Elizabeth Taylor | 1958 - LA Times Elizabeth Taylor | 1958 Elizabeth Taylor | 1958 Associated Press "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" Tragedy struck Taylor while filming this watered-down but entertaining 1958 adaptation of Tennessee Williams' hit play. Three weeks into production, Taylor's third husband, Oscar-winning showman Mike Todd, died in a plane crash. Taylor returned to the film a month later. She earned her second Oscar nomination as the frustrated Maggie the Cat, opposite Paul Newman. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" Tragedy struck Taylor while filming this watered-down but entertaining 1958 adaptation of Tennessee Williams' hit play. Three weeks into production, Taylor's third husband, Oscar-winning showman Mike Todd, died in a plane crash. Taylor returned to the film a month later. She earned her second Oscar nomination as the frustrated Maggie the Cat, opposite Paul Newman. (Associated Press) "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" Tragedy struck Taylor while filming this watered-down but entertaining 1958 adaptation of Tennessee Williams' hit play.

Three weeks into production, Taylor's third husband, Oscar-winning showman Mike Todd, died in a plane crash. Taylor returned to the film a month later. She earned her second Oscar nomination as the frustrated Maggie the Cat, opposite Paul Newman. Associated Press Elizabeth Taylor - Biography - IMDb Elizabeth Taylor Biography Showing all 204 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (8) | Trade Mark (4) | Trivia (116) | Personal Quotes (45) | Salary (25) Overview (5) 5' 2" (1.57 m) Mini Bio (1) Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early on in her youth and kept the world hooked on with since. Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in London, England. Although she was born an English subject, her parents, Sara Sothern (née Sara Viola Warmbrodt) and Francis Lenn Taylor, were Americans, art dealers from St.

Louis, Missouri (her father had gone to London to set up a gallery). Her mother had been an actress on the stage, but gave up that vocation when she married. Elizabeth lived in London until the age of seven, when the family left for the US when the clouds of war began brewing in Europe in 1939. They sailed without her father, who stayed behind to wrap up the loose ends of the art business. The family relocated to Los Angeles, where Mrs. Taylor's own family had moved. Mr. Taylor followed not long afterward. A family friend noticed the strikingly beautiful little Elizabeth and suggested that she be taken for a screen test. Her test impressed executives at Universal Pictures enough to sign her to a contract. Her first foray onto the screen was in There's One Born Every Minute (1942), released when she was ten. Universal dropped her contract after that one film, but Elizabeth was soon picked up by MGM. The first production she made with that studio was Lassie Come Home (1943), and on the strength of that one film, MGM signed her for a full year.

She had minuscule parts in her next two films, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) and Jane Eyre (1943) (the former made while she was on loan to 20th Century-Fox). Then came the picture that made Elizabeth a star: MGM's National Velvet (1944). She played Velvet Brown opposite Mickey Rooney . The film was a smash hit, grossing over $4 million. Elizabeth now had a long-term contract with MGM and was its top child star. She made no films in 1945, but returned in 1946 in Courage of Lassie (1946), another success. In 1947, when she was 15, she starred in Life with Father (1947) with such heavyweights as William Powell , Irene Dunne and Zasu Pitts , which was one of the biggest box office hits of the year. She also co-starred in the ensemble film Little Women (1949), which was also a box office huge success.

Throughout the 1950s, Elizabeth appeared in film after film with mostly good results, starting with her role in the George Stevens film A Place in the Sun (1951), co-starring her good friend Montgomery Clift . The following year, she co-starred in Ivanhoe (1952), one of the biggest box office hits of the year. Her busiest year was 1954. She had a supporting role in the box office flop Beau Brummell (1954), but later that year starred in the hits The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) and Elephant Walk (1954). She was 22 now, and even at that young age was considered one of the world's great beauties. In 1955 she appeared in the hit Giant (1956) with James Dean . Sadly, Dean never saw the release of the film, as he died in a car accident in 1955. The next year saw Elizabeth co-star with Montgomery Clift in Raintree County (1957), an overblown epic made, partially, in Kentucky. Critics called it dry as dust.

In addition, Clift was seriously injured during the film, with Taylor helping save his life. Despite the film's shortcomings and off-camera tragedy, Elizabeth was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Southern belle Susanna Drake. However, on Oscar night the honor went to Joanne Woodward for The Three Faces of Eve (1957). In 1958 Elizabeth starred as Maggie Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). The film received rave reviews from the critics and Elizabeth was nominated again for an Academy Award for best actress, but this time she lost to Susan Hayward in I Want to Live! (1958). She was still a hot commodity in the film world, though. In 1959 she appeared in another mega-hit and received yet another Oscar nomination for Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). Once again, however, she lost out, this time to Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (1959). Her Oscar drought ended in 1960 when she brought home the coveted statue for her performance in BUtterfield 8 (1960) as Gloria Wandrous, a call girl who is involved with a married man.

Some critics blasted the movie but they couldn't ignore her performance. There were no more films for Elizabeth for three years. She left MGM after her contract ran out, but would do projects for the studio later down the road. In 1963 she starred in Cleopatra (1963), which was one of the most expensive productions up to that time--as was her salary, a whopping $1,000,000. The film took years to complete, due in part to a serious illness during which she nearly died. This was the film where she met her future and fifth husband, Richard Burton (the previous four were Conrad Hilton, Michael Wilding , Michael Todd --who died in a plane crash--and Eddie Fisher ). Her next films, The V.I.P.s (1963) and The Sandpiper (1965), were lackluster at best. Elizabeth was to return to fine form, however, with the role of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Her performance as the loudmouthed, shrewish, unkempt, yet still alluring Martha was easily her finest to date.

For this she would win her second Oscar and one that was more than well-deserved. The following year, she and Burton co-starred in The Taming of the Shrew (1967), again giving winning performances. However, her films afterward were box office failures, including Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), The Comedians (1967) Boom! (1968) (again co-starring with Burton), Secret Ceremony (1968), The Only Game in Town (1970), X, Y and Zee (1972), Hammersmith Is Out (1972) (with Burton again), Ash Wednesday (1973), Night Watch (1973), The Driver's Seat (1974), The Blue Bird (1976) (considered by many to be her worst), A Little Night Music (1977), and Winter Kills (1979) (a controversial film which was never given a full release and in which she only had a small role). Since then, she has appeared in some movies, both theatrical and made-for-television, and a number of television programs.

In February 1997, Elizabeth entered the hospital for the removal of a brain tumor. The operation was successful. As for her private life, she divorced Burton in 1974, only to remarry him in 1975 and divorce him, permanently, in 1976. She had two more husbands, U.S. Senator John Warner and construction worker Larry Fortensky , whom she met in rehab. In 1959, Taylor converted to Judaism, and continued to identify herself as Jewish throughout her life, being active in Jewish causes. Upon the death of her friend, actor Rock Hudson , in 1985, she began her crusade on the behalf of AIDS sufferers. In the 1990s, she also developed a successful series of scents. In her later years, her acting career was relegated to the occasional TV-movie or TV guest appearance. Elizabeth Taylor died on March 23, 2011 in Los Angeles, from congestive heart failure. Her final resting place is Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California. Dark hair, violet eyes and suntanned skin Her multiple marriages and divorces, with only one marriage ending in widowhood.

