Elizabeth Taylor dead at 79

Actress Elizabeth Taylor, known just as well for her contributions to AIDS awareness and her many marriages as she was for her films, died Wednesday at the age of 79.

A publicist confirmed the legendary performer, known for her fiery roles in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” passed away Wednesday morning at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

Taylor was hospitalized for six weeks with congestive heart failure, “a condition with which she had struggled for many years,” her publicist Sally Morrison said in a statement.

“Though she had recently suffered a number of complications, her condition had stabilized and it was hoped that she would be able to return home,” the statement read. “Sadly, this was not to be.”

Taylor, who married eight times, had her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren by her side when she died, Morrison said. Taylor’s family has asked for any donations to be made to the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation.

Taylor was born to American parents in England on February 27, 1932. The family moved to Los Angeles shortly after, just before the start of the Second World War. There, in Hollywood, a neighbour remarked on Taylor’s beauty and said she should be in movies.

Taylor had her first screen test at Universal Pictures before she was even ten years old, but was dropped from the studio after one picture, “There’s One Born Every Minute.” It was their loss as she was quickly snapped up at MGM and rose to fame when she was still a child. At MGM, she starred in “National Velvet” opposite Mickey Rooney, “Giant” with James Dean, and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” for which she was nominated for an Oscar.

Though she didn’t win for her portrayal of Maggie Pollitt, Taylor won Academy Awards for her performances in “Butterfield 8” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

She left MGM when her contract ran out, returning to the screen for “Cleopatra,” her most iconic role. The film is notable for nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox – despite being the highest grossing film of 1963, the movie actually lost money – and for introducing Taylor to Richard Burton. Though they were married to other people at the time, Taylor and Burton fell in love and began an affair. They were married twice and divorced twice, and had one daughter together.

In later years Taylor was known less for her work and more for her jewelry, her marriages, and her contributions to AIDS research. Burton once gifted her with a 69.42-carat diamond, now known as the Taylor-Burton diamond, and he also presented her with the 33.19 carat Krupp diamond. Those jewels eclipsed an earlier engagement ring, a 29.4-carat rock from Mike Todd.

The diamonds also inspired a fragrance with Elizabeth Arden. Taylor, one of the first celebrities to have her own fragrance, launched “White Diamonds” in 1981 and the perfurme is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

In addition to her two Academy Awards for acting, her work to raise funds for AIDS research earned her a special Oscar in 1993.

AIDS research as always been close to her heart. While she was ill, Taylor took the time to speak to Harper’s Bazaar in February of 2011, telling the magazine, “I have never felt more alive than when I watched my children delight in something, never more alive than when I have watched a great artist perform, and never richer than when I have scored a big check to fight AIDS.”

Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation

Leave your message of condolence at Elizabeth Taylor’s Facebook page

The Biography Channel will be airing a biography of Elizabeth Taylor on Thursday at 9pm and Sunday at 3pm.