Elizabeth Taylor is dead

LOS ANGELES (AP):

Elizabeth Taylor, the violet-eyed film legend whose sultry screen persona, stormy personal life and enduring fame and glamour made her one of the last of the classic movie stars and a template for the modern celebrity, died yesterday at age 79.

She was surrounded by her four children when she died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she had been hospitalised for about six weeks, said publicist Sally Morrison.

"My mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humour and love," her son, Michael Wilding, said in a statement.

"We have just lost a Hollywood giant," said long-time friend Elton John. "More importantly, we have lost an incredible human being."

Personal tragedy

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. She was the most loyal of friends and a defender of gays in Hollywood when AIDS was new to the industry and beyond. But she was afflicted by ill health, failed romances (eight marriages, seven husbands) and personal tragedy.

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London on February 27, 1932, the daughter of Francis Taylor, an art dealer, and the former Sara Sothern, an American stage actress. At the onset of World War II, the Taylors came to the United States and Elizabeth made her screen debut with a bit part in the comedy There's One Born Every Minute. Her big break came soon thereafter.

Survivors include her daughters Maria Burton-Carson and Liza Todd-Tivey, sons Christopher and Michael Wilding, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A private family funeral is planned for later this week.