Her love affair with beautiful jewelry Trivia (116) She was bridesmaid for Jane Powell for her first marriage. Powell was bridesmaid for Taylor at her first marriage. Ranked #72 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] Discharged from hospital, but later rushed back in after a suffering a brain seizure. Said to be comfortable. [February 1997] Underwent successful surgery to remove the benign brain tumor. [February 1997] Has four children and nine grandchildren. Mother of Christopher Edward Wilding and Michael Wilding Jr. Her daughter, Liza Todd , with Michael Todd , is a sculptor, who has two sons, Quinn and Rhys, with her husband artist Hap Tivey. Has appeared solo on the cover of PEOPLE magazine 14 times, second only to Princess Diana (as of 1996).

Liz and Richard Burton appeared together on stage in a 1983 revival of "Private Lives." Her episode of Biography (1987) was the highest-rated episode of that series on Arts & Entertainment (thru the end of 1995). American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. [1993] Liz was a close friend of Montgomery Clift until his death in 1966. They met for the first time when Paramount decided that she had to accompany him to the premiere of The Heiress (1949) because they were both to star in the upcoming A Place in the Sun (1951). They liked each other right away. Clift used to call her "Bessie Mae". When he had a car accident a few years later that disfigured him, he had just left a party at Liz's house. It was she who found him first, got into the wreck and removed some teeth from his throat that threatened to choke him. Her perfumes have been Passion (1987), White Diamonds (1991), Diamonds and Rubies, Diamonds and Emeralds, Diamonds and Sapphires and Black Pearls (1995).

At one point during her life-threatening illness while filming BUtterfield 8 (1960), she was actually pronounced dead. First actress to earn $1,000,000 for a movie role (in Cleopatra (1963)). Along with Julie Andrews , she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II on New Year's Eve, 1999. Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#16). [1995] Mother-in-law of Brooke Palance . Lives in BelAir house once owned by Frank Sinatra when he was married to first wife, Nancy. Born at 2:15 AM GMT Has owned some of the world's most magnificent jewelry, including the 33-carat "Krupp Diamond", the Duchess of Windsor diamond brooch, the Grand Duchess of Russia emeralds, the "LaPeregina Pearl" (which was a Valentine present to her from Richard Burton ), and the famous pear-shaped 69-carat "Burton-Cartier Diamond" Burton gave her in 1969 (subsequently renamed the "Burton-Taylor Diamond.").

Considered Michael Jackson among her closest friends. In the early 1970s, she planned to star in the movie version of the hit 1971 Broadway play "Twigs" by George Furth , in which she would have played four characters -- three sisters and their aged, cranky Bronx-Irish mother -- but the project never materialized. Stepmother of the late Michael Todd Jr. , who was actually her senior by three years. She was a recipient of the 2002 John F. Kennedy Center Honors. Admitted in an interview with Barbara Walters in the late 1990s that she would still like to act but, because of her medical problems, no movie company will insure her. In addition to many other medical problems, including a benign brain tumor she had removed, she has broken her back four times. This causes her severe pain when walking or standing for long amounts of time.

She is mentioned in the lyrics of several songs, including some versions of the Frank Sinatra standard "Nancy (with the Laughing Face)", the Allan Sherman song "Oh Boy" (wherein Sherman giggled "oh boy" in reference to "her men"), "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (written by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson , performed by the likes of Eddie Cantor and Nina Simone ) and "Lady Nina" by the rock band Marillion . The stories of her Oscar win for BUtterfield 8 (1960) have grown legendary. It is generally accepted as truth that she won Oscar voters by a vote of sympathy, because of the recent death of her husband, Michael Todd , and her near-fatal illness and emergency tracheotomy to save her life (her scar was very visible on Oscar night). Wisecracker and Rat Pack member Shirley MacLaine , who was favored to win for her role in The Apartment (1960), said afterwards that "I lost out to a tracheotomy." The premiere of her film Father of the Bride (1950) took place two days after her real-life marriage to Conrad Hilton Jr. .

The publicity surrounding the event is credited with helping to make the film so successful. The marriage lasted as long as the 3 month European honeymoon. Irreconcilable differences were cited in the divorce court. She was voted the 11th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Has four children. Two sons with Michael Wilding : Michael Howard (born January 6, 1953) and Christopher Edward (born February 27, 1955). Her daughter with Michael Todd , Elizabeth Frances Todd, called "Liza", was born August 6, 1957. Her daughter, Maria Burton, (adopted 1962 with Eddie Fisher ; re-adopted 1964 with Richard Burton ) was born August 1, 1961. Ranked #7 in the American Film Insitutes list of the 50 'Greatest American Screen Legends', the top 25 male and top 25 female. Although born in England, her parents were actually Americans, who were just working in England.

Her ancestry included English (with many colonial American roots going back to the 1600s), as well as Swiss-German (from an immigrant maternal great-grandfather), Northern Irish (Scots-Irish), French, and more distant Dutch, Welsh, and Danish. Premiere Magazine ranked her as #40 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005). Announced in November 2004 she has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, but vowed to continue raising funds for AIDS charities and to build a Richard Burton Memorial Theatre in Cardiff, Wales. Is portrayed by Sherilyn Fenn in Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995). Was unable to give evidence at Michael Jackson 's trial due to illness. She was (along with Marisa Berenson ) co-matron of honor at Liza Minnelli 's and David Gest 's wedding. Along with Mark Hamill and Joe Mantegna , she was one of only three actors to play both themselves and a fictional character in The Simpsons (1989).

She supplied the voice of Maggie Simpson in the Season Four episode "Lisa's First Word" and portrayed herself in the Season Four episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled". She and Richard Burton starred together in 11 movies: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The V.I.P.s (1963), Under Milk Wood (1972), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), The Sandpiper (1965), Hammersmith Is Out (1972), Doctor Faustus (1967), Divorce His - Divorce Hers (1973), The Comedians (1967), Cleopatra (1963) and Boom! (1968). She had an uncredited cameo in Burton's film Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). In 1969, Richard Burton bought her one of the world's largest and most beautiful diamonds from the jeweler Cartier after losing an auction for the 69-carat, pear-shaped stone to the jeweler, who won with a $1-million bid.

The rough diamond that would yield the prized stone weighed 244 carats and was found in 1966 at South Africa's Premier mine. Harry Winston cut and polished the diamond, which was put up for auction in 1969. Burton purchased the diamond from Cartier the next day for $1,069,000 to give to Taylor. The small premium was the result of the publicity Cartier garnered from selling the stone, then called the "Burton-Cartier Diamond," to the then "world's most famous couple." Ten years later, the twice-divorced-from-Burton Taylor herself auctioned off the "Burton-Taylor Diamond" to fund a hospital in Botswana. The last recorded sale of the Taylor-Burton was in 1979 for nearly $3,000,000 to an anonymous buyer in Saudi Arabia. The ring was the center of the classic Here's Lucy (1968) episode "Lucy Meets the Burtons," in which Lucy Carter, played by Lucille Ball , gets the famous ring stuck on her finger. The actual ring was used and the episode was the highest rated episode of the very popular series.

