theFASHIONbox: Elizabeth Taylor: The World's Most Beautiful Woman

Regarded by many to have been the most beautiful woman of all time, Elizabeth Taylor will go down in history as one of Hollywood's brightest stars. Glamour, beauty and talent rolled into one, pretty much sums up Liz Taylor, whose films were often shadowed by her turbulent private life, not to mention her 8 marriages. But she was a shy, child star who grew into a Hollywood legend, having worked with some of the biggest names in movies, including James Dean, Michael Kane, Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. The actress won 2 Oscars during her lifetime, not to mention a whole host of accolades and awards, which included the American Institute of Film ranking her the 7th greatest female screen legend ever in 1999.

When she passed away in March 2011 at the age of 79, the world mourned an icon - one of the few remaining Hollywood greats from the Golden Era of cinema. In fact, I can't believe it's taken me so long to dedicate a blog post to Elizabeth Taylor, seeing as she is one of the most fascinating actresses Hollywood has ever produced not to mention a very fashionable lady, with a fondness for all things that glitter. So let me introduce you to Ms Taylor.

Elizabeth Rosemund Taylor was born on the 27th February 1932 in North London (she's a Pisces if you were wondering). Both her parents were American citizens yet had moved to England for work, but in 1939 moved back to the US just before the outbreak of the Second World War. "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," she later joked. It was her mother in particular who noticed that her daughter was extremely beautiful with violet eyes and jet black hair, and pushed her for film roles in Los Angeles. By the age of 9, Taylor was signed to MGM studios and went on to appear in classics, 'Lassie Come Home, 'Jane Eyre,' 'National Velvet' with Mickey Rooney and 'Little Women.'

As she grew older, comparisons between Elizabeth and leading actresses like Lana Turner and Ava Gardner began to surface, transitioning her to more adult roles. Movies such as 'A Place in the Sun' with Montgomery Clift, 'Ivanhoe' and 'The Last Time I saw Paris,' won critical acclaim, but it was the movie 'Giant' in 1956 that made the world take notice of Elizabeth Taylor. Starring opposite James Dean and Rock Hudson, Elizabeth was believable and acted with her heart throughout the film which was a box office smash. 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' by Tennessee Williams followed in 1958, which was another hit at the box office followed by 'Butterfield 8' which won Elizabeth her first Academy Award. She later revealed in an interview how much she hated the film and protested to be a part of it, but as stipulated in her contract with MGM, she had no choice but to star in it. Soon after, she moved to 20th Century Fox.

'Cleopatra' will always be role synonymous with Elizabeth Taylor. She was offered a huge $1,000,000 to star in the movie, the highest sum ever to be offered to an actress. "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," she recalled. During the filming of the movie, she famously began an affair with Richard Burton which resulted in a public scandal. It was so bad even the Pope got involved condemning Elizabeth for her actions and banning her from Rome. Way before Brad and Angelina were around, 'Liz and Dick' as they were known, were the first real celebrity couple with a jet set, glamorous, no expenses spared lifestyle. Elizabeth and Richard Burton would later go on to marry twice, but more on that later! "I really don't remember much about Cleopatra," she mused to an interviewer years later. "There were a lot of other things going on!" Burton and Taylor went on to star in 11 films together, including 'Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf' in 1966 which won her a second Oscar. This time she was proud of the movie she won the award for and described it as one of the best performances of her career.

Things went downhill in terms of movies from there. Elizabeth starred in a number of low budget films which didn't do well at the box office as well as TV and theatre work. She later dedicated her life to the victims of HIV/Aids, a disease which people knew very little about back then. She grew exasperated that "nobody was doing anything about it" and would go on to raise more than $270 million dollars for charities. Her humanitarian work is something I admire Elizabeth Taylor very much for, a lot like Audrey Hepburn's work in Africa after her acting career dwindled. After suffering from health problems her whole life, her health grew poorer and the actress died of heart failure on March 23rd 2011. But what a life Elizabeth Taylor led!

It was Elizabeth Taylor's 8 marriages which captivated the media. From her first marriage to Conran (Nicky) Hilton Jr when she was only 18, to her last husband Larry Fortensky in 1991, Elizabeth rarely kept out of the gossip columns. She caused a scandal in 1958 when soon after her third husband Mike Todd died in a plane crash, she began an affair with actor Eddie Fisher, who was at the time married to Debbie Reynolds. Reynolds and Fisher were widely regarded as a Golden Hollywood couple and Taylor seen as the turbulent home wrecker who destroyed a happy marriage.

During the filming of Cleopatra in 1963, she divorced Fisher for Richard Burton, who she would marry twice. The Burton's continued to be the ‘it couple’ of the 60s with Burton showering Elizabeth with expensive jewels, most famously the Krupp Diamond in 1968, worth $8million. "After Richard, the men in my life were just there to hold the coat, to open the door," she said of Burton. "All the men after Richard were really just company." She went on to marry John Warner and finally Larry Fortensky at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch in 1991. She had four children in total: 2 boys with Michael Wilding and 1 with Burton, and a girl with Mike Todd. Even after her death, Taylor still kept in the news when her jewellery collection sold at Christie's for a whopping $156.8 million. Celebrities and fashion editors alike constantly reference her in shoots, art and in life generally, with Kim Kardashian calling Taylor her 'idol.' I don't think there will ever be another actress like Elizabeth Taylor, or anyone even close for that matter. She was courageous, loyal, talented and hard working from the tender age of 9 all the way until her death. Now not many actresses can make that claim.