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Elizabeth Taylor grew from a doll-faced child starlet to become one of the silver screens most striking beauties, not to mention a compelling actress and one of the worlds most famous movie stars. ... But lest her fame and notoriety overshadow her accomplishments, it is worth remembering that Taylor has received five Best Actresses nominations and two Oscar statuettes over the course of her amazing six-decade career. After an inauspicious film debut as a bit player in Universals THERES ONE BORN EVERY MINUTE (1942) (after which her contract was not renewed), ten-year-old Elizabeth Taylor was cast as Nigel Bruces granddaughter Pricilla (at left with Bruce) in MGMs first Lassie picture, LASSIE COME HOME (1943), starring a collie named Pal as the title character along side child star Roddy McDowall. An acting novice, young Elizabeth managed to hold her own in the midst of such screen veterans as Donald Crisp, Dame May Whitty and Elsa Lanchester, and with the help of her striking good looks and favorable notices from critics, was launched on her way to stardom. Another minor role but one that was well received, Elizabeth was loaned out to 20th Century-Fox to play Peggy Ann Garners young friend Helen Burns in the "Young Jane" sequences of JANE EYRE (1944) -- another picture filled with screen veterans, including Joan Fontaine, Orson Welles, Agnes Moorehead, Sara Allgood, and fellow MGM child star Margaret OBrien. Back at MGM and in Technicolor, a twelve-year-old Elizabeth Taylor managed a miraculous growth spurt to win the role of Velvet Brown, a young English girl in love with a horse, in NATIONAL VELVET (1944). A riding veteran from the age of four, Taylor did her own riding for the film and most of her own stunts, as evidenced by the still at left. ... One of the most popular films of 1945, NATIONAL VELVET also featured a host of fine supporting performances, including those by Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and Anne Revere (right) who won an Oscar for her Elizabeth Taylor at Reel Classics.htm
At that awkward age when she wasnt really a child or a young adult, Elizabeth found good roles a little hard to come by, but managed to hang on to her career with supporting roles in films with adult stars. At left is a still from LIFE WITH FATHER (1947) starring 9(Elizabeth Taylor at Reel Classics, Page 2.htm)
Although not released until 1951, George Stevens A PLACE IN THE SUN, the film adaptation of Theodore Dreisers novel An American Tragedy, was filmed in 1949 when Taylor was still seventeen years old, and marked her first adult role. Cast opposite stage acting veteran Montgomery Clift (who was twelve years her senior), Taylor and her leading man were very favorably photographed in this film and made quite a handsome pair. ... Although more an amusing look at status conscious parents and post-war consumerism in the 1950s than a romance, Taylor nonetheless shines in a few key moments, defending her fiancé against the criticisms of her father, and radiates with young womanhood. (Elizabeth Taylor at Reel Classics, Page 3.htm)
Once again cast opposite Montgomery Clift, in RAINTREE COUNTY (1957) Taylor plays a Southern belle who marries a Yankee from Indiana just before the Civil War and is tormented, not only by the political conflicts surrounding her, but by something in her past which she cannot explain. ... The film still offers some memorable moments however, including a good performance by Taylor in the scene (above) in which she tries to tell her husband what she saw the night she was rescued from a deadly fire. ... By 1958 Elizabeth had outgrown pretty-face young adult roles and CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF capitalized not only on her acting talents and womanly good looks, but also her impressive southern accent, first demonstrated in RAINTREE COUNTY. ... (Elizabeth Taylor at Reel Classics, Page 4. ... Mankiewicz, the film earned Oscar nominations for both Hepburn and Taylor in the Best Actress category, but both lost to Simone Signoret
and her performance in ROOM AT THE TOP (1959).
After being nominated three years in a row and coming up short, Elizabeth finally won her first Best Actress Oscar in 1960 for her performance as high-class call girl Gloria Wandrous in BUTTERFIELD 8, a film Taylor had adamantly avoided making. Although some heavy moralizing takes away from the story and the performances of the supporting characters arent always up to par, this is definitely a memorable Elizabeth Taylor role.
Approximate Word count = 3704
Approximate Pages = 14.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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