Cleopatra demands Mr Bubble!Actress Elizabeth Taylor passed away at the Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday. She was 79 and had been reportedly suffering from congestive heart failure for the last few years.
Born to American parents in London, Taylor started her film career early in life, most notably depicting a plucky teenager in 1944's National Velvet who trains an unwanted horse to compete in England's Grand National Steeplechase.
In the postwar years, Taylor made the transition to more mainstream, adult roles fairly smoothly and by 1960 had won an Oscar for her portrayal of a promiscuous bachelorette in Manhattan (even though she was unimpressed with the role) and signed a $1 million contract for Cleopatra, making her the highest paid actress in Hollywood at the time (she would reportedly double her salary to $2 million by working overtime on the set).In 1967, Taylor would win a second Oscar for her role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?, portraying the belligerent and alcoholic wife of a New England college professor.
Taylor's box office appeal would fade by the 1970s, however, and she married a grand total of 8 times with 4 children.Besides the divorces and treatment for alcoholism, she was seen in her later years making cameos on The Simpsons and the soap opera General Hospital while launching a line of jewelry available through Christie's and fundraising for AIDS research.
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