View source for Elizabeth Taylor

{{Short description|British and American actress (1932–2011)}}
{{About|the British and American actress}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2026}}
{{Infobox person 
| honorific_prefix   = [[Dame]]
| name               = Elizabeth Taylor
| honorific_suffix   = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE}}
| image              = Taylor, Elizabeth posed.jpg
| caption            = Taylor {{circa|1955}}
| birth_name         = Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1932|02|27}}
| birth_place        = [[London]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2011|03|23|1932|02|27}}
| death_place        = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S.
| burial_place       = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]]
| citizenship        = {{hlist|United Kingdom|United States}}
| occupation         = Actress
| years_active       = 1941–2007
| works              = [[Elizabeth Taylor filmography|Full list]]
| spouses            = {{unbulleted list
| {{marriage|[[Conrad Hilton Jr.]]|1950|1951|reason=divorce}}
| {{marriage|[[Michael Wilding]] |1952|1957|reason=divorce}}
| {{marriage|[[Mike Todd]]|1957|1958|reason=died}}
| {{marriage|[[Eddie Fisher]]|1959|1964|reason=divorce}}
| {{marriage|[[Richard Burton]]|1964|1974|reason=divorce}}
* {{marriage|<!--Richard Burton-->|1975|1976|reason=divorced}}
| {{marriage|[[John Warner]] |1976|1982|reason=divorce}}
| {{marriage|[[Larry Fortensky]]|1991|1996|reason=divorced}}
}}
| children           = 4
| mother             = [[Sara Sothern]]
| father             = [[Francis Lenn Taylor]]
| awards             = [[List of awards and nominations received by Elizabeth Taylor|Full list]]
| website            = {{URL|elizabethtaylor.com}}
| signature          = Elizabeth Taylor signature.svg
}}
{{Elizabeth Taylor sidebar}}

'''Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor''' (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of [[classical Hollywood cinema]] in the 1950s. She then became the world's highest-paid movie star in the 1960s, remaining a well-known public figure for the rest of her life. In 1999, the [[American Film Institute]] ranked her seventh on its list of the [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars|greatest female screen legends]].

Born in London to socially prominent American parents, Taylor moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1939 at the age of seven. She made her acting debut with a minor role in the [[Universal Pictures]] film ''[[There's One Born Every Minute]]'' (1942), but the studio ended her contract after a year. She was then signed by [[MGM]] and became a popular teen star after appearing in ''[[National Velvet (film)|National Velvet]]'' (1944). She transitioned to mature roles in the 1950s, starring in the comedy ''[[Father of the Bride (1950 film)|Father of the Bride]]'' (1950) and receiving critical acclaim for her performance in the drama ''[[A Place in the Sun (1951 film)|A Place in the Sun]]'' (1951). One of MGM's most bankable stars, she starred in the historical adventure epic ''[[Ivanhoe (1952 film)|Ivanhoe]]'' (1952) with [[Robert Taylor (American actor)|Robert Taylor]] and [[Joan Fontaine]]. Taylor resented the studio's control and many casting choices. 

She wished to end her career in the early 1950s but began receiving more enjoyable roles. The epic drama ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'' (1956) followed. Taylor also starred in several critically and commercially successful films in the following years. These included two film adaptations of plays by [[Tennessee Williams]]: ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958 film)|Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1958) and ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959); Taylor won a [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Golden Globe for Best Actress]] for the latter. Although she disliked her role as a [[call girl]] in ''[[BUtterfield&nbsp;8]]''<!-- PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE – UPPER CASE "BU" IS CORRECT --> (1960), her last film for MGM, she won the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] for the performance. 

Her best-known role was in ''[[Cleopatra (1963 film)|Cleopatra]]'' (1963), which received multiple [[Academy Awards|Oscar nominations]] and a lavish production budget and schedule. Taylor's acting career began to decline in the late 1960s, although she continued to star in films until the mid-1970s. Taylor married her ''Cleopatra'' co-star [[Richard Burton]] in 1964, together with whom she starred in 11 films, including ''[[The V.I.P.s (film)|The V.I.P.s]]'' (1963), ''[[The Sandpiper]]'' (1965), ''[[The Taming of the Shrew (1967 film)|The Taming of the Shrew]]'' (1967), and ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film)|Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' (1966). Taylor received the best reviews of her career for ''Woolf'', winning her second Academy Award and several other awards for her performance. 

Taylor's tumultuous private life has been subject to intense media scrutiny and controversy, especially her marriages to [[Eddie Fisher]] and Burton, with Taylor starting the relationship with the latter while both were married to other people. She and Burton, dubbed "Liz and Dick", divorced in 1974 but reconciled soon after, remarrying in 1975. The second marriage ended in divorce in 1976, after which she focused on supporting the career of her sixth husband, United States Senator [[John Warner]]. In the 1980s, she acted in her first substantial stage roles and in several television films and series. She became the second celebrity to launch a perfume brand after [[Sophia Loren]]. Taylor was one of the first celebrities to take part in HIV/AIDS activism. She co-founded the [[American Foundation for AIDS Research]] in 1985 and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. From the early 1990s until her death in 2011, she dedicated her time to philanthropy, for which she received several accolades, including the [[Presidential Citizens Medal]] in 2001.

==Early life==
[[File:Two-year old Elizabeth Taylor, mother Sara Sothern, and brother Howard, 1934.jpg|thumb|left|Two-year-old Taylor, mother Sara Sothern, and brother Howard, in 1934]]

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on February 27, 1932, at Heathwood, her family's home at 8&nbsp;Wildwood Road in [[Hampstead Garden Suburb]], northwest [[London]], England.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=3–10}} She received dual British and American citizenship at birth, as her parents, art dealer [[Francis Lenn Taylor]] (1897{{nbnd}}1968) and stage actress [[Sara Sothern]] (1895{{nbnd}}1994), were US citizens, both originally from [[Arkansas City, Kansas]]. From her father's family, she descends from the Taylors of Virginia and is a third great-granddaughter of [[Joseph Taylor (colonel)|Joseph Taylor]].{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=3–10}}{{efn|In October 1965, as her then-husband Richard Burton was British, she signed an oath of renunciation at the US Embassy in Paris, but with the phrase "abjure all allegiance and fidelity to the United States" struck out. [[US State Department]] officials declared that her renunciation was invalid due to the alteration, and Taylor signed another oath, this time without alteration, in October 1966.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s2ocAAAAIBAJ&pg=7364,5810172 |first=Richard H. |last=Boyce |title=Liz Taylor Renounces U.S. Citizenship |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |date=April 14, 1967 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |via=Google News |archive-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703011958/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s2ocAAAAIBAJ&pg=7364,5810172 |url-status=live }}</ref> She applied for restoration of US citizenship in 1977, during then-husband John Warner's Senate campaign, stating she planned to remain in America for the rest of her life.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=awxPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6365,5024920 |title=Liz Taylor Applies To Be U.S. Citizen |newspaper=Toledo Blade |date=February 19, 1978 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |via=Google News |archive-date=July 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702232548/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=awxPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6365,5024920 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HxNdAAAAIBAJ&pg=5264,3479319 |first=Earl |last=Wilson |title=Will Liz Taylor be our First Lady? |newspaper=St. Joseph Gazette |date=June 15, 1977 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |via=Google News |archive-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703013256/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HxNdAAAAIBAJ&pg=5264,3479319 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

They had moved to London in 1929 and opened an art gallery on [[Bond Street]]; their first child, a son named Howard (died 2020), was born the same year. The family lived in London during Taylor's childhood.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=11–19}} Their social circle included artists such as [[Augustus John]] and [[Laura Knight]], and politicians such as Colonel [[Victor Cazalet]].{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=11–19}} Cazalet was Taylor's unofficial godfather and an important influence in her early life.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=11–19}} She was enrolled in [[Byron House School]], a [[Montessori school]] in Highgate, and was raised according to the teachings of [[Christian Science]], the religion of her mother and Cazalet.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=3,11–19,20–23}}

In early 1939, the Taylors decided to return to the United States due to [[Causes of World War II|fears of impending war in Europe]].{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=22–26}} US ambassador [[Joseph P. Kennedy]] contacted her father, urging him to return to the US with his family.{{sfn|Heymann|1995|p=14}} Sara and the children left first in April 1939 aboard the ocean liner [[SS Manhattan (1931)|SS ''Manhattan'']] and moved in with Taylor's maternal grandfather in [[Pasadena, California]].{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=22–28}}{{sfn|Heymann|1995|p=27}} Francis stayed behind to close the London gallery and joined them in December.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=22–28}} In early 1940, he opened a new gallery in Los Angeles. After briefly living in [[Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles]], with the Chapman family, the Taylor family settled in [[Beverly Hills, California]], where the two children were enrolled in Hawthorne School.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=27–34}}

==Career==
{{see also|Elizabeth Taylor filmography|List of awards and nominations received by Elizabeth Taylor}}

===1941–1949: Early roles and teenage stardom===
In California, Taylor's mother was frequently told that her daughter should audition for films.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=27–30}} Taylor's eyes in particular drew attention; they were blue, to the extent of appearing violet, and were rimmed by dark double eyelashes caused by [[Distichiasis|a genetic mutation]].<ref name="palmer20110325">{{cite web |url=https://slate.com/culture/2011/03/elizabeth-taylor-beautiful-mutant.html |title=Elizabeth Taylor: Beautiful Mutant |access-date=July 12, 2021 |date=March 25, 2011 |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |last=Palmer |first=Roxanne |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712165119/https://slate.com/culture/2011/03/elizabeth-taylor-beautiful-mutant.html |archive-date=July 12, 2021 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=9}} Sara was initially opposed to Taylor appearing in films, but after the outbreak of war in Europe made return there unlikely, she began to view the film industry as a way of assimilating to American society.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=27–30}} Francis Taylor's Beverly Hills gallery had gained clients from the film industry soon after opening, helped by the endorsement of gossip columnist [[Hedda Hopper]], a friend of the Cazalets.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=27–31}} Through a client and a school friend's father, Taylor auditioned for both [[Universal Pictures]] and [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] in early 1941.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=27–37}} Both studios offered Taylor contracts, and Sara Taylor chose to accept Universal's offer.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=27–37}}

[[File:National-Velvet-1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Mickey Rooney]] and Taylor in ''National Velvet'' (1944), her first major film role]]
Taylor began her contract in April 1941 and was cast in a small role in ''[[There's One Born Every Minute]]'' (1942).{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=27–37}} She did not receive other roles, and her contract was terminated after a year.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=27–37}} Universal's casting director explained her dislike of Taylor, stating that "the kid has nothing ... her eyes are too old, she doesn't have the face of a child".{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=27–37}} Biographer [[Alexander Walker (critic)|Alexander Walker]] agrees that Taylor looked different from the child stars of the era, such as [[Shirley Temple]] and [[Judy Garland]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=32}} Taylor later said that, "apparently, I used to frighten grown ups, because I was totally direct".<ref name="lostinter">{{cite magazine |first=Jonathan |last=Cott |title=Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Interview |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/elizabeth-taylor-the-lost-interview-74065/?print=true |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=March 29, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=May 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525110555/https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/elizabeth-taylor-the-lost-interview-74065/?print=true |url-status=live }}</ref> Taylor received another opportunity in late 1942, when her father's acquaintance, MGM producer [[Samuel Marx]], arranged for her to audition for a minor role in ''[[Lassie Come Home]]'' (1943), which required a child actress with an English accent.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=22–23,27–37}} After a trial contract of three months, she was given a standard seven-year contract in January 1943.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=38–41}} Following ''Lassie'', she appeared in minor uncredited roles in two other films set in England – ''[[Jane Eyre (1943 film)|Jane Eyre]]'' (1943) playing Helen Burns, and ''[[The White Cliffs of Dover (film)|The White Cliffs of Dover]]'' (1944).{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=38–41}}

Taylor was cast in her first starring role at the age of 12, when she was chosen to play a girl who wants to compete as a jockey in the exclusively male [[Grand National]] in ''[[National Velvet (film)|National Velvet]]''.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=40–47}} She later called it "the most exciting film" of her career.<ref name="Gussow2">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/movies/elizabeth-taylor-obituary.html |title=Elizabeth Taylor, 1932–2011: A Lustrous Pinnacle of Hollywood Glamour |access-date=December 1, 2018 |last=Gussow |first=Mel |date=March 23, 2011 |work=[[The New York Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531232610/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/movies/elizabeth-taylor-obituary.html |archive-date=May 31, 2012 |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref> Since 1937, MGM had been looking for a suitable actress with a British accent and the ability to ride horses. [[Gene Tierney]] (12 years older than Taylor) was the first option, but finally they decided on Taylor at the recommendation of ''White Cliffs'' director [[Clarence Brown]], who knew she had the necessary skills.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=40–47}} At that time Taylor was deemed too short for the role, so filming was delayed several months in order for her to grow an inch or two. In the interim Taylor spent her time practicing her horseback riding.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=40–47}} In MGM's effort developing Taylor into a film star, they required her to wear braces to straighten her teeth and have two of her baby teeth pulled out.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=40–47}} The studio also wanted to dye her hair and change the shape of her eyebrows, even proposing that she use the screen name "Virginia", but Taylor and her parents refused.<ref name="lostinter" />

''National Velvet'' became a box-office success upon its release on Christmas 1944.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=40–47}} [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' stated that "her whole manner in this picture is one of refreshing grace",<ref>{{cite web |first=Bosley |last=Crowther |title='National Velvet,' Color Film, With Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor, at Music Hall – 'Tall in Saddle' Comes to the Palace |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/12/15/archives/national-velvet-color-film-with-rooney-and-elizabeth-taylor-at.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 15, 1944 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202070622/https://www.nytimes.com/1944/12/15/archives/national-velvet-color-film-with-rooney-and-elizabeth-taylor-at.html |url-status=live }}</ref> while [[James Agee]] of ''[[The Nation]]'' wrote that she "is rapturously beautiful... I hardly know or care whether she can act or not."<ref name=":2">{{cite magazine |first=James |last=Agee |title=Elizabeth Taylor in 'National Velvet' |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/elizabeth-taylor-national-velvet/ |magazine=[[The Nation]] |date=March 24, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=April 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413010239/https://www.thenation.com/article/elizabeth-taylor-national-velvet/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Powell in A Date with Judy.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Taylor and [[Jane Powell]] in ''[[A Date with Judy (film)|A Date with Judy]]'' (1948)]]
Taylor later stated that her childhood ended when she became a star, as MGM started to control every aspect of her life.<ref name="lostinter" /><ref name="lifemag">{{cite magazine |first=Richard |last=Meryman |title=I refuse to cure my public image |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA74 |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |date=December 18, 1964 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |via=Google Books}}</ref>{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=48–51}} She described the studio as a "big extended factory", where she was required to adhere to a strict daily schedule.<ref name="lostinter" /> Her days were spent attending school and filming at the studio lot. In the evenings, Taylor took dancing and singing classes, and practised the following day's scenes.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=48–51}} Following the success of ''National Velvet'', MGM gave Taylor a new seven-year contract with a weekly salary of $750. They cast her in a minor role in the third film of the Lassie series, ''[[Courage of Lassie]]'' (1946).{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=51–58}} MGM also published a book of Taylor's writings about her pet chipmunk, ''Nibbles and Me'' (1946), and had paper dolls and coloring books made in her likeness.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=51–58}}

