1941–1949: Early roles and teenage stardom In California, Taylor's mother was frequently told that her daughter should audition for films. Taylor's eyes in particular drew attention; they were blue, to the extent of appearing violet, and were rimmed by dark double eyelashes caused by
a genetic mutation. Sara was initially opposed to Taylor appearing in films, but after the outbreak of war in Europe made return there unlikely, she began to view the film industry as a way of assimilating to American society. Francis Taylor's Beverly Hills gallery had gained clients from the film industry soon after opening, helped by the endorsement of gossip columnist
Hedda Hopper, a friend of the Cazalets. Through a client and a school friend's father, Taylor auditioned for both
Universal Pictures and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in early 1941. Both studios offered Taylor contracts, and Sara Taylor chose to accept Universal's offer. and Taylor in
National Velvet (1944), her first major film role Taylor began her contract in April 1941 and was cast in a small role in ''
There's One Born Every Minute'' (1942). She did not receive other roles, and her contract was terminated after a year. Universal's casting director explained her dislike of Taylor, stating that "the kid has nothing ... her eyes are too old, she doesn't have the face of a child". Biographer
Alexander Walker agrees that Taylor looked different from the child stars of the era, such as
Shirley Temple and
Judy Garland. Taylor later said that, "apparently, I used to frighten grown ups, because I was totally direct". Taylor received another opportunity in late 1942, when her father's acquaintance, MGM producer
Samuel Marx, arranged for her to audition for a minor role in
Lassie Come Home (1943), which required a child actress with an English accent. After a trial contract of three months, she was given a standard seven-year contract in January 1943. Following
Lassie, she appeared in minor uncredited roles in two other films set in England –
Jane Eyre (1943) playing Helen Burns, and
The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). Taylor was cast in her first starring role at the age of 12, when she was chosen to play a girl who wants to compete as a jockey in the exclusively male
Grand National in
National Velvet. She later called it "the most exciting film" of her career. Since 1937, MGM had been looking for a suitable actress with a British accent and the ability to ride horses.
Gene Tierney (12 years older than Taylor) was the first option, but finally they decided on Taylor at the recommendation of
White Cliffs director
Clarence Brown, who knew she had the necessary skills. At that time Taylor was deemed too short for the role, so filming was delayed several months in order for her to grow an inch or two. In the interim Taylor spent her time practicing her horseback riding. In MGM's effort developing Taylor into a film star, they required her to wear braces to straighten her teeth and have two of her baby teeth pulled out. The studio also wanted to dye her hair and change the shape of her eyebrows, even proposing that she use the screen name "Virginia", but Taylor and her parents refused. while
James Agee of
The Nation wrote that she "is rapturously beautiful... I hardly know or care whether she can act or not." in
A Date with Judy (1948) Taylor later stated that her childhood ended when she became a star, as MGM started to control every aspect of her life. She described the studio as a "big extended factory", where she was required to adhere to a strict daily schedule. They were followed by supporting roles as a teenaged "man-stealer" who seduces her peer's date to a high school dance in the musical
A Date with Judy (1948), and as a bride in the romantic comedy
Julia Misbehaves (1948). This became a commercial success, grossing over $4 million in the box office. Taylor's last adolescent role was as Amy March in
Mervyn LeRoy's
Little Women (1949), a box-office success. The same year,
Time featured Taylor on its cover and called her the leader among Hollywood's next generation of stars, "a jewel of great price, a true sapphire".
1950–1951: Transition to adult roles in
Father of the Bride (1950) Taylor made the transition to adult roles when she turned 18 in 1950. In her first mature role, the thriller
Conspirator (1949), she plays a woman who begins to suspect that her husband is a Soviet spy. Taylor had been only 16 at the time of its filming, but its release was delayed until March 1950, as MGM disliked it and feared it could cause diplomatic problems. Taylor's second film of 1950 was the comedy
The Big Hangover (1950), co-starring
Van Johnson. It was released in May. That same month, Taylor married hotel-chain heir
Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr. in a highly publicized ceremony. The event was organized by MGM, and used as part of the publicity campaign for Taylor's next film,
Vincente Minnelli's comedy
Father of the Bride (1950), in which she appeared opposite
Spencer Tracy and
Joan Bennett as a bride preparing for her wedding. The film became a box-office success upon its release in June, grossing $6 million worldwide ($ in dollars ), and was followed by a successful sequel, ''
Father's Little Dividend'' (1951), ten months later. Taylor's next film release,
George Stevens'
A Place in the Sun (1951), marked a departure from her earlier films. According to Taylor, it was the first film in which she had been asked to act, instead of simply being herself,
A. H. Weiler of
The New York Times wrote that she gives "a shaded, tender performance, and one in which her passionate and genuine romance avoids the pathos common to young love as it sometimes comes to the screen."
