A three-time Academy Awards winner, Elizabeth Taylor is an English-American film legend. Beginning as a child star, she is known for her acting talent and beauty. Her more than 50 films include vivid portraits of innocence and of decadence, from the children's classic "National Velvet" and the sentimental family comedy "Father of the Bride" to Oscar-winning transgressions in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Butterfield 8." The historical epic "Cleopatra" is among Hollywood's greatest on-screen fiascos and a landmark of off-screen monkey business, the meeting ground of Taylor and Richard Burton, the "Brangelina" of their day. 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.

Taylor had a much publicized private life with eight marriages and several near death experiences. She had extraordinary grace, wealth and voluptuous beauty. She was the most loyal of friends and a defender of gays in Hollywood when AIDS was new to the industry and beyond.

Elizabeth Taylor died at the age of 79 Los Angeles on Wednesday March 23, 2011.