Auctioned off her diamond-and-emerald engagement ring from Richard Burton to raise money for an AIDS charity. Her third husband Michael Todd gave her a 29-carat diamond ring during their marriage, a feat topped by fifth husband Richard Burton when he gave her the 69-carat "Burton-Cartier" (later renamed "Burton-Taylor") diamond. Fourth-husband Eddie Fisher said that a $50,000 diamond could keep Taylor happy for approximately four days. She was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II at the 2000 New Year's Honours List for her services to drama. Writer Charles Bukowski , in his newspaper column (and later book) "Notes of a Dirty Old Man", revealed that he loathed Taylor as an absurd icon of the celebrity-mad, media-besotted American culture that he despised. 1976: Won the title of "Most Memorable Eyebrows" in a magazine poll. The first runner up was Lassie . Was unable to attend the civil partnership ceremony of her friend Sir Elton John in England due to her illness.

(December 2005) Became friends with Marlon Brando while shooting Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967). Brando agreed to pick up her Best Actress Award for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) from the New York Film Critics Circle. When Brando made his appearance at the NYFCC Award ceremony at Sardi's on January 29, 1967, he berated the critics, querying them as to why they hadn't recognized Liz before. He then flew to Dahomey, Africa, where she was shooting The Comedians (1967) with Richard Burton to personally deliver the award, a development Burton thought odd. Several years later Brando socialized with the Burtons, visiting them on their famous yacht the Kalizma, while they plied the Mediterreanean. Brando's ex-wife Anna Kashfi , in her book "Brando for Breakfast" (1979), claimed that Brando and Burton got into a fist fight aboard the yacht, probably over Liz, but nothing of the incident appears in Burton's voluminous diaries.

In his diaries, Burton found Brando to be quite intelligent but believed he suffered, like Liz did, from becoming too famous too early in his life and believed their affinity for one another was based on this (both Liz and Marlon would later befriend Michael Jackson , another superstar-cum-legend who had become too famous too soon). Burton recognized Brando as a great actor, but felt he would have been more suited to silent films due to the deficiency in his voice (the famous "mumble"). As a silent film star, Burton believed Brando would have been the greatest motion picture actor ever. In 2006, she introduced a line of diamond and precious stone jewelry called "House of Taylor". The designs are said to be inspired by certain favorite pieces in her own collection. She actually wrote a book on jewelry and is considered to be an authority on the subject. Cancelled her appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, prompting renewed fears about her health. The acting legend usually attends an annual charity dinner organized by the American Foundation For AIDS Research (AMFAR), which always coincides with the South of France festival.

However, Taylor - who also pulled out in 2004 due to health problems - was replaced by Sharon Stone and Liza Minnelli at the gala. (May 2005) Underwent radiation therapy in 2002 for basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer. After her son Michael had renounced his American citizenship for possession of marijuana, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to block his deportation (1988). Her beloved dog, a Maltese named Sugar, died in 2005. Some months later, she purchased Daisy, one of Sugar's descendants. Her older brother Howard Taylor was born in 1929. Was a frequent guest at the infamous "Studio 54" Appeared on Larry King Live (1985) to refute claims that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and was close to death. (30 May 2006) Former stepmother of Carrie Fisher , Todd Fisher , Kate Burton , Jessica Burton, Virginia Warner, John Warner Jr., Mary Warner and Julie Fortensky Henderson. Godmother of Prince Michael . Announced her retirement from acting in 2003.

In Italy, she was exclusively dubbed until the mid-1950s by Germana Calderini . As she matured, she was dubbed by Fiorella Betti . For two of her most celebrated roles--Leslie Lynnton Benedict in Giant (1956) and Catherine Holly in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)--Taylor was dubbed respectively by Micaela Giustiniani and Lidia Simoneschi , the only time either actress lent their voice to her. Organized "A Commitment to Life", a celebrity event to benefit AIDS research after her Giant (1956) co-star Rock Hudson became ill in 1985. The event featured former First Lady Betty Ford , Burt Lancaster , Shirley MacLaine , Sammy Davis Jr. , and Burt Reynolds . More than $1.3 million was raised. Her AIDS organization AMFAR raised $83 million in the twelve years following its creation in 1985. Did not attend The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) due to her opposition to the Iraq war. In 1963, while the highest paid American business executive earned $650,000 and President John F.

Kennedy 's salary was $150,000, she received at least $2.4 million. In a 2007 interview with Entertainment Tonight (1981)'s Mary Hart , Taylor said she had recently telephoned ex-husband Eddie Fisher and spoke to him for the first time in nearly 40 years. Has had three hip replacements. Received $500,000 divorce settlement from Conrad Hilton Jr. , 1951. Mentioned in Walter Kirn 's novel "Thumbsucker". Inducted into the California Hall of Fame in Sacramento (5 December 2007). The 1963 Andy Warhol portrait of hers was sold for $ 23,7 million to an anonymous bidder at a Christie's auction in New York (14 November 2007). After the death of husband Mike Todd , she and Todd's son sued the company Ayer Lease Plan, Inc. for $5,000,000 charging negligence. They were awarded only $40,000, of which $13,000 went to attorney's fees.

The remaining $27,000 went to their daughter, Frances. In 2006, she donated $500,000 to the New Orleans AIDS Task Force to purchase mobile medical unit for AIDS sufferers in New Orleans. Taylor and Shirley Jones are the only actresses to win Oscars for playing prostitutes in the same year: Taylor for BUtterfield 8 (1960) (Best Actress) and Jones for Elmer Gantry (1960) (Best Supporting Actress). She was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of her outstanding contribution to film culture. Her first Oscar nomination for Raintree County (1957) marks her first of 4 consecutive nominations, a feat she shares with Jennifer Jones (1943-1946), Thelma Ritter (1950-1953), Marlon Brando (1951-1954) and Al Pacino (1972-1975). Hospitalized with congestive heart failure and pneumonia in July 2008 and was briefly on a life support machine.

Actively sought the role of Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady (1964), but Audrey Hepburn was cast instead. Has a street named after her in Iowa City, Iowa. Nominated for the 1981 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for "The Little Foxes" as well as winning a Special Theatre World Award for the same. Underwent heart surgery in October 2009 to repair a leaky valve. Was a heavy smoker from ages 18 to 58. She finally quit at her doctor's recommendation following a severe bout with pneumonia in 1990. Returned to work seven months after giving birth to her daughter Liza Todd in order to begin filming Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). First husband Conrad Hilton Jr. was physically abusive, which was partly caused by a drug problem. Fourth husband Eddie Fisher was a close friend of her late husband Michael Todd . Fisher left his wife Debbie Reynolds to be with Taylor. Ex-husband Larry Fortensky underwent five hours of brain surgery and was in a coma for six weeks after falling off a balcony on January 28, 1999.

