Remembering a Legend: Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

Dame Elizabeth Taylor is considered a rare gem in the history of entertainment. Sadly, the life of the beauty with violet-colored eyes, ended suddenly after an extensive struggle with heart-related problems. Last Wednesday, the death of screen actress Elizabeth Taylor sent shockwaves through media outlets worldwide. Some knew her as the celebrity with "the purple eyes." Others saw her as best friend to the King of Pop. A puppy was even named after her in the final season of Sex and the City. Before all of the ritzy fame, fortune and recognition, Taylor was a trendsetter for beauty and glamour during the golden age of Hollywood filmmaking.

Born in London, Taylor and her family relocated across the ocean to Los Angeles, when early rumors of a war in Europe were circulating in 1939. After a family friend encouraged her to take a screen test for the picture industry, her impressive appeal on camera got her a contract with Universal Pictures. Taylor became a child star, appearing in the films, There's One Born Every Minute, Lassie Come Home and Jane Eyre (1943). In 1944, now signed with MGM, she starred opposite child star Mickey Rooney in National Velvet, Life with Father with William Powell in 1947, and Little Women with Janet Leigh and June Allyson in 1949.

Growing up in front of audiences, Taylor had just entered adulthood when she starred in A Place in the Sun and Father of the Bride with Hollywood leading man Spencer Tracy. Her further successes led to her starring opposite James Dean, Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift and Paul Newman. In 1958, she played one of her most memorable portrayals in Tennessee Williams' film adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof — Taylor was not only recognized for her acting performance, but her new womanly figure and new form of onscreen allure. She went on to star in another Williams adaptation of Suddenly, Last Summer, as well as Cleopatra and Franco Zeffirelli's version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, both with husband at the time Richard Burton.

Taylor held two Academy Awards for Best Actress; one for the role of Gloria Wandrous in Butterfield 8 in 1960, and the other for the role of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966. She became an activist for the research and cure of the AIDS epidemic and those with HIV and other life-threatening illnesses. Her social work earned her the highest honor in England when she was knighted Dame Elizabeth Taylor by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999.

Mel Gussow of The New York Times wrote the following in an article following her death, "Marilyn Monroe was the sex goddess, Grace Kelly the ice queen, Audrey Hepburn the eternal gamine. Ms. Taylor was beauty incarnate." Her spirit and courage lives on in many hearts.