When Taylor turned 15 in 1947, MGM began to cultivate a more mature public image for her by organizing photo shoots and interviews that portrayed her as a "normal" teenager attending parties and going on dates.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=56–57; 65–74}} Film magazines and gossip columnists also began comparing her to older actresses such as [[Ava Gardner]] and [[Lana Turner]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=71}} ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' called her "Hollywood's most accomplished junior actress" for her two film roles that year.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=69}} In the critically panned ''[[Cynthia (film)|Cynthia]]'' (1947), Taylor portrayed a frail girl who defies her over-protective parents to go to the prom; in the period film ''[[Life with Father (film)|Life with Father]]'' (1947), opposite [[William Powell]] and [[Irene Dunne]], she portrayed the love interest of a stockbroker's son.{{sfn|Gehring|2006|pp=157–158}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=58–70}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Life With Father (1947) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/25245 |work=[[AFI Catalog]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202070602/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/25245 |url-status=live }}</ref>

They were followed by supporting roles as a teenaged "man-stealer" who seduces her peer's date to a high school dance in the musical ''[[A Date with Judy (film)|A Date with Judy]]'' (1948), and as a bride in the romantic comedy ''[[Julia Misbehaves]]'' (1948). This became a commercial success, grossing over $4&nbsp;million in the box office.{{sfn|Troyan|1999|p=211}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=82}} Taylor's last adolescent role was as Amy March in [[Mervyn LeRoy]]'s ''[[Little Women (1949 film)|Little Women]]'' (1949), a box-office success.{{sfn|Clark|2014|p=158}} The same year, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' featured Taylor on its cover and called her the leader among Hollywood's next generation of stars, "a jewel of great price, a true sapphire".<ref name="time19490822">{{cite magazine | url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,800624,00.html | title=Elizabeth Taylor: Star Rising | access-date=December 7, 2018 | date=August 9, 2021 | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | archive-date=December 16, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216001653/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,800624,00.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

===1949–1952: Transition to adult roles===
[[File:Father of the bride 1950 promo.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.7|With [[Spencer Tracy]] in ''[[Father of the Bride (1950 film)|Father of the Bride]]'' (1950)]]

In her first mature role, the thriller ''[[Conspirator (1949 film)|Conspirator]]'' (1949), she plays a woman who begins to suspect that her husband is a Soviet spy.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=75–83}} Taylor had been only 16 at the time of its filming, but its release was delayed until March 1950, as MGM disliked it and feared it could cause diplomatic problems.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=75–83}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Conspirator (1950) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/27626 |work=[[AFI Catalog]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=January 2, 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260102084449/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/27626 |url-status=live }}</ref> Taylor's second film of 1950 was the comedy ''[[The Big Hangover]]'' (1950), co-starring [[Van Johnson]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Big Hangover |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/26224 |work=[[AFI Catalog]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221213120924/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/26224 |url-status=live }}</ref> It was released in May. That same month, Taylor married hotel-chain heir [[Conrad Hilton Jr.|Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr.]] in a highly publicized ceremony.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=99–105}} The event was organized by MGM, and used as part of the publicity campaign for Taylor's next film, [[Vincente Minnelli]]'s comedy ''[[Father of the Bride (1950 film)|Father of the Bride]]'' (1950), in which she appeared opposite [[Spencer Tracy]] and [[Joan Bennett]] as a bride preparing for her wedding.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=99–105}} The film became a box-office success upon its release in June, grossing $6&nbsp;million worldwide (${{Inflation|US|6|1950}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation/fn|US}}), and was followed by a successful sequel, ''[[Father's Little Dividend]]'' (1951), ten months later.{{sfn|Curtis|2011|pp=599–609}}

Taylor's next film release, [[George Stevens]]' ''[[A Place in the Sun (1951 film)|A Place in the Sun]]'' (1951), marked a departure from her earlier films. According to Taylor, it was the first film in which she had been asked to act, instead of simply being herself,<ref name="lifemag" /> and it brought her critical acclaim for the first time since ''National Velvet''.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=96–97}} Based on [[Theodore Dreiser]]'s novel ''[[An American Tragedy]]'' (1925), it featured Taylor as a spoiled socialite who comes between a poor factory worker ([[Montgomery Clift]]) and his pregnant girlfriend ([[Shelley Winters]]).{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=91}} Stevens cast Taylor as she was "the only one ... who could create this illusion" of being "not so much a real girl as the girl on the candy-box cover, the beautiful girl in the yellow [[Cadillac]] convertible that every American boy sometime or other thinks he can marry."{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=92}}{{sfn|Moss|2004|p=159}}

''A Place in the Sun'' was a critical and commercial success, grossing $3&nbsp;million.{{sfnm|1a1=Capua|1y=2002|1p=72|2a1=Moss|2y=2004|2p=166}} Herb Golden of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said that Taylor's "histrionics are of a quality so far beyond anything she has done previously, that Stevens' skilled hands on the reins must be credited with a minor miracle."<ref>{{cite web |first=Herb |last=Golden |title=A Place in the Sun |url=https://variety.com/1951/film/reviews/a-place-in-the-sun-1200417074/ |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=July 18, 1951 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=April 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414023430/https://variety.com/1951/film/reviews/a-place-in-the-sun-1200417074/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[A.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Weiler]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote that she gives "a shaded, tender performance, and one in which her passionate and genuine romance avoids the pathos common to young love as it sometimes comes to the screen."<ref>{{cite web|first= A.H. |last=Weiler |title=Movie Review – A Place in the Sun |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173CE473BC4151DFBE66838A649EDE |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 29, 1951 |access-date=December 1, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725233711/https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173CE473BC4151DFBE66838A649EDE |archive-date=July 25, 2014}}</ref>

===1952–1955: Continued success at MGM===
[[File:Elizabeth Taylor - 1952 portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Portrait, 1952]]
Taylor next starred in the romantic comedy ''[[Love Is Better Than Ever]]'' (1952).{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=124–125}} According to Alexander Walker, MGM cast her in the "B-picture" as a reprimand for divorcing Hilton in January 1951 after only eight months of marriage, which had caused a public scandal that reflected negatively on her.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=124–125}} After completing ''Love Is Better Than Ever'', Taylor was sent to Britain to take part in the historical epic ''[[Ivanhoe (1952 film)|Ivanhoe]]'' (1952), which was one of the most expensive projects in the studio's history.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=129–132}} She was not happy about the project, finding the story superficial and her role as Rebecca too small.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=129–132}} Regardless, ''Ivanhoe'' became one of MGM's biggest commercial successes, earning $11&nbsp;million in worldwide rentals.{{sfn|Stubbs|2013|p=96}}

Taylor's last film made under her old contract with MGM was ''[[The Girl Who Had Everything]]'' (1953), a remake of the [[Pre-Code Hollywood|pre-code]] drama ''[[A Free Soul]]'' (1931).{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=145}} Despite her grievances with the studio, Taylor signed a new seven-year contract with MGM in the summer of 1952.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=139–143}} Although she wanted more interesting roles, the decisive factor in continuing with the studio was her financial need; she had recently married British actor [[Michael Wilding]], and was pregnant with her first child.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=139–143}} In addition to granting her a weekly salary of $4,700 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|4700|1953}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars {{inflation/fn|US}}), MGM agreed to give the couple a loan for a house, and signed her husband for a three-year contract.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=141–143}} Due to her financial dependency, the studio now had even more control over her than previously.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=141–143}}

[[File:The Last Time I Saw Paris 1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Van Johnson]] and Taylor in the romantic drama ''[[The Last Time I Saw Paris]]'' (1954)]]
Taylor's first two films made under her new contract were released ten days apart in early 1954.{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=153}} The first was ''[[Rhapsody (film)|Rhapsody]]'', a romantic film starring her as a woman caught in a love triangle with two musicians. The second was ''[[Elephant Walk]]'', a drama in which she played a British woman struggling to adapt to life on her husband's tea plantation in [[Ceylon]]. She had been loaned to [[Paramount Pictures]] for the film after its original star, [[Vivien Leigh]], fell ill.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=148–149}} In the fall, Taylor starred in two more film releases. ''[[Beau Brummell (1954 film)|Beau Brummell]]'' was a [[Regency era]] period film, another project in which she was cast against her will.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=153–154}} Taylor disliked historical films in general, as their elaborate costumes and makeup required her to wake up earlier than usual to prepare. She later said that she gave one of the worst performances of her career in ''Beau Brummell''.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=153–154}} The second film was [[Richard Brooks]]' ''[[The Last Time I Saw Paris]]'', based on [[F.&nbsp;Scott Fitzgerald]]'s short story. Although she had wanted to be cast in ''[[The Barefoot Contessa]]'' (1954) instead, Taylor liked the Brooks film and later stated that it "convinced me I wanted to be an actress instead of yawning my way through parts."{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=153–157}}{{sfn|Daniel|2011|pp=80–81}} While ''The Last Time I Saw Paris'' was not as profitable as many other MGM films, it garnered positive reviews.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=153–157}}{{sfn|Daniel|2011|pp=80–81}} Taylor became pregnant again during the production, and had to agree to add another year to her contract to make up for the period spent on maternity leave.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=153–157}}

===1956–1961: Critical acclaim===
[[File:Taylor - Hudson - Giant.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Taylor and [[Rock Hudson]] in ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'' (1956)]]
By the mid-1950s, the American film industry was beginning to face serious competition from television, which resulted in studios producing fewer films, and focusing instead on their quality.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=158–165}} The change benefited Taylor, who finally found more challenging roles after several years of career disappointments.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=158–165}} After lobbying director [[George Stevens]], she won the female lead role in ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'' (1956), an epic drama about a ranching dynasty, which co-starred [[Rock Hudson]] and her close friend<ref>{{cite web|first=Tianna|last=Corbin|url=https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1648454/Elizabeth-Taylor-James-Dean-photo-friendship|title='This was her family' Poignant story behind Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean photo unveiled|website=[[Daily Express]]|date=July 31, 2022|access-date=January 21, 2026|archive-date=August 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810170440/https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1648454/Elizabeth-Taylor-James-Dean-photo-friendship|url-status=live}}</ref> [[James Dean]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=158–165}} Its filming in [[Marfa, Texas]], was a difficult experience for Taylor, as she clashed with Stevens, who wanted to break her will to make her easier to direct, and was often ill, resulting in delays.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=158–165}}{{sfn|Moss|2004|pp=215–219}} To further complicate the production, Dean died in a car accident only days after completing filming; the grieving Taylor still had to film reaction shots to their joint scenes.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=158–166}} When ''Giant'' was released a year later, it became a box-office success, and was widely praised by critics.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=158–165}} Although not nominated for an Academy Award like her co-stars, Taylor garnered positive reviews for her performance, with ''Variety'' calling it "surprisingly clever",<ref>{{cite web |title=Giant |url=https://variety.com/1956/film/reviews/giant-2-1200418151/ |work=Variety |date=October 10, 1956 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626082910/https://variety.com/1956/film/reviews/giant-2-1200418151/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and <!-- Did not lose 'Manchester' until 1959. -->''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' lauding her acting as "an astonishing revelation of unsuspected gifts." It named her one of the film's strongest assets.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Taylor: How Guardian critics rated her films |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/mar/24/elizabeth-taylor-original-guardian-reviews |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=October 10, 1956 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626082955/https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/mar/24/elizabeth-taylor-original-guardian-reviews |url-status=live }}</ref>

MGM reunited Taylor with Montgomery Clift in ''[[Raintree County (film)|Raintree County]]'' (1957), a [[American Civil War|Civil War]] drama which it hoped would replicate the success of ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1939).{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=166–177}} Taylor found her role as a mentally disturbed [[Southern belle]] fascinating, but overall disliked the film.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=166–177}} Although the film failed to become the type of success MGM had planned,{{sfnm|1a1=Hernán|1a2=Gordon|1y=2003|1p=26}} Taylor was nominated for the first time for an [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] for her performance.<ref name="oscars">{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Taylor |url=https://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/search/getresults?query=%7B%22Nominee%22%3A%22Elizabeth%20Taylor%22%2C%22Sort%22%3A%221-Nominee-Alpha%22%2C%22AwardShowNumberFrom%22%3A0%2C%22AwardShowNumberTo%22%3A0%2C%22Search%22%3A30%7D |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=January 15, 2025 |archive-date=January 19, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250119144943/https://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/search/getresults?query=%7B%22Nominee%22%3A%22Elizabeth%20Taylor%22%2C%22Sort%22%3A%221-Nominee-Alpha%22%2C%22AwardShowNumberFrom%22%3A0%2C%22AwardShowNumberTo%22%3A0%2C%22Search%22%3A30%7D |url-status=live }}</ref>

Taylor considered her next performance as Maggie the Cat in the screen adaptation of the [[Tennessee Williams]] play ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958 film)|Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1958) a career "high point", but it coincided with one of the most difficult periods in her personal life.<ref name="lifemag" /> After completing ''Raintree County'', she had divorced Wilding and married producer [[Mike Todd]]. She had completed only two weeks of filming in March 1958, when Todd was killed in a plane crash.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=186–194}} Although she was devastated, pressure from the studio and the knowledge that Todd had large debts led Taylor to return to work only three weeks later.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=195–203}} She later said that "in a way ... [she] became Maggie", and that acting "was the only time I could function" in the weeks after Todd's death.<ref name="lifemag" />

[[File:Cat on a Hot Tin Roof13.jpg|thumb|left|In ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958 film)|Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1958)]]
During the production, Taylor's personal life drew more attention when she began an affair with singer [[Eddie Fisher]], whose marriage to actress [[Debbie Reynolds]] had been idealized by the media as the union of "America's sweethearts."{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=203–210}} The affair – and Fisher's subsequent divorce – changed Taylor's public image from a grieving widow to a "homewrecker". MGM used the scandal to its advantage by featuring an image of Taylor posing on a bed in a slip in the film's promotional posters.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=203–210}} ''Cat'' grossed $10&nbsp;million in American cinemas alone and made Taylor the year's second-most profitable star.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=203–210}} She received positive reviews for her performance, with [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' calling her "terrific",<ref>{{cite web |first=Bosley |last=Crowther |authorlink=Bosley Crowther |title=The Fur Flies in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'; Talent Galore Found in Music Hall Film Acting Does Justice to Williams Play |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/09/19/archives/the-fur-flies-in-cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof-talent-galore-found-in-music.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 19, 1958 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=April 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427062204/https://www.nytimes.com/1958/09/19/archives/the-fur-flies-in-cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof-talent-galore-found-in-music.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' praising her for "a well-accented, perceptive interpretation."<ref>{{cite web |title=Review: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof |url=https://variety.com/1957/film/reviews/cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof-2-1200419154/ |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=December 31, 1957 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625213801/https://variety.com/1957/film/reviews/cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof-2-1200419154/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award<ref name="oscars" /> and a [[BAFTA]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Film: Foreign Actress in 1959 |url=https://awards.bafta.org/award/1959/film/foreign-actress |website=[[BAFTA]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128164505/https://awards.bafta.org/award/1959/film/foreign-actress |archive-date=November 28, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Taylor's next film, [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]]'s ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959), was another Tennessee Williams adaptation, with a screenplay by [[Gore Vidal]] and also starring [[Montgomery Clift]] and [[Katharine Hepburn]]. The independent production earned Taylor $500,000 for playing the role of a traumatized patient in a mental institution.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=203–210}} Although the film was a drama about mental illness, childhood traumas, and [[homosexuality]], it was again promoted with Taylor's sex appeal; both its trailer and poster featured her in a white swimsuit. The strategy worked, as the film was a financial success.{{sfnm|1a1=Lower|1a2=Palmer|1y=2001|1p=158}} Taylor received her third Academy Award nomination<ref name="oscars" /> and her first [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Golden Globe for Best Actress]] for her performance.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=203–210}}

