Bright Shining Star Fades: Liz Taylor is gone

Bright Shining Star Fades: Liz Taylor is gone

Elizabeth Taylor, the violet-eyed femme fatale whose smoldering talent and eight marriages made her a legend of Hollywood's golden era, died on March 23, 2011. She was 79.  The two-time Oscar winner suffered from congestive heart failure and had been hospitalized in Los Angeles since February.- New York Daily News.

Beginning as a child star, as an adult she came to be known for her acting talent and beauty, and had a much publicised private life, including eight marriages and several near death experiences. Taylor was considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list. - Wikipedia


More from Wikipedia, edited with additional sources added:


Captapulted into stardom in "National Valvet" she was a child star who remained a star her enitre life, on film, in her considerable work for charity and in the tabloids. Her first major film role came as Priscilla in Lassie Come Home which featured child star Roddy McDowall, with whom Taylor would share a lifelong friendship. Upon its release in 1943, the film received favourable attention for both McDowall and Taylor. On the basis for her performance in Lassie Come Home MGM signed Taylor to a conventional seven-year contract at $100 a week but increasing at regular intervals until it reached a hefty $750 during the seventh year. Her first assignment under her new contract at MGM was a loan-out to 20th Century Fox for the character of Helen Burns in a film version of the Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre (1944). During this period she also returned to England to appear in another Roddy McDowall picture for MGM, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). But it was Taylor's persistence in campaigning for the role of Velvet Brown in MGM's National Velvet that skyrocketed Taylor to stardom at the tender age of 12.

Liz Taylor was infamous for the loves of her life, including her husbands. Taylor was married eight times to seven husbands:

• Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (May 6, 1950 – January 29, 1951) (divorced)
• Michael Wilding (February 21, 1952 – January 26, 1957) (divorced)
• Michael Todd (February 2, 1957 – March 22, 1958) (widowed)
• Eddie Fisher (May 12, 1959 – March 6, 1964) (divorced)
• Richard Burton (March 15, 1964 – June 26, 1974) (divorced)
• Richard Burton (October 10, 1975 – July 29, 1976) (divorced)
• John Warner (December 4, 1976 – November 7, 1982) (divorced)
• Larry Fortensky (October 6, 1991 – October 31, 1996) (divorced)

Taylor dealt with various health problems over the years.^[39] In 2004 it was announced that she was suffering from congestive heart failure, and in 2009 she underwent cardiac surgery to replace a leaky valve.^[40] In February 2011 new symptoms related to congestive heart failure caused her to be admitted into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment.^[41]

Taylor died on March 23, 2011, surrounded by her four children at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 79.^[38][40

Two Time Academy Award Winner Life Long Star Elizabeth Taylor is dead. She was an early and long time advocate for a cure for Aids, for childrens' charities and the use of celebrity to raise awareness and help people. A heart as large as her stellar celebrity, and a name so key to who we are that she is considered one of America's greatest celebrities of all time.

Liz Taylor, who was the first major celebrity to fight for a cure for aids, for help for those stricken with aids and for the health and security of all Americans. She spoke up before AIDS was acknowledge by a presient in denial, Ronald Reagan and the government, or any international organization. She began her crusade after the teach of her good friend Rock Hudson. She was active her entire life with charities, many focused on children,  believing that celebrity should be used for the overall good of all people, not for ego or celebrity or for politics. She was married to politicians, directors, producers and equally famous actors...twice to Richard Burton.