Film legend Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79 in L.A.

China.org.cn, March 24, 2011

File photo: Elizabeth Taylor [huanqiu.com]

The legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor, who was widely considered as of the great actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age, passed away in Los Angeles early Wednesday. She was 79.

The glamorous queen of American cinema stardom died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, her publicist Sally Morrison said. adding she had struggled with the condition "for many years."

The Hollywood doyenne died at 1:28 a.m. "peacefully," after she had been hospitalized for the past couple of weeks, celebrity website TMZ.com reported.

A private family funeral is pending later this week.

Four of Taylor's children, Michael and Christopher Wilding, daughters Liza Todd and Maria Burton, were with her at the hospital when she died, Morrison said.

"We will always be inspired by her enduring contribution to our world," Michael Wilding said in a statement.

"Her remarkable body of work in film, her ongoing success as a businesswoman and her brave and relentless advocacy in the fight against HIV/AIDS all make us all incredibly proud of what she accomplished. We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for mom having lived in it.

"Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will live forever in our hearts."

Throughout her adult life, the child star-turned-film queen was in and out of hospitals for numerous times for treatment of a range of illnesses, experienced several near-death moments.

The legendary two-time Academy Awards winner is survived by 10 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Born in London, England, on Feb. 27, 1932, the child star made her film debut in 1944 when she starred in MGM's "National Velvet, " which became an instant smash hit.

A series of films followed in the 1940s and continued for more than seven decades.

Her film highlights included "Giant" with James Dean; "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" with Paul Newman, "Cleopatra" with Richard Burton, who she married and divorced twice.

In "Butterfield 8" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" two of her highly acclaimed films in the 60s, Taylor garnered two Best Actress Oscars for her performance. She was also nominated for the honor three times.

She has a plot next to her parents at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, according to TMZ.com. Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Dean Martin, Truman Capote,Farah Fawcett, Walter Matthau and other entertainment celebrities were buried or interred there.

Taylor, whose private life and marriages had been a consistent focus of the tabloid, was married eight times to seven men.

A tireless campaigner in the campaign against AIDS, Taylor served as the founding national chairman of the American Foundation for AIDS Research and founder of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

In 1998, Taylor was named the 34th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, which honors both career achievements and humanitarian contributions.

In 1992, Taylor was honored with the motion picture academy's Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Award, which was bestowed in recognition of her work fighting AIDS.

Taylor was also appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1999.

Celebrities pay tribute to Liz Taylor

Celebrities paid tribute Wednesday to Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor, who died in Los Angeles aged 79.

Among those paying their respects were former US senator John Warner, who was married to Taylor in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

"I will remember her as a woman whose heart and soul were as beautiful as her classic face and majestic eyes," he said on CNN.

Her son with second husband Michael Wilding, John Wilding, said that "the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it."