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When most actors win an Academy Award, it's because they've crafted a fully-realized, nuanced portrayal of a character. They've created a person out of whole cloth, bringing them to life on screen in a way that no one else could've done in quite the same way. Understandably, a lot of Oscar-winning performances take the whole movie to do that. However, things get trickier when we move into the Best Supporting categories. Actors at this level are often working with a limited amount of scenes, trying to get a portrayal across in very small chunks that may not add up to anything close to the amount of time that audiences see their co-stars.

In "Conclave," for example, Isabella Rossellini plays Sister Agnes. She's one of the most senior nuns in Vatican City, and as such, she's given a position of power that winds up influencing the course of the Church's history.

The entertainment industry and fans all across the world are mourning the sudden passing of Hollywood legend Maggie Smith, who had a phenomenal career spanning over seven decades and delivered beloved performances in celebrated film and television franchises, including Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, as well as acclaimed roles in hits like Othello, Death on the Nile, Hook, and Sister Act.

The recipient of numerous prestigious accolades such as two Academy Awards, three Golden Globes, and five BAFTA Awards, Smith was one of the silver screen and theater's most prolific performers and continued finding success and adoration up until her death at 89 on September 27, 2024. While many audiences may recognize the late seasoned star for her brilliant portrayals of both Professor Minerva McGonagall in the enchanting Harry Potter films and Violet Crawley in the acclaimed period drama Downton Abbey, some may be surprised to discover that Smith didn't find her most iconic roles satisfying.

For most people born in the past three decades, Maggie Smith became a familiar figure as Minerva McGonagall, the transfiguration professor and deputy headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter movies. That strict but kind sorceress dispensed both imperious commands and compassionate counsel in a clipped Scottish brogue from beneath her pointed black hat.

Others might have met her as Violet Crawley, the tart-tongued Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, whose advanced age and creeping infirmity did nothing to diminish her Old World authority — “I wouldn’t know, I’m not familiar with the sensation,” she once remarked, on the foreign concept of being wrong — or her precision at landing a cutting put-down.

Smith died today in London, aged 89, and those who know her only from those two signature roles would do well to sample the many jewels elsewhere in her seven-decade filmography.

For...

Dame Maggie Smith was many things. Hilarious and tragic. Elegant and aloof. Enchanting and deadly serious. Most will attribute their appreciation of her multiple-generation spanning career to roles in the “Harry Potter” or “Sister Act” franchises or perhaps “Downton Abbey,” which elevated her fame to a level she often spoke disdainfully of. For Smith was not an actress who was in it for the red carpets or accolades — though she received many, including two Oscars, five Baftas, four Emmys, and a Tony — but rather treated acting as a sturdy profession, one that required of her the utmost presence while on set or stage.

Beginning her career in the early 1950s, she played Viola in William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” at The Oxford Playhouse, followed later by roles in “As You Like It” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at London’s famed Old Vic theater. She rose to prominence on...

The Harry Potter movies just wouldn't have been the same without Dame Maggie Smith (1934 - 2024), who played the perfect Professor McGonagall. As a whole, the adult cast of Warner Bros' Wizarding World films was spectacular, with actors like Richard Harris, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, and more holding down the fort until younger stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint could take the wheel. Naturally, each actor brought something unique to their beloved book Harry Potter characters, though some differences stood out on screen. Smith, on the other hand, truly was Minerva McGonagall.

Maggie Smith's exceptional career stretches back to the 1950s when she established her talents in theatre, television, and film. Long before she accepted her role in the Harry Potter movies, Smith was known as the beloved star of projects like The V.I.P.s (1963), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), Travels with my Aunt (1972), California Suite (1978), Room with...

Richard Burton was one of the most influential actors of the 60s and one of the highest-paid actors at the time. He was known for his signature baritone voice and became a Shakespearean actor. He played Hamlet in the 1964 Broadway production of the popular play by William Shakespeare, where his performance was lauded by the general public.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in 1963’s Cleopatra

He has also been nominated for an Oscar many times in his career for his great performances in many films. However, his most popular aspect that made headlines was his turbulent relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. Now, a new book based on their life together suggests that Taylor is responsible for the downfall of Burton’s time as a classical actor.

