1932 26th February
Birth of Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
Birth of Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
Cinema history · permanent subject timeline
Elizabeth Taylor
Actor whose career spans child stardom, classical Hollywood and later international celebrity. This page combines historical context with 19 matching records drawn directly from the World History Database cinema archive.
Historical context
Elizabeth Taylor: overview and significance
What happened?
Elizabeth Taylor began acting as a child and became one of Hollywood's most prominent stars, with major dramatic roles and extensive public recognition.
Why was it important?
Taylor's career reflects the power of the studio star system and its transformation into modern celebrity culture.
World History Database records
Elizabeth Taylor timeline
The records below are selected from the 2,036-record Cinema History archive and rendered as static HTML in chronological order.
1932
1942
1942
Theres One Born Every Minute
Taylor appears in her first motion picture at the age of nine in Theres One Born Every Minute
1943
1943
Lassie Come Home
MGM cast Taylor in Lassie Come Home
1944
1944 December
National Velvet
National Velvet, which costarred fellow young actor Mickey Rooney and English newcomer Angela Lansbury, became a great success upon its release
1944
National Velvet
Appears in National Velvet, alongside fellow young actor Mickey Rooney and Angela Lansbury
1946
1946
Courage of Lassie
Taylor is cast in another animal film, Courage of Lassie in which Bill the dog outsmarts the Nazis
1949
1949
A Place In The Sun
Taylor begins filming George Stevens A Place In The Sun. Before Conspirators 1949 release, a Time cover article called her "a jewel of great price, a true star sapphire", and the leader among Hollywoods next generation of stars
1950
1950
The Big Hangover
Taylors first picture under her new salary of $2,000 per week was The Big Hangover. Her first box office success in an adult role came as Kay Banks in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride alongside Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett
1951
1951
A Place in the Sun
A Place in the Sun is a 1951 American drama film based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the play, also titled An American Tragedy, which was adapted by Patrick Kearney from the novel. A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, and stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, and Raymond Burr
1956
1956
Giant
Appears opposite Rock Hudson and James Dean in George Stevens epic Giant
1957
1957
Raintree County
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Raintree County
1958
1958
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
1959
1959
Suddenly, Last Summer
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Suddenly, Last Summer
1960
1960
Academy Award
Wins an Academy Award for BUtterfield 8
1960
BUtterfield 8
Wins an Academy Award for BUtterfield 8. Taylor became the highest paid actress up to that time when she signed a one million dollar contract to play the title role in Twentieth Century Foxs lavish production of Cleopatra which is released in 1963
1966
1966
Academy Award
Second Academy Award, also for Best Actress in a Leading Role, was for her performance as Martha in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1966
Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Second Academy Award, also for Best Actress in a Leading Role, was for her performance as Martha in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1974
1974 26th June
Marriage
Liz Taylors 5th divorce (Richard Burton)
2011
2011 23rd March
Death of Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
Death of Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
Editorial provenance
Sources and editorial review
Compiled and edited by World History Database.
Historical context is editorial material; the chronology is generated from World History Database cinema records.
Last reviewed: September 2026.
British Film Institute · Library of Congress · Academy Awards
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