“We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it. Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will live forever in our hearts,” said one of her sons, Michael Wilding, in a statement few hours after his beloved mother and legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor was announced to be dead.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor, at one of our photo shoots many years ago. She was at her best during this photo shoot, and we will always remember this special day!

Today we lost a Hollywood legend whose legacy will live on forever. Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, a stunning beauty, died today at the age of 79.  Taylor was known to have lived the American dream. At an early age of 9, Elizabeth Taylor was first seen at the movie “There’s One Born Every Minute”, followed by “Lassie Come Home”– and at the age of 12, Taylor got her first leading role in the movie “National Velvet”–where she captured audience’s affections by showing her extraordinary talent of acting. Due to the success of the movie, Elizabeth was then announced as one the top child stars during that time.

Followed by many other substantial roles in many movies , Miss Taylor got nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Actress” for her movies “Raintree County” (1957),  “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof” (1958), and “Suddenly, Last Summer” (1959).  Unfortunately, she didn’t go home with the golden statue for those movies–however, in 1960, Elizabeth Taylor became the highest paid actress at the time when she signed a one million dollar contract to play the major role in “Cleopatra”.  Shortly after that, she went on to win her first Academy Award for “Best Actress in a Leading Role” for her amazing performance as Gloria Wandrous in the movie, “Butterfield 8” (1960).  If that wasn’t enough–just 6 years later, she won her second Academy Award for “Best Actress in a Leading Role” in the movie “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf” (1966).

Although many admired Elizabeth Taylor for her glamorous, Hollywood lifestyle– many were always trying to keep up with her private life, because it was just as dramatic as the roles she played on screen.  For nearly 70 years and 50 movies, the press reported nearly every element of Taylor’s very public/private life. At the age of 18 Miss Taylor got married the first time and then went on to marry 7 more times; which included marriages to film producer Michael Todd, singer Eddie Fisher, U.S. Senator John Warner and twice to Richard Burton. Unfortunately, all of them ended with a divorce which got the attention of the public because her name was spread across thousands of headlines.

In 1992, after she made several forgettable films, during the 80s and 90s, Elizabeth Taylor started to concentrate on charity work by fighting against HIV/Aids. Inspired by the death of her close friend Rock Hudson, in 1985, Taylor became one of the first movie stars to fight for AIDS and later created her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF). In May of 2000, Queen Elizabeth II honored Taylor by making her a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, for her services to the entertainment industry and to charity.

Although she passed today–Miss Taylor experienced many health issues throughout her life.  In 1990 Elizabeth nearly died from a bout with pneumonia, and at the age of 62 she had both hip joints replaced and 3 years later the doctors discovered a benign brain tumor followed by skin cancer and congestive heart failure.  If that wasn’t enough–today we discovered that Taylor cheated death 53 years ago, almost to the day.  Taylor was scheduled to fly on her then husband, movie producer Mike Todd’s private plane for a trip from Burbank, Calif. to New York (via Tulsa, Okla.)–however, he convinced her to skip the flight, against her wishes, because she had been feeling ill.  Todd’s plane ended up crashing–killing him and three others that were on board with him.

Taylor, one of the last remaining bridges to Hollywood’s Golden Age, died this morning of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Despite her scandalous lifestyle, the world will keep her reminded as one of the biggest legendary for her work as well for her charity work. The world will not be the same without her beauty, glamour, generosity, and gift of giving.