Taylor immediately notified the hospital she would personally guarantee all Fortensky's medical expenses. Was at one point going to star in The Public Eye (1972) with Richard Burton . See the trivia page for the film for more information. On Monday evening, November 8, 2010, Andy Warhol 's "Men in Her Life", a 1962 painting based on an image of Elizabeth Taylor between husbands, was auctioned at Phillips de Pury & Company's new salesroom on Park Avenue in New York City. An unidentified bidder bought it for $63.3 million. Although Taylor was raised as a Christian Scientist, in 1959, at the age of 27, she converted to Judaism. She denied that her conversion was motivated by her marriages to Mike Todd or Eddie Fisher (both of whom were Jewish), saying that she had always been drawn to Judaism. Her conversion took place at Temple Israel of Hollywood, where she had studied Torah and Jewish history and traditions under Rabbi Max Nussbaum.

It is traditional for converts to receive a Hebrew equivalent to their names upon conversion (since they wouldn't have received one shortly after birth, as those born into Judaism would have); Taylor's was Elisheba Rachel, Elisheba being the Hebrew for "Elizabeth," and Rachel being the name of Jacob's second wife in the Torah. Her obituary published in The New York Times was written by theater critic and cultural reporter Mel Gussow, who had died in 2005. The newspaper's obituary editor said the piece was "too good to throw away". Had a tubal ligation at age 25 and a hysterectomy when she was 36. Delivered all three of her biological children via Caesarean section. Her biological grandchildren are Leila (b. 1971), Naomi (b. 1975) and Tarquin (b. 1989), via her son Michael Wilding Jr. , Andrew (b. 1984) and Lowell (b. 1992), via her son Christopher Edward Wilding , and Quinn (b. 1986) and Rhys (b. 1991), via her daughter Liza Todd .

Her adoptive grandchildren are Eliza (b. 1982) and Richard (b. 2001), via her adoptive daughter Maria Burton, and Caleb (b. 1983) via Christopher. Launched 12 perfumes and colognes - Passion 1988, Passion for Men 1989, White Diamonds 1991, Diamonds and Emeralds 1993, Diamonds and Rubies 1993, Diamonds and Sapphires 1993, Black Pearls 1996, Sparkling White Diamonds 1999, Brilliant White Diamonds 2001, Forever Elizabeth 2002, Gardenia 2003 and Violet Eyes 2010. On March 1, 2013, her fifth (and sixth) husband, Richard Burton , received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was placed next to Elizabeth's star at 6336 Hollywood Boulevard. A casting agent said of her as a 19 year old: "The kid has nothing. Her eyes are too old.".

Despite playing their mother on Giant (1956), Taylor was just 2 years older than Fran Bennett , 4 years older than Dennis Hopper and 9 months younger than Carroll Baker . Is one of 14 Best Actress Oscar winners to have not accepted their Academy Award in person, Taylor's being for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). The others are Katharine Hepburn , Claudette Colbert , Joan Crawford , Judy Holliday , Vivien Leigh , Anna Magnani , Ingrid Bergman , Sophia Loren , Anne Bancroft , Patricia Neal , Maggie Smith , Glenda Jackson and Ellen Burstyn . Was the 53rd actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for BUtterfield 8 (1960) at The 33rd Annual Academy Awards (1961) on April 17, 1961. Credited Montgomery Clift with making her take acting seriously. Taylor was so impressed by Clift's incredible preparation and concentration to play a role that she actively began to seek better parts and give more dynamic performances.

She was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of Carol Ferris (created in 1959). Ferris was created as Green Lantern/Hal Jordan's love interest, and eventually she turned into super-heroine Star Sapphire. Taylor was 27 years old at the point of her creation. Disliked it when people referred to her by the nickname "Liz". Former neighbor of Julie London . Taylor and her husband, Michael Todd , had planned for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) to be her final film, as she intended to retire from the screen. Todd had made a verbal agreement about this with MGM, but after his death, MGM forced Taylor to make BUtterfield 8 (1960) in order to fulfill the terms of her studio contract. As a result, Taylor refused to speak to the director for the entire production, and hated the film. Michael Jackson 's music video "Leave Me Alone" (from his 1987 album Bad) was created as tribute for Elizabeth Taylor, taking several footage of Taylor from her most famous movies, mixing it using the CGI technology that existed in that time.

She had a great and loyal friendship with 1950s actor James Dean , who co-starred with her in Giant (1956). Dean suddenly died in a car accident in Cholame, California in the early fall of 1955, just before the filming of Giant was wrapping up production. It was reported that Taylor felt so distressed and devastated upon hearing the news of her good friend's tragic death that she had to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a few days. Taylor was a major supporter of the state of Israel. Has appeared in over 1,000 magazine covers around the world. Appeared on the cover of Life magazine a record 14 times (more than any other movie star), starting when she was just 15 years old. Daughter Elizabeth "Liza" Frances was born six weeks early in 1957 she weighed 4 lbs 14 oz at birth. She had over 35 sibling-in-laws, since several of her husbands came from very large families. Very close friend of Carole Bayer Sager . Became a great-grandmother in 1998.

Taylor underwent more than 40 major operations during her lifetime and was hospitalized at least 100 times. She reportedly told doctors in 2010 that she didn't want any more life-saving surgeries despite being in daily pain. Elizabeth's ex-husband Larry Fortensky passed away in July 2016 at age 64, having been in a coma since May. The news was confirmed on Facebook and Twitter by relatives, but there has been no media coverage or even an obituary in the local newspaper. Was considered for the role of Alexis on Dynasty (1981). Personal Quotes (45) [on turning 53 years old] I think I'm finally growing up - and about time. I had a hollow leg. I could drink everyone under the table and not get drunk. My capacity was terrifying. My mother says I didn't open my eyes for eight days after I was born, but when I did, the first thing I saw was an engagement ring. I was hooked. I don't pretend to be an ordinary housewife. [Cannes, May 2001] If not to make the world better, what is money for?

[on her weight fluctuations] When you're fat, the world is divided into two groups - people who bug you and people who leave you alone. The funny thing is, supporters and saboteurs exist in either camp. Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells. Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses. I don't remember much about Cleopatra (1963). There were a lot of other things going on. One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues. [About Montgomery Clift ] The most gorgeous thing in the world and easily one of the best actors. You find out who your real friends are when you're involved in a scandal. [on Eddie Fisher ] I'm not taking anything away from Debbie [ Debbie Reynolds ] because she never really had it. [2005] Acting is, to me now, artificial. Seeing people suffer is real. It couldn't be more real. Some people don't like to look at it in the face because it's painful. But if nobody does, then nothing gets done. [2005] There's still so much more to do.

I can't sit back and be complacent, and none of us should be. I get around now in a wheelchair, but I get around. [on Michael Jackson ] What is a genius? What is a living legend? What is a mega star? Michael Jackson - that's all. And when you think you know him, he gives you more . . . I think he is one of the finest people to hit this planet, and, in my estimation, he is the true King of Pop, Rock and Soul. [on John Wayne ] His image had as much impact in the world as many of our presidents have had, but Duke was a great actor, a great humanitarian, but always himself. To be a friend was a lifetime thing. If someone's dumb enough to offer me a million dollars to make a picture, I'm certainly not dumb enough to turn it down. I believe in mind over matter and doing anything you set your mind on. I, along with the critics, have never taken myself very seriously. [on Michael Jackson ] He is part of my heart. We would do anything for each other. [on Michael Wilding ] I'm afraid in those last few years I gave him a rather rough time.