By 1959, Taylor owed one more film for MGM, which it decided should be ''[[BUtterfield&nbsp;8]]'' (1960), a drama about a high-class call girl, in an adaptation of [[John O'Hara]]'s [[BUtterfield 8 (novel)|1935 novel of the same name]].{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=211–223}} The studio correctly calculated that Taylor's public image would make it easy for audiences to associate her with the role.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=211–223}} She hated the film for the same reason, but had no choice in the matter, although the studio agreed to her demands of filming in New York and casting Eddie Fisher in a sympathetic role.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=211–223}} As predicted, ''BUtterfield 8'' was a major commercial success, grossing $18&nbsp;million in world rentals.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=224–236}} Crowther wrote that Taylor "looks like a million dollars, in mink or in negligée",<ref>{{cite web |first=Bosley |last=Crowther |authorlink=Bosley Crowther |title=The Screen: Elizabeth Taylor at 'Butterfield 8':Film Based on O'Hara Novel in Premiere |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/11/17/archives/the-screen-elizabeth-taylor-at-butterfield-8film-based-on-ohara.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 17, 1960 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=March 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328231024/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/11/17/archives/the-screen-elizabeth-taylor-at-butterfield-8film-based-on-ohara.html |url-status=live }}</ref> while ''Variety'' stated that she gives "a torrid, stinging portrayal with one or two brilliantly executed passages within."<ref>{{cite web |title=Butterfield 8 |url=https://variety.com/1959/film/reviews/butterfield-8-1200419732/ |work=Variety |date=December 31, 1959 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=October 29, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251029002327/https://variety.com/1959/film/reviews/butterfield-8-1200419732/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=224–236}}

===1961–1967: ''Cleopatra'' and other collaborations with Richard Burton===
[[File:Taylor and Burton Cleopatra.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|[[Richard Burton]] as Mark Antony with Taylor as Cleopatra in ''Cleopatra'' (1963)]]
After completing her MGM contract, Taylor starred in [[20th Century-Fox]]'s ''[[Cleopatra (1963 film)|Cleopatra]]'' (1963). According to film historian Alexander Doty, this historical epic made her more famous than ever before.{{sfn|Doty|2012|p=47}} She became the first movie star to be paid $1&nbsp;million for a role; Fox also granted her 10% of the film's gross profits, as well as shooting the film in [[Todd-AO]], a widescreen format for which she had inherited the rights from Mike Todd.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=10–11}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=211–223}} The film's production – characterized by costly sets and costumes, constant delays, and a scandal caused by Taylor's extramarital affair with her co-star [[Richard Burton]] – was closely followed by the media, with ''Life'' proclaiming it the "Most Talked About Movie Ever Made."{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=11–12,39,45–46, 56}} Filming began in England in 1960 but had to be halted several times because of bad weather and Taylor's ill health.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=12–13}} In March 1961, she developed nearly fatal [[pneumonia]], which necessitated a [[tracheotomy]]; one news agency erroneously reported that she had died.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=12–13}} Once she had recovered, Fox discarded the already filmed material, and moved the production to Rome, changing its director to Joseph Mankiewicz, and the actor playing [[Mark Antony]] to Burton.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=12–18}} Filming was finally completed in July 1962.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=39}} The film's final cost was $62&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|index=US|value=62|start_year=1962|r=0}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}), making it the most expensive film made up to that point.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=46}}

''Cleopatra'' became the biggest box-office success of 1963 in the United States; the film grossed $15.7&nbsp;million at the box office (equivalent to ${{Inflation|index=US|value=15.7|start_year=1963|r=0}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}).{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=56–57}} Regardless, it took several years for the film to earn back its production costs, which nearly drove Fox to bankruptcy. The studio publicly blamed Taylor for the production's troubles and unsuccessfully sued Burton and Taylor for allegedly damaging the film's commercial prospects with their behavior.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=46}} The film's reviews were mixed to negative, with critics finding Taylor overweight and her voice too thin, and unfavorably comparing her with her classically trained British co-stars.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=56–58}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=265–267}}{{sfn|Doty|2012|pp=48–49}} In retrospect, Taylor called ''Cleopatra'' a "low point" in her career, and said that the studio had cut out the scenes which she felt provided the "core of the characterization."<ref name="lifemag"/>

Taylor intended to follow ''Cleopatra'' by headlining an all-star cast in Fox's black comedy ''[[What a Way to Go!]]'' (1964), but negotiations fell through, and [[Shirley MacLaine]] was cast instead. In the meantime, film producers were eager to profit from the scandal surrounding Taylor and Burton, and they next starred together in [[Anthony Asquith]]'s ''[[The V.I.P.s (film)|The V.I.P.s]]'' (1963), which mirrored the headlines about them.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=42–45}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=252–255,260–266}} Taylor played a famous model attempting to leave her husband for a lover, and Burton her estranged millionaire husband. Released soon after ''Cleopatra'', it became a box-office success.{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=264}} Taylor was also paid $500,000 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|index=US|value=.5|start_year=1963|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}) to appear in a [[CBS]] television special, ''[[Elizabeth Taylor in London]]'', in which she visited the city's landmarks and recited passages from the works of famous British writers.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=74–75}}

[[File:Taylor-Burton-Sandpiper.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Taylor and Burton in ''The Sandpiper'' (1965)]]
After completing ''The V.I.P.s'', Taylor took a two-year hiatus from films, during which she and Burton divorced their spouses and married each other.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=112}} The [[supercouple]] continued starring together in films in the mid-1960s, earning a combined $88&nbsp;million over the next decade; Burton once stated, "They say we generate more business activity than one of the smaller African nations."{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=193}}<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Christopher |last=Bateman |title=Liz and Dick: The Ultimate Celebrity Couple |magazine=Vanity Fair |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/06/liz-and-dick-the-ultimate-celebrity-couple |date=June 1, 2010 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 28, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251228075638/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/06/liz-and-dick-the-ultimate-celebrity-couple |url-status=live }}</ref> Biographer Alexander Walker compared these films to "illustrated gossip columns", as their film roles often reflected their public personae, while film historian Alexander Doty has noted that the majority of Taylor's films during this period seemed to "conform to, and reinforce, the image of an indulgent, raucous, immoral or amoral, and appetitive (in many senses of the word) 'Elizabeth Taylor{{Single+double}}.{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=294}}{{sfn|Doty|2012|p=51}} Taylor and Burton's first joint project following her hiatus was Vincente Minnelli's romantic drama ''[[The Sandpiper]]'' (1965), about an illicit love affair between a bohemian artist and a married clergyman in [[Big Sur]], California. Its reviews were largely negative, but it grossed a successful $14&nbsp;million in the box office (equivalent to ${{Inflation|index=US|value=14|start_year=1965|r=0}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation year|index=US}}).{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=116–118}}

Their next project, ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film)|Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' (1966), an adaptation of a [[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?|play of the same name]] by [[Edward Albee]], featured the most critically acclaimed performance of Taylor's career.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=142,151–152}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=286}} She and Burton starred as Martha and George, a middle-aged couple going through a marital crisis. In order to convincingly play 50-year-old Martha, Taylor gained weight, wore a wig, and used makeup to make herself look older and tired – in stark contrast to her public image as a glamorous film star.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=136–137}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=281–282}} At Taylor's suggestion, theatre director [[Mike Nichols]] was hired to direct the project, despite his lack of experience with film.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=139–140}} The production differed from anything she had done previously, as Nichols wanted to thoroughly rehearse the play before beginning filming.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=141}} ''Woolf'' was considered ground-breaking for its adult themes and uncensored language, and opened to "glorious" reviews.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=140, 151}} ''Variety'' wrote that Taylor's "characterization is at once sensual, spiteful, cynical, pitiable, loathsome, lustful, and tender."<ref>{{cite news |title=Review: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |url=https://variety.com/1965/film/reviews/who-s-afraid-of-virginia-woolf-3-1200420919/ |work=Variety |date=December 31, 1965 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324164132/https://variety.com/1965/film/reviews/who-s-afraid-of-virginia-woolf-3-1200420919/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Stanley Kauffmann]] of ''The New York Times'' stated that she "does the best work of her career, sustained and urgent."<ref>{{cite news |title=Screen: Funless Games at George and Martha's:Albee's 'Virginia Woolf' Becomes a Film |first=Stanley |last=Kauffman |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/06/24/archives/screen-funless-games-at-george-and-marthasalbees-virginia-woolf.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 24, 1966 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202112702/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/06/24/archives/screen-funless-games-at-george-and-marthasalbees-virginia-woolf.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The film also became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=151–152}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=286}} Taylor received her second Academy Award, and BAFTA, [[National Board of Review]], and New York City Film Critics Circle awards for her performance.

[[File:Liz Taylor en Richard Burton tijdens persconferentie op Schiphol betreft film , Bestanddeelnr 917-6937.jpg|thumb|left|Taylor and Burton in 1965]]
In 1966, Taylor and Burton performed ''[[Doctor Faustus (play)|Doctor Faustus]]'' for a week in [[Oxford]] to benefit the [[Oxford University Dramatic Society]]; he starred and she appeared in her first stage role as [[Helen of Troy]], a part which required no speaking.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=186–189}} Although it received generally negative reviews, Burton produced it as a film, ''[[Doctor Faustus (1967 film)|Doctor Faustus]]'' (1967), with the same cast.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=186–189}} It was also panned by critics and grossed only $600,000 in the box office (equivalent to ${{Inflation|index=US|value=.6|start_year=1967|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation year|index=US}}).{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=230–232}} Taylor and Burton's next project, [[Franco Zeffirelli]]'s ''[[The Taming of the Shrew (1967 film)|The Taming of the Shrew]]'' (1967), which they also co-produced, was more successful.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=164}} It posed another challenge for Taylor, as she was the only actor in the project with no previous experience of performing Shakespeare; Zeffirelli later stated that this made her performance interesting, as she "invented the part from scratch."{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=168}} Critics found the play to be fitting material for the couple, and the film became a box-office success by grossing $12&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|index=US|value=12|start_year=1967|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation year|index=US}}).{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=181, 186}}

Taylor's third film released in 1967, [[John Huston]]'s ''[[Reflections in a Golden Eye (film)|Reflections in a Golden Eye]]'', was her first without Burton since ''Cleopatra''. Based on a [[Reflections in a Golden Eye (novel)|novel of the same name]] by [[Carson McCullers]], it was a drama about a repressed gay military officer and his unfaithful wife. It was originally slated to co-star Taylor's old friend Montgomery Clift, whose career had been in decline for several years owing to his substance abuse problems. Determined to secure his involvement in the project, Taylor even offered to pay for his insurance.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=157–161}} But Clift died from a heart attack before filming began; he was replaced in the role by [[Marlon Brando]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=175, 189}} ''Reflections'' was a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=233–234}} Taylor and Burton's last film of the year was the adaptation of [[Graham Greene]]'s novel, ''[[The Comedians (1967 film)|The Comedians]]'', which received mixed reviews and was a box-office disappointment.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=228–232}}

===1968–1979: Career decline===
[[File:Elizabeth Taylor 1971.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Taylor in 1971]]
Taylor's career was in decline by the late 1960s. She had gained weight, was in her late 30s and did not fit in with [[New Hollywood]] stars such as [[Jane Fonda]] and [[Julie Christie]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=135–136}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=294–296,307–308}} After several years of nearly constant media attention, the public was tiring of Burton and her, and criticized their jet set lifestyle.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=142, 151–152}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=294–296,305–306}} In 1968, Taylor starred in two films directed by [[Joseph Losey]] – ''[[Boom! (1968 film)|Boom!]]'' and ''[[Secret Ceremony]]'' – both of which were critical and commercial failures.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=238–246}} The former, based on Tennessee Williams' ''[[The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore]]'', features her as an ageing, serial-marrying millionaire, and Burton as a younger man who turns up on the Mediterranean island on which she has retired.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=211–217}} ''Secret Ceremony'' is a psychological drama that also stars [[Mia Farrow]] and [[Robert Mitchum]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=242–243, 246}} Taylor's third film with George Stevens, ''[[The Only Game in Town (1970 film)|The Only Game in Town]]'' (1970), in which she played a Las Vegas showgirl who has an affair with a compulsive gambler, played by [[Warren Beatty]], was unsuccessful.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=287}}<ref name="BFIliz">{{cite web |first=Simon |last=McCallum |title=Late Liz: 10 forgotten Elizabeth Taylor films |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/late-liz-10-forgotten-elizabeth-taylor-films |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |date=February 27, 2015 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225222749/https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/late-liz-10-forgotten-elizabeth-taylor-films |url-status=live }}</ref>

The three 1972 films in which Taylor acted were somewhat more successful. ''{{nowrap|[[X Y & Zee]]}}'', which portrayed [[Michael Caine]] and her as a troubled married couple, won her the [[David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress]]. She appeared with Burton in the adaptation of Dylan Thomas's ''[[Under Milk Wood (1972 film)|Under Milk Wood]]''; although her role was small, the producers decided to give her top-billing to profit from her fame.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=313–316}} Her third film role that year was playing a blonde diner waitress in [[Peter Ustinov]]'s ''Faust'' parody ''[[Hammersmith Is Out]]'', her tenth collaboration with Burton. Despite limited commercial success,{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=316}} Taylor garnered positive reviews, with [[Vincent Canby]] of ''The New York Times'' writing that she has "a certain vulgar, ratty charm",<ref>{{cite web |first=Vincent |last=Canby |title=Movie Review – Hammersmith is Out (1972)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9904E6DF1F3EE63BBC4D51DFB3668389669EDE|work=The New York Times |date=May 25, 1972 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307123157/https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9904E6DF1F3EE63BBC4D51DFB3668389669EDE |archive-date=March 7, 2016}}</ref> and [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' saying, "The spectacle of Elizabeth Taylor growing older and more beautiful continues to amaze the population."<ref>{{cite web |first=Roger |last=Ebert |title=Hammersmith is Out (1972) |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hammersmith-is-out-1972 |work=Roger Ebert |date=May 26, 1972 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230082440/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hammersmith-is-out-1972 |url-status=live }}</ref> Her performance won the [[Silver Bear for Best Actress|Silver Bear]] for Best Actress at the [[Berlin Film Festival]].<ref name="BFIliz" />

