered with dark hair that eventually fell out.
Child star
Elizabeth’s career began in 1942 at the age of 10. She appeared in small roles, before getting the part in Lassie Come Home. Her first starring role was for National Velvet. She also appeared in Courage of Lassie and published her first book Nibbles and Me, a story about her pet chipmunk. She began to appear in more mature roles as she transitioned into a teen star.
Teen beauty
Until 1951, Elizabeth appeared in mediocre films. A Place in The Sun was Elizabeth’s first dramatic adult role and it brought her critical acclaim. It also established her as a mature beauty at the age of only 18. She appeared alongside Montgomery Clift, with whom she would star in 3 films with and become friends with. They had fantastic chemistry that sparked rumours of their relationship which remained platonic.
During the filming of Giant in 1955, Elizabeth made friends with her co-stars James Dean and Rock Hudson.
Elizabeth would receive her first Academy Award nomination for her performance as a mentally disturbed Southern Belle in Raintree County.
She then appeared in the critically acclaimed Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer. Elizabeth won an Oscar for her performance in Butterfield 8, a film she hated and felt she won out of pity after contracting fatal pneumonia.
Cleopatra
In 1963 she starred in the epic Cleopatra for which she was paid $1 million. Elizabeth became the first actress to be paid $1 million for a role and was became more famous than ever.
The making of Cleopatra was disastrous with Elizabeth’s constant illnesses, delays and issues with money, scripts and directors. Cleopatra was the most expensive film ever made at that point. During filming she began an affair with Richard Burton who she would marry twice. They went on to star in several films together including The V.I.Ps, The Taming of the Shrew and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Career decline and alcoholism
With her career in decline and a period of semi-retirement she appeared in television and the theatre including Little Foxes. In 1983 she checked herself into rehab for alcoholism, being one of the first celebrities to openly do so.
Activism and philanthropy
When Elizabeth’s close friend and costar Rock Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS he was shunned from Hollywood. Elizabeth supported and cared for him until he died. She became one of the first celebrities to participate in HIV/AIDs activism, and co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985 and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. She helped raise $270 million for HIV/AIDs during her lifetime.
Personal life
Elizabeth’s life was highly publicised especially her 8 marriages. She first married at the age of 18 to Nicky Hilton, and then she married Michael Wilding with whom she had two children.
Out of the 7 men she married, Elizabeth said she had two great loves, Mike Todd and Richard Burton. Mike Todd lavished her with expensive gifts, which sparked her lifelong passion for jewels and diamonds. When Mike was killed in a plan crash just 11 months after their wedding, a devastated Elizabeth turned to Mike’s best friend Eddie Fisher for comfort. She and embarked on a public affair which cause a scandal that ended Eddie’s marriage to Debbie Fisher. Elizabeth had a daughter with Eddie and adopted another, and later said she only married him out of grief.
When Elizabeth met Richard Burton they were both already married, and had a publicised affair that again caused controversy and huge media attention. Richard and Elizabeth married in 1964. They had a tumultuous, passionate relationship and led a publicised, jet set lifestyle filled with glamour, diamonds and alcohol. They divorced for the first time in 1974, but reconciled and later remarried in 1975. They remained friends until his death. Elizabeth then married 3 more times.
Elizabeth Taylor died from congestive heart failure at the age of 79 on 23 March 2011. Even in her glamorous and successful life endured so much physical pain and personal tragedy. She was so talented and caring as well as beautiful. So this is my tribute to Elizabeth Taylor on what would have been her 85th birthday.
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