Meeting Elizabeth Taylor Reportedly Put an End to Richard Burton’s Broadway Career Richard Burton as Hamlet in the 1964 Broadway play of the same name...

In 2020 – for the first time in seven years – the Best Supporting Actress Oscar category saw a lone nomination, meaning that a film was recognized there and nowhere else. This achievement is attributed to Kathy Bates (“Richard Jewell”), who competed for no major precursors except the Golden Globe but still managed to bump Critics Choice, SAG, and Globe nominee Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”). Perhaps unsurprisingly given the length of the streak she broke, there has yet to be a lone contender in any of her category’s subsequent lineups.

Since the introduction of the two gendered supporting Oscars in 1937, there have been 57 female lone nominees and 54 male ones, with over half of the entrants on the former roster having been added before 1977. The one who directly preceded Bates was Helen Hunt, whose inclusion in her lineup was much more heavily predicted. Coincidentally, both women had the perceived advantage of being former Best Actress champions,...

Elizabeth Taylor's iconic career spanned over four decades, with some of her standout films including "National Velvet" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Taylor's performances in "Cleopatra" and "A Place in the Sun" showcased her versatility and talent, earning her critical acclaim and recognition. Her portrayal of Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is considered her best performance, displaying her ability to convey raw emotion and complexity on-screen.

When thinking about iconic actresses of the Hollywood's Golden Age, countless names might come to mind, however, Elizabeth Taylor will inevitably be one of them. The British-American actress dominated screens for over forty years in roles that have become ingrained in popular culture forever. Additionally, Taylor awed the world with her scandalous personal life, including her eight marriages to seven different men. Though Taylor starred in an abundance of important projects, and in a way, made them important just by starring in them,...

With a screen time total of 18 minutes and 36 seconds, Laura Dern’s 2020 Best Supporting Actress-winning performance in “Marriage Story” was noted for its brevity. However, it ranks as the 24th shortest to ever win in the Oscar category, proving the academy’s particular and everlasting fondness for smaller supporting female roles. Here is a look at the 10 winners with the least amount of screen time. (And here’s the equivalent list for Best Supporting Actor.)

10. Jo Van Fleet (“East of Eden”)

15 minutes, 4 seconds (12.82% of the film)

After a decade of stage acting, Tony winner Jo Van Fleet earned an Oscar for her film debut as child abandoner and brothel operator Kate Ames. Many of the votes she received were likely in honor of her body of work in 1955, since she also had roles in two other Oscar-nominated films that year (“I’ll Cry Tomorrow” and “The Rose Tattoo”). Her few scenes in “East of Eden,...

“The Shape of Water” is one of two Best Picture Oscar nominees with three acting nominations — the other being “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — but star Sally Hawkins and supporting players Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins are not predicted to win any of them. If they indeed go 0-3 on Sunday and “The Shape of Water” takes the top prize, the fantasy drama will join eight other Best Picture champs that did not convert any of its three-plus acting nominations into wins.

“Birdman” (2014) was the most recent Best Picture winner not to carry an acting award from at least three nominations, as Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Edward Norton fell to Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”), Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”) and J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”), respectively. Arquette and Simmons were the supporting frontrunners all season, but Keaton was locked in a tight Best Actor race with Redmayne until the SAG Awards...

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” ended a 26-year drought in Best Supporting Actor, producing two nominees, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, from the same film for the first time since “Bugsy” (1991) stars Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley lost to Jack Palance (“City Slickers”). By all appearances, it’s smooth sailing for Rockwell for the win, which would be the sixth time a Best Supporting Actor winner defeated a co-star in 18 dual duels.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939) stars Harry Carey and Claude Rains were the first co-stars to be nominated against each other in Best Supporting Actor, but they lost to Thomas Mitchell for “Stagecoach.” It would be another 32 years — with seven pairs of double nominees in between — before a Best Supporting Actor champ, Ben Johnson, beat a co-star, Jeff Bridges, for 1971’s “The Last Picture Show.”

