Cinema: Elizabeth Taylor, the violet-eyed "queen" is no more

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The American actress died today in Los Angeles at the age of 79, after suffering from congestive heart failure. She had been hospitalized for six weeks at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; her children were with her until the end. She had two daughters, Maria Burton-Carson and Liza Todd-Tivey, two sons, Christopher and Michael Wilding, and several grandchildren.

Born in London in 1932, Elizabeth Taylor was one of Hollywood's last great stars. A precocious performer, she began her film career at the age of 10 and her exceptional career was marked by some fifty films. She starred alongside the greatest artists and earned two Oscars: Best Actress for Venus in the Mink (1960) and also for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).

A tumultuous love life

Also famous for her long and difficult love story, she was first married to Conrad Hilton Jr., the heir to the hotel chain of the same name. Seven other husbands followed before she met Richard Burton, with whom she fell madly in love during the filming of the movie Cleopatra. Between arguments and reconciliations, the two actors married twice (in 1964 and 1975) and formed one of Hollywood's most famous and unforgettable couples.

Over the next few years, her health problems worsened, and she struggled with addiction to alcohol, food, and medication. In 1997, she suffered a stroke after having a benign brain tumor removed.

At the end of her career, in the 1980s, she gradually left the film sets for a well-deserved retirement.

A humanist

Generous, she became involved in several major causes, particularly AIDS research. Her involvement earned her the Legion of Honor in 1987 and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993.

We are not ready to forget the most beautiful look in American cinema.