Elizabeth Taylor passed away at the age of 79

Elizabeth Taylor passed away at the age of 79.

Hollywood has lost another of its brightest lights as Elizabeth Taylor as passed away at the age of 79 of congestive heart failure.
Taylor died of congestive heart failure this morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Taylor’s career in Hollywood spanned five decades. She was nominated for five Oscars and she took home the award for Best Actress for her riveting performances in Cleoptra and Butterfield 8. While she retired from acting in 2001, she was one of Hollywood’s greatest legends and one of the most in-demand stars of the 1950s and 60s.

In 1985, she devoted herself to fund-raising and activism against AIDS and the family asks that in lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Our deepest condolences go out to Ms. Taylor’s friends and family. Hit the jump for a statement from her son Michael Wilding.

No performer ever made as extraordinary a leap from child star to adult superstar as Elizabeth Taylor, and no actor as indelibly influenced our ideas of female sexuality over the course of decades.

She was a ravishing juvenile in "National Velvet" and an achingly gorgeous and sensitive lover in "A Place in the Sun" few female leads have played off a romantic partner as intuitively and movingly as she did Montgomery Clift in that landmark movie.

With her many marriages and illnesses, she was one of the great tabloid figures of the 20th century and with her commitment to controlling the spread of AIDS and searching for a cure, she was one of its great popular truth-tellers, too. But no one should minimize her talent as an actor. Whatever the limits of her gift, at her best, with fearless honesty, she wrung every ounce she could out of it, reaping bounties of expressiveness and passion. And there simply was no limit to her raven-haired beauty.

In a world of flickering images, Elizabeth Taylor was a constant star. First appearing in film at the age of 9, she grew up on screen, never passing through an awkward age. It was one quick leap from “National Velvet” to “A Place in the Sun” and from there to “Cleopatra” as she was indelibly transformed from a vulnerable child actress into a voluptuous film queen.

Rest in Peace Elizabeth Taylor.