Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE, also known as Liz Taylor, was born on 27 February 1932, in Hampstead, a wealthy district of north-west London. She is an English-born British-American actress. Known for her acting skills and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, including many marriages. Taylor is considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden years, as well as a larger-than-life celebrity. The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list.
She is the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor (1897–1968) and Sara Viola Warmbrodt (1895–1994), who were Americans residing in England. Taylor's older brother, Howard Taylor, was born in 1929. Both of her American parents were originally from Arkansas City, Kansas. Her father was an art dealer and her mother a former actress whose stage name was Sara Sothern. Sara retired from the stage when she and Francis Taylor married in 1926 in New York City.
Taylor's two first names are in honour of her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Mary (Rosemond) Taylor. Taylor was born both a British subject and an American citizen, the former by being born on British soil under the principle of jus soli, and the latter through her parents under the principle of jus sanguinis. At the age of three, Taylor began taking ballet lessons with Vaccani. Shortly after the beginning of World War II, her parents decided to return to the United States to avoid hostilities. Her mother took the children first, while her father remained in London to wrap up matters in the art business. They settled in Los Angeles, California, where Sara's family, the Warmbrodts, were then living.
Taylor's education is Byron House School, Hawthorne School, Vaccani School of Dance, London, England (studied ballet), and University High School, Los Angeles, California.
The Taylors climbed the proverbial social ladder with far greater ease in Hollywood than they had in London. Among some of Francis Taylor's earliest clientele in his Beverly Hills Hotel art gallery were some of Hollywood's leading stars, among them Howard Duff, Vincent Price, James Mason, Alan Ladd and Greta Garbo. Another high visibility client was Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. Hopper's initial interest in visiting the gallery stemmed from a longstanding friendship she enjoyed with Thelma Cazalet-Keir. Cazalet-Keir who hosted Hopper whenever the latter visited London, wrote to her and asked if she wouldn't mind boosting the new gallery in her widely read newspaper column. In her column she not only plugged the gallery as a new must-see in the Los Angeles art world she also drew attention to Sara Taylor's ill-fated stage career as well as to her "beautiful eight-year-old daughter, Elizabeth." The columnist noted that producer David O. Selznick had not yet cast all the minor roles in his new picture Gone With The Wind, the most talked about motion picture epic in pre-production at that time. According to Hopper, although Taylor had never acted professionally, she seemed an excellent choice to play Bonnie Blue, the daughter of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. The idea was straight away squelched by Francis Taylor who had no interest in letting his seven-year-old daughter pursue an acting career.
Through Hopper, the Taylors were introduced to Andrea Berens, a wealthy English socialite and also fiancée of Cheever Cowden, chairman and major stockholder of Universal Pictures in Hollywood. Berens insisted that Sara bring Elizabeth to see Cowden, who she was adamant would be taken away by Elizabeth's breathtaking dark beauty. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer soon took interest in the British youngster as well but she failed to secure a contract with them after an informal audition with producer John Considine proved that she couldn't sing. However, on 18 September 1941, Universal Pictures signed Elizabeth to a six-month renewable contract at $100 a week.
Taylor appeared in her first motion picture at the age of nine in There's One Born Every Minute, her first and only film for Universal Pictures. Less than six months after she signed with Universal, her contract was reviewed by Edward Muhl, the studio's production chief. Muhl met with Taylor's agent, Myron Selznick (brother of David) and with Cheever Cowden. Muhl challenged Selznick's and Cowden's constant support of Taylor: "She can't sing, she can't dance, she can't perform. What's more, her mother has to be one of the most unbearable women it has been my displeasure to meet." Universal cancelled Taylor's contract just short of her tenth birthday in February 1942. Nevertheless on 15 October 1942, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed Taylor to $100 a week for up to three months to appear as Priscilla in Lassie Come Home.
Marriages
Taylor has been married eight times to seven husbands:
- Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (6 May 1950 – 29 January 1951) (divorced)
- Michael Wilding (21 February 1952 – 26 January 1957) (divorced)
- Michael Todd (2 February 1957 – 22 March 1958) (widowed)
- Eddie Fisher (12 May 1959 – 6 March 1964) (divorced)
- Richard Burton (15 March 1964 – 26 June 1974) (divorced)
- Richard Burton (again) (10 October 1975 – 29 July 1976) (divorced)
- John Warner (4 December 1976 – 7 November 1982) (divorced)
- Larry Fortensky (6 October 1991 – 31 October 1996) (divorced)
Children
Taylor and Wilding had two sons, Michael Howard Wilding Jr. (actor, restaurateur; born 6 January, 1953), and Christopher Edward Wilding (photographer, film editor; born 27 February, 1955). She and Todd had one daughter, Elizabeth Frances Todd, called "Liza," (born 6 August, 1957). And in 1964, she and Fisher started adoption proceedings for a daughter, whom Burton later adopted, Maria Burton, German orphan (born 1 August, 1961). She became a grandmother on 25 August, 1971, at age 39.
Grand Sons
Andrew (born 1985; father: Christopher Wilding), Caleb (born 1983; father: Christopher Wilding), Quinn (mother: Elizabeth Frances Todd), Rhys (mother: Elizabeth Frances Todd)
Grand Daughters
Laela Wilding (father: Michael Howard Wilding Jr.), Naomi Wilding (father: Michael Howard Wilding Jr.), Elizabeth (mother: Maria Carson)
Here are the pictures of Liz Taylor years by years. Then, she is regarded as the most beautiful woman in Hollywood......
1951
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1963
1976
1989
1993
1999
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2006
2008
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