Elizabeth Taylor's Glamorous Life in Photos
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Elizabeth Taylor embodied Hollywood glamour, defining again and again what it meant to be a movie star.
Born in London in 1932 to American parents, Taylor and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was seven years old. In L.A., she started her acting career at the young age of ten with her debut film, There's One Born Every Minute. After the movie was released, Taylor's contract with Universal Pictures was dropped, and she signed instead to MGM, shooting to fame as a teenage star after her 1944 performance in National Velvet. From there, her career took off,eventually garnering her two Oscars for Best Actress, but today, Taylor is perhaps as well known for her work off screen as on. She was a dedicated philanthropist, and one of the first celebrity activists in the fight against HIV/AIDS, co-founding the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. “There are three things I never saw Elizabeth Taylor do: Tell a lie, be unkind to anyone, and be on time,” said Mike Nichols, who directed her in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. In 2001, she was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal.
A new documentary, Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes, which features Taylor telling her own story, premieres this weekend on HBO. “Elizabeth Taylor is one of the first modern celebrities,” director Nanette Burstein tells Town & Country. “Like Princess Diana or today’s stars like Taylor Swift, Elizabeth was plagued by the paparazzi and one of the first to navigate intense public scrutiny. For Elizabeth, fame was the bane of her existence. As she says, she likes being an actress, but she doesn’t like being a public utility. Years later, in the 1980s, Elizabeth realized her fame could be her superpower and she could use it for philanthropic efforts.”
Though Taylor died at 79 in 2011, her legacy continues. Here below, see the best photos of Elizabeth Taylor's fabulous life:
1934
Photographed near a row boat is Elizabeth, called Liz, when she was two years old. Born in Northwest London to American parents, she received dual British and American citizenship.
1939
Given that her mother was a stage actress and her father an art dealer, Elizabeth was familiar with the creative world from a young age. Here is one of the first pictures taken of her when she first arrived to Los Angeles at the age of seven.
1943
In this photograph, Taylor helps a dog stamp their inky paw on a five year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The dog, Lassie, purchased by the studio initially for $10, became famous after acting in Lassie Come Home together with the 11-year-old Taylor.
1944
In this publicity still advertising Taylor's breakthrough film National Velvet, Taylor pets her horse, The Pie, in a stable. She played the role of 'Velvet Brown' in the drama directed by Clarence Brown.
1949
A 17-year-old Elizabeth Taylor poses next to her fiancée, William D. Pawley, Jr., at the Miami beach home of his father, William D. Pawley, a former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil and Peru.
The two had an intense relationship typical of first love: they met at his father's house and quickly fell for each other. Pawley was a 28-year-old former Air Force pilot, while Taylor's career was just blossoming. As Taylor worked on A Place in the Sun, they dated long distance, penning emotional letters to each other. In one of the letters, Taylor wrote: “I’ve never known this kind of love before — it’s so perfect and complete — and mature."
However, soon after the engagement was announced, the couple faced hardship: Taylor tried to quit her acting career to marry Pawley, but ended up signing for two more years with M.G.M. They never married.
1950
Taylor's first marriage was to Conrad 'Nicky' Hilton Jr., the eldest son of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton and the great uncle of Paris Hilton. At the Hollywood wedding, she wore a traditional white satin gown designed by Helen Rose, the designer who made Grace Kelly's wedding dress for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco.
It was a picture-perfect moment, but their relationship wasn't as lovely as it appeared. Taylor and Hilton were married for a mere 205 days before she filed for divorce, which was granted on the grounds of mental cruelty and refused alimony.
1950
Taylor starred in Charles Shyer's comedy, Father of the Bride. Here, she is pictured walking down the aisle as Kay Banks with Stanley T. Banks, the titular father of the bride, played by Spencer Tracy.