[[File:Burton Taylor Divorce His Hers 1973.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|In ''Divorce His, Divorce Hers'' (1973), Taylor's last film with Burton]]
Taylor and Burton's last film together was the [[Harlech Television]] film ''[[Divorce His, Divorce Hers]]'' (1973), fittingly named as they divorced the following year.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=357}} Her other films released in 1973 were the British thriller ''[[Night Watch (1973 film)|Night Watch]]'' (1973) and the American drama ''[[Ash Wednesday (1973 film)|Ash Wednesday]]'' (1973).{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=341–349,357–358}} For the latter, in which she starred as a woman who undergoes multiple plastic surgeries in an attempt to save her marriage, she received a Golden Globe nomination.<ref name="goldenglobes">{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Taylor |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/elizabeth-taylor |publisher=[[Hollywood Foreign Press Association]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=March 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323073320/https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/elizabeth-taylor |url-status=live }}</ref> Her only film released in 1974, the Italian [[Muriel Spark]] adaptation ''[[The Driver's Seat (film)|The Driver's Seat]]'' (1974), was a failure.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=371–375}}

Taylor took fewer roles after the mid-1970s, and focused on supporting the career of her sixth husband, [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician [[John Warner]], a US senator. In 1976, she participated in the Soviet-American fantasy film ''[[The Blue Bird (1976 film)|The Blue Bird]]'' (1976), a critical and box-office failure, and had a small role in the television film ''[[Victory at Entebbe]]'' (1976). In 1977, she sang in the critically panned film adaptation of [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s musical ''[[A Little Night Music (film)|A Little Night Music]]'' (1977).{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=388–389, 403}}

===1980–2007: Final film roles, move to stage and television roles, and retirement===
[[File:Elizabeth Taylor 2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Taylor in 1981 at an event honoring her career]]
After a period of semi-retirement from films, Taylor starred in ''[[The Mirror Crack'd]]'' (1980), adapted from an [[Agatha Christie]] mystery novel and featuring an ensemble cast of actors from the studio era, such as [[Angela Lansbury]], [[Kim Novak]], Rock Hudson, and [[Tony Curtis]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=435}} Wanting to challenge herself, she took on her first substantial stage role, playing Regina Giddens in a Broadway production of [[Lillian Hellman]]'s ''[[The Little Foxes]]''.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=411}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=347–362}} Instead of portraying Giddens in negative light, as had often been the case in previous productions, Taylor's idea was to show her as a victim of circumstance, explaining, "She's a killer, but she's saying, 'Sorry fellas, you put me in this position'."{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=349}}

The production premiered in May 1981, and had a sold-out six-month run despite mixed reviews.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=411}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=347–362}} Frank Rich of ''The New York Times'' wrote that Taylor's performance as "Regina Giddens, that malignant Southern bitch-goddess ... begins gingerly, soon gathers steam, and then explodes into a black and thunderous storm that may just knock you out of your seat",<ref>{{cite web |first=Frank |last=Rich |title=Stage: The Misses Taylor and Stapleton in 'Foxes' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/08/theater/stage-the-misses-taylor-and-stapleton-in-foxes.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 8, 1981 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=January 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116015041/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/08/theater/stage-the-misses-taylor-and-stapleton-in-foxes.html |url-status=live }}</ref> while Dan Sullivan of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' stated, "Taylor presents a possible Regina Giddens, as seen through the persona of Elizabeth Taylor. There's some acting in it, as well as some personal display."<ref>{{cite web |first=David |last=Ng |title=Elizabeth Taylor remembered: Always a star, even on the stage |url=https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/03/elizabeth-taylor-.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202070805/https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/03/elizabeth-taylor-.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She appeared as evil socialite [[Helena Cassadine]] in the day-time soap opera ''[[General Hospital]]'' in November 1981.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=347–362}} The following year, she continued performing ''The Little Foxes'' in London's [[West End theatre|West End]] but received largely negative reviews from the British press.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=347–362}}

[[File:President Ronald Reagan Nancy Reagan Elizabeth Taylor Maureen Stapleton George Bush After Performance of "Little Foxes" at John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC - DPLA - b671241a4c9924d7f5fb2ea6a7180c49.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|Taylor (center) with President [[Ronald Reagan]] and First Lady [[Nancy Reagan]] after the premiere of ''The Little Foxes'' at the [[Kennedy Center]] in 1981]]
Encouraged by the success of ''The Little Foxes'', Taylor and producer [[Zev Buffman]] founded the Elizabeth Taylor Repertory Company.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=347–362}} Its first and only production was a revival of [[Noël Coward]]'s comedy ''[[Private Lives]]'', starring Taylor and Burton.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=413–425}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=347–362}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Brenner |first=Marie |title=The Liz and Dick Show |url=https://nymag.com/arts/theater/features/50176/ |access-date=December 1, 2018 |newspaper=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |date=May 9, 1983 |archive-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319222855/http://nymag.com/arts/theater/features/50176/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It premiered in Boston in early 1983, and although commercially successful, received generally negative reviews, with critics noting that both stars were in noticeably poor health – Taylor admitted herself to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center after the play's run ended, and Burton died the following year.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=413–425}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=347–362}} After the failure of ''Private Lives'', Taylor dissolved her theatre company.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hanauer |first=Joan |title=Liz-Zev Split |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/11/08/LIZ-ZEV-SPLIT/3735437115600/ |access-date=December 1, 2018 |work=[[United Press International]] |date=November 8, 1983 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626054741/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/11/08/LIZ-ZEV-SPLIT/3735437115600/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Her only other project that year was the television film ''[[Between Friends (1983 film)|Between Friends]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Between Friends |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/5194/Between-Friends/overview |access-date=December 1, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208221926/https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/5194/Between-Friends/overview |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |first=Mark |last=Deming |year=2010 |archive-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref>

[[File:BobHopeElizabethTaylorUSOMay1986.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Taylor with [[Bob Hope]] performing in a [[United Service Organization]] show aboard the training aircraft carrier [[USS Lexington (CV-16)|USS ''Lexington'']] during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of naval aviation in 1986.]]
From the mid-1980s, Taylor acted mostly in television productions. She made cameos in the soap operas ''[[Hotel (American TV series)|Hotel]]'' and ''[[All My Children]]'' in 1984, and played a brothel keeper in the historical mini-series ''[[North and South (miniseries)|North and South]]'' in 1985.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=363–373}} She also starred in several television films, playing gossip columnist [[Louella Parsons]] in ''[[Malice in Wonderland (1985 film)|Malice in Wonderland]]'' (1985), a fading movie star in the drama ''[[There Must Be a Pony]]'' (1986),<ref>{{cite web |first=John J. |last=O'Connor |title='There Must Be a Pony', with Elizabeth Taylor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/03/arts/there-must-be-a-pony-with-elizabeth-taylor.html |work=The New York Times |date=October 3, 1986 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626110854/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/03/arts/there-must-be-a-pony-with-elizabeth-taylor.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a character based on [[Poker Alice]] in the eponymous [[Poker Alice (1987 film)|Western]] (1987).{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=363–373}} She reunited with director Franco Zeffirelli to appear in his French-Italian biopic ''[[Young Toscanini]]'' (1988), and had the last starring role of her career in a television adaptation of ''[[Sweet Bird of Youth]]'' (1989), her fourth Tennessee Williams play.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=363–373}} During this time, she also began receiving honorary awards for her career – the [[Cecil B. DeMille Award]] in 1985,<ref name="goldenglobes" /> and the [[Film Society of Lincoln Center]]'s Chaplin Award in 1986.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chaplin Award Gala |url=https://www.filmlinc.org/about-us/chaplin-award-gala/ |website=[[Film Society of Lincoln Center]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724150423/https://www.filmlinc.org/about-us/chaplin-award-gala/ |archive-date=July 24, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the 1990s, Taylor focused her time on HIV/AIDS activism. Her few acting roles included characters in the animated series ''[[Captain Planet and the Planeteers]]'' (1992) and ''[[The Simpsons]]'' (1992, 1993),<ref>{{cite news |last=Snierson |first=Dan |title=Elizabeth Taylor: 'Simpsons' exec producer Al Jean remembers the film legend's one-word turn as baby Maggie |url=https://ew.com/article/2011/03/24/elizabeth-taylor-simpsons-al-jean/ |access-date=December 1, 2018 |newspaper=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |date=March 24, 2011 |archive-date=November 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121111552/https://ew.com/article/2011/03/24/elizabeth-taylor-simpsons-al-jean/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and cameos in four CBS series – ''[[The Nanny]]'', ''[[Can't Hurry Love]]'', ''[[Murphy Brown]]'', and ''[[High Society (1995 TV series)|High Society]]'' – all airing on February 26, 1996, to promote her new fragrance.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shales |first=Tom |title=CBS Follows the Scent of Missing Pearls |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-28-ca-40800-story.html |access-date=December 1, 2018 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=February 28, 1996 |archive-date=August 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805073806/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-28-ca-40800-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Her last theatrically released film was the critically panned, but commercially successful, ''[[The Flintstones (film)|The Flintstones]]'' (1994), in which she played [[Pearl Slaghoople]] in a brief supporting role.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=436}} Taylor received American and British honors for her career: the [[AFI Life Achievement Award]] in 1993,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afi.com/laa/laa93.aspx |title=1993 Elizabeth Taylor Tribute |website=American Film Institute |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106190411/http://www.afi.com/laa/laa93.aspx |archive-date=November 6, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the [[Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award|Screen Actors Guild]] honorary award in 1997,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sagawards.org/nominees/life-achievement-award-recipient/34th |title=34th Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, 1997: Elizabeth Taylor |publisher=[[Screen Actors Guild]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=October 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002204405/https://www.sagawards.org/nominees/life-achievement-award-recipient/34th |url-status=live }}</ref> and a [[BAFTA Fellowship]] in 1999.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bafta.org/heritage/features/100-bafta-moments-24-days-to-go |title=100 BAFTA Moments – Dame Elizabeth Taylor Receives the BAFTA Fellowship |work=[[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]] |date=January 15, 2015 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=May 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507145221/http://www.bafta.org/heritage/features/100-bafta-moments-24-days-to-go |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2000, she was appointed a [[Commander (order)#United Kingdom|Dame Commander]] in the chivalric [[Order of the British Empire]] in the millennium New Year Honours List by [[Queen Elizabeth&nbsp;II]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=55710|date=December 30, 1999|page=34 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/750290.stm |title=Queen honours movie Dames |work=[[BBC News]] |date=May 16, 2000 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=April 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427053307/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/750290.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> After supporting roles in the television film ''[[These Old Broads]]'' (2001) and in the animated sitcom ''[[God, the Devil and Bob]]'' (2001), Taylor announced that she was retiring from acting to devote her time to philanthropy.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=436}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2880173.stm |title=Liz Taylor retires from acting |work=BBC News |date=March 24, 2003 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=March 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329154100/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2880173.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> She gave one last public performance in 2007, when she performed the play ''[[Love Letters (play)|Love Letters]]'' at an AIDS benefit at the Paramount Studios with [[James Earl Jones]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=436}}

==Other ventures==
===HIV/AIDS activism===
Taylor was one of the first celebrities to participate in HIV/AIDS activism and helped to raise more than $270&nbsp;million for the cause beginning in the mid-1980s.<ref name="woo20110324">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-elizabeth-taylorlong-20110324-story.html |title=From the Archives: Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79; legendary actress |access-date=December 1, 2018 |last=Woo |first=Elaine |date=March 23, 2011 |work=Los Angeles Times |archive-date=February 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214001616/https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-elizabeth-taylorlong-20110324-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She began her philanthropic work after becoming frustrated with the fact that very little was being done to combat the disease despite the media attention.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/lkl/date/2003-02-03/segment/00 |title=CNN Larry King Live: Interview with Dame Elizabeth Taylor |date=February 3, 2003 |publisher=[[CNN]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=July 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726050648/https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/lkl/date/2003-02-03/segment/00 |url-status=live }}</ref> She later explained for ''Vanity Fair'' that she "decided that with my name, I could open certain doors, that I was a commodity in myself – and I'm not talking as an actress. I could take the fame I'd resented and tried to get away from for so many years – but you can never get away from it – and use it to do some good. I wanted to retire, but the tabloids wouldn't let me. So, I thought: If you're going to screw me over, I'll use you."<ref name="vanityfair">{{cite news |first=Nancy |last=Collins |title=Liz's AIDS Odyssey |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1992/11/elizabeth-taylor-activism-aids |work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] |date=November 1992 |access-date=November 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213040206/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1992/11/elizabeth-taylor-activism-aids |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Taylor Testifying Before the House Budget Committee on HIV-AIDS Funding (5978837887) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Congresswoman [[Nancy Pelosi]] (left) alongside Taylor (right), who is testifying in 1990 before the [[House Budget Committee]] on HIV-AIDS Funding]]

Taylor began her philanthropic efforts in 1984, helping to organize and by hosting the first AIDS fundraiser to benefit the [[AIDS Project Los Angeles]].<ref name="vanityfair" /><ref name="advocate">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWMEAAAAMBAJ&q=the+advocate+elizabeth+taylor&pg=PT9 |title=Elizabeth Taylor: ''The Advocate'' Interview |access-date=December 1, 2018 |last=Yarbrough |first=Jeff |date= October 15, 1996 |work=[[The Advocate (magazine)|The Advocate]] |via=Google Books}}</ref> In August 1985, she and [[Michael S. Gottlieb|Michael Gottlieb]] founded the National AIDS Research Foundation after her friend and former co-star Rock Hudson announced that he was dying of the disease.<ref name="vanityfair" /><ref name="advocate" /> The following month, the foundation merged with [[Mathilde Krim]]'s AIDS foundation to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).<ref name="amfar">{{cite web |url=https://www.amfar.org/amfar-introduction-and-history/ |title=A Brief History of amfAR |date=February 17, 2022 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |work=[[amfAR]] |archive-date=May 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528013527/https://www.amfar.org/amfAR-Introduction-and-History/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="timeline">{{cite web |url=https://elizabethtayloraidsfoundation.org/timeline/ |title=Timeline |publisher=The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=February 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223084944/https://elizabethtayloraidsfoundation.org/timeline/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> As amfAR's focus is on research funding, Taylor founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) in 1991 to raise awareness and to provide support services for people with HIV/AIDS, paying for its overhead costs herself.<ref name="vanityfair" /><ref name="advocate" /><ref name="unaids">{{cite web |url=http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2015/january/20150126_ETAF |title=A look inside The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation |date=January 26, 2015 |website=[[UNAIDS]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=February 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223084958/https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2015/january/20150126_ETAF |url-status=live }}</ref> Since her death, her estate has continued to fund ETAF's work and donates 25% of royalties from the use of her image and likeness to the foundation.<ref name="unaids" /> In addition to her work for people affected by HIV/AIDS in the United States, Taylor was instrumental in expanding amfAR's operations to other countries; ETAF also operates internationally.<ref name="vanityfair" />