Sort of henpecked him and probably wasn't mature enough for him. It wasn't that we had anything to fight over. We just weren't happy. [on John Wayne ] He is as tough as an old nut and as soft as a yellow ribbon. [on Clark Gable ] He was the epitome of the movie star -- so romantic, such bearing, such friendliness. [on Montgomery Clift ] Monty was the most emotional actor I have ever worked with. And it is contagious. [on Marilyn Monroe ] She seemed to have a kind of unconscious glow about her physical self that was innocent, like a child. When she posed nude, it was 'Gee, I am kind of, you know, sort of dishy,' like she enjoyed it without being egotistical. I will love Michael Jackson forever. (On Michael Jackson 's death) [on the death of Michael Jackson ] I just don't believe that Michael would want me to share my grief with millions of others. How I feel is between us. Not a public event.

Richard came on the set and sort of sidled over to me and said: "Has anybody ever told you that you're a very pretty girl?" 'I thought, Oy gevalt, the great lover, the great wit, the great Welsh intellectual, and he comes out with a corny line like that! But then I noticed his hands were shaking as if he had Saturday night palsy. He had the worst hangover I'd ever seen. And he was obviously terrified of me. I just took pity on him. I realized he really was human. That was the beginning of our affair. [on her conversion to Judaism] It had absolutely nothing to do with my past marriage to Mike [Todd] or my upcoming marriage to Eddie Fisher , both of whom were Jewish. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time. I don't entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I'm me. God knows, I'm me. I have the emotions of a child in the body of a woman. I was rushed into womanhood for the movies. It caused me long moments of unhappiness and doubt.

The ups and downs, the problems and stress, along with all the happiness, have given me optimism and hope because I am living proof of survival. I've come through things that would have felled an ox. That fills me with optimism, not just for myself but for our particular species. [on Michael Jackson ] He is one of the most normal people I know. I hate being called "Liz", because it can sound like such a hiss. [on Cleopatra (1963)] They had cut out the heart, the essence, the motivations, the very core, and tacked on all those battle scenes. It should have been about three large people, but it lacked reality and passion. I found it vulgar. [on BUtterfield 8 (1960)] A piece of shit. Straight sex, gay sex, bisexual sex, use a condom whoever you are. If someone's dumb enough to offer me a million dollars to make a picture, I'm certainly not dumb enough to turn it down. [before her final wedding in 1991] I've been single for eleven years, and I have thought long and hard about ever marrying again. I mean, this is it, forever.

I've only slept with men I've been married to. How many women can make that claim? [after divorcing Richard Burton for the second time] I love Richard Burton with every fiber of my soul, but we can't be together. We're too mutually self-destructive. [on Larry Fortensky ] Larry sees through the world of bullshit I live in. He's very protective. The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues. Salary (25) Obituary: Elizabeth Taylor - BBC News BBC News Close share panel Image caption Her performances never lacked style With her timeless beauty, on-screen dramas and off-screen theatrics, Elizabeth Taylor was the epitome of Hollywood excess. Her glamour made her the most highly paid actress of her day and for a long time the most publicised. Her film career lasted for more than half a century but her private life was more complicated than any storyline, and her romances kept her in the headlines. She had seven husbands and was married twice to the Welsh actor Richard Burton. Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London on 27 February 1932, the daughter of an American art dealer and his actress wife.

She held dual British and American nationality by virtue of having been born on British soil to American parents. She was taken to Los Angeles as a child and began her film career at the age of nine. She appeared alongside Roddy McDowall in Lassie Come Home in 1943 and a year later achieved her first great success in National Velvet. In 1951 she played her first adult lead role in the film Conspirator, in which she co-starred with Robert Taylor. The film was a flop but Taylor received critical acclaim for her mature portrayal of her 21-year-old character. She was just 16 at the time. Image caption National Velvet made her a child star Her great breakthrough as an adult actress came when she starred opposite Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun. Her beauty from then on became the popular standard for a decade. Her dramatic range was limited at this early stage of her career, but her performances gained authority and never lacked style as she grew older. She was nominated for Oscars in 1958, 1959 and 1960 for Raintree County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly, Last Summer respectively.

By 1961 she was in her element and received an Oscar for her part in Butterfield 8, playing call-girl Gloria Wandrous, who has an affair with a married man and dies in a car crash. Her private life was also never dull. She was first wed at 18 to Conrad Hilton, the heir to the luxury hotel chain. Image caption Smouldering with Burton in Cleopatra Four years later she married actor Michael Wilding and they had two children, Chris and Michael. However, she moved on three years later to film producer Mike Todd, with whom she had a daughter, Liza. When he was killed in an air crash soon afterwards, Taylor was devastated. Singer Eddie Fisher did his best to comfort her, and soon became husband number four in 1959, in a marriage that lasted five years. In 1963 she completed work on a lavish production of Cleopatra. It did not enhance her reputation as an actress and her diva behaviour helped push the film's budget past the £12m mark, a colossal sum at the time. Nevertheless, the press had a field day when news leaked of her new romance with co-star Richard Burton.

Poor reviews They worked together on several films including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, for which she won an Oscar in 1967, and Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew. They married in 1964 and later adopted a child, Maria. Image caption Larry Fortensky became her seventh husband. The marriage lasted five years Their tempestuous relationship kept the gossip columnists busy. A diamond ring he bought her was said to have cost almost £500,000. She joked later that, for a while, she became "very left handed". In 1973 they divorced in a Swiss court. Two years later, they were again in front of a judge, this time to re-marry in a remote Botswana village. Their reunion lasted five months, and they were divorced for the second time in 1976. Then, in Washington, she met and married a former US naval secretary, John Warner, who became a Republican senator. Her career had reached a plateau, although she insisted she was content growing older and being a politician's wife. The marriage lasted until 1982.

Clinic romance The actress suffered poor reviews the following year, when she toured the United States in a production of Private Lives with Richard Burton. Image caption Campaigning for funds in the fight against HIV/Aids at a concert in London in 1992 For the first time, she entered the Betty Ford Clinic for drug and alcohol addiction. Her condition was not helped by Burton's death the following year. Taylor made several follow-up trips to the clinic, where she encountered builder Larry Fortensky. He was 20 years her junior and had been jailed several times for drink-driving and drug-related offences. The couple got engaged and, at their private wedding, paparazzi in helicopters dodged barrage balloons to take pictures. It was held on Michael Jackson's ranch in California. Five years later, her eighth divorce cost her £1m. In 1997, she added to a list of operations that already rivalled her film credits and marriage certificates. Following two hip replacements, compressed discs and near fatal pneumonia, she survived surgery for a benign brain tumour.

