Elizabeth Taylor - Life of fame and tragedy

For many Elizabeth Taylor was the face of Hollywood fantasy. Born in London of American parents in 1932, she rose to prominence aged 12 in National Velvet and remained in the limelight throughout the bulk of her life, until her death yesterday at the age of 79.

She won two Oscars as Best Actress in Butterfield 8 in 1961 and six years later for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. In one sense she seemed to have everything — beauty, wealth and the fabulous lifestyle of a Hollywood star. She lived life to the full.

Behind all the glamour, however, she was equally known for a somewhat traumatic love life. She married seven different men. Her rather tempestuous relationship with Richard Burton was one of Hollywood’s greatest romances. They met in 1963 during the filming of Cleopatra. He became her fifth husband the following year, and their stormy 10-year marriage was rarely out of the news.

They divorced briefly before remarrying for a year in 1975. It all added to her notoriety, along with her two further marriages.

In a sense she was as tragic as she was successful. She reflected life and was both a glamorous and stormy reminder of the mortality of us all.