1952–1955: Continued success at MGM Taylor next starred in the romantic comedy
Love Is Better Than Ever (1952). According to Alexander Walker, MGM cast her in the "B-picture" as a reprimand for divorcing Hilton in January 1951 after only eight months of marriage, which had caused a public scandal that reflected negatively on her. After completing
Love Is Better Than Ever, Taylor was sent to Britain to take part in the historical epic
Ivanhoe (1952), which was one of the most expensive projects in the studio's history. She was not happy about the project, finding the story superficial and her role as Rebecca too small. Regardless,
Ivanhoe became one of MGM's biggest commercial successes, earning $11 million in worldwide rentals. Taylor's last film made under her old contract with MGM was
The Girl Who Had Everything (1953), a remake of the
pre-code drama
A Free Soul (1931). Despite her grievances with the studio, Taylor signed a new seven-year contract with MGM in the summer of 1952. Although she wanted more interesting roles, the decisive factor in continuing with the studio was her financial need; she had recently married British actor
Michael Wilding, and was pregnant with her first child. In addition to granting her a weekly salary of $4,700 ($ in dollars ), MGM agreed to give the couple a loan for a house, and signed her husband for a three-year contract. Due to her financial dependency, the studio now had even more control over her than previously. and Taylor in the romantic drama
The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) Taylor's first two films made under her new contract were released ten days apart in early 1954. The first was
Rhapsody, a romantic film starring her as a woman caught in a love triangle with two musicians. The second was
Elephant Walk, a drama in which she played a British woman struggling to adapt to life on her husband's tea plantation in
Ceylon. She had been loaned to
Paramount Pictures for the film after its original star,
Vivien Leigh, fell ill. In the fall, Taylor starred in two more film releases.
Beau Brummell was a
Regency era period film, another project in which she was cast against her will. Taylor disliked historical films in general, as their elaborate costumes and makeup required her to wake up earlier than usual to prepare. She later said that she gave one of the worst performances of her career in
Beau Brummell. The second film was
Richard Brooks'
The Last Time I Saw Paris, based on
F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story. Although she had wanted to be cast in
The Barefoot Contessa (1954) instead, Taylor liked the Brooks film and later stated that it "convinced me I wanted to be an actress instead of yawning my way through parts." While
The Last Time I Saw Paris was not as profitable as many other MGM films, it garnered positive reviews. Taylor became pregnant again during the production, and had to agree to add another year to her contract to make up for the period spent on maternity leave.