Image caption She was photographed at the funeral of her friend Michael Jackson Although she made several forgettable films during the 80s and 90s, her most valuable work came when she took up the cause of Aids research. This was inspired by her friend Rock Hudson, who died of an Aids-related illness in 1985. The new millennium saw her honoured in the land of her birth, becoming a Dame of the British Empire. Her health took a turn for the worse in 2004 when she developed congestive heart failure and scoliosis, which further affected her spinal condition leaving her unable to walk. But in true Elizabeth Taylor style, she ordered a gold-plated, jewel-encrusted wheelchair. One of her last public appearances was at the funeral of her friend Michael Jackson, whom she offered her support during his sex abuse trial in 2005. Dame Elizabeth knew herself that, in terms of looks, fame and wealth, she had been dealt a golden hand. But with her illness, addictions and broken marriages, she paid a price for her life of excess in the Hollywood Hills. Nevertheless, she once said: "I've had enough to fill four lifetimes.

I feel damn lucky, I've had a ball." Mike Todd Is Killed In Air Crash (1958) - YouTube Mike Todd Is Killed In Air Crash (1958) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 13, 2014 New Mexico, United States of America (USA). Title reads 'Mike Todd - Showman'. LS. Mike Todd's private plane taxiing in. CU. Actor Mike Todd walking away from plane. CU. Name of the plane 'Lix'. Various shots of the crashed plane - Mike Todd died in car crash. MS. & CU. Mike Todd with wife actress Elizabeth Taylor. MS. Reporters taking notes. Various shots of Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd in evening dress.

(F.G.) Elizabeth Taylor dead at 79 - CNN.com Elizabeth Taylor dead at 79 By Todd Leopold, CNN Taylor died in Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai hospital She was famous for her beauty and many marriages Later in life, the actress was known for her charitable work (CNN) -- Elizabeth Taylor, the legendary actress famed for her beauty, her jet-set lifestyle, her charitable endeavors and her many marriages, has died, her publicist told CNN Wednesday. She was 79. Taylor died "peacefully today in Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles," said a statement from her publicist. She was hospitalized six weeks ago with congestive heart failure, "a condition with which she had struggled for many years. Though she had recently suffered a number of complications, her condition had stabilized and it was hoped that she would be able to return home. Sadly, this was not to be." Did you meet Elizabeth Taylor?

Share your photos, memories Though a two-time Oscar winner -- for "Butterfield 8" (1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966) -- Taylor was more celebrated for simply being Elizabeth Taylor: sexy, glamorous, tempestuous, fragile, always trailing courtiers, media and fans. She wasn't above playing to that image -- she had a fragrance called "White Diamonds" -- or mocking it. "I am a very committed wife," she once said. "And I should be committed too -- for being married so many times." Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor dies King calls Liz Taylor 'a great pal' Liz Taylor: I loved working with Burton 2001: Liz Taylor talks diamonds She was hailed, in her prime, as the world's most beautiful and desirable woman. Her affair with actor Richard Burton, which began on the set of the film "Cleopatra," fueled a paparazzi rush unrivaled in its time. The two later married -- twice -- providing gossip columns and movie magazines with a wealth of material. But Taylor could also be an effective and arresting actress.

Her harrowing performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966), opposite Burton, showed her as shrewish, plain, embittered -- the complete opposite of her real-life image. Remembering Elizabeth Taylor, the actress She also gave sharp performances in "Giant" (1956), "Raintree County" (1957), "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958) -- three films that helped build her reputation as a worldwide sex symbol -- "The Sandpiper" (1965) and "Reflections in a Golden Eye" (1967). Taylor was a champion for a number of charitable causes, notably the fight against AIDS. She founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation after the death of her friend Rock Hudson, and plowed both her time and money into its work, especially as her acting career waned in the 1980s. The BBC once noted that her charity work had grossed as much as her film career. Acting and romance Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born February 27, 1932, in London, the daughter of two wealthy American art dealers, Francis and Sara Taylor.

Her mother was a former actress who had given up the career when she married but encouraged her daughter in the pursuit. Indeed, Elizabeth Taylor and her mother were to remain extremely close until the latter's death in 1994 at age 99. Just after World War II began, her parents moved back to the United States and settled in Los Angeles, where Francis Taylor catered to a high-level clientele. Young Elizabeth was noted early on for her looks: According to one perhaps apocryphal story, she was spotted by a talent scout who suggested her for Bonnie Blue Butler in "Gone With the Wind," but the idea was reportedly shot down by her father. Celebrities remember Elizabeth Taylor Nevertheless, she eventually made her debut for Universal, which placed her in 1942's "There's One Born Every Minute." Taylor was then signed by MGM, which was to be her home for almost two decades, and made "Lassie Come Home," opposite Roddy McDowall. The actor became a devoted friend. But it was Taylor's next film, 1944's "National Velvet," that made her a star.

The story of a girl in love with her horse earned her public adulation -- and her equine co-star, The Pie. (Her other co-star, Mickey Rooney, was taken.) For the rest of the 1940s, she was an MGM regular, some of her films winners -- the 1949 version of "Little Women" -- and others, quickly forgotten, such as "Julia Misbehaves." In 1950, Taylor turned 18 and had her first hit as an adult, the classic "Father of the Bride," in which she played Spencer Tracy's soon-to-be-married daughter. Real life mirrored art when Taylor decided to marry hotel heir Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr., but the marriage wasn't nearly as successful as the film: It lasted just eight months. Critical acclaim arrived with Taylor's next film, "A Place in the Sun," based on the Theodore Dreiser novel "An American Tragedy." Taylor played the beautiful woman pursued by Montgomery Clift, who kills his pregnant girlfriend (Shelley Winters) while boating. The film received nine Academy Award nominations, but Taylor was shut out.

It wasn't until 1958 that Taylor received her first Oscar nomination for 1957's "Raintree County." By then, she was an even bigger star than before and known as much for her off-screen romances as her on-screen talent. She married actor Michael Wilding -- 20 years her senior -- in 1952, a marriage that lasted five years and produced two children, and then Hollywood producer Mike Todd a week after her divorce from Wilding. And after some sluggish work in the early '50s, she was appearing in some renowned films, notably 1956's "Giant" opposite James Dean and Rock Hudson. Todd suggested her for the role of Maggie the Cat in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958), and Taylor steamed up the screen, spending a good part of the movie slinking around in a slip. Todd died in a plane crash in March 1958. Upon his death, Taylor was comforted by Todd's best friend, actor and singer Eddie Fisher. The comforting turned into an affair, complete with bold headlines, which broke apart Fisher's marriage to "America's sweetheart," actress Debbie Reynolds.

Taylor was now "the other woman," scorned as a homewrecker -- and, based on box office returns, more popular than ever. Fisher and Taylor married in 1959 and appeared opposite each other in the next year's "BUtterfield 8," with Taylor cast as a sexually carnivorous party girl. Though she disliked the film, her performance -- and a sudden case of pneumonia that threatened her life -- invited the sympathy of the Motion Picture Academy, and she finally won an Oscar. "I lost to a tracheotomy," fellow nominee Shirley MacLaine quipped. Liz 'n' Dick In 1960, now perhaps the most famous actress in the world, Taylor was offered the lead in 20th Century Fox's production of "Cleopatra." Taylor demanded $1 million -- the highest fee demanded by an actress up to that time. Producer Walter Wanger agreed, and the adventure of "Cleopatra" -- which would consume the showbiz world in ways unknown in the early '60s -- began. (Fisher's ex-wife, Reynolds, would become the second woman to make $1 million for a picture.) The movie seemed gripped by a curse.

