Liz Taylor

"I, along with my critics, have never taken myself very seriously."

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London, England on February 27, 1932.  As her parents were American citizens traveling abroad, she was granted dual citizenship.  By 1939, with war brewing across Europe, the family returned to America, settling in Pasadena, California.

Taylor's natural good looks, including her dark blue eyes, often earned praise from friends and teachers alike.  With her mother's approval, she auditioned for Universal Pictures and MGM, both of whom offered her contracts.  She ultimately signed with Universal.

Taylor's first role was in the 1942 feature There's One Born Every Minute.  It would prove to be her only film with Universal however, though she'd soon sign a contract with MGM.  Before retiring in 2003, she'd star in over 50 theatrical releases, including Cleopatra (1963), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), the latter of which would earn her an Academy award.

Taylor suffered a myriad of illnesses throughout her life, starting with scoliosis as a child.  She had back and hip problems and underwent an emergency hysterectomy, but it was congestive heart failure that ultimately took her life on March 23, 2011.  She was 79 years old.  Her obituary, as published in the New York Times, was penned by former staffer Mel Gussow, who had himself passed away six years earlier.  In explaining why they chose to run the piece, editors stated it was "too good to throw away."

Liz Taylor was cremated and placed within an angelic statue at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Location: The Great Mausoleum, Memorial Terrace

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Liz Taylor, take a voyage to your public library or Amazon.  Its all in books.
  
  
• While there is no standalone Liz Taylor Museum, her estate has created a virtual archive.  
  
  
• Taylor was famous for her eight marriages (to seven men), all of which ended in divorce. Of this, she once quipped "I am a very committed wife.  And I should be committed too, for being married so many times."
  
  
• Taylor was famous for her friendship with musical icon Michael Jackson, who wrote the 1987 song Leave me Alone as a tribute to her.  Today, they are enshrined in the same mausoleum just one floor apart.
  
  
• Taylor was the visual inspiration for the DC Comics character Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire, the girlfriend of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern.