Elizabeth Taylor Dies at Age 79

Tributes from fellow celebrities and film critics are pouring in honoring Elizabeth Taylor, who died this morning at the age of 79. She had been admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in February for symptoms related to congestive heart failure.

Taylor, who was born February 27, 1932, began her career in film working for Universal Pictures, according the biography on Wikipedia, but became a star at the age of 12, in the MGM film National Velvet. She went on to make a number of MGM classic films, including Father of the Bride, on the lot in Culver City, now owned by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Studios.

Her film career  included such major films as Giant (1956), the title role in Cleopatra (1963), Butterfield 8 (1960) for which she won the first of her two Best Actress Academy Awards (the other was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, 1966). But Taylor was possibly as well known for her private life. She married eight times and had four children, all of whom were at her beside when she passed.

Taylor was also known for her activism, raising money to fight HIV/AIDS and her friendship with the late Michael Jackson.

She is survived by her four children: Michael Wilding, Jr., Christopher Wilding, Liza Todd and Maria Burton, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.