1956–1960: Critical acclaim in
Giant (1956) By the mid-1950s, the American film industry was beginning to face serious competition from television, which resulted in studios producing fewer films, and focusing instead on their quality. The change benefited Taylor, who finally found more challenging roles after several years of career disappointments. After lobbying director
George Stevens, she won the female lead role in
Giant (1956), an epic drama about a ranching dynasty, which co-starred
Rock Hudson and her close friend
James Dean. Its filming in
Marfa, Texas, was a difficult experience for Taylor, as she clashed with Stevens, who wanted to break her will to make her easier to direct, and was often ill, resulting in delays. To further complicate the production, Dean died in a car accident only days after completing filming; the grieving Taylor still had to film reaction shots to their joint scenes. When
Giant was released a year later, it became a box-office success, and was widely praised by critics. Although not nominated for an Academy Award like her co-stars, Taylor garnered positive reviews for her performance, with
Variety calling it "surprisingly clever", and
The Manchester Guardian lauding her acting as "an astonishing revelation of unsuspected gifts." It named her one of the film's strongest assets. MGM reunited Taylor with Montgomery Clift in
Raintree County (1957), a
Civil War drama which it hoped would replicate the success of
Gone with the Wind (1939). Taylor found her role as a mentally disturbed
Southern belle fascinating, but overall disliked the film. Although the film failed to become the type of success MGM had planned, Taylor was nominated for the first time for an
Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. Taylor considered her next performance as Maggie the Cat in the screen adaptation of the
Tennessee Williams play
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) a career "high point", but it coincided with one of the most difficult periods in her personal life. and
Variety praising her for "a well-accented, perceptive interpretation." Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award Taylor's next film,
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), was another Tennessee Williams adaptation, with a screenplay by
Gore Vidal and also starring
Montgomery Clift and
Katharine Hepburn. The independent production earned Taylor $500,000 for playing the role of a traumatized patient in a mental institution. Although the film was a drama about mental illness, childhood traumas, and
homosexuality, it was again promoted with Taylor's sex appeal; both its trailer and poster featured her in a white swimsuit. The strategy worked, as the film was a financial success. Taylor received her third Academy Award nomination while
Variety stated that she gives "a torrid, stinging portrayal with one or two brilliantly executed passages within." Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.
1961–1967: Cleopatra and other collaborations with Richard Burton as Mark Antony with Taylor as Cleopatra in
Cleopatra (1963) After completing her MGM contract, Taylor starred in
20th Century-Fox's
Cleopatra (1963). According to film historian Alexander Doty, this historical epic made her more famous than ever before. She became the first movie star to be paid $1 million for a role; Fox also granted her 10% of the film's gross profits, as well as shooting the film in
Todd-AO, a widescreen format for which she had inherited the rights from Mike Todd. The film's production – characterized by costly sets and costumes, constant delays, and a scandal caused by Taylor's extramarital affair with her co-star
Richard Burton – was closely followed by the media, with
Life proclaiming it the "Most Talked About Movie Ever Made." Filming began in England in 1960 but had to be halted several times because of bad weather and Taylor's ill health. In March 1961, she developed nearly fatal
pneumonia, which necessitated a
tracheotomy; one news agency erroneously reported that she had died. Once she had recovered, Fox discarded the already filmed material, and moved the production to Rome, changing its director to Joseph Mankiewicz, and the actor playing
Mark Antony to Burton. Filming was finally completed in July 1962. The film's final cost was $62 million (equivalent to $ million in ), making it the most expensive film made up to that point.
Cleopatra became the biggest box-office success of 1963 in the United States; the film grossed $15.7 million at the box office (equivalent to $ million in ). Regardless, it took several years for the film to earn back its production costs, which nearly drove Fox to bankruptcy. The studio publicly blamed Taylor for the production's troubles and unsuccessfully sued Burton and Taylor for allegedly damaging the film's commercial prospects with their behavior. The film's reviews were mixed to negative, with critics finding Taylor overweight and her voice too thin, and unfavorably comparing her with her classically trained British co-stars. In retrospect, Taylor called
Cleopatra a "low point" in her career, and said that the studio had cut out the scenes which she felt provided the "core of the characterization." Biographer Alexander Walker compared these films to "illustrated gossip columns", as their film roles often reflected their public personae, while film historian Alexander Doty has noted that the majority of Taylor's films during this period seemed to "conform to, and reinforce, the image of an indulgent, raucous, immoral or amoral, and appetitive (in many senses of the word) 'Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor and Burton's first joint project following her hiatus was Vincente Minnelli's romantic drama
The Sandpiper (1965), about an illicit love affair between a bohemian artist and a married clergyman in
Big Sur, California. Its reviews were largely negative, but it grossed a successful $14 million in the box office (equivalent to $ million in ). Their next project, ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1966), an adaptation of a
play of the same name by
Edward Albee, featured the most critically acclaimed performance of Taylor's career. She and Burton starred as Martha and George, a middle-aged couple going through a marital crisis. In order to convincingly play 50-year-old Martha, Taylor gained weight, wore a wig, and used makeup to make herself look older and tired – in stark contrast to her public image as a glamorous film star. At Taylor's suggestion, theatre director
Mike Nichols was hired to direct the project, despite his lack of experience with film. The production differed from anything she had done previously, as Nichols wanted to thoroughly rehearse the play before beginning filming.