Taylor testified before the [[United States Senate|Senate]] and [[United States House of Representatives|House]] for the [[Ryan White Care Act]] in 1986, 1990, and 1992.<ref name="timeline" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://hab.hrsa.gov/livinghistory/timeline/legislation_hist.htm |title=Ryan White CARE Act: a Legislative History |publisher=[[Health Resources and Services Administration]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=October 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022082358/https://hab.hrsa.gov/livinghistory/timeline/legislation_hist.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> She persuaded President [[Ronald Reagan]] to acknowledge the disease for the first time in a speech in 1987, and she publicly criticized presidents [[George H.&nbsp;W. Bush]] and [[Bill Clinton]] for lack of interest in combatting the disease.<ref name="vanityfair" /><ref name="advocate" /> Taylor also founded the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center to offer free HIV/AIDS testing and care at the [[Whitman-Walker Clinic]] in Washington, DC, and the Elizabeth Taylor Endowment Fund for the [[UCLA]] Clinical AIDS Research and Education Center in Los Angeles.<ref name="timeline" /> In 2015, Taylor's business partner [[Kathy Ireland]] claimed that Taylor ran an illegal "underground network" that distributed medications to Americans suffering from HIV/AIDS during the 1980s, when the [[Food and Drug Administration]] had not yet approved them.<ref>{{cite news |title=Elizabeth Taylor 'ran Dallas Buyers Club-style HIV drugs network from her home' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/03/elizabeth-taylor-dallas-buyers-club-hiv-aids-drugs-ring |work=The Guardian |first=Peter |last=Walker |date=December 3, 2015 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204092549/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/03/elizabeth-taylor-dallas-buyers-club-hiv-aids-drugs-ring |url-status=live }}</ref> The claim was challenged by several people, including amfAR's former vice-president for development and external affairs, Taylor's former publicist, and activists who were involved in [[Project Inform]] in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref>{{cite news |first=Walter |last=Armstrong |title=Did Liz Taylor Really Run a Bel Air Buyers Club for AIDS Meds, As Kathy Ireland Claimed? |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2015/12/truth-about-liz-taylors-aids-safe-house.html |work=New York Intelligencer |date=December 10, 2015 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119190155/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2015/12/truth-about-liz-taylors-aids-safe-house.html |archive-date=November 19, 2018 |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref>

Taylor was honored with several awards for her philanthropic work. She was made a Knight of the French [[Legion of Honour]] in 1987, and received the [[Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award]] in 1993, the Screen Actors' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanitarian service in 1997, the [[GLAAD Vanguard Award]] in 2000, and the [[Presidential Citizens Medal]] in 2001.<ref name="timeline" />

==Personal life==
===Marriages, relationships, and children===

Throughout her career, Taylor's personal life was the subject of constant media attention. She was married eight times to seven men, had four children, [[converted to Judaism]] and endured several serious illnesses. According to biographer Alexander Walker, "Whether she liked it or not ... marriage is the matrix of the myth that began surrounding Elizabeth Taylor from [when she was sixteen]."{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=126}} In 1948, MGM arranged for her to date American football champion [[Glenn Davis (halfback)|Glenn Davis]] and she announced plans for them to marry once he returned from [[Korea]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 19, 1948 |title=In Hollywood: Elizabeth Taylor to Wed Glenn Davis on His Return |page=18 |work=The Tampa Times}}</ref> The following year, Taylor was briefly engaged to William Pawley&nbsp;Jr., son of US ambassador [[William&nbsp;D. Pawley]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 20, 1949 |title=Break Confirmed: Young Pawley Admits He's Taylor's Ex-Fiance |page=24 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=75–88}} Film tycoon [[Howard Hughes]] also wanted to marry her, and he offered to pay her parents a six-figure sum of money if she were to become his wife.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=81–82}} Taylor declined the offer but was otherwise eager to marry young, as her "rather puritanical upbringing and beliefs" made her believe that "love was synonymous with marriage."<ref name="lifemag" /> Taylor later described herself as being "emotionally immature" during this time, due to her sheltered childhood, and believed that she could gain independence from her parents and MGM through marriage.<ref name="lifemag" />

Taylor was 18 years old when she married [[Conrad Hilton Jr.|Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr.]], heir to the [[Hilton Hotels]] chain, at the [[Church of the Good Shepherd (Beverly Hills, California)|Church of the Good Shepherd]] in Beverly Hills on May 6, 1950.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harrison |first=Scott |orig-date=November 16, 2011 |date=March 8, 2018 |url=https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-elizabeth-taylor-gets-married-20171219-story.html |title=From the Archives: Elizabeth Taylor gets married |work=Los Angeles Times |url-status=live |archive-date=May 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519101638/https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-elizabeth-taylor-gets-married-20171219-story.html}}</ref>{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=106–112}} MGM organized the large and expensive wedding, which became a major media event.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=106–112}} In the weeks after their wedding, Taylor realized that she had made a mistake; not only did she and Hilton have few interests in common, but he was also abusive and a [[heavy drinker]].{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=113–119}} Taylor suffered a [[miscarriage]] during one of his violent outbursts.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kuczynski |first=Alex |date=September 29, 2002 |title=Good Times and Bum Times, but She's Here |language=en |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/29/style/good-times-and-bum-times-but-she-s-here.html |access-date=August 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406085239/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/29/style/good-times-and-bum-times-but-she-s-here.html |archive-date=April 6, 2019 |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hadleigh |first=Boze |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTUpDwAAQBAJ&dq=elizabeth+taylor+nicky+hilton+miscarriage&pg=PA101 |title=Elizabeth Taylor: Tribute to a Legend |date=October 20, 2017 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4930-3106-1 |page=101 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mann |first=William J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8Lh_2ZP-qoC&dq=elizabeth+taylor+nicky+hilton+miscarriage&pg=PA120 |title=How to be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood |year=2009 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-13464-2 |page=120 |language=en}}</ref> She announced their separation on December 14, 1950,<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 15, 1950 |title=TO DIVORCE NICK HILTON; Elizabeth Taylor Rules Out Possibility of Reconciliation |work=The New York Times |language=en |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/12/15/archives/to-divorce-nick-hilton-elizabeth-taylor-rules-out-possibility-of.html |access-date=August 20, 2023 |archive-date=August 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820002755/https://www.nytimes.com/1950/12/15/archives/to-divorce-nick-hilton-elizabeth-taylor-rules-out-possibility-of.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and was granted a divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty on January 29, 1951, eight months after their wedding.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Laura C. |last=Smith |date=January 26, 1996 |title=Elizabeth Taylor's divorce from Nicky Hilton |url=https://ew.com/article/1996/01/26/elizabeth-taylors-divorce-nicky-hilton/ |access-date=August 20, 2023 |website=EW.com |language=en |archive-date=August 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240810011509/https://ew.com/article/1996/01/26/elizabeth-taylors-divorce-nicky-hilton/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=120–125}}

Taylor married her second husband, British actor [[Michael Wilding]] – a man 20 years her senior – in a low-key ceremony at [[Caxton Hall]] in London on February 21, 1952.{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=139}} She had first met him in 1948 while filming ''The Conspirator'' in England, and their relationship began when she returned to film ''Ivanhoe'' in 1951.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=131–133}} Taylor found their age gap appealing. She wanted "the calm and quiet and security of friendship" from their relationship;<ref name="lifemag" /> he hoped that the marriage would aid his career in Hollywood.{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=136}} They had two sons: Michael Howard (born January 6, 1953) and Christopher Edward (born February 27, 1955; Taylor's 23rd birthday).{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=148,160}} As Taylor grew older and more confident in herself, she began to drift apart from Wilding, whose failing career was also a source of marital strife.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=160–165}} When she was away filming ''Giant'' in 1955, gossip magazine ''[[Confidential (magazine)|Confidential]]'' caused a scandal by claiming that he had entertained strippers at their home.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=164–165}} Taylor and Wilding announced their separation on July 18, 1956, and were divorced on January 26, 1957.{{sfn|Kelley|1981|p=128}}

[[File:Liz Taylor, Liza Todd and family by Toni Frissell, 1957.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Taylor with her third husband Mike Todd and her three children in 1957]]

Taylor was three months pregnant when she married her third husband, theatre and film producer [[Mike Todd]], in [[Acapulco, Guerrero]], Mexico, on February 2, 1957.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=178–180}} They had one daughter, Elizabeth "Liza" Frances (born August 6, 1957).{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=186}} Todd, known for publicity stunts, encouraged the media attention to their marriage; for example, in June 1957, he threw a birthday party at [[Madison Square Garden (1925)|Madison Square Garden]], which was attended by 18,000 guests and broadcast on CBS.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=5–6}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=188}} His death in a plane crash on March 22, 1958, left Taylor devastated.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=5–6}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=193–202}} She was comforted by a friend of Todd's and hers, singer [[Eddie Fisher]], with whom she soon began an affair.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=7–9}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=201–210}} Fisher was still married to actress [[Debbie Reynolds]], who was one of Taylor's closest friends at the time. The affair resulted in a public scandal, with Taylor being branded a "homewrecker."{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=7–9}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=201–210}} Taylor and Fisher were married at the Temple Beth Sholom in [[Las Vegas]] on May 12, 1959; she later stated that she married him only due to her grief.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=7–9}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=201–210}}<ref name="lifemag" /> Taylor and Reynolds would reconcile in the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nordyke |first=Kimberly |date=March 24, 2011 |title=Debbie Reynolds Reveals How She Forgave Elizabeth Taylor |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/debbie-reynolds-reveals-how-she-171252/ |access-date=March 11, 2025 |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |language=en-US |archive-date=March 24, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250324090225/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/debbie-reynolds-reveals-how-she-171252/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

While filming ''Cleopatra'' in Italy in 1962, Taylor began an affair with her co-star, Welsh actor [[Richard Burton]], although Burton was also married. Rumors about the affair began to circulate in the press, and were confirmed by a paparazzi shot of them on a yacht in [[Ischia]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=27–34}}{{sfn|Sternheimer|2015|p=174}} According to sociologist [[Ellis Cashmore]], the publication of the photograph was a "turning point", beginning a new era in which it became difficult for celebrities to keep their personal lives separate from their public images.{{sfn|Sternheimer|2015|p=174}} The scandal caused Taylor and Burton to be condemned for "erotic vagrancy" by the [[Holy See|Vatican]], with calls also in the US Congress to bar them from re-entering the country.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=36}} Taylor was granted a divorce from Fisher on March 5, 1964, in [[Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco]], Mexico, and she married Burton ten days later in a private ceremony at the [[Ritz-Carlton Montreal]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=99–100}} Burton subsequently adopted Liza Todd and Maria McKeown (born 1961), a German orphan whose adoption process Taylor had begun while married to Fisher.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/elizabeth-taylors-unseen-role-mother/story?id=13223481 |title=Elizabeth Taylor's Unseen Role: Mother |access-date=December 1, 2018 |first=Sheila |last=Marikar |date=March 28, 2011 |work=ABC News |archive-date=November 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107142431/https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/elizabeth-taylors-unseen-role-mother/story?id=13223481 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/qampa-an-update-on-elizabeth-taylors-four-children/1064792 |title=Q&A: An update on Elizabeth Taylor's four children |access-date=December 1, 2018 |date=January 12, 2010 |newspaper=St. Petersburg Times |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216032404/http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/qampa-an-update-on-elizabeth-taylors-four-children/1064792 |archive-date=February 16, 2017}}</ref>

Dubbed "Liz and Dick" by the media, Taylor and Burton starred together in eleven films and led a jet-set lifestyle, spending millions on "furs, diamonds, paintings, designer clothes, travel, food, liquor, a yacht, and a jet."{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=193}} Sociologist Karen Sternheimer states that they "became a cottage industry of speculation about their alleged life of excess. From reports of massive spending [...] affairs, and even an open marriage, the couple came to represent a new era of 'gotcha' celebrity coverage, where the more personal the story, the better."{{sfn|Sternheimer|2015|pp=200–201}} After divorcing for the first time in June 1974, they reconciled and remarried in [[Kasane]], Botswana, on October 10, 1975.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=376, 391–394}} The second marriage lasted less than a year, ending in divorce in July 1976.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=384–385, 406}} Taylor and Burton's relationship was often referred to as the "marriage of the century" by the media, and she later stated, "After Richard, the men in my life were just there to hold the coat, to open the door. All the men after Richard were really just company."{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=vii, 437}} Soon after her final divorce from Burton, Taylor met her sixth husband, [[John Warner]], a Republican politician from [[Virginia]].{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=402–405}} They were married on December 4, 1976, after which Taylor concentrated on working for his electoral campaign.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=402–405}} Once Warner had been elected to the Senate, she started to find her life as a politician's wife in Washington, D.C., boring and lonely; she became depressed, gained weight, and became increasingly addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=402–405}} Taylor and Warner separated in December 1981 and divorced on November 5, 1982.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=410–411}}

