Elizabeth Taylor (British-American, 1932-2011)
One of the best recognized stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Taylor first became famous as a teenager for her role in National Velvet after moving with her prominent family from London to Los Angeles as a child. She would go on to win two Academy Awards for her performances in Butterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Taylor was equally well known for her personal life; most notably her love affair with fellow actor Richard Burton during the filming of Cleopatra, and her eight marriages to seven men which became frequent fodder for gossip columns and magazines. Later in life, Taylor was a prominent philanthropist, frequently supporting Jewish causes after her 1959 conversion to Judaism as well as HIV/AIDS research, making her one of the first celebrities to publicly support helping those who had the disease.