Woolf was considered ground-breaking for its adult themes and uncensored language, and opened to "glorious" reviews.
Variety wrote that Taylor's "characterization is at once sensual, spiteful, cynical, pitiable, loathsome, lustful, and tender."
Stanley Kauffmann of
The New York Times stated that she "does the best work of her career, sustained and urgent." The film also became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year. Taylor received her second Academy Award, and BAFTA,
National Board of Review, and New York City Film Critics Circle awards for her performance. In 1966, Taylor and Burton performed
Doctor Faustus for a week in
Oxford to benefit the
Oxford University Dramatic Society; he starred and she appeared in her first stage role as
Helen of Troy, a part which required no speaking. Although it received generally negative reviews, Burton produced it as a film,
Doctor Faustus (1967), with the same cast. It was also panned by critics and grossed only $600,000 in the box office (equivalent to $ million in ). Taylor and Burton's next project,
Franco Zeffirelli's
The Taming of the Shrew (1967), which they also co-produced, was more successful. It posed another challenge for Taylor, as she was the only actor in the project with no previous experience of performing Shakespeare; Zeffirelli later stated that this made her performance interesting, as she "invented the part from scratch." Critics found the play to be fitting material for the couple, and the film became a box-office success by grossing $12 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Taylor's third film released in 1967,
John Huston's
Reflections in a Golden Eye, was her first without Burton since
Cleopatra. Based on a
novel of the same name by
Carson McCullers, it was a drama about a repressed gay military officer and his unfaithful wife. It was originally slated to co-star Taylor's old friend Montgomery Clift, whose career had been in decline for several years owing to his substance abuse problems. Determined to secure his involvement in the project, Taylor even offered to pay for his insurance. But Clift died from a heart attack before filming began; he was replaced in the role by
Marlon Brando.
Reflections was a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release. Taylor and Burton's last film of the year was the adaptation of
Graham Greene's novel,
The Comedians, which received mixed reviews and was a box-office disappointment.
1968–1979: Career decline Taylor's career was in decline by the late 1960s. She had gained weight, was in her late 30s and did not fit in with
New Hollywood stars such as
Jane Fonda and
Julie Christie. After several years of nearly constant media attention, the public was tiring of Burton and her, and criticized their jet set lifestyle. In 1968, Taylor starred in two films directed by
Joseph Losey –
Boom! and
Secret Ceremony – both of which were critical and commercial failures. The former, based on Tennessee Williams' ''
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, features her as an ageing, serial-marrying millionaire, and Burton as a younger man who turns up on the Mediterranean island on which she has retired. Secret Ceremony'' is a psychological drama that also stars
Mia Farrow and
Robert Mitchum. Taylor's third film with George Stevens,
The Only Game in Town (1970), in which she played a Las Vegas showgirl who has an affair with a compulsive gambler, played by
Warren Beatty, was unsuccessful. The three 1972 films in which Taylor acted were somewhat more successful. '''', which portrayed
Michael Caine and her as a troubled married couple, won her the
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress. She appeared with Burton in the adaptation of Dylan Thomas's
Under Milk Wood; although her role was small, the producers decided to give her top-billing to profit from her fame. Her third film role that year was playing a blonde diner waitress in
Peter Ustinov's
Faust parody
Hammersmith Is Out, her tenth collaboration with Burton. Although it was overall not successful, Taylor received some good reviews, with
Vincent Canby of
The New York Times writing that she has "a certain vulgar, ratty charm", and
Roger Ebert of the
Chicago Sun-Times saying, "The spectacle of Elizabeth Taylor growing older and more beautiful continues to amaze the population." Her performance won the
Silver Bear for Best Actress at the
Berlin Film Festival. Her only film released in 1974, the Italian
Muriel Spark adaptation ''
The Driver's Seat'' (1974), was a failure. Taylor took fewer roles after the mid-1970s, and focused on supporting the career of her sixth husband,
Republican politician
John Warner, a US senator. In 1976, she participated in the Soviet-American fantasy film
The Blue Bird (1976), a critical and box-office failure, and had a small role in the television film
Victory at Entebbe (1976). In 1977, she sang in the critically panned film adaptation of
Stephen Sondheim's musical
A Little Night Music (1977).