1951
When A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens, came out, it was a hit. It became Taylor's first critically acclaimed movie and cemented her in place as a Hollywood star. Charlie Chaplin called it "the greatest movie ever made about America." Taylor's white, flower-embedded dress by Edith Head (as seen in this still) became the most popular prom dress style in the U.S. after the film was released, and influenced dress design for the rest of the decade.
In the film, she acted alongside Montgomery Clift, and the two became close friends, making two other movies together throughout their lives.
1952
Taylor's second marriage was to the 40-year-old British actor Michael Wilding. The two were married for five years and had two children, Michael Howard and Christopher Edward.
They divorced in 1957 following rumors of Edward's infidelity.
1952
In this very contemporary selfie-like photo, Taylor poses with shampoo in her hair. In a Lydia Lane interview in 1952, Taylor said that having short, curly hair is "easy to do," explaining that she washes "it in a shower with a cream-type shampoo and finish[es] with a thorough drying before one set it. Then, in about 45 minutes, it’s ready to comb out." She often did her own makeup, too.
Watch Elizabeth's makeup tutorial
1956
Here, Taylor poses for a picture with her two children, Michael and Christopher. In his adulthood, Michael became an actor, following in his mother's footsteps. Christopher worked behind the camera, but broadly speaking, the two keep rather private lives.
1957
In 1957, Taylor met producer Michael "Mike" Todd, the man who would become her third husband when she was 24 and he was 45. Many biographers of Taylor name Mike Todd as her soulmate. When Taylor was already pregnant with their child, the two got married in Acapulco, Mexico, and Todd gave Taylor a 29-carat diamond ring—the start of Taylor's lavish jewel collection. Todd was a lively character and enjoyed the media attention of their marriage, even throwing Taylor an 18,000 attendee, extravagant birthday party at Madison Square Garden, which was also broadcast on TV.
1957
Their daughter was born six months after the wedding. The couple adoringly named her Liza.
Liza Todd, unlike her two half-brothers, was not interested in entering the entertainment industry. Instead, she became an artist, working in bronze sculpture and mainly choosing to depict equestrian subjects.
She is still alive, residing in a remote countryside house a few hours out of Manhattan.
1958
In 1958, Taylor starred in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof directed by Richard Brooks. (Here, a still from the film.) While the film received six Academy Award nominations, it did not win any Oscars.
1958
Tragically, Todd died in a plane crash a year after his and Taylor's wedding and six months after the birth of their daughter. Taylor was absolutely devastated.
Here, Taylor and her stepson, Mike Todd, Jr., are photographed in a car, arriving in Chicago for the funeral.
1959
In the midst of grieving Todd, Taylor found comfort and love in Todd's best friend, Eddie Fisher. The two became quite close.
When Fisher left his wife, the actress Debbie Reynolds, to marry Taylor in a private Las Vegas wedding, it was a huge scandal. In this picture, taken after the wedding at Temple Beth Shalom, Fisher and Tyler smile at each other lovingly. They were married for approximately five years.
1959
Taylor is pictured here on the set of Suddenly Last Summer, a Southern Gothic mystery film directed by Joseph Mankiewicz starring Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, and Montgomery Clift. Taylor won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance in this film.
1961
Taylor won her first Oscar for her role in Butterfield 8, directed by Daniel Mann. Here, she and Eddie Fisher attend the Academy Awards in Santa Monica, California.
1962
One of Taylor's most memorable movies was Cleopatra. Throughout the film, she wore an opulent array of jewels and clothing. During the filming of Cleopatra, Taylor started having an affair with her co-star, Richard Burton. They were both married to other people, but they kept on seeing each other.
1964
Nine days after Taylor divorced Fisher, her fourth husband, she married her fifth and sixth husband, Richard Burton for the first time. (Yes, she married the same man twice.) At their first wedding in Montréal, Taylor wore a dress by Cleopatra's costume designer Irene Sharaff. She had a wreath of Roman hyacinths and Lily of the Valley flowers wrapped around her hair as she stared adoringly at Burton.
