Elizabeth Taylor update

Elizabeth Taylor from the trailer for the film The Last Time I Saw Paris, 1954.

Hollywood Icon Elizabeth Taylor Dead at 79
Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Legendary Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor has died at the age of 79.

A statement from Taylor's family says she died peacefully, with her children at her side.

The veteran actress, known for movies such as National Velvet, which made her a star at the age of 12, and Cleopatra, had been suffering from congestive heart failure. She had been hospitalized in Los Angeles for the past six weeks.

Taylor won Academy Awards for her role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Butterfield 8. In later years, she was a spokeswoman for humanitarian causes, notably AIDS research, helping raise millions of dollars. That work gained her a special Oscar in 1993.

Born in London to American parents, Taylor moved to Los Angeles before World War II, and went from child star to Hollywood starlet to a movie icon sometimes called the most beautiful woman in the world.

She appeared in more than 50 Hollywood films, teaming up with other major stars in the 1940s and '50s to make such movies as Raintree Country, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer.

In 1963, Taylor was paid $1 million to star opposite Richard Burton in the epic Cleopatra. Their on-screen romance turned into a real-life love affair, and they married a year later, divorced and then got married again before divorcing for a final time in 1976.

In all, Taylor married eight times, making her almost as famous for her off-screen drama as for her beauty and acting ability. Her friendship with pop icon Michael Jackson also made her a constant source of stories for the press.

She had a passion for jewels and jewelry and introduced her own perfumes, including one called White Diamonds.

France awarded her the prestigious Legion of Honor in 1987 and Britain's Queen Elizabeth made her a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, in 2000.

In 2001, Taylor received the Presidential Citizens Medal from former U.S. president Bill Clinton for her efforts to spur more AIDS research and better care.

In a joint statement, Mr. Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, called Taylor one of America's “greatest talents and fiercest advocates for HIV/AIDS research.” They said the lives of many people around the world will be longer and better because of Taylor's AIDS work.