1980–2007: Final film roles, stage and television roles, and retirement After a period of semi-retirement from films, Taylor starred in ''
The Mirror Crack'd'' (1980), adapted from an
Agatha Christie mystery novel and featuring an ensemble cast of actors from the studio era, such as
Angela Lansbury,
Kim Novak, Rock Hudson, and
Tony Curtis. Wanting to challenge herself, she took on her first substantial stage role, playing Regina Giddens in a Broadway production of
Lillian Hellman's
The Little Foxes. Instead of portraying Giddens in negative light, as had often been the case in previous productions, Taylor's idea was to show her as a victim of circumstance, explaining, "She's a killer, but she's saying, 'Sorry fellas, you put me in this position'." The production premiered in May 1981, and had a sold-out six-month run despite mixed reviews. Frank Rich of
The New York Times wrote that Taylor's performance as "Regina Giddens, that malignant Southern bitch-goddess ... begins gingerly, soon gathers steam, and then explodes into a black and thunderous storm that may just knock you out of your seat", while Dan Sullivan of the
Los Angeles Times stated, "Taylor presents a possible Regina Giddens, as seen through the persona of Elizabeth Taylor. There's some acting in it, as well as some personal display." She appeared as evil socialite
Helena Cassadine in the day-time soap opera
General Hospital in November 1981. The following year, she continued performing
The Little Foxes in London's
West End but received largely negative reviews from the British press. Encouraged by the success of
The Little Foxes, Taylor and producer
Zev Buffman founded the Elizabeth Taylor Repertory Company. Its first and only production was a revival of
Noël Coward's comedy
Private Lives, starring Taylor and Burton. It premiered in Boston in early 1983, and although commercially successful, received generally negative reviews, with critics noting that both stars were in noticeably poor health – Taylor admitted herself to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center after the play's run ended, and Burton died the following year. After the failure of
Private Lives, Taylor dissolved her theatre company. Her only other project that year was the television film
Between Friends. perform in a
United Service Organization show aboard the training aircraft carrier
USS Lexington during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of naval aviation in 1986. From the mid-1980s, Taylor acted mostly in television productions. She made cameos in the soap operas
Hotel and
All My Children in 1984, and played a brothel keeper in the historical mini-series
North and South in 1985. She also starred in several television films, playing gossip columnist
Louella Parsons in
Malice in Wonderland (1985), a fading movie star in the drama
There Must Be a Pony (1986), and a character based on
Poker Alice in the eponymous
Western (1987). She re-united with director Franco Zeffirelli to appear in his French-Italian biopic
Young Toscanini (1988), and had the last starring role of her career in a television adaptation of
Sweet Bird of Youth (1989), her fourth Tennessee Williams play. During this time, she also began receiving honorary awards for her career – the
Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1985, In the 1990s, Taylor focused her time on HIV/AIDS activism. Her few acting roles included characters in the animated series
Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1992) and
The Simpsons (1992, 1993), and cameos in four CBS series –
The Nanny, ''
Can't Hurry Love, Murphy Brown, and High Society'' – all airing on February 26, 1996, to promote her new fragrance. Her last theatrically released film was the critically panned, but commercially successful,
The Flintstones (1994), in which she played
Pearl Slaghoople in a brief supporting role. Taylor received American and British honors for her career: the
AFI Life Achievement Award in 1993, the
Screen Actors Guild honorary award in 1997, and a
BAFTA Fellowship in 1999. In 2000, she was appointed a
Dame Commander in the chivalric
Order of the British Empire in the millennium New Year Honours List by
Queen Elizabeth II. After supporting roles in the television film
These Old Broads (2001) and in the animated sitcom
God, the Devil and Bob (2001), Taylor announced that she was retiring from acting to devote her time to philanthropy. She gave one last public performance in 2007, when she performed the play
Love Letters at an AIDS benefit at the Paramount Studios with
James Earl Jones. ==Other ventures==