BEST ELIZABETH TAYLOR MOVIES
“National Velvet” (1944) The young Taylor had a part for all time, and all ages, as the horse-riding Velvet Brown in this much-loved drama that teamed her with Mickey Rooney and Angela Lansbury.
“Little Women” (1949) Many of MGM’s top stars at the time, including – besides Taylor, who played Amy March – June Allyson, Janet Leigh and Peter Lawford were gathered in this heartfelt version of the much-filmed Louisa May Alcott classic.
“Father of the Bride” (1950) Taylor pretty much bade farewell to the “ingenue” stage of her career with this comedy classic casting her as the soon-to-wed daughter of the dad (Spencer Tracy) who stresses out over the wedding plans.
“A Place in the Sun” (1951) Guided by Oscar-winning director George Stevens, Taylor has her allure set on “high” as a socialite who attracts a poor but earnest young man (Montgomery Clift) already involved with another woman (Shelley Winters) who is going to have his child.
“Giant” (1956) In one of her best roles, Taylor played a privileged Texan drawn to both her rancher husband ( Rock Hudson) and an indomitable rebel (James Dean, in his final role) in the film version of Edna Ferber’s sprawling novel that earned director George Stevens his second Oscar.
“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958) “Maggie the cat is alive!” Indeed she was with Taylor portraying her, caught between her husband (Paul Newman) and his estranged, dying father (Burl Ives) in the steamy Tennessee Williams play.
“BUtterfield 8” (1960) Taylor earned her first Academy Award – opposite, among others, then-husband Eddie Fisher – for novelist John O’Hara’s potboiler about a model and her questionable personal liaisons.
“The V.I.P.s” (1963) Even if it’s admittedly soapy in nature, this multi-plot saga of passengers fogged in at a London airport was a gossip lover’s dream for the first substantial view it gave of Taylor and Richard Burton at the peak of their romance.
“Cleopatra” (1963) Say what you will – and much has been, over the past 50-plus years – but this costly, almost studio-busting monument to Hollywood excess may well be the ultimate star vehicle for any actress, with Taylor glamorously regal as (of course) the queen of Egypt.
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966) Forget about glamour in this case ... Taylor was rewarded with her second Oscar for playing it raw and shrewish opposite an equally dowdy Burton in debuting film director Mike Nichols’ searing version of Edward Albee’s play about arguably the Worst. Dinner. Party. Ever.