Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, the film goddess whose sultry screen persona, stormy personal life and enduring fame and glamour made her one of the last of the classic movie stars, was born in London on Feb. 27, 1932.
The actress was a star at age 12, a bride and a divorcee at 18, a superstar at 19 and a widow at 26. She was a screen sweetheart and martyr later reviled for stealing Eddie Fisher from Debbie Reynolds, then for dumping Fisher to bed Burton, a relationship of epic passion and turbulence, lasting through two marriages and countless attempted reconciliations.
Taylor was the most blessed and cursed of actresses, the toughest and the most vulnerable. She had extraordinary grace, wealth and voluptuous beauty, and won three Academy Awards, including a special one for her humanitarian work.
Taylor's involvement in amfAR ranks her among the top Hollywood philanthropists. And it wasn't just what she gave, but the cause she chose. In those days, celebrities took on safe causes. To take on AIDS was a really courageous act for a celebrity, and it took her kind of star power to draw attention to the real needs that were going on.Though many point to the death of Taylor's close friend Rock Hudson in October 1985 as the reason she became interested in promoting AIDS research, we can't say for sure if that was what sparked her concern, but it certainly strengthened it.
Her advocacy for AIDS research and for other causes earned her a special Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1993. With the sad passing of screen legend Elizabeth Taylor Wednesday 23rd, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has lost an extraordinary ally in the movement for full equality.
Liz had a secret love child, according to a former confidante.
John Cohan said Taylor paid an Irish family to bring up baby Norah.
Cohan told the New York Post: The studio and her mother gave baby Norah away. It was thought that any of three men may have been Norah’s dad.
Cohan added: “Money was exchanged. The child, who grew up in Ireland, resented the mother who gave her up, wanted nothing to do with Taylor.
Cohan claims Liz pleaded with him to “say nothing until I am gone.”