After the divorce from Warner, Taylor dated actors [[Anthony Geary]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://daytimeconfidential.com/2010/04/13/dc-interview-tony-geary-on-liz-taylor-ill-always-cherish-her|title=DC Interview: Tony Geary on Liz Taylor: "I'll Always Cherish Her"|work=Daytime Confidential|date=March 17, 2015|orig-date=April 12, 2010|first=Jillian|last=Bowe|archive-date=April 8, 2023|access-date=April 8, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408054145/https://daytimeconfidential.com/2010/04/13/dc-interview-tony-geary-on-liz-taylor-ill-always-cherish-her|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[George Hamilton (actor)|George Hamilton]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/george-hamilton-says-of-previous-flame-elizabeth-taylor-a-year-with-her-could-fill-a-lifetime-38597|title=George Hamilton Says of Previous Flame Elizabeth Taylor, "A Year With Her Could Fill a Lifetime"|work=Closer|date=May 23, 2014|access-date=April 8, 2023|archive-date=April 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411045647/https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/george-hamilton-says-of-previous-flame-elizabeth-taylor-a-year-with-her-could-fill-a-lifetime-38597/|url-status=live}}</ref> and was engaged to Mexican lawyer Victor Luna in 1983–1984,{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=422–434}} and New York businessman Dennis Stein in 1985.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=August 12, 1991 |url=https://people.com/archive/eight-is-enough-vol-36-no-5/ |title=Eight Is Enough |magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201044026/https://people.com/archive/eight-is-enough-vol-36-no-5/ |archive-date=December 1, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She met her seventh and last husband, construction worker [[Larry Fortensky]], at the Betty Ford Center in 1988.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=437}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=465–466}} They were married at the [[Neverland Ranch]] of her close friend [[Michael Jackson]] on October 6, 1991.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McMillan |first=Penelope |date=October 7, 1991 |title=Amid Wedding Hoopla, a Town Goes Hollywood : Ceremony: Liz Taylor-Larry Fortensky vows draw the star-struck and airborne onlookers to Santa Ynez Valley. |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-07-mn-78-story.html |archive-date=August 20, 2023 |access-date=August 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820015757/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-07-mn-78-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The wedding was again subject to intense media attention, with one photographer parachuting to the ranch and Taylor selling the wedding pictures to ''[[People (magazine)|People]]'' for $1&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|index=US|value=1|start_year=1991|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation year|index=US}}), which she used to start her AIDS foundation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=KC |date=October 21, 2014 |title=Elizabeth Taylor & Michael Jackson at Her Final Wedding: Never-Before-Seen Photos |url=https://people.com/celebrity/elizabeth-taylor-michael-jackson-at-her-final-wedding-never-before-seen-photos/ |website=People |access-date=August 20, 2023 |archive-date=August 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820015756/https://people.com/celebrity/elizabeth-taylor-michael-jackson-at-her-final-wedding-never-before-seen-photos/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=timeline/> Taylor and Fortensky divorced on October 31, 1996,{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=437}} but remained in contact for life.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.katiecallahanandco.com/2019/05/wedding-wednesday-elizabeth-taylor-and-larry-fortensky/|title=Wedding Wednesday: Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky|date=May 15, 2019|publisher=Katie Callahan & Co.|access-date=May 2, 2020|archive-date=June 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629213315/https://www.katiecallahanandco.com/2019/05/wedding-wednesday-elizabeth-taylor-and-larry-fortensky/|url-status=dead}}</ref> She attributed the split to her painful hip operations and his [[obsessive-compulsive disorder]].<ref>''[[20/20 (American TV program)|20/20]]'', February 14, 1997.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0101/15/lkl.00.html|title=Elizabeth Taylor Discusses Her Life and Career|publisher=CNN.com|date=January 15, 2001|access-date=May 2, 2020|archive-date=November 21, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121092358/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0101/15/lkl.00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the winter of 1999, Fortensky underwent brain surgery after falling off a balcony and was comatose for six weeks; Taylor immediately notified the hospital she would personally guarantee his medical expenses.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Liz+rushes+to+the+aid+of+stricken+ex+husband+Larry%3B+It%27s+showbuzz.-a060202098|title=Liz rushes to the aid of stricken ex husband Larry|newspaper=[[Sunday Mercury]]|via=[[thefreelibrary.com]]|date=March 14, 1999|access-date=May 2, 2020|archive-date=July 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731001326/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Liz+rushes+to+the+aid+of+stricken+ex+husband+Larry%3B+It%27s+showbuzz.-a060202098|url-status=live}}</ref> At the end of 2010, she wrote him a letter that read: "You're a part of my life that cannot be carved out nor do I ever wish it to be."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://elizabethtaylor.com/elizabeth-taylors-last-walk-down-the-aisle/|title=Elizabeth Taylor's Last Walk Down the Aisle|website=ElizabethTaylor.com|date=November 2023|access-date=January 19, 2024|archive-date=January 19, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119213052/https://elizabethtaylor.com/elizabeth-taylors-last-walk-down-the-aisle/|url-status=live}}</ref> Taylor's last phone call with Fortensky was on February 7, 2011, one day before she checked into the hospital for what turned out to be her final stay. He told her she would outlive him.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.etonline.com/news/110067_Larry_Fortensky_Breaks_Silence_on_Ex_Wife_Elizabeth_Taylor|title=Larry Fortensky Breaks Silence on Ex-Wife Elizabeth Taylor|website=etonline.com|date=April 25, 2011|access-date=May 2, 2020|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124001828/https://www.etonline.com/news/110067_Larry_Fortensky_Breaks_Silence_on_Ex_Wife_Elizabeth_Taylor|url-status=live}}</ref> Although they had been divorced for almost 15 years, Taylor left Fortensky $825,000 in her will.<ref>{{cite web|last=Alpert|first=Lukas I.|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/elizabeth-taylor-wills-800k-husband-larry-fortensky-article-1.110529|title=Elizabeth Taylor wills more than $800K to her last husband, Larry Fortensky|website=[[New York Daily News]]|date=April 24, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151201163444/https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/elizabeth-taylor-wills-800k-husband-larry-fortensky-article-1.110529|archive-date=December 1, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the last years of her life, she had a platonic friendship with the actor [[Colin Farrell]]. On the phone, they often talked about the topic of insomnia and how to deal with it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selby |first=Jenn |date=December 17, 2013 |title=Colin Farrell reveals 'affair' with Elizabeth Taylor: 'She was my last romantic relationship' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/colin-farrell-reveals-affair-with-elizabeth-taylor-she-was-my-last-romantic-relationship-9010620.html |access-date=August 13, 2024 |website=The Independent |language=en |archive-date=August 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809200002/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/colin-farrell-reveals-affair-with-elizabeth-taylor-she-was-my-last-romantic-relationship-9010620.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Judaism===
Taylor was raised as a Christian Scientist and [[converted to Judaism]] (Reform Branch) in 1959.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=173–174}}{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=206–210}} Although two of her husbands – Mike Todd and Eddie Fisher – were Jewish, Taylor stated that she did not convert because of them, and had wanted to do so "for a long time",<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.jta.org/2011/03/23/arts-entertainment/actress-elizabeth-taylor-dies |title=Actress Elizabeth Taylor dies |access-date=December 1, 2018 |last=Oyster |first=Marcy |date=March 23, 2011 |work=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |archive-date=August 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825013131/https://www.jta.org/2011/03/23/arts-entertainment/actress-elizabeth-taylor-dies |url-status=live}}</ref> and that there was "comfort and dignity and hope for me in this ancient religion that [has] survived for four thousand years.{{nbs}}... I feel as if I have been a Jew all my life."{{sfn|Heymann|1995|p=195}} Walker believed that Taylor was influenced in her decision by her godfather, [[Victor Cazalet#Godfather to Elizabeth Taylor|Victor Cazalet]], and her mother, who were active supporters of [[Zionism]] during her childhood.{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=14}}

Following her conversion, Taylor became an active supporter of Jewish and Zionist causes.<ref name="jta">{{cite news |url=https://www.jta.org/2011/03/23/news-opinion/the-telegraph/in-the-jta-archive-liz-taylor-says-trade-me-for-entebbe-hostages |title=In the JTA Archive: Liz Taylor says trade me for Entebbe hostages |last=Eden |first=Ami |date=March 23, 2011 |agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626030131/https://www.jta.org/2011/03/23/news-opinion/the-telegraph/in-the-jta-archive-liz-taylor-says-trade-me-for-entebbe-hostages |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="wapoburstein">{{cite news |last=Burstein |first=Nathan |title=Elizabeth Taylor and Israel, a lasting love |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/elizabeth-taylor-and-israel-a-lasting-love/2011/03/24/AFbnZZYB_story.html |access-date=December 1, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=March 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404072952/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/elizabeth-taylor-and-israel-a-lasting-love/2011/03/24/AFbnZZYB_story.html |archive-date=April 4, 2011 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1959, she purchased $100,000 worth of [[Israel Bonds|Israeli bonds]], which led to her films being banned by Arab countries throughout the Middle East and Africa.{{sfn|Kelley|1981|p=134}}<ref name="wapoburstein" /> She was also barred from entering Egypt to film ''Cleopatra'' in 1962, but the ban was lifted two years later after the Egyptian officials deemed that the film brought positive publicity for the country.<ref name="jta" /> In addition to purchasing bonds, Taylor helped to raise money for organizations such as the [[Jewish National Fund]],<ref name="jta" /> and sat on the [[board of trustees]] of the [[Simon Wiesenthal Center]].<ref name="swc">{{cite web |url=http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=6478433&ct=9227781 |title=Wiesenthal Center Mourns the Passing of Elizabeth Taylor, Longtime Friend and Supporter |date=March 23, 2011 |publisher=[[Simon Wiesenthal Center]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926122741/http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=6478433&ct=9227781 |archive-date=September 26, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Taylor also advocated for the right of [[Soviet Jews]] to [[Aliyah|emigrate to Israel]], cancelled a visit to the USSR because of its condemnation of Israel due to the [[Six-Day War]], and signed a letter protesting the [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379]] of 1975.<ref name="jta" /> In 1976, she offered herself as a replacement hostage after more than 100 Israeli civilians were taken hostage in the [[Entebbe raid|Entebbe skyjacking]].<ref name="jta" /> She had a small role in the television film made about the incident, ''[[Victory at Entebbe]]'' (1976), and narrated ''[[Genocide (1981 film)|Genocide]]'' (1981), an Academy Award-winning documentary about the [[Holocaust]].<ref name="swc" />

===Jewelry and fashion brands===
[[File:Elizabeth Taylor 1.JPG|thumb|upright=0.7|Taylor in a studio publicity photo in 1953]]

Taylor is a fashion icon both for her film costumes and personal style.<ref name="NYThoryn">{{cite web |last=Horyn |first=Cathy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/fashion/24LIZSTYLE.html |title=An Alluring Beauty Exempt From Fashion's Rules |work=The New York Times |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305165621/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/fashion/24LIZSTYLE.html |archive-date=March 5, 2014 |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="vesilindLAT">{{cite web |last=Vesilind |first=Emili |url=https://www.latimes.com/fashion/alltherage/la-ig-elizabeth-taylor-20110324-story.html |title=As a fashion icon, Elizabeth Taylor could turn simple into sexy, elegance into excess |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 14, 2014 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202070823/https://www.latimes.com/fashion/alltherage/la-ig-elizabeth-taylor-20110324-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="guardianfox">{{cite web |last=Fox |first=Imogen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/23/elizabeth-taylor-style-icon-hollywood |title=Elizabeth Taylor: style icon |work=The Guardian |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626110848/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/23/elizabeth-taylor-style-icon-hollywood |url-status=live }}</ref> At MGM, her costumes were mostly designed by [[Helen Rose]] and [[Edith Head]],<ref name="vogue">{{cite web |last=Cosgrave |first=Bronwyn |url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/elizabeth-taylors-style-and-fashion-bronwyn-cosgrave |title=End Of An Era |work=[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]] |date=March 24, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202112702/https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/elizabeth-taylors-style-and-fashion-bronwyn-cosgrave |url-status=live }}</ref> and in the 1960s by [[Irene Sharaff]].<ref name="vesilindLAT" /><ref>{{cite web |last=McAndrew |first=Erin |type=press release |url=https://www.christies.com/about-us/press-archive/details?PressReleaseID=5012 |title=The Icon And Her Haute Couture – The Collection Of Elizabeth Taylor |website=[[Christie's]] |date=September 20, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202070700/https://www.christies.com/about-us/press-archive/details?PressReleaseID=5012 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Her most famous costumes include a white ball gown in ''A Place in the Sun'' (1951), a Grecian dress in ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' (1958), a green A-line dress in ''Suddenly Last Summer'' (1959), and a slip and a fur coat in ''BUtterfield 8'' (1960).<ref name="NYThoryn" /><ref name="vesilindLAT" /><ref name="guardianfox" /> Her look in ''Cleopatra'' (1963) started a trend for "cat-eye" makeup done with black eyeliner.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=135–136}}

Taylor collected jewelry through her life. She owned the {{convert|33.19|carat|g|adj=on}} [[Krupp Diamond]], the {{convert|69.42|carat|g|adj=on}} [[Taylor–Burton Diamond]], and the {{convert|50|carat|g|adj=on}} [[La Peregrina Pearl]], all three of which were gifts from husband Richard Burton.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=237–238, 258–259, 275–276}} She also published a book about her collection, ''My Love Affair with Jewelry'', in 2002.<ref name="vesilindLAT" /><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Elizabeth Taylor: A Life in Jewels |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/photos/2011/11/elizabeth-taylor-jewels-slideshow-201111 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |first=Ruth |last=Peltason |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=November 23, 2011 |archive-date=July 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714100916/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/photos/2011/11/elizabeth-taylor-jewels-slideshow-201111 |url-status=live }}</ref> Taylor helped to popularise the work of fashion designers [[Valentino Garavani]]<ref name="vogue" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.valentinogaravanimuseum.com/features/1297/elizabeth-taylor |title=Elizabeth Taylor |publisher=Valentino Garavani Museum |date=March 24, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204073829/http://www.valentinogaravanimuseum.com/features/1297/elizabeth-taylor |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Halston]].<ref name="vesilindLAT" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Wohlfert |first=Lee |url=https://people.com/archive/cover-story-dressing-the-stars-vol-7-no-24/ |title=Cover Story: Dressing the Stars |work=People |date=June 20, 1977 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921150751/https://people.com/archive/cover-story-dressing-the-stars-vol-7-no-24/ |archive-date=September 21, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She received a Lifetime of Glamour Award from the [[Council of Fashion Designers of America]] (CFDA) in 1997.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cowles |first=Charlotte |url=https://www.thecut.com/2011/03/elizabeth_taylor.html |title=A Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor: Fashion Icon |work=New York |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=November 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113152019/https://www.thecut.com/2011/03/elizabeth_taylor.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After her death, her jewelry and fashion collections were auctioned by [[Christie's]] to benefit her AIDS foundation, ETAF. The jewelry sold for a record-breaking sum of $156.8&nbsp;million,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.christies.com/elizabethtaylor/saleroom.aspx |title=The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor |website=Christie's |date=December 13, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=January 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115200014/https://www.christies.com/elizabethtaylor/saleroom.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> and the clothes and accessories for a further $5.5&nbsp;million.<ref name="christieshc">{{cite web |url=https://www.christies.com/elizabethtaylor/saleroom_haute.aspx |title=The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor: The Icon and her Haute Couture, Evening Sale (III) |publisher=Christie's |date=December 14, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=November 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181112200922/https://www.christies.com/elizabethtaylor/saleroom_haute.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Elizabeth Taylor at Neiman Marcus store, Dallas.jpg|thumb|Taylor promoting her first fragrance, Passion, in 1987]]

Taylor created a collection of fragrances whose success helped establish the trend of celebrity-branded perfumes in her later years.<ref name="mic">{{cite web|url=https://www.mic.com/articles/188527/why-celebrity-fragrances-wouldnt-exist-without-elizabeth-taylor|title=Why celebrity fragrances wouldn't exist without Elizabeth Taylor|work=Mic|last=Lubitz|first=Rachel|date=March 21, 2018|access-date=February 19, 2022|archive-date=February 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219215004/https://www.mic.com/articles/188527/why-celebrity-fragrances-wouldnt-exist-without-elizabeth-taylor|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="guardianperfume">{{cite news |first=Sali |last=Hughes |title=Elizabeth Taylor: the original celebrity perfumer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/29/elizabeth-taylor-original-celebrity-perfumer |work=The Guardian |date=March 29, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202070539/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/29/elizabeth-taylor-original-celebrity-perfumer |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Lisa Respers |last=France |title=Obsessions: Elizabeth Taylor, queen of cologne |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/03/25/taylor.celebrity.scents/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507000241/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/03/25/taylor.celebrity.scents/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 7, 2011 |publisher=CNN |date=March 25, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> In collaboration with [[Elizabeth Arden, Inc.]], she began by launching two best-selling perfumes – Passion in 1987, and [[White Diamonds]] in 1991.<ref name="guardianperfume" /> Taylor personally supervised the creation and production of each of the 11 fragrances marketed in her name.<ref name="guardianperfume" /> According to biographers Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, she earned more money through the fragrance collection than during her entire acting career,{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|p=436}} and upon her death, the British newspaper ''The Guardian'' estimated that the majority of her estimated $600&nbsp;million–$1&nbsp;billion estate consisted of revenue from fragrances.<ref name="guardianperfume" /> In 2005, Taylor also founded a jewelry company, House of Taylor, in collaboration with Kathy Ireland and Jack and Monty Abramov.<ref>{{cite web |title=House of Taylor Jewelry, Inc. Established Through Merger With Nurescell Inc. |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/house-of-taylor-jewelry-inc-established-through-merger-with-nurescell-inc-54488327.html |agency=[[PR Newswire]] |date=May 23, 2005 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117034108/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/house-of-taylor-jewelry-inc-established-through-merger-with-nurescell-inc-54488327.html |archive-date=November 17, 2015}}</ref>

===Illness and death===
[[File:Elizabeth Taylor Walk of Fame.jpg|thumb|left|Flowers were placed on Taylor's star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] after she died in 2011]]