Taylor's illnesses -- there were more than one -- caused delays, forced casting changes and prompting the production to move from London to Rome. The original director, old Hollywood hand Rouben Mamoulian, was forced out and replaced by Joseph Mankiewicz ("All About Eve"). Weather wiped out days of filming and labor unrest undid more, pushing the budget, which was originally about $5 million, to $44 million -- almost $300 million in 2010 dollars, more than "Avatar." And then there was one of the new actors, Richard Burton, who was cast as Marc Antony when Stephen Boyd had to leave the production. Burton, who was already known as much for his philandering ways as his Shakespearean expertise, had initially thought little of Taylor beyond her beauty. But he was quickly smitten: "He tried to end it, but he kept turning around and coming back to her," Mankiewicz's son Tom told Taylor biographer William J. Mann. "He just couldn't help himself. He couldn't get enough of her." The two were inseparable -- and very publicly so.

Pictures of the couple finally prompted Burton's long-suffering wife, Sybil -- who had attempted suicide -- to file for divorce. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, both friend and foe to Taylor over the years, called her "sick." The Vatican released a message directed at her, saying she was guilty of "erotic vagrancy." A U.S. congresswoman even introduced a bill banning Taylor and Burton -- or "Liz 'n' Dick," as they were becoming known -- from the United States. In response, Taylor asserted, "I will never go back to America." But America couldn't get enough of "Le Scandale." "Cleopatra" actually did well at the box office -- though not well enough to immediately escape its red ink: it took three years for 20th Century Fox to make its money back, and Taylor and Burton were now the "It" couple of the moment. The two married in 1964, their every move a headline. Burton bought Taylor jewels, furs, baubles. The two caused near-riots when they appeared in public.

Burton's tour of "Hamlet" sold out, and their movies together -- "The V.I.P.s," "The Sandpiper," even the grim, groundbreaking "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" -- were hits, the latter also nominated for 10 Oscars. Taylor received a best actress trophy for her performance as the tempestuous Martha; Burton was nominated for his performance as the emasculated George. Eventually, however, the moviegoing public tired of the double act. Taylor and Burton made four more films together -- "The Taming of the Shrew," "Doctor Faustus," "The Comedians" and the appropriately titled bomb "Boom!" -- but none had the success of their earlier work. At the same time, a new generation was latching on to a younger group of stars; Taylor, though still in her 30s, seemed part of another time. Woman of charity The actress' career continued to languish, as she entered her 40s. Such films as "The Only Game in Town," "X, Y and Zee" and "Ash Wednesday" did nothing for her reputation.

Her marriage to Burton also faltered; the two divorced in 1974, and though they remarried the next year, the second attempt ended nine months later. Indeed, Taylor was starting to become a figure of mockery. During a fund-raising dinner for her sixth husband, U.S. Senator John Warner, R-Virginia, Taylor choked on a chicken bone. The incident, including a bulked-up Taylor, was viciously parodied on "Saturday Night Live," with John Belushi playing Taylor. But the glamour of being Elizabeth Taylor never faded. She was a "guest" at the much-watched Luke-Laura "General Hospital" wedding in 1983 and launched several perfume lines, starting with Passion later in the decade. Most notably, however, she devoted herself to charity. In 1985, she organized a benefit dinner to raise money for her friend Rock Hudson, who was dying of AIDS. The project eventually led to the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR); in 1991, she began the Elizabeth Taylor HIV/AIDS Foundation.

Taylor did a handful of parts in the '90s and '00s -- most notably a 1992 spot on "The Simpsons," in which she spoke Maggie Simpson's first word -- but generally devoted herself to social and charitable causes. She married one more time in 1991 to a construction worker named Larry Fortensky and defended her friend, pop king Michael Jackson. She had more health woes: a trip to the Betty Ford Clinic in the late '80s -- where she met Fortensky -- as well as a brain tumor and severe back problems. The latter put her in a wheelchair. But through all of it -- the gossip, the ailments, the loves and losses -- she remained indomitable. She even joined Twitter to send regular updates on her life. Why not? She was born to the spotlight, and no amount of tittle-tattle was going to take it away. "Some audience out there, and don't ask me who they are, but there are millions, like scandal. They like filth," she told CNN's Larry King in 2006. "And if they want to hear that I'm dead, sorry, folks, I'm not.

And I don't plan on it." Share this on: Grants, NM Mike Todd Perishes In Crash, Mar 1958 | GenDisasters ... Genealogy in Tragedy, Disasters, Fires, Floods Home » Grants, NM Mike Todd Perishes In Crash, Mar 1958 Grants, NM Mike Todd Perishes In Crash, Mar 1958 FAMOUS MIKE TODD PERISHES IN CRASH. 3 OTHERS KILLED BY PLANE CRASH. Grants, N. M. (AP) -- Famed produced MIKE TODD perished in flames early Saturday with three others in the crash of his twin-engined airplane "The Lucky Liz," named for his actress wife Elizabeth Taylor. The executive-type plane plunged with tremendous force, exploded and burned in the Zuni Mountains of western New Mexico southwest of here at 2:05 a.m. in a storm.

One who died was a movie writer, ART COHN, who was working on the story "The First Nine Lives Of Mike Todd." The secretary for the colorful and flamboyant 50-year-old producer of "Around The World In 80 Days" said in Los Angeles that TODD, COHN, 49, pilot BILL VERNER, 45, and co-pilot TOM BARCLAY, 34, definitely were aboard. He saw them off at Burbank at 10:41 p.m. Friday. But officers who made their way to the remote crash scene about 20 miles southwest of this uranium mine-mill town said they could only what appeared to be parts of three bodies. Conditions of the bodies made positive identification at least temporarily impossible. Liz Collapses. MISS TAYLOR did not accompany her husband. She stayed at their West Coast home because of a cold. She collapsed when she heard the news and was placed under sedation. TODD, an enthusiastic air traveler, was flying to New York for a testimonial dinner Sunday night.

COHN was along so they could discuss the book COHN was writing about TODD, who often was called the modern Barnum and boy wonder producer. COHN wrote a column for the San Francisco Examiner. In his first one, he wrote, "Things seem to happen where I happen to be." VERNER, the pilot, was a major in the Air Force Reserves and flew a C46 during World War II over the Himalayas between India and China. Co-pilot BARCLAY was obtained at Burbank when the regular co-pilot failed to show for the flight said DICK HANLEY, TODD'S secretary in Los Angeles. CAA investigator GLEN HUGHES said that judging from the wreckage, the plane appeared to have rammed nose-first into the ground. The burned wreckage, with pieces of engine cowling and other metal bits fused together, was scattered over about a quarter of an acre, he said, as if the Lockheed Lodestar had exploded when it hit. It was on the edge of an arroyo in a small dished-out opening ringed by mountains running up to about 9,300 feet.

