Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor (1932- ), award-winning British-born American actress, noted for her beauty and the emotion of her performances. She was born in London, of American parents. As a child she made many notable film appearances, and as an adult she became one of Hollywood’s most outstanding stars. She married several times, twice to Richard Burton.

Among the many films in which Taylor has appeared are National Velvet (1944); Giant (1956); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958); Butterfield 8 (1960), for which she won the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Actress; Cleopatra (1963); and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which she won a second Academy Award. In 1981 she made her debut on Broadway in a revival of The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman. Though largely retired from acting, she gave telling performances as the over-the-hill film star in the television film of Sweet Bird of Youth (1989), directed by Nicolas Roeg, and as the wicked mother-in-law in The Flintstones (1994). At the 1993 Academy Awards presentations she received an Academy Award for her efforts to draw attention to AIDS research projects. She was awarded a DBE in 1999 and honoured by the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts for her contribution to the cultural life of the United States in 2002. She announced her retirement from acting in 2003 in order to concentrate on charity work.