Taylor struggled with health problems for most of her life.{{r|woo20110324}} She was born with [[scoliosis]]<ref name="teldeath">{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/8401217/Elizabeth-Taylor-history-of-health-problems.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/8401217/Elizabeth-Taylor-history-of-health-problems.html |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Elizabeth Taylor: history of health problems |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and broke her back while filming ''National Velvet'' in 1944.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=40–47}} The fracture went undetected for several years, although it caused her chronic back problems.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=40–47}} In 1956, she underwent an operation in which some of her spinal discs were removed and replaced with donated bone.{{sfn|Walker|1990|p=175}} Taylor was also prone to other illnesses and injuries, which often necessitated surgery; in 1961, she survived a near-fatal bout of pneumonia that required a tracheotomy.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=??}} She was [[Phage therapy|treated]] for the pneumonia with [[bacteriophage]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Twilley|first=Nicola|date=December 14, 2020|title=When a Virus Is the Cure|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/21/when-a-virus-is-the-cure|access-date=December 15, 2020|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us|quote=Still, as late as 1961, phage therapy had some American adherents, including Elizabeth Taylor, who received a dose of staph bacteriophage when she developed near-fatal pneumonia during the filming of ''Cleopatra'' and needed an emergency tracheotomy.|archive-date=December 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215005722/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/21/when-a-virus-is-the-cure|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1968 she underwent an emergency hysterectomy, which exacerbated her back problems and contributed to hip problems. She became addicted to alcohol and prescription pain killers and tranquilizers, for which she was treated at the [[Betty Ford Center]] for seven weeks from December 1983 to January 1984, becoming the first celebrity to openly admit herself to the clinic.{{sfn|Kashner|Schoenberger|2010|pp=424–425}} She relapsed later in the decade and entered rehabilitation again in 1988.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=366–368}} Taylor had gained weight by the 1970s, especially after her marriage to Senator John Warner. Taylor's weight gain was eventually between 70 and 90lbs, which was at the time a size 20 dress. Taylor later published a diet book about her experiences, ''Elizabeth Takes Off'' (1988).<ref name="tanabe20110324">{{cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/click/stories/1103/elizabeth_taylors_washington_life.html |title=Elizabeth Taylor's Washington life |access-date=December 1, 2018 |last=Tanabe |first=Karin |date=March 24, 2011 |work=[[Politico]] |archive-date=June 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630190850/http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1103/elizabeth_taylors_washington_life.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Aljean |last=Harmetz |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/20/garden/liz-taylor-at-55-thin-again-and-wiser.html |title=Liz Taylor at 55: Thin Again, and Wiser |work=The New York Times |date=January 20, 1988 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308032300/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/20/garden/liz-taylor-at-55-thin-again-and-wiser.html |archive-date=March 8, 2016 |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref> Taylor was a heavy smoker until she experienced a severe bout of pneumonia in 1990.<ref>{{cite book |last=Taraborrelli |first=J. Randy |title=Elizabeth: The Biography of Elizabeth Taylor |year=2007 |page=432}}</ref> According to her ex-cousin-in-law Sandra Souza, Taylor was still smoking [[menthol cigarette]]s in 1995.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/790514926 "Taylor-made for a soap"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250721020810/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/790514926/ |date=July 21, 2025 }}. ''Daily Mirror''. July 10, 1995. "Every morning, Liz smokes one menthol cigarette before getting dressed," Sandra explains. "Larry, on the other hand, starts smoking right after breakfast and doesn't stop until he falls asleep at night."</ref>

Taylor's health increasingly declined during the last two decades of her life and she rarely attended public events after 1996.<ref name="teldeath" /> Taylor had serious bouts of pneumonia in 1990 and 2000,<ref name="advocate" /> two [[Hip replacement surgery|hip replacement surgeries]] in the mid-1990s,{{r|woo20110324}} a surgery for a benign [[brain tumor]] in 1997,{{r|woo20110324}} and successful treatment for [[skin cancer]] in 2002.<ref name="teldeath" /> She used a wheelchair due to her back problems and was diagnosed with [[congestive heart failure]] in 2004.<ref name="BBCdeath">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-12833100 |title=Dame Elizabeth Taylor dies at the age of 79 |work=BBC News |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=July 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716161536/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-12833100 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="abc-death2">{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Taylor dies aged 79 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-03-24/elizabeth-taylor-dies-aged-79/2644128 |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |access-date=December 1, 2018 |date=March 24, 2011 |archive-date=September 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905070002/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-03-24/elizabeth-taylor-dies-aged-79/2644128 |url-status=live }}</ref> She died of the illness aged 79 on March 23, 2011, at [[Cedars-Sinai Medical Center]] in Los Angeles, six weeks after being hospitalized.<ref name="reutersdeath">{{cite news |last=Tourtellotte |first=Bob |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taylor/hollywood-legend-elizabeth-taylor-dies-at-79-idUSTRE72M3L120110324 |title=Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79 |work=Reuters |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118140416/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taylor/hollywood-legend-elizabeth-taylor-dies-at-79-idUSTRE72M3L120110324 |url-status=live }}</ref> Her funeral took place the following day at the [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]] in [[Glendale, California]]. The service was a private [[Bereavement in Judaism|Jewish ceremony]] presided by [[Rabbi]] [[Jerome Cutler]]. At Taylor's request, the ceremony began 15&nbsp;minutes behind schedule, as, according to her representative, "She even wanted to be late for her own funeral."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/03/24/taylor.funeral/ |title=Private burial service held for Elizabeth Taylor |date=March 25, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |publisher=CNN |archive-date=November 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191129051906/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/03/24/taylor.funeral/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> She was entombed in the cemetery's Great Mausoleum.<ref>{{cite news |first=Ewen |last=MacAskill |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/25/elizabeth-taylor-funeral-la-celebrity |title=Elizabeth Taylor's funeral takes place in LA's celebrity cemetery |work=The Guardian |date=March 25, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626030821/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/25/elizabeth-taylor-funeral-la-celebrity |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Los Angeles residence===
Taylor lived at [[700 Nimes Road]] in the [[Bel Air, Los Angeles|Bel Air]] district of Los Angeles from 1982 until her death in 2011. The art photographer [[Catherine Opie]] created an eponymous photographic study of the house in 2011.<ref name=AD11>{{cite news|url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/elizabeth-taylor-home-article|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329204841/https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/elizabeth-taylor-home-article|url-status=live|archive-date=March 29, 2020|title=Tour Elizabeth Taylor's House and Garden in Bel Air|date=January 25, 2016|first=Mitchell|last=Owens|work=[[Architectural Digest]]|access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref>

==Legacy==
{{quote box
|quote=More than anyone else I can think of, Elizabeth Taylor represents the complete movie phenomenon – what movies are as an art and an industry, and what they have meant to those of us who have grown up watching them in the dark... Like movies themselves, she's grown up with us, as we have with her. She's someone whose entire life has been played in a series of settings forever denied the fourth wall. Elizabeth Taylor is the most important character she's ever played.<ref>{{cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |author-link=Vincent Canby |title=Film View; Elizabeth Taylor – Her Life Is The Stuff Of Movies |work=The New York Times |page=1 |date=May 4, 1986 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/04/movies/film-view-elizabeth-taylor-her-life-is-the-stuff-of-movies.html |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710174556/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/04/movies/film-view-elizabeth-taylor-her-life-is-the-stuff-of-movies.html |url-status=live }}</ref>|source=—Vincent Canby, ''New York Times'', 1986
|bgcolor=#CCDDFF
|align=right
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|width=21em
}}

Taylor was one of the last stars of [[classical Hollywood cinema]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/elizabeth-taylor-a-star-in-a-category-of-her-own-dies-at-79 |title=Elizabeth Taylor, a star in a category of her own, dies at 79 |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=October 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031035112/https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/elizabeth-taylor-a-star-in-a-category-of-her-own-dies-at-79 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Seymour |first=Gene |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/23/seymour.elizabeth.liz.taylor/index.html |title=Elizabeth Taylor: The 'Last Star' |publisher=CNN |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=November 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106193607/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/23/seymour.elizabeth.liz.taylor/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and one of the first modern celebrities.<ref name="LATceleb">{{cite news |last=Gabler |first=Neal |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/25/entertainment/la-et-liz-celebrity-20110325 |title=Taylor's celebrity: her lasting legacy |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 25, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508202438/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/25/entertainment/la-et-liz-celebrity-20110325 |archive-date=May 8, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Kuntz |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/23/is-it-harder-to-be-a-celebrity-now/elizabeth-taylor-was-the-original-modern-celebrity |title=Elizabeth Taylor Was the Original Modern Celebrity |work=The New York Times |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307090127/https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/23/is-it-harder-to-be-a-celebrity-now/elizabeth-taylor-was-the-original-modern-celebrity |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |url-status=live}}; {{cite news |last=Frankel |first=Susannah |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/elizabeth-taylor-a-life-less-ordinary-2252366.html |title=Elizabeth Taylor: A life less ordinary |work=[[The Independent]] |date=October 26, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202073603/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/elizabeth-taylor-a-life-less-ordinary-2252366.html |url-status=live }}; {{cite news |last=JohnJoseph |first=La |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/mar/24/elizabeth-taylor-icon-talent |title=Elizabeth Taylor: the icon's icon |work=The Guardian |date=March 24, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305045011/https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/mar/24/elizabeth-taylor-icon-talent |url-status=live }}; {{cite news |last=Vaidyanathan |first=Rajini |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12829861 |title=How Elizabeth Taylor redefined celebrity |work=BBC News |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=March 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308075750/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12829861 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the era of the [[studio system]], she exemplified the classic film star. She was portrayed as different from "ordinary" people, and her public image was carefully crafted and controlled by MGM.{{sfn|Rojek|2012|p=177}} When the era of classical Hollywood ended in the 1960s, and paparazzi photography became a normal feature of media culture, Taylor came to define a new type of celebrity whose real private life was the focus of public interest.<ref name="LATceleb" />{{sfn|Cashmore|2006|p=75}}<ref name="cashmoreint">{{cite news |last=Sweeney |first=Tanya |url=https://www.independent.ie/life/cult-of-celebrity-spreads-the-velvet-rope-revolution-30329843.html |title=Cult of celebrity spreads: The velvet rope revolution |work=[[Irish Independent]] |date=June 8, 2014 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=August 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811065723/https://www.independent.ie/life/cult-of-celebrity-spreads-the-velvet-rope-revolution-30329843.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "More than for any film role," Adam Bernstein of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' wrote, "she became [[famous for being famous]], setting a media template for later generations of entertainers, models, and all variety of semi-somebodies."<ref name="postob">{{cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Adam |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/screen-legend-elizabeth-taylor-dies-at-age-79/2010/09/21/ABPFCYIB_story.html |title=Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=March 27, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=August 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810235626/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/screen-legend-elizabeth-taylor-dies-at-age-79/2010/09/21/ABPFCYIB_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Regardless of the acting awards she won during her career, Taylor's film performances were often overlooked by contemporary critics;<ref name="Gussow2" /><ref name="frenchobit">{{cite news |last=French |first=Philip |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/27/elizabeth-taylor-tribute-philip-french |title=Elizabeth Taylor: an enduring icon of Hollywood's golden age |work=The Guardian |date=March 24, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=November 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123034709/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/27/elizabeth-taylor-tribute-philip-french |url-status=live }}</ref> according to film historian [[Jeanine Basinger]], "No actress ever had a more difficult job in getting critics to accept her onscreen as someone other than Elizabeth Taylor... Her persona ate her alive."<ref name="postob" /> Her film roles often mirrored her personal life, and many critics continue to regard her as always playing herself, rather than acting.<ref name="LATceleb" /><ref name="postob" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Mathews |first=Tom Dewe |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/may/02/artsfeatures |title=She wasn't much of an actress, but... |work=The Guardian |date=May 2, 2000 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626082825/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/may/02/artsfeatures |url-status=live }}</ref> In contrast, [[Mel Gussow]] of ''The New York Times'' stated that "the range of [Taylor's] acting was surprisingly wide", despite the fact that she never received any professional training.<ref name="Gussow2" /> Film critic [[Peter Bradshaw]] called her "an actress of such sexiness it was an incitement to riot – sultry and queenly at the same time", and "a shrewd, intelligent, intuitive acting presence in her later years."<ref>{{cite news |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/23/elizabeth-taylor-cleopatra |title=Elizabeth Taylor: born to be Cleopatra |work=The Guardian |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626082918/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/23/elizabeth-taylor-cleopatra |url-status=live }}</ref> [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]] stated that "she had the range, nerve, and instinct that only [[Bette Davis]] had had before – and like Davis, Taylor was monster and empress, sweetheart and scold, idiot and wise woman."<ref>{{cite news |last=Thomson |first=David |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/24/elizabeth-taylor-david-thomson |title=Elizabeth Taylor: let the story melt away and just gaze |work=The Guardian |date=March 24, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626083011/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/24/elizabeth-taylor-david-thomson |url-status=live }}</ref> Five films in which she starred – ''Lassie Come Home'', ''National Velvet'', ''A Place in the Sun'', ''Giant'', and ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' – have been preserved in the [[National Film Registry]], and the American Film Institute has named her the seventh [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars|greatest female screen legend]].

