Claim: Elizabeth Taylor starred in a movie.

Cleopatra is a 1963 American epic historical drama film chronicling the struggles of Cleopatra VII , the young Queen of Egypt , to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome . It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and shot in the 70 mm Todd-AO format , with a screenplay adapted by Mankiewicz , Ranald MacDougall and Sidney Buchman from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero . The film stars Elizabeth Taylor , Richard Burton , Rex Harrison , Roddy McDowall , and Martin Landau .   Cleopatra achieved notoriety during its production for its massive cost overruns and production troubles , which included changes in director and cast , a change of filming locale , sets that had to be constructed twice , lack of a firm shooting script , and personal scandal around co-stars Taylor and Burton . It was the most expensive film ever made up to that point and almost bankrupted 20th Century-Fox .   It was the highest-grossing film of 1963 , earning box-office of $ 57.7 million in the United States -LRB- equivalent to $ million in -RRB- , yet made a loss due to its production and marketing costs of $ 44 million -LRB- equivalent to $ million in -RRB- , making it the only film ever to be the highest-grossing film of the year yet to run at a loss . Cleopatra later won four Academy Awards , and was nominated for five more , including Best Picture -LRB- which it lost to Tom Jones -RRB- .