Elizabeth Taylor’s Wild Road From Rejected Child Star To Hollywood Legend

Elizabeth Taylor was born February 27, 1932, in Hampstead, London, to American parents. Her father, Francis Taylor, traded in paintings, and her mother, Sara Taylor, performed on stage. With the war about to descend on Europe, the Taylors relocated to Los Angeles in April 1939. Her mother wasted no time pursuing a career for her daughter.

In 1941, Universal Pictures signed the nine-year-old Taylor to their roster and cast her in only one movie, There’s One Born Every Minute (1942). They soon released her from her contract, though, because casting executives at the studio considered her eyes too steely, too adult, for the naive roles they had in mind for her.

Taylor was picked up by MGM (one of Hollywood’s big studios) in 1943 and given a small part in Lassie Come Home, opposite Roddy McDowall (another young British actor), with whom she remained close for life. It was not a major part, but it brought her into MGM’s group of child actors, which led to her next, larger roles.

Taylor was only 11 when she auditioned for the lead part of National Velvet (1944). To get the part, she pushed through a tough physical routine to meet the studio’s height and riding rules, and then insisted on doing her own equestrian jumps instead of using a stunt double, a choice that would cost her.

In National Velvet, Taylor rode in all her scenes; however, she fell, suffering spinal trauma, and spent the rest of her life dealing with back problems and a series of operations. The film was released in December 1944, was a huge box-office hit, and launched her as a child star.

Rather than signing Taylor to one long-term contract, MGM kept her on successive options from 1942 until 1960, renewing them repeatedly even after the success of National Velvet. The studio determined her education (on the lot), her wardrobe, her romantic liaisons, and her daily routine. But as her fame grew, Taylor began resisting assignments to certain films.

Taylor earned her high school diploma at the age of seventeen in the studio’s on-lot schoolroom on January 26, 1950. There are publicity pictures showing her alongside the singer Jane Powell, implying they were graduating at the same time, but Powell had graduated in 1947.

Then in 1950, MGM had Taylor star in Father of the Bride, and synchronized her marriage to hotel heir Conrad “Nicky” Hilton Jr. with the movie’s release. The studio paid for her Helen Rose dress, and arranged press coverage for their wedding on May 6, 1950. It was a real relationship, at least. MGM just made sure the public was in on it.

Taylor’s relationship with Hilton, which deteriorated because of his alcoholism and reports of his abuse of her, led to a divorce in January 1951, only eight months after they were married. Taylor did not stop working, though; she continued to take major parts in feature films, and her image began to change from being seen as a studio girl to a serious actress.

Taylor was next cast by director George Stevens opposite Montgomery Clift (her future good friend) in A Place in the Sun (1951). Stevens had her work past the studio-bound stylings of her past, and critics began to notice. This movie really marked her shift from ingénue to dramatic actress. She and Clift became close on set, a friendship that would matter again later in her story.

Taylor appeared as Leslie Benedict in Giant (October 1956), directed by George Stevens, alongside co-stars Rock Hudson and James Dean, which further solidified her stardom. However, Dean had been killed in an automobile accident in September 1955 while the film was still being edited, and Taylor was reportedly devastated by his death.

Clift, whom Taylor considered one of her best friends, crashed his car outside her home on May 12, 1956, while filming Raintree County. Taylor ran over to the vehicle, climbed into the car, and pulled from Clift’s throat the teeth that had been knocked out by the impact to prevent him from choking on them. She then tried to prevent photographers from entering the property. Actor Kevin McCarthy later confirmed the account.

Taylor was wed to producer Mike Todd, a showman responsible for Around the World in 80 Days, in Acapulco on February 2, 1957. Her daughter Liza Todd was born on August 6, 1957, by emergency cesarean section. But she almost died in childbirth due to respiratory arrest and needed to be resuscitated.

Taylor was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Raintree County (1957), losing out to actress Joanne Woodward. The nomination showed that Hollywood was beginning to take Taylor seriously as a dramatic actress, moving away from the more innocent image she had previously played.

Mike Todd’s plane, the Lucky Liz, went down in New Mexico on March 22, 1958, killing everyone aboard. Taylor was scheduled to go with him, but she had bronchitis with a temperature of 102. Talk about being saved by your own sickness!

Taylor went back to MGM to film Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, three weeks after the accident that took Todd’s life. The film came out in September 1958. She played Maggie, “The Cat,” and critics were again complimentary, resulting in a second Best Actress nomination. The line “Mike is dead and I’m alive” became a favorite of gossip columnists, who parroted it widely. But there is no evidence that Taylor ever actually said it.

In late 1958, Taylor’s affair with singer Eddie Fisher, married to actress Debbie Reynolds, caused quite a scandal in the international tabloids. Writers called her a home-wrecker, and she was harshly condemned. Taylor declined to explain her private affairs or defend herself. Her popularity did not wane; in fact, her appeal even increased!

Taylor’s interest in Judaism began during her marriage to Mike Todd, though her formal nine-month course of study at Temple Israel in Hollywood did not begin until after his death. She was accepted into the Jewish faith in a ceremony conducted by Rabbi Max Nussbaum on March 27, 1959, taking the Hebrew name Elisheba Rachel. Her conversion was later publicly associated with her relationships with both Todd and Eddie Fisher, but it was a lengthy process she pursued on her own, not a condition of either marriage.

In 1959, Taylor married Eddie Fisher in Las Vegas on May 12. She also starred in the film Suddenly, Last Summer, released in December 1959. For her performance, she received her third consecutive Best Actress nomination.

Taylor’s final MGM assignment was the part in Butterfield 8 (1960), which she supposedly detested, but she took the part to fulfill obligations under the option contracts MGM had continually renewed with her since 1942. Upon its release, eighteen years of endlessly renegotiated MGM contracts came to an end. Taylor left the studio at the height of her box-office clout, finally free as an independent star.

This content was created with the help of AI.