Once widely considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and certainly the most famous actress of her generation, Elizabeth Taylor passed away this week at the age of 79. She was also a pioneering AIDS activist, a darling of the fashion world, and, as she put it, “one of life's survivors”. As well known for her eight marriages as for her 56 films, she was nevertheless possessed of a talent that won her two Best Actress Oscars and widespread critical acclaim.
Born in London to American parents in 1932, Taylor developed an early love of the stage, taking ballet lessons from the age of three, and she went on to make her first film, There's One Born Every Minute, at just nine. Though Universal cancelled her contract the following year, she was soon picked up by Metro Goldwyn-Meyer and it was with them, in Lassie Come Home, that she made her breakthrough. Two years after that she was cast as the horse-loving heroine of National Velvet, found international stardom, and never looked back.
Strikingly beautiful even as a child, with a genetic condition that gave her an extra row of eyelashes, hence that dramatic gaze, Taylor nevertheless brought to her performances a very different quality from the other glamorous stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. Her raw, emotional style was dismissed as sentimentality by early critics but resonated with audiences. She also impressed directors with her ability to get a scene right in a single take. The combination made her highly bankable and helped her become one of the few stars to successfully cross over between adolescent and adult roles. She was a hit alongside Spencer Tracy in Father of The Bride, but it was her unexpectedly seductive turn in A Place In The Sun that secured her future career.
Even in the era of film noir, Taylor's sensuality was something unusual. Working with James Dean and Rock Hudson in Giant, she showed that she was also capable of delivering a punchy performance, and the combination made her the natural choice for the most famous role of her career. 1963's Cleopatra was one of the biggest-budget films ever made and every penny of that budget was visible on screen. Taylor shone as the famous Egyptian queen, doomed by her love for Richard Burton's Marc Antony. It was a love that spilled over into real life, causing an equally spectacular scandal as both stars were married (she to Eddie Fisher, alongside whom she had won an Oscar for Butterfield 8). Though there was no war between empires to keep them apart, their relationship was complicated by a series of disasters, several dramatic fallings-out, and a lot of alcohol. They married, divorced, then did both over again. She would describe it, not without affection, as the most tumultuous time of her life. He was said to be in love with her until the end of his days.
After Cleopatra, Taylor had several more hits. She starred opposite Marlon Brando in Reflections In A Golden Eye and won a second Oscar for Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? In the Seventies and Eighties, however, her health deteriorated. She had persistent back problems linked to a fall during the shooting of National Velvet and her heavy smoking led to a lung cancer scare. Eventually she went into rehab in an attempt to recover from her drink problems. The woman who emerged was no longer the natural star she had been, though she always retained that glamour, but she was nevertheless formidable. When close friend Rock Hudson died of AIDS during her most difficult days, she became a passionate campaigner, trying to raise awareness of the disease and to challenge misconceptions about sufferers. She also campaigned for gay rights and against the 2003 Gulf War. “Acting is, to me now, artificial. Seeing people suffer is real. It couldn't be more real. Some people don't like to look at it in the face because it's painful. But if nobody does, then nothing gets done,” she said of her work.
In later life Taylor suffered from osteoporosis, needing two hip replacements. She survived skin cancer and the removal of a brain tumour but gradually deteriorated as a result of congestive heart failure. It was this which led to her death in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, surrounded by family members and some of the many friends who had praised her for her loyalty and perseverence over the years. Though younger cinema-goers may remember her only as an awkwardly ageing woman in elaborate make-up, frequently caricatured, she will be remembered by others, through her best work, for a vitality that lit up the screen.
