Elizabeth Taylor’s 10 Most Iconic Roles

10.The Taming of the Shrew (1967): Frank Zeffirelli helmed this adaptation
of William Shakespeare’s famous play in which the actress starred with
real-life husband Richard Burton.

9. National Velvet (1944): Taylor became an instant star playing Velvet
Brown, the feisty teen who competes in England’s notorious Grand National
steeplechase.

8. Giant (1956) George Stevens helmed this Texas epic in which Taylor
appeared alongside legendary leading men James Dean and Rock Hudson.

7. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959): Tennessee Williams’ play about a wealthy
widow Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn) and a girl who goes insane (Taylor)
after seeing Venable’s only son die. Taylor won a Golden Globe for her
performance and both actresses received Oscar nominations.

Related Stories

TV

John Jakes, Author of the Miniseries-Spawning 'North and South' Trilogy, Dies at 90

Lifestyle

Bad Bunny, Christina Aguilera and Jeremy Pope to Be Honored at GLAAD Media Awards

6. A Little Night Music (1977): Art imitated life in Harold Prince’s film
where La Liz played Desiree Armfeldt, a famous actress who seduces a married
man.

5. Cat on a hot Tin Roof (1958): Taylor played the seductive Maggie Pollitt,
the wife of Paul Newman’s alcoholic Brick Pollitt, in this legendary
adaptation of another Tennessee Williams’s play directed by Richard Brooks.

4. A Place in the Sun (1951): The actress made the transition from
child-star to major movie siren alongside Montgomery Clift in another
Stevens’ classic about star-crossed lovers.

3. Butterfield 8 (1960): Taylor won her first Oscar for playing prostitute
Gloria Wandrous against then-husband Eddie Fischer, in this drama directed
by Daniel Mann.

2. Cleopatra (1963): The actress made history as the first woman in
Hollywood to receive a million-dollar contract to play history’s most famous
diva. The Twentieth Century Fox film was marred in scandal as production
ballooned over budget while Taylor and her co-star Richard Burton engaged in
one of history’s most famous affairs.

1. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966): Taylor won her second Oscar for
her performance as the bare-bones Martha, a bitter, angry wife (Burton again
co-starred) in this film helmed by first-time director Mike Nichols.