Three years later, Robert De Niro prevailed over fellow “The Godfather Part II...

Italian actress Elsa Martinelli, known to U.S. audiences her breakout role in 1955’s The Indian Fighter opposite Kirk Douglas, died Saturday in Rome at the age of 82, according to Italian media.

Born in Tuscany, Martinelli began her career as a model — appearing in the pages of Vogue and on the cover of Life. She then began taking on smaller roles in films, becoming one of the first models to make the crossover into film and paving the way for stars like Cameron Diaz, Sofia Vergara, and Charlize Theron.

A role in 1954’s Le Rouge et le Noir — the French...

By Patrick Shanley

Managing Editor

Director Tom McCarthy’s true story drama about Boston Globe reporters investigating the local Catholic archdiocese and the surrounding child molestation scandal, Spotlight, is a serious Oscar contender, particularly for its star-studded cast.

The film, which won the best ensemble performance award at this month’s Gotham Awards and the Robert Altman award at the Independent Spirit Awards, boasts serious contenders in the best supporting actor category led by performances from last year’s best actor nominee Michael Keaton and former Oscar-nom Mark Ruffalo.

It seems likely that both Keaton and Ruffalo will receive nominations this year, which would be quite a feat in itself as no film has had two of its actors nominated in the best supporting actor category since Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley both earned noms for 1991’s Bugsy (though the supporting actress category has had a number of films with...

 

Jourdan as the Bond villain Kamal Kahn in "Octopussy".

Louis Jourdan, the talented and iconic star of French cinema, has passed away at age 93. Among his major English-language films that made him an international star were Hitchcock's "The Paradine Case", the classic musical "Gigi", "Three Coins in the Fountain", "The Swan", "The V.I.P.S" and "Year of the Comet". In 1983, Jourdan also entered pop culture history by playing the lead villain opposite Roger Moore in the James Bond film "Octopussy". For more click here. For more about Jourdan and "Octopussy", visit the MI6 Community web site here.   ...

Hollywood has had many quintessential young Englishmen, but from the late 1940s through the early '60s, there was only one quintessential young Frenchman: Louis Jourdan. The star of the 1958 Best Picture Oscar winner, Gigi, whose film roles also included those in Madame Bovary, Three Coins in the Fountain, The Swan, The V.I.P.S and Can-Can, Jourdan died Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills, reports Variety. He was 93. As was told in a 1985 People profile, Jourdan - real name Gendre - and his two brothers grew up in the South of France, where their parents managed hotels in Cannes, Nice and Marseilles.

Taylor in the 1960 screen version of The Time Machine.

By Lee Pfeiffer

If the year 2014 proved to be an exceptionally cruel one in terms of the number of legendary celebrities who passed away, the new year is off to an equally depressing start with the news that Rod Taylor has passed away at age 84. Taylor, who was two days away from his 85th birthday, died suddenly from a heart attack following a dinner party at his home. He was surrounded by friends and family when the end came.  Taylor was a solid leading man who came to prominence in the late 1950s. Although Australian by birth, the ruggedly handsome Taylor could effectively play Brits, Irishmen and Americans with convincing ease. He first gained attention with supporting roles in high profile, big Hollywood studio productions in the late 1950s such as "Raintree County" and "Separate Tables". His breakthrough role came in...

People.com is reporting that actor Rod Taylor died Wednesday at the age of 84 of natural causes.

His daughter Felicia Taylor, a former CNN correspondent, confirmed the news Thursday.

“My dad loved his work. Being an actor was his passion – calling it an honorable art and something he couldn’t live without,” she said in a statement.

“He once said, ‘I am a poor student sitting at the feet of giants, yearning for their wisdom and begging for lessons that might one day make me a complete artist,” she continued, “ ‘so that if all goes well, I may one day sit beside them.”

Born on Jan 11, 1930 in Sydney, Australia, Rod Taylor is best remembered for his starring roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) and George Pal’s The Time Machine (1960). He also provided the voice of Pongo in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians (1961). Taylor also starred in TV’s “The Twilight Zone...

Rod Taylor dead at 84: Actor best known for 'The Time Machine' and 'The Birds' Rod Taylor, best remembered for the early 1960s movies The Time Machine and The Birds, and for his supporting role as Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's international hit Inglourious Basterds, has died. Taylor suffered a heart attack at his Los Angeles home earlier this morning (January 8, 2015). Born on January 11, 1930, in Sydney, he would have turned 85 on Sunday. Based on H.G. Wells' classic 1895 sci-fi novel, The Time Machine stars Rod Taylor as a H. George Wells, an inventor who comes up with an intricate chair that allows him to travel across time. (In the novel, the Victorian protagonist is referred to simply as the "Time Traveller.") After experiencing World War I and World War II, Wells decides to fast forward to the distant future, ultimately arriving at a place where humankind has been split...

By Terence Johnson

Managing Editor

Of the acting races, Supporting Actress seems to be the only acting category that’s really up in the air. Much of the conversation has surrounded Jennifer Lawrence and Lupita Nyong’o, who both have won precursors, but June Squibb has also been nominated for each of this awards. With much of the talk of a split between the two, could Squibb step in and nab her first Oscar?

If Squibb were to win, she would be the oldest Supporting Actress winner, besting the previous oldest (Peggy Ashcroft) by nearly 7 years come Oscar night. No Supporting Actress Oscar winner has ever gotten the statue in their 80s, so Squibb would have her work cut out for her. However, it’s not nearly as bleak as those first two stats would have you believe. There have been several winners that fit the mold of Squibb (older,...

It's a Monday night with occasional downpours, but the steamy weather and the chance to view Andy Warhol's rarely screened tribute to the underground legend, poet, and actor Taylor Meade's posterior has the crowd, composed mainly of artsy gayboys, both young and old, lining up en masse in the lobby of the Museum of Modern Art.

 A murmur of true excitement, amidst the chatter about organic art exhibits and mild flirtations, greets the ear as the flip-floppers are ushered into the Sculpture Garden. Instantly, stylized composure is disposed of as there's a mad rush for seats with an unobstructed view. Those who lose out on the "Musical Chairs Grab" wind up sitting on steps, which actually proffer a better sight line.

This highly social event, by the way, was organized into being by several bright-eyed cultural-mavens-in-the-making. Sophie Cavoulacos, the Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Film (Moma), has...

It has been confirmed today by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce that Richard Burton will receive a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 on Friday March 1st. Richard Burton's star will be placed next to Elizabeth Taylor's, honoring one of the most famous theatrical relationships and greatest love stories in history.

The ceremony is part of celebrations to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Cleopatra, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Burton and Taylor in their first on-screen feature. The Academy Award-winning film was released by 20th Century Fox in 1963 and will be available on Blu-ray Disc for the first time in 2013 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Welsh business academic Professor Dylan Jones-Evans has led the campaign on behalf of the Western Mail, the national newspaper of Wales, to secure Richard Burton's star.

"I am delighted that Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment...

Brrrrrr. Why am I chilly? Because it's December? Or is it because Cruella de Vil's cheekbones are icy shards of sinew, and I'm dreaming of snuggling them? You just don't know.

Thank God for 101 Dalmatians, the swingin', droll-as-hell Disney animated classic from 1961. Though on the surface 101 Dalmatians is a simple tale of a quaint London couple who own dalmatians and find themselves tangling with dognappers, it's also a showcase of sophisticated characters who are fun and real, even if some of them are talking dogs who've developed a doggy Amber Alert system called The Twilight Bark. Dodie Smith's classic children's book remains timeless in cinematic form, and really sassy too, on occasion. Here are five other reasons 101 Dalmatians may be the Best. Movie. Ever.

1. Cole Porter would've given his gay left nut to write, "Cru-ella! Cru-ella de Villll!"

A quick plot refresher: Struggling songwriter Roger owns an upstanding dalmatian...

My birthday is this Saturday, so I thought we'd celebrate with a little get-together. A soiree for just the four of us. A little brandy. Conversation about the college. Games. Laughter. Screaming. Vomiting. Psychological warfare. Ruining you and throwing you in the toilet and murmuring into your ear about what a miserable flop you've become. Then more drinking. Then horrified silence. Then more.

Congrats and condolences, because you're dropping in on one of my favorite movies and my personal national anthem, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, this week's candidate for "Best Movie Ever?" Bizarre secret: I often keep this movie in my computer's DVD player while I'm writing, because nothing propels my creative juices like Elizabeth Taylor's bellowing and Richard Burton's deadpanned despair. It's my Powerade. Liz and Dick shoot the electrolytes right into my skull. Forty-five years after Virginia Woolf's sensational release (and fifty after the debut...

Grant Bowler / Richard Burton: Liz & Dick Grant Bowler as Richard Burton in Lifetime’s fall movie Liz & Dick looks less convincing than Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor. Burton met Taylor at the time the two were making Cleopatra for 20th Century Fox. A troubled production, Cleopatra was initially to have starred Taylor, Peter Finch, and Stephen Boyd, under the direction of Rouben Mamoulian. Mamoulian left, Taylor fell seriously ill, nearly died, and had to have a tracheotomy performed. The end result was a Best Actress Academy Award for her troubles (and for Butterfield 8) and brand new leading men for Cleopatra: Richard Burton as Marc Antony and Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar. By then, Cleopatra also had a new director: two-time Best Director Oscar winner Joseph L. Mankiewicz. A respected stage and screen actor in the ’60s, Richard Burton was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Best Supporting Actor...

I've waited a few days to collect my thoughts and weigh in on the most important YouTube video since Corgis Enjoy A Treadmill, so here goes: A fast-yapping vlogger who goes by the name The Doomsday Diaries (and the Twitter handle @Diariesofdoom) zeroed in on The Academy Awards' Best Supporting Actress category -- the greatest Oscar category, by the way -- and toasted it by reenacting scenes/moments from all 75 winning performances since 1936.

Let me be clear: This is a staggering feat. This guy has democratized everyone from Eva Marie Saint and Lila Kedrova to Gale Sondergaard and Helen Hayes in the clippiest, hippest way possible. It's explosive. It's gigantic. It's a pink diamond. And so much of it is amazingly good. It's like a version of "The Snatch Game"from RuPaul's Drag Race, except with dignified actresses up for satire and not, say, Snooki.

I thought we'd have a little debate.

"TCM Remembers 2011" is out. Remembered by Turner Classic Movies are many of those in the film world who left us this past year. As always, this latest "TCM Remembers" entry is a classy, immensely moving compilation. The haunting background song is "Before You Go," by Ok Sweetheart.

Among those featured in "TCM Remembers 2011" are Farley Granger, the star of Luchino Visconti's Senso and Alfred Hitchcock's Rope and Strangers on a Train; Oscar-nominated Australian actress Diane Cilento (Tom Jones, Hombre), formerly married to Sean Connery; and two-time Oscar nominee Peter Falk (Murder, Inc., Pocketful of Miracles, The Great Race), best remembered as television's Columbo. Or, for those into arthouse fare, for playing an angel in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire.

Also, Jane Russell, whose cleavage and sensuous lips in Howard Hughes' The Outlaw left the puritans of the Production Code Association apoplectic; another Australian performer, Googie Withers, among...

Orson Welles, Ruth Warrick, Citizen Kane Orson Welles on TCM: The Third Man, The Lady From Shanghai Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am The Tartars (1961) A barbarian army attacks Viking settlements along the Russian steppes. Dir: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Victor Mature, Orson Welles, Folco Lulli. C-83 mins, Letterbox Format 7:30 Am Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) A scarred veteran presumed dead returns home to find his wife remarried. Dir: Irving Pichel. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles, George Brent. Bw-104 mins. 9:30 Am Moby Dick (1956) Epic adaptation of Herman Melville's classic about a vengeful sea captain out to catch the whale that maimed him. Dir: John Huston. Cast: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn. C-115 mins, Letterbox Format 11:30 Am The V.I.P.S (1963) Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport fight to survive a variety of personal trials. Dir: Anthony Asquith. Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Louis Jourdan.

Linda Christian, a 1940s Hollywood starlet remembered for her marriage to leading man Tyrone Power and for the distinction of being the first Bond Girl - though on the small screen - died in Palm Desert, Calif, Friday after a battle with colon cancer, say published reports. She was 87. A brunette beauty born Blanca Rosa Welter in Mexico, Christian was discovered in Acapulco by Warner Bros.' swashbuckler Errol Flynn before she eventually signed with MGM after she was spotted by studio chief Louis B. Mayer's secretary. Life magazine, in writing of her curves, dubbed her the "anatomic bomb.

The sad news of Elizabeth Taylor’s death last week marked the end of Hollywood’s Golden Era for me, the last remaining superstar finally expired. As a fan of Taylor’s since childhood – I’ll never forget seeing Cleopatra (1963) for the first time at 11 years old and literally being transfixed with the actress’s beauty for the entire 4 hour run time! – I’ve decided to abandon my usual Top 10 format and offer you her 20 greatest roles…because 10 is simply not a big enough number for the biggest diva of the screen!

Beginning in the industry at the tender age of 9, Taylor quickly rose to stardom on the MGM lot and become the most iconic actress of the 20th century. With an impressive 70 acting credits to her name, her life was plagued with illness but never prevented her from succeeding. Transcending her inimitable beauty, she proved that she was a...

Now that the procession of Elizabeth Taylor tributes is finally over, the real fanaticism can begin! I'm staining my corneas with purple Crayola Washables, pounding shots of White Diamonds straight from the tube, and slurring, "Tell mama all" to my saliva-drenched Montgomery Clift poster. I'm also revisiting one of Elizabeth Taylor's most senselessly elegant movies, the 1963 "drama" The V.I.P.s. It's about attractive people who are horny at the airport. I've already taken off!

Much has been made of Elizabeth Taylor's beauty, but the MGM star had considerable acting chops to match. Below, my top 5 clips of Taylor's career.

This one from The V.I.P.s (1963) illustrates the tormented relationship between Taylor and her twice-married, twice-divorced husband, the very great, very alcoholic Richard Burton. His love letters to the violet-eyed star were published this past summer in Vanity Fair and we were obsessed with them.

Two years later, they're in love again in The Sandpiper. Guess Burton eased up on the sauce, at least temporarily:

read more...

A legend has passed, as today we're mourning Elizabeth Taylor. Whether it was her iconic turn in "Cleopatra" or "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," in classics such as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," or even in my personal childhood favorite "National Velvet," Taylor was one of the Hollywood greats. She'll most certainly be missed.

Of all her famous roles, though, the one that holds the most special place in my heart is when she starred opposite her then-husband Richard Burton in 1967's "The Taming of the Shrew." It captured everything we've come to know and love about Taylor, and is still just as much fun to watch.

The Passion

If you thought Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart had good chemistry, just wait until you see Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Shakespeare's two main characters, Kate and Petruchio, are supposed to butt heads as it is in this play, but...

Elizabeth Taylor, one of the last great screen legends and winner of two Academy Awards, died Wednesday morning in Los Angeles of complications from congestive heart failure; she was 79. The actress had been hospitalized for the past few weeks, celebrating her birthday on February 27th (the same day as this year's Academy Awards) while at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with friends and family. Her four children, two sons and two daughters, were by her side as she passed.

A striking brunette beauty with violet eyes who embodied both innocence and seductiveness, and was known for her flamboyant private life and numerous marriages as well as her acting career, Taylor was the epitome of Hollywood glamour, and was one of the last legendary stars who could still command headlines and standing ovations in her later years. Born to American parents in England in 1932, Taylor's family decamped to Los Angeles as World War II escalated in the late 1930s. Even as a child, her amazing good looks -- her eyes were amplified by a double set of eyelashes, a mutation she was born with -- garnered the attention of family friends in Hollywood, and she undertook a screen test at 10 years old with Universal Studios. She appeared in only one film for the studio (There's One Born Every Minute) before they dropped her; Taylor was quickly picked up by MGM, the studio that would make her a young star.

Her second film was Lassie Come Home (1943), co-starring Roddy McDowall, who would become a lifelong friend. She assayed a few other roles (including a noteworthy cameo in 1943's Jane Eyre) but campaigned for the part that would make her a bona fide child star: the young Velvet Brown, who trained a champion racehorse to win the Grand National, in National Velvet. The box office smash launched Taylor's career, and MGM immediately put her to work in a number of juvenile roles, most notably in Life With Father (1947) and as Amy in 1949's Little Women. As she blossomed into a young woman, she began to outgrow the roles she was assigned, often playing women far older than her actual age. She scored another hit alongside Spencer Tracy as the young daughter preparing for marriage in Father of the Bride (1950), but her career officially entered adulthood with George Stevens' A Place in the Sun (1951), as a seductive rich girl who bedazzles Montgomery Clift to the degree that he kills his pregnant girlfriend (Shelley Winters). The film was hailed as an instant classic, and Taylor's performance, still considered one of her best, launched the next part of her career.

Frustrated by MGM's insistence at putting her in period pieces (some were hits notwithstanding, including 1952's Ivanhoe), Taylor looked to expand her career, and took on the lead role in Elephant Walk (1954) when Vivian Leigh dropped out after suffering a nervous breakdown. As her career climbed in the 1950s, so did Taylor's celebrity: she married hotel heir Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr. in 1950, and divorced him within a year. She then married British actor Michael Wilding in 1952, with whom she had two sons, though that marriage ended in divorce in 1957, after she embarked on an affair with the man who would be her next husband, producer Michael Todd (who won an Oscar for Around the World in 80 Days). As her personal life made headlines, she appeared alongside James Dean and Rock Hudson in Giant (1956), and received her first Academy Award nomination for Raintree County in 1957. Roles in two Tennessee Williams adaptations followed -- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly Last Summer (1959), both considered two of her best performances -- earning her two more Oscar nominations, just as tragedy and notoriety would strike her life.

Todd, whom she married in 1957 and had a daughter with, died in a plane crash in 1958 in New Mexico, leaving a bereft Taylor alone at the height of her stardom. Adored by millions, she went from lovely widow to heartless home-wrecker in the tabloids after starting an affair with Eddie Fisher, Todd's best friend and at the time husband of screen darling Debbie Reynolds. The relationship was splashed across newspapers as Fisher left Reynolds and their two children (including a young Carrie Fisher) for Taylor. The two appeared together in 1960's Butterfield 8, where Taylor played prostitute Gloria Wandrous in a performance that was considered good but nowhere near her previous films, and earned her another Oscar nomination. As the Academy Awards ceremony approached, Taylor was thrust into the headlines again when a life-threatening case of pneumonia required an emergency tracheotomy, leaving her with a legendary scar on her neck. Popular opinion swung yet again as newspapers and fans feared for her life, and the illness was credited with helping her win her first Oscar for Butterfield 8.

Taylor was now the biggest female star in the world, in terms of film and popularity, and her notoriety was only about to increase. Twentieth Century Fox, making a small biopic about the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, tried to offer Taylor the part; she laughed them off, saying she would do it for $1 million, a then-unheard of sum for an actress. The studio took her seriously, and soon she was signed to a million-dollar contract (the first for an actress) and a movie that would soon balloon out of control as filming started. Initially set to film in England with Peter Finch and Rex Harrison as Marc Antony and Julius Caesar, the movie encountered numerous problems and after a first shutdown was moved to Italy, with director Joseph L. Manckiewicz at the helm. Finch left and was replaced by acclaimed stage actor and rising movie star Richard Burton.