Read more: A Passionate Love: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Through the Years
1967
For their respective roles in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton won the Best British Actor and Best British Actress awards at the BAFTAs. Additionally, Taylor won an Oscar for Best Actress for the same movie.
Over the years, Taylor and Burton made eleven films together, including The Sandpiper (1965), The V.I.P.s (1963), and The Taming of the Shrew (1967).
1967
Taylor had an impressive collection of jewels. For example, here, she's seen wearing one of her favorite necklaces: a Bulgari diamond and emerald creation. Burton used to joke that "the only thing Elizabeth knows how to say in Italian is Bulgari."
1967
Burton and Taylor led a very extravagant lifestyle. However, despite their love for each other and successful lives, they divorced in 1974. They married again, from 1975 to 1976, but couldn't make it work.
1970
Taylor was well acquainted with the famous American artist Andy Warhol. In fact, Warhol made a portrait of Taylor, similar to his Pop Art one of Marilyn Monroe, and titled it simply "Liz."
1977
After her divorce from Burton, Taylor met her seventh husband, the politician John Warner, on a blind date, where Warner was asked to escort Taylor to an embassy party. The two hit it off quickly, getting married five months after their first date. To support Wagner's electoral campaign, Taylor decided to semi-retire, but she soon tired of the politician lifestyle of Washington D.C. Taylor and Warner divorced in 1982.
1983
Taylor went through a turbulent period, and in December 1983, she checked herself into a rehabilitation center, the Betty Ford Center. However, Taylor's bravery in telling the public of her addictions was pivotal. In an interview, she explained that she "knew the public would find out anyway," but her "friends have been totally supportive, and if anything, they feel relief and pride. Not one has rejected [her]." Her decision to share about her addiction with the public, the first major celebrity to openly speak about their addiction, paved the way for many others.
1985
After rehabilitation, Taylor returned to public life. Here, she radiantly poses with her Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 42nd Annual Golden Globe Awards.
1993
Michael Jackson was one of Taylor's close friends. Here they are at the 20th Annual American Music Awards. It was at Jackson's Neverland Ranch in California that Taylor married her last husband, Larry Fortensky.
On Jackson and Taylor's relationship, Fortensky testified that "She loved Michael. She never believed any of the child-abuse rumors. I wasn’t so sure."
1993
Taylor met her seventh and last husband at the rehabilitation center. Larry Fortensky remained private about his relationship to Taylor until after her death.
Larry worked in construction and led a modest life in comparison to Taylor; he continued to work at the site even during their relationship, or at least until her was pressured to give it up after a couple of years. Unfortunately, their lifestyle divide was too much to overcome, and after eight years together, they amicably divorced.
Larry attested that "Everywhere we went there were cameras. Elizabeth would put lipstick on constantly because she said she never knew when she was being photographed. I found it hard. It wasn’t my cup of tea, those cameras everywhere. Elizabeth was used to it. I never got used to it."
2001
On January 8th, President Bill Clinton awarded Taylor the Presidential Citizens Medal at the White House. Throughout her life, Taylor invested her money in philanthropy and AIDS/HIV research. She even sold her and Larry's wedding pictures to a magazine for one million dollars to kickstart her AIDS/HIV foundation.
Taylor fought against the discrimination of people with AIDS/HIV when no other celebrity of her caliber would. “Who gives a goddamn about careers," she said, "when the people, without whom we wouldn’t have a career, are dying?” Later, she hosted an unparalleled dinner with 2,500 attendees that raised $1.3 million for APLA, a foundation focused on LGBT+ healthcare.
2005
In Beverly Hills, California, Taylor received the Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in International Entertainment. During the final years of her life, she was faced with several health issues, one of which left her in a wheelchair.
When asked about her many close encounters with death, Taylor responded that, "there must be some reason that God wants me to live. There must be something left for me to do. And I have to find out what that something is and go out there and do it."
2010
Although Elizabeth Taylor passed away a year after this picture was taken, at the age of 79 due to congestive heart failure, she was glamorous to the very end.
You Might Also Like
