Elizabeth Taylor Dies at 79

The world uttered a collective sigh this morning when ABC News reported that legendary violet-eyed actress Elizabeth Taylor had died at age 79 of congestive heart failure. According to a statement by her publicist, "Legendary actress, businesswoman, and fearless activist Elizabeth Taylor died peacefully today in Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. She was surrounded by her children Michael Wilding, Christopher Wilding, Liza Todd, and Maria Burton." Taylor was also survived by 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Hospitalized recently for heart failure, Taylor had a long history of health problems, most recently including heart surgery in 2009.

Once asked what she wanted inscribed on her tombstone, Taylor replied, "She lived." Her life was true testament to that epitaph.

Taylor's striking appearance was partly due to a mutation that caused her legendary violet eyes to be framed by double rows of eyelashes. The English-American actress first appeared on the screen in 1942 in "There's One Born Every Minute," but it was her appearance in "Lassie Come Home" that earned her a 7-year contract with MGM, leading to her role in "National Velvet" at age 12 which rocketed her to stardom. Her first adult role in "A Place in the Sun" became a cinema classic.

In the early 1950s, Taylor was acclaimed for her performance in "Giant," and nominated for an Oscar for "Raintree County," "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof" and "Suddenly Last Summer." Her one million dollar contract for "Cleopatra," released in 1963, made Taylor the highest paid actress of her time. Taylor won her first Oscar for Best Actress for the role of Gloria Wandrous in "Butterfield 8." Her second Oscar for Best Actress was for Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe." By the end of the 1960s, Taylor's film successes began to wane, but she continued working in theatrical films and cult films through the 1970s, such as "Ash Wednesday" and "A Little Night Music." In the 1980s, Taylor appeared in Agatha Christi's "The Mirror Crack'd," and several TV-movies and miniseries, with cameo appearances on her favorite soaps, "All My Children" and "General Hospital." She was the voice of Maggie Simpson when Maggie uttered her first and only word ever, "Daddy," in the cartoon series "The Simpsons." Taylor appeared on the stage in Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" and Noel Coward's "Private Lives."

Married eight times to seven husbands, Taylor's private life was as much a part of her legend as her film career. Her first marriage to Conrad "Nicky" Hilton lasted only eight months. She divorced Michael Wilding after five years, and her one-year marriage to Michael Todd ended with his tragic death in 1958. She was labeled a home wrecker when she took up with Eddie Fisher, but that marriage lasted only five years when the love of her life, Richard Burton, entered the picture. She married Burton twice, the first marriage lasting ten years, the second ten months. Her marriage to Senator John Warner lasted six years, and her last marriage to younger man Larry Fortensky lasted four years.

Taylor endured 77 hospitalizations between 1947 and 1996, beginning with treatment for a back problem resulting from a fall during the making of "National Velvet." She developed a dependence on pain killers, and signed herself into the Betty Ford Clinic in the 1980s. After that, she became the first American celebrity to become publicly involved in AIDS causes after the death of her dear friend Rock Hudson in 1985. A percentage of the profits from her perfume lines goes to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

Taylor's awards include two Oscars, statuettes from the American Film Institute, British Film Institute, and Lincoln Center and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. In 2000, she became a dame of the British empire and received the Marian Anderson Award in Philadelphia.

Elizabeth Taylor had her ups and downs in life, suffered tragedies and catastrophic illness and endured a period of ridicule as a campy icon. However, she also leaves a legacy of classic films and humanitarian pursuits, and was a stellar example of one who constantly garnered the strength to overcome adversity. She went out like a lady.

Sources: Popeater; Yahoo.Com; Philly.com; Washington Post; People.com; Taylor Filmography