English actress Elizabeth Taylor dies at age 79

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Elizabeth "Liz" Taylor, an English born U.S. actress, died on Wednesday at the age of 79, in the Cedars-Senai Medical Center, in Los Angeles, California, where she was admitted six weeks ago. The cause of death was announced as a heart ailment that she had suffered for years.

Taylor made her film debut in 1941 at Universal Pictures, and won two Academy Awards, for "Butterfield 8" (1960), and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966). Widely known for her personality, described as "sexy, glamorous, untimely, and fragile," the actress was always surrounded by her fans and the media. As a child actress, she was known for having two sets of eyelashes because of a genetic mutation, distinguishing her face from other actresses.

Recently, Taylor had been using an account on Twitter to keep herself in touch with her fans and friends. "I like the connection with fans and people who have been supportive of me, [...] [a]nd I love the idea of real feedback and a two-way street, which is very, very modern. But sometimes I think we know too much about our idols and that spoils the dream," Taylor said in a 2011 interview for Harper's Bazaar.

Taylor had to overcome an addiction to alcohol and drugs in the 80s through admissions to the Betty Ford Clinic in California, and had been for a number of days admitted to a Los Angeles hospital for heart failure.

Taylor is survived by four children, who reported that Taylor's last wish for her fans was that "they shouldn't be sending flowers for her, that money should be sent to charitable works, or otherwise to her 'Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation,'" in order to continue with her struggle in favour of patients with the disease.

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Sources

David Germain and Hillel Italie. "Film legend Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79" — Seven News Queensland, March 24, 2011
"Adiós a la última reina de Hollywood" — Diario La Nación, March 23, 2011(Spanish)
"Hondo dolor en el mundo del espectáculo por la muerte de Liz Taylor" — Infobae, March 23, 2011(Spanish)
"Elizabeth Taylor ingresa a hospital de Los Ángeles por problema cardiaco" — CNN México, March 24, 2011(Spanish)

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