Elizabeth Taylor, whose acting talent and made-for-tabloids personal life made her one of Hollywood's most alluring and lasting figures, died Wednesday at age 79. Taylor's publicist, Sally Morrison, confirmed that the actress died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she had been hospitalized for six weeks.
Taylor's four children, Michael and Christopher Wilding, Liza Todd and Maria Burton, were by her side at the end.
"My mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor and love," Michael Wilding said in a statement. "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."
The 'Cleopatra' star underwent heart surgery in 2009, and was hospitalized in February for heart failure.
Taylor made her on-screen debut at the age of nine in the film 'There's One Born Every Minute,' but she first came to national attention in the film 'Lassie Come Home' opposite lifelong friend Roddy McDowall. Her star-making role, however, came a few years later when a then-12-year-old Taylor took on the titular role of Velvet Brown in 1944's 'National Velvet' -- a film that in 2003 was selected for entry into the prestigious National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." 'Raintree County,' the 1957 film that earned her the first of five career Best Actress Oscar nominations.
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