The pilot who found the wreckage estimated the small valley floor was about 7,000 feet. JOHN JOHNSON, a Civil Aeronautics Administration employe at Grants, saw the flash of the crash. He said the pilot had reported icing conditions at 11,000 feet and asked permission to climb to 13,000 feet. He said permission was granted and the pilot reported again when he reached the higher altitude. That was the last word. Shortly afterward, JOHNSON was the flash. He called DICK LANE, operator of the Grants Airport. LANE and BILL HOPWOOD set out at daybreak in the direction of the flash. HOPWOOD spotted a wisp of smoke rising from through the cloud shrouded mountains about a half-hour after takeoff. "We had trouble seeing very much of the terrain because the ground was partly obscured by fog," LANE said. "HOPWOOD saw this little column of smoke down in a small valley. It turned out to be the wreckage. The outer portions of the wings and a small portion of the tail were all that was left. There wasn't enough left to see anything." Icing Conditions.

The pilot reported at about 1:55 a.m. to a CAA communications station that the plane was encountering "moderate" icing conditions. TODD had visited Albuquerque, 78 miles east of Grants, only Wednesday. His movie extravaganza was playing there. He arrived in Albuquerque in his private plane and was greeted by officials and a small crowd. It was the same plane that carried him today to his death. He turned down an idea suggested then by the officials to ride into town in a siren-shrieking parade. "Sirens, in an instance like this," he said, "are very undemocratic. They divide Americans into two classes and have a way of saying: 'Get out of my way, you peasants, here comes a big shot,'" The Abilene Reporter-News Texas 1958-03-23 Photos (may) be courtesy of the excellent site by Mike McComb.

Michael Todd - Biography - IMDb Michael Todd Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (3) | Trivia (15) | Personal Quotes (1) Overview (4) Mike Todd Mini Bio (1) Film producer Michael Todd was one of the major contributors to technical innovation in the film industry in the 1950s. Having worked with Fred Waller and Cinerama, he got tired of the three-panel format, left the company and tried to find the process for making "Cinerama coming from one hole". He joined forces with the American Optical Co. and developed a system using 65mm cine cameras at 30 fps and wide angle-photography (approx 150 degrees). The system was named Todd-AO after its inventors and was by far the best big-screen system ever seen, when it was introduced with Oklahoma! (1955). The Todd-AO prints used 70mm film with a 2.2:1 ratio.

Sound was six-track magnetic only, with five channels behind the screen and one surround channel, with Perspecta coding (a switch stereo device) The 70mm Todd-AO productions were premiered through Magna Theatre Corp., which also co-produced the pictures. Due to the non-standard speed, the first two Todd-AO pictures (the other was Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)) were parallel-shot in 35mm CinemaScope with 24 fps for general release, but for the third production, South Pacific (1958), the Todd-AO pictures were all shot in 24 fps. Todd was killed in a plane crash in 1958, but his system lived on, adopted as the wide superformat of 20th Century-Fox, which used it all through the 1960s. During that period a number of alternate processes developed, of which Superpanavision became the most used. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Stefan Adler Spouse (3) ( 14 February 1927 - 3 August 1946) (her death) (1 child) Trivia (15) Father of Michael Todd Jr.

Todd had previously (1946) produced an elaborate Broadway musical version of "Around the World in 80 Days." Despite mammoth production values, a Cole Porter score and a cast headed by Orson Welles as Phineas Fogg, it was a notorious, costly failure, losing nearly all of the money invested in it. Father, with Elizabeth Taylor , of daughter Liza Todd . Killed, along with journalist Art Cohn , when his private plane went down in a blizzard just outside of Albequerque, New Mexico. The plane's ironic name was "The Lucky Liz". In 1957, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his Oscar-winning film Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), Todd staged an elaborate party at Madison Square Garden for his then-wife Elizabeth Taylor and hundreds of guests. The evening eventually deteriorated into a giant food fight. The party was treated as a serious news event by CBS, which sent Walter Cronkite to cover it. The next day newspaper critics tore the event to shreds. It became what Cronkite considers the low point in his career. He was preparing a lavish film version of "Don Quixote" at the time of his death.

Todd's version was never made. The biography "The Nine Lives of Mike Todd" reveals that he briefly was suspected of murdering his first wife Bertha, who died mysteriously in 1946, freeing the way for Todd to marry his mistress, Joan Blondell . Blondell later claimed that Todd fleeced her. His biographer, Art Cohn , died with him in the plane crash that took Todd's life. The biography was nearly finished and was completed by Cohn's wife and published as "The Nine Lives of Mike Todd" in 1958. In the 1940s, stripper Gypsy Rose Lee fell in love with Todd, who was then famous as a Broadway theatrical impresario. Todd produced two Broadway shows starring Lee, "Star and Garter" and "The Naked Genius" (the latter of which was written by Lee). Gypsy married William Alexander Kirkland in 1942 in an attempt to make the already-married Todd jealous. They divorced in 1944.

His penultimate show was entitled "Michael Todd's Peep Show", running at the Winter Garden Theatre, from June 28, 1950 to February 24, 1951, for a total of 278 performances. The music and lyrics for this musical revue, which featured female nudity, were by 'Prince Chakrband Bhumibol', who became the King of Thailand! In Art Cohn 's posthumous biography of Todd, "The Nine Lives of Mike Todd", it is revealed that the naked girls featured in the show's mermaid sequence had difficulty getting the blue dye, used in the water, out of their pubic hair. Todd twice went bankrupt, once when he filed for bankruptcy for over $1 million as a young man and his construction business (which specialized in soundproofing Hollywood sound-stages, among other lines of business) folded during the Great Depression, and the second time around 1950, when his huge gambling losses and massive debts linked to his lavish lifestyle overwhelmed him.

He remained ensconced in a splendid Hudson Valley estate in Tarrytown, New York with his second wife Joan Blondell , living the high life and spending like a pasha, as his second bankruptcy suit wound its way through the federal court system. When creditors' objections threatened to land him in jail due to apparent fraud (Todd had destroyed evidence of his gambling debts so as not to implicate his friends), Todd withdrew the suit and agreed to pay back his creditors. Subsequently, Todd owned over three-quarters of the gross profits of Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a spectacular that racked up over $20 million in rentals in its first release (approximately $135 million in 2005 terms), a huge sum for the time exceeded by very few films. Despite the fact that he was again rich, and richer than ever (worth about $7-8 million at the time of his death, or about $50 million in 2005 terms), many observers at the time predicted that the profligate Todd would manage to bankrupt himself a third time. He never got the chance, dying in a plane crash in 1958.

His widow, Elizabeth Taylor , still owns his share of the Oscar-winning film. He had committed himself to provide financial backing for Laurence Olivier 's most cherished project, a film of William Shakespeare 's "Macbeth", shortly before his fatal plane crash. But after Todd's death, the funding didn't come through and Olivier was forced to abandon the project. Todd's premature death wiped out his plans for two future films: "Don Quixote" and "The Man Who Would Be King.". His and Elizabeth Taylor's daughter Elizabeth Frances "Liza" was born by emergency c section six weeks early on August 6th 1957 weighing 4 lbs 14 oz. Personal Quotes (1) I've never been poor, only broke. Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation. See also

Question: Who was the husband of Elizabeth Taylor, killed in an air crash in 1958?
Answer: MIKE TODD