Taylor made her first screen appearance in There's One Born Every Minute at the age of 10.  That was 1942, and it began a career that lasted more than six decades.  She won her first Academy Award in 1960 for her role as a call girl in Butterfield 8, and her second playing Martha in 1966's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Other famous films starring Taylor include Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracy, The Only Game in Town, Giant with James Dean, and A Place in the Sun.  She famously became the highest paid actress in history up until that point when she received a seven-figure compensation playing the title role in 1963's epic Cleopatra. Here is Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra entering Rome:

Her final screen appearance was in 1994's The Flintsones.  Prior to that, she briefly voiced Maggie Simpson in the 1992 The Simpsons episode 'Lisa's First Word'.

Setting the stage for seemingly every modern celebrity, Elizabeth Taylor was equally famous for her public persona and often tumultuous personal life.  She was married eight times, to notable figures including Senator John Warner, producer Mike Todd, and twice to Cleopatra producer Richard Burton.  She was also justifiably lauded for her early advocacy of HIV/AIDS research and tireless support for those afflicted.  She assisted in the creation of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and in lieu of flowers, her family requests that donations be given to the foundation.