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00:00Women who change the world.
00:30The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're
00:36going to have some pretty annoying virtues.
00:38Elizabeth Taylor.
00:40Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London, England on February 27, 1932 to American parents
00:47Frances and Sarah Taylor.
00:49Her father was a successful art dealer who had his own gallery in London.
00:54Her mother was an actress who had been successful before marriage under the stage name Sarah
00:59Sothern.
01:00Taylor has an older brother Howard who was born two years earlier.
01:04In 1939 the family moved to Los Angeles, California where Taylor was encouraged and coached by
01:10her mother to seek work in the motion picture industry.
01:14Taylor was signed by Universal in 1941 for $200 a week.
01:19In 1942 Taylor signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the biggest and best studio of the time,
01:26and landed a part in Lassie Come Home.
01:29In 1943 she was cast in National Velvet, the story of a young woman who wins a horse in the
01:35lottery and rides it in England's Grand National Steeplechase.
01:40Taylor was so determined to play the role that she exercised and dieted for four months.
01:46During filming she was thrown from a horse and suffered a broken back, but she forced
01:50herself to finish the project.
01:53National Velvet became both a critical and commercial success.
01:57Taylor loved her work, the costumes, the makeup, and the attention.
02:01In 1956 she played opposite James Dean in Giant, followed by the powerful Raintree County for
02:08which she was nominated, put forward for consideration, for an Academy Award for the first time.
02:14Then suddenly last summer she received $500,000, the most ever earned by an actress for eight
02:21weeks of work, and another Academy Award nomination.
02:25In May 1950 she married Conrad N. Hilton Jr. whose family owned a chain of hotels, but the
02:31union lasted less than a year.
02:34After divorcing Hilton, she married British actor Michael Wilding in February 1952.
02:40They had two sons.
02:41In 1956 Taylor and Wilding separated, and in February 1957 she married producer Mike Todd.
02:49In 1958 she became a young widow when her husband, pioneering film producer Mike Todd, was killed
02:55in a plane crash.
02:57After his death, Taylor became embroiled in one of the greatest Hollywood love scandals of
03:02the era, when she began an affair with Todd's close friend, Eddie Fisher.
03:07Fisher divorced Debbie Reynolds and married Taylor in 1959.
03:12The couple stayed married for five years, until she left Fisher for actor Richard Burton.
03:17Still, Taylor continued to act.
03:20She found work on television, even making a guest appearance on General Hospital and on
03:24stage.
03:25She also began focusing more attention on philanthropy.
03:29After her close friend Rock Hudson died in 1985 following his battle with HIV-AIDS, the
03:35actress started work to find a cure for the disease.
03:39In 1991 she launched the Elizabeth Taylor HIV-AIDS Foundation in order to offer greater support
03:46for those who are sick, as well as fund research for more advanced treatments.
03:50She received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award.
03:54In 2000, she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire .
04:00Taylor overcame a litany of health problems throughout the 90s, from diabetes to congestive
04:05heart failure.
04:07She had both hips replaced, and in 1997 had a brain tumor removed.
04:12In October of 2009, Taylor, who has four children, underwent successful heart surgery.
04:18In early 2011, Taylor again experienced heart problems.
04:23She was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Hospital in that February for congestive heart failure.
04:29On March 23, 2011, Taylor passed away from the condition.
04:34Shortly after her death, her son, Michael Wilding, released a statement saying, quote,
04:40My mother was an extraordinary woman, who lived life to the fullest, with great passion,
04:44humor, and love.
04:46We will always be inspired by her enduring contribution to our world, end quote.
04:56The woman who changed the world.
04:57The woman who changed the world.
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