The Actress
“More than anyone else I can think of,” wrote New York Times film critic Vincent Canby, “Elizabeth Taylor represents the complete movie phenomenon – what movies are as an art and an industry, and what they have meant to those of us who have grown up watching them in the dark.” From her time under contract to MGM to her years as a free agent, Elizabeth made more than fifty films over her dazzling career. Learn more about each of them.
After conquering Hollywood, Elizabeth turned her sights to a new acting challenge: the stage. She became the toast of Broadway with her serious stage debut (she had previously performed in a poetry recital and a non-speaking role) in The Little Foxes, and drew enormous audiences when she reunited with Richard Burton onstage. In 2007, the cause closest to her heart would bring her back for one final performance. Grab a front-row seat as we take a look back at Elizabeth’s stage appearances over the years.
It was a major event any time Elizabeth Taylor appeared on the small screen! She graced award shows and was a guest on both daytime and late-night talk shows. There were also rare forays into episodic TV, such as when she famously placed a curse on General Hospital’s Luke and Laura during her iconic stint on the legendary soap opera, and voiced baby Maggie’s first word on The Simpsons. Explore Elizabeth’s TV appearances over the decades.
Elizabeth complemented her dazzling theatrical film resume with a handful of movies made for television. She brought to life an array of women, ranging from a lonely professor (Return Engagement) and a newly-divorced woman, who, through an unlikely friendship, is finally able to face the future, in HBO’s first TV movie (Between Friends), as well as the odd faded movie queen thrown in for good measure (“I’m a great success at playing has-beens,” she joked).