[[File:PV, Jalisco, Mexico (2021) - 319.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Bust of Taylor in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico]]
Taylor has also been discussed by journalists and scholars interested in the role of women in Western society. [[Camille Paglia]] writes that Taylor was a "pre-feminist woman" who "wields the sexual power that feminism cannot explain and has tried to destroy. Through stars like Taylor, we sense the world-disordering impact of legendary women like [[Delilah]], [[Salome]], and Helen of Troy."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.salon.com/2011/03/24/camille_paglia_on_elizabeth_taylor/ |title=Paglia on Taylor: "A luscious, opulent, ripe fruit!" |work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |date=March 24, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=May 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511074645/https://www.salon.com/2011/03/24/camille_paglia_on_elizabeth_taylor/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In contrast, cultural critic M.G. Lord calls Taylor an "accidental feminist", stating that while she did not identify as a feminist, many of her films had feminist themes and "introduced a broad audience to feminist ideas."<ref name="lord">{{cite web |last=Lord |first=M.G. |url=https://mglord.com/the-accidental-feminist-how-elizabeth-taylor-raised-our-consciousness-and-we-were-too-distracted-by-her-beauty-to-notice/ |title=The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice |date=November 27, 2011 |publisher=mglord.com |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=March 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330021225/https://mglord.com/the-accidental-feminist-how-elizabeth-taylor-raised-our-consciousness-and-we-were-too-distracted-by-her-beauty-to-notice/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{efn|For example, ''National Velvet'' (1944) was about a girl attempting to compete in the Grand National despite gender discrimination; ''A Place in the Sun'' (1951) is "a cautionary tale from a time before women had ready access to birth control"; her character in ''BUtterfield 8'' (1960) is shown in control of her sexuality; ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1966) "depicts the anguish that befalls a woman when the only way she can express herself is through her husband's stalled career and children".<ref name="lord" />}} Similarly, Ben W. Heineman Jr. and Cristine Russell write in ''[[The Atlantic]]'' that her role in ''Giant'' "dismantled stereotypes about women and minorities."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/elizabeth-taylors-feisty-feminist-turn-in-em-giant-em/281024/|title=Elizabeth Taylor's Feisty, Feminist Turn in Giant|work=[[The Atlantic]]|date=November 5, 2013|access-date=December 1, 2018|archive-date=November 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102123616/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/elizabeth-taylors-feisty-feminist-turn-in-em-giant-em/281024/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Taylor is considered a [[gay icon]] and received widespread recognition for her HIV/AIDS activism.<ref name="postob" /><ref name="glaadobit">{{cite news |last=Kane |first=Matt |url=https://www.glaad.org/2011/03/24/dame-elizabeth-taylor-remembering-a-trailblazing-hivaids-advocate |title=Dame Elizabeth Taylor: Remembering a Trailblazing HIV/AIDS Advocate |publisher=[[GLAAD]] |date=March 24, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202075716/https://www.glaad.org/2011/03/24/dame-elizabeth-taylor-remembering-a-trailblazing-hivaids-advocate |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Green |first=Jessica |url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/03/23/elizabeth-taylor-remembered-as-extraordinary-gay-rights-ally/ |title=Elizabeth Taylor remembered as 'extraordinary' gay rights ally |work=[[PinkNews]] |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213214501/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/03/23/elizabeth-taylor-remembered-as-extraordinary-gay-rights-ally/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Stein |first=Joel |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2062458,00.html |title=Is It Possible To Become A Gay Icon? |magazine=Time |date=April 9, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=November 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103131518/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2062458,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After her death, [[GLAAD]] issued a statement saying that she "was an icon not only in Hollywood, but in the [[LGBT community]], where she worked to ensure that everyone was treated with the respect and dignity we all deserve",<ref name="glaadobit" /> and Sir [[Nick Partridge]] of the [[Terrence Higgins Trust]] called her "the first major star to publicly fight fear and prejudice towards AIDS."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-55823920110323 |title=Factbox – Reactions to death of Elizabeth Taylor |work=Reuters |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626083043/https://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-55823920110323 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to Paul Flynn of ''The Guardian'', she was "a new type of gay icon, one whose position is based not on tragedy, but on her work for the LGBTQ community."<ref>{{cite news |last=Flynn |first=Paul |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/23/elizabeth-taylor-aids-gay-icon |title=Elizabeth Taylor: gay icon |work=The Guardian |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=July 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726234249/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/23/elizabeth-taylor-aids-gay-icon |url-status=live }}</ref> Speaking of her charity work, former President Bill Clinton said at her death, "Elizabeth's legacy will live on in many people around the world whose lives will be longer and better because of her work and the ongoing efforts of those she inspired."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-12846499 |title='Great legend' Elizabeth Taylor remembered |work=BBC News |date=March 24, 2011 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-date=August 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816194533/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-12846499 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Et prints.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Taylor's signature, handprints, and footprints in the concrete in front of [[Grauman's Chinese Theatre]] in Los Angeles]]
Since Taylor's death, House of Taylor,<ref>{{Cite web |title=House of Taylor |url=https://elizabethtaylor.com/house-of-taylor/ |access-date=December 12, 2023 |website=Elizabeth Taylor |language=en |archive-date=December 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212215150/https://elizabethtaylor.com/house-of-taylor/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Elizabeth Taylor's estate, has preserved Taylor's legacy through content, partnerships, and products. The estate is managed by three trustees selected by Elizabeth prior to her death. They continue to be involved with The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Team |url=https://elizabethtayloraidsfoundation.org/team/ |access-date=December 12, 2023 |website=Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation |language=en-US |archive-date=December 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212220656/https://elizabethtayloraidsfoundation.org/team/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and oversee The Elizabeth Taylor Archive. In 2022, House of Taylor released ''Elizabeth The First'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spangler |first=Todd |date=September 15, 2022 |title=Katy Perry's 'Elizabeth the First' Series About Elizabeth Taylor Sets Premiere Date (Podcast News Roundup) |url=https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/katy-perry-elizabeth-taylor-podcast-premiere-date-news-roundup-1235373606/ |access-date=December 12, 2023 |website=Variety |language=en-US |archive-date=February 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212182510/https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/katy-perry-elizabeth-taylor-podcast-premiere-date-news-roundup-1235373606/ |url-status=live }}</ref> a 10-part podcast series with Imperative Entertainment and Kitty Purry Productions and narrated by [[Katy Perry]]. In December 2022, ''Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon'' by [[Kate Andersen Brower]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Ted |date=December 18, 2022 |title=Authorized Biography Shows How Elizabeth Taylor's Years In D.C. And Alarm Over The AIDS Crisis Led Her To Redefine Celebrity Activism |url=https://deadline.com/2022/12/elizabeth-taylor-biography-aids-activism-politics-ronald-reagan-1235201956/ |access-date=December 12, 2023 |website=Deadline |language=en-US |archive-date=December 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212215150/https://deadline.com/2022/12/elizabeth-taylor-biography-aids-activism-politics-ronald-reagan-1235201956/ |url-status=live }}</ref> the first Elizabeth Taylor biography authorized by the estate, was released.

In 2019, it was announced that [[Rachel Weisz]] would portray Taylor in ''A Special Relationship'', an upcoming film about Taylor's journey from actress to activist written by [[Simon Beaufoy]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=McNary |first=Dave |date=October 28, 2019 |title=Rachel Weisz to Play Elizabeth Taylor in Biopic 'A Special Relationship' |url=https://variety.com/2019/film/news/rachel-weisz-elizabeth-taylor-biopic-a-special-relationship-1203385147/ |access-date=December 12, 2023 |website=Variety |language=en-US |archive-date=May 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240511031107/https://variety.com/2019/film/news/rachel-weisz-elizabeth-taylor-biopic-a-special-relationship-1203385147/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2024, it was announced that [[Kim Kardashian]] would executive produce and feature in a docuseries about Taylor. Commissioned by the [[BBC]], it was given the working title ''Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ritman |first=Alex |title=Kim Kardashian to Produce and Feature in Elizabeth Taylor Docuseries |url=https://variety.com/2024/tv/global/kim-kardashian-producing-elizabeth-taylor-docuseries-1235890247/ |access-date=January 29, 2024 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=January 29, 2024 |archive-date=January 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129102804/https://variety.com/2024/tv/global/kim-kardashian-producing-elizabeth-taylor-docuseries-1235890247/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Elizabeth Taylor (song)|The second track]] of the American singer-songwriter [[Taylor Swift]]'s twelfth studio album, ''[[The Life of a Showgirl]]'' (2025), is titled after Taylor.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Dailey |first=Hannah |title=Taylor Swift reveals 'Life of a Showgirl' release date, album cover, & track list featuring Sabrina Carpenter |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-life-of-a-showgirl-release-date-track-list-1236043042/ |access-date=August 13, 2025 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=August 13, 2025 |archive-date=August 14, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250814001118/https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-life-of-a-showgirl-release-date-track-list-1236043042/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Swift said that she decided to write a song inspired by Taylor after watching an online video in which Taylor's son said that if he were to choose a person to compare his mother with in terms of popularity and "chaos", it would be Swift.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 8, 2025 |title=Taylor Swift Finally Spilled on the Inspo for Her Song "Elizabeth Taylor" |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a68919548/taylor-swift-elizabeth-taylor-inspiration/ |access-date=January 5, 2026 |website=Cosmopolitan |language=en-US |archive-date=October 9, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251009021859/https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a68919548/taylor-swift-elizabeth-taylor-inspiration/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Swift had already made a reference to Taylor's relationship with [[Richard Burton]] on the single "[[...Ready for It?]]" from her 2017 album ''[[Reputation (album)|Reputation]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=September 22, 2017 |title='Burton to This Taylor': Inside the Epic Hollywood Love Story Taylor Swift References in 'Ready For It?' |magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]] |last=Russian |first=Ale |url=https://people.com/movies/burton-to-this-taylor-inside-the-epic-hollywood-love-story-taylor-swift-references-in-ready-for-it/ |access-date=October 14, 2025 |archive-date=December 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208082849/https://people.com/movies/burton-to-this-taylor-inside-the-epic-hollywood-love-story-taylor-swift-references-in-ready-for-it/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== General sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
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* {{cite book |last=Clark |first=Beverly Lyon |title=The Afterlife of "Little Women" |year=2014 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-1-4214-1558-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Curtis |first=James |title=Spencer Tracy: A Biography |publisher=Hutchinson |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-09-178524-6 |author-link=James Curtis (biographer)}}
* {{cite book |last=Doty |first=Alexander |editor1-last=Wojcik |editor1-first=Pamela Robertson |chapter=Elizabeth Taylor: The Biggest Star in the World |title=New Constellations: Movie Stars of the 1960s |year=2012 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-5171-5}}
* {{cite book |first=Douglass K. |last=Daniel |title=Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-299-25123-9}}
* Dye, David (1988). ''Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., pp.&nbsp;226–227.
* {{cite book |last=Gehring |first=Wes D. |title=Irene Dunne: First Lady of Hollywood |year=2006 |orig-year=2003 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-5864-0}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hernán |first1=Vera |last2=Gordon |first2=Andrew M. |title=Screen Saviors: Hollywood Fictions of Whiteness |url=https://archive.org/details/screensaviorshol00vera |url-access=registration |year=2003 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |isbn=0-8476-9947-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Heymann |first=David C. |title=Liz: An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor |year=1995 |publisher=Birch Lane Press |isbn=1-55972-267-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kashner |first1=Sam |last2=Schoenberger |first2=Nancy |title=Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century |year=2010 |publisher=JR Books |isbn=978-1-907532-22-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Kelley |first=Kitty |title=Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star |url=https://archive.org/details/elizabethtaylorl00kell |url-access=registration |year=1981 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4516-5676-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Matthew |title=On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2024 |isbn=978-019-76641-17}}
* {{cite book |title=Erotic Vagrancy: Everything about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor |publisher=Hachette |author-link=Roger Lewis (biographer) |location=London |isbn=978-0-85-738172-9 |first=Roger |last=Lewis |year=2023}}
*{{cite book |last1=Lower |first1=Cheryl Bray |last2=Palmer |first2=R. Barton |title=Joseph L. Mankiewicz: Critical Essays with an Annotated Bibliography and a Filmography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dfrXBQAHXSoC |year=2001 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-0987-7}}
*{{cite book |last=Moss |first=Marilyn Ann |title=Giant: George Stevens, a Life on Film |year=2004 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=0-299-20430-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Rojek |first=Chris |title=Fame Attack: The Inflation of Celebrity and its Consequences |year=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-84966-071-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Sternheimer |first=Karen |title=Celebrity Culture and the American Dream |year=2015 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=978-1-138-02395-6 |edition=Second}}
* {{cite book |last=Stubbs |first=Jonathan |title=Historical Film: A Critical Introduction |year=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-84788-498-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Troyan |first=Michael |title=A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson |year=1999 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-9150-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Walker |first=Alexander |title=Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Taylor |year=1990 |publisher=Grove Press |isbn=0-8021-3769-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/elizabeth00walk}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Official website|https://elizabethtaylor.com/}}
* [https://elizabethtayloraidsfoundation.org/ Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF)]
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{Tcmdb name}}
* {{AFI person | id= 46617-Elizabeth-Taylor | title= Elizabeth Taylor }}
* {{Playbill person}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160310145747/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1c13e8b Elizabeth Taylor] at the [[British Film Institute]]{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}}
* {{Screenonline name|472186}}
* {{cite web |url= https://vault.fbi.gov/elizabeth-taylor |publisher= FBI |series=FBI Records: The Vault |title= Elizabeth Taylor }}
* {{C-SPAN|16815}}
* {{IMDb name}}

{{Navboxes
| title = [[List of awards and nominations received by Elizabeth Taylor|Awards for Elizabeth Taylor]]
| titlestyle = background:#e8ddff
| list =
{{Academy Award Best Actress}}
{{AFI Life Achievement Award}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role}}
{{BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award}}
{{British Film Institute Fellowship}}
{{BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards}}
{{Cecil B. DeMille Award}}
{{David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress}}
{{Lincoln Center Gala Tribute}}
{{GLAAD Vanguard Award}}
{{Golden Globe Award Best Actress Motion Picture Drama}}
{{Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year}}
{{Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award}}
{{Kennedy Center Honorees 2000s}}
{{National Board of Review Award for Best Actress}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress}}
{{Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award}}
{{Silver Bear for Best Actress}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Elizabeth}}
[[Category:Elizabeth Taylor| ]]
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century converts to Judaism]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century British Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century British Jews]]
[[Category:Activists from London]]
[[Category:Activists from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Actors from the London Borough of Barnet]]
[[Category:Actors from the London Borough of Camden]]
[[Category:Actresses awarded damehoods]]
[[Category:Actresses from Beverly Hills, California]]
[[Category:Actresses from London]]
[[Category:Actresses from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:AFI Life Achievement Award recipients]]
[[Category:American art collectors]]
[[Category:American child actresses]]
[[Category:American businesspeople in fashion]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:American former Christians]]
[[Category:American health activists]]
[[Category:American people of Swiss descent]]
[[Category:American people of Swiss-German descent]]
[[Category:American recipients of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:American soap opera actresses]]
[[Category:American stage actresses]]
[[Category:American television actresses]]
[[Category:American voice actresses]]
[[Category:American women art collectors]]
[[Category:American women autobiographers]]
[[Category:American autobiographers]]
[[Category:American women company founders]]
[[Category:American women human rights activists]]
[[Category:Art collectors from London]]
[[Category:BAFTA fellows]]
[[Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Best British Actress BAFTA Award winners]]
[[Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners]]
[[Category:British women autobiographers]]
[[Category:British Zionists]]
[[Category:Broadway theatre people]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]]
[[Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners]]
[[Category:Converts to Judaism from Christianity]]
[[Category:Converts to Reform Judaism]]
[[Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:David di Donatello winners]]
[[Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure in California]]
[[Category:British child actresses]]
[[Category:English film actresses]]
[[Category:English former Christians]]
[[Category:English founders]]
[[Category:English LGBTQ rights activists]]
[[Category:English people of American descent]]
[[Category:English people of Swiss descent]]
[[Category:English soap opera actresses]]
[[Category:English stage actresses]]
[[Category:English television actresses]]
[[Category:English voice actresses]]
[[Category:English women activists]]
[[Category:English women non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Former Christian Scientists]]
[[Category:British HIV/AIDS activists]]
[[Category:Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winners]]
[[Category:Jewellery collectors]]
[[Category:Jewish American activists]]
[[Category:Jewish American actresses]]
[[Category:Jewish American historians]]
[[Category:Jewish art collectors]]
[[Category:Jewish British activists]]
[[Category:Jewish English writers]]
[[Category:Jewish women activists]]
[[Category:Jews from California]]
[[Category:Kennedy Center honorees]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:LGBTQ rights activists from California]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players]]
[[Category:American organization founders]]
[[Category:People from Bel Air, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:People from Hampstead]]
[[Category:Presidential Citizens Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award]]
[[Category:Silver Bear for Best Actress winners]]
[[Category:Simon Wiesenthal Center]]
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[[Category:Spouses of Virginia politicians]]
[[Category:Universal Pictures contract players]]
[[Category:Virginia Republicans]]
[[Category:American women founders]]
[[Category:Writers from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Writers from the London Borough of Barnet]]
[[Category:Writers from the London Borough of Camden]]
[[Category:British women civil rights activists]]
[[Category:British recipients of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:GLAAD Vanguard Award]]