Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London, England, on February 27, 1932. Although she was born an English subject, her parents were Americans, art dealers from St. Louis, Missouri (her father had gone to London to set up a gallery). Her mother had been an actress on the stage, but gave up that vocation when she married.

At the beginning of World War II, her family relocated to Hollywood, and by the age of ten she was already under contract at Universal. She made her screen debut in 1942's There's One Born Every Minute, followed a year later by a prominent role in Lassie Come Home.

Over the next decade she developed into one of the most glamorous and highly-paid movie performers in the world, earning a then-astounding $1 million to star as "Cleopatra" (1963).

Taylor's sexy image was further elevated by an impossibly sensual performance in 1958's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; another Tennessee Williams adaptation, Suddenly Last Summer, followed a year later, and both were highly successful.

By the early 1950s, Taylor had embarked on her career as a serial bride: her husbands included hotel heir Nicky Hilton, actor Michael Wilding, producer Mike Todd, crooner Eddie Fisher, actor Richard Burton (twice), US Senator John Warner, and construction worker Larry Fortensky.

Elizabeth Taylor has lived a life far more exciting and dramatic than any movie she's ever appeared in and probably most any other movie you could name. She's known internationally for her beauty, especially for those violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early on in her youth and has kept the world hooked on ever since.