The rest was cinematic and tabloid history, as Taylor and Burton, whose electric chemistry was apparent to all on set, embarked on quite possibly the most famous Hollywood affair ever, while the filming of the epic movie took on gargantuan proportions and its budget increased exponentially. After the dust settled, Fox was saddled with a three-hour-plus film that, despite starring the two actors whose every move was hounded by photographers and reporters, was considered a bomb. The 1963 film almost sunk the studio (which only rebounded thanks to the megahit The Sound of Music two years later), while Burton and Taylor emerged from the wreckage relatively unscathed and ultimately married in 1964.

However, despite carte blanche to do whatever they wanted, the newly married couple made two marginally successful films, The V.I.P.s (1963) and The Sandpiper (1965), both glossy soap operas that made money but hardly challenged their talents. That opportunity would come with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), the adaptation of the Edward Albee play directed by first-time filmmaker Mike Nichols. As the beleaguered professor George and his shrewish wife Martha, whose mind games played havoc one fateful night with a younger faculty couple (George Segal and Sandy Dennis), the two gave perhaps their best screen performances ever, tearing into the roles -- and each other -- with a gusto never seen in their previous pairings. They both received Oscar nominations, but only Taylor won, her second and final Academy Award.

A successful adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew (1967) followed, but the couple's next films were a string of notorious bombs, including Doctor Faustus, The Comedians, and the so-bad-it's-good Boom. Though still one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Taylor's cinematic output in the 1970s became somewhat dismal, as her fraying marriage with Burton took center stage in the press, as did her weight gain after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The couple divorced in June 1974, only to remarry briefly in October 1975; by then, Taylor was more celebrity than movie star, still appearing occasionally onscreen and in television, but to less acclaim.

Taylor married U.S. Senator John Warner at the end of 1976, and during the late 1970s and 1980s played the politician's wife, and her unsatisfying life led her to depression, drinking, overeating and ultimately a visit to the Betty Ford Center. After TV and stage appearances during the 1980s (including a reunion in 1983 with Burton for a production of Private Lives), Taylor found another, surprising role, that of social activist as longtime friend Rock Hudson died of complications from AIDS in 1985. She threw herself into fund-raising work, raising by some accounts $50 million to fight the disease, helping found the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR).

Though later generations only saw Taylor on television in films like Malice in Wonderland, and the mini-series North and South, and in her final screen appearance as the mother of Wilma in the live-action movie adaptation of The Flintstones, she remained a tabloid fixture through her marriage to construction worker Larry Fortensky (her eighth and final husband), her friendship with singer Michael Jackson, and her continual charity work, which was only sidelined by hospital visits after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004. She is survived by four children -- two sons with Michael Wilding, a daughter with Michael Todd, and another daughter adopted with Richard Burton -- and nine grandchildren.

--Mark Englehart...

This week’s Wamg Top 10 is having a look at all the on and off-screen couples of Hollywood. The Drew Barrymore/Justin Long romantic-comedy, Going The Distance, comes out next Friday on September 3rd, so we thought we’d give it a go with our list of favorite “Work and Play Couples.” Let us know what you think and who you would put on the list in the comments section below.

Honorable Mention: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

Lucille Ball was a rising star under contract to Rko Studios when she was cast as the female lead in the film version of the Broadway smash Too Many Girls. Prior to the start of filming she was introduced to the young Cuban singer who had taken New York City by storm, Desi Arnaz. Stories from several sources in that Rko office said that sparks flew when they locked eyes on each other.

Los Angeles-based Dream Entertainment has optioned the rights to the book Masquerade by historian Alfred F. Young. Masquerade tells the story of a woman, Deborah Sampson, who during the American Revolution fought as a Continental soldier disguised as a man named Robert Shurtliff. She later fought, and won, her long quest for a veteran pension. It's the second recent high-profile pickup for the 10-year-old company, which also has optioned the Vanity Fair article A First Class Affair about the romance between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton during the filming of The V.I.P.s.