Elizabeth Taylor was an actress.
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor , DBE ( February 27 , 1932 -- March 23 , 2011 ) was a British American actress , businesswoman , and humanitarian . She began receiving better roles in the mid-1950s , beginning with the epic drama Giant ( 1956 ) , and starred in several critically and commercially successful films in the following years . She was next paid a record-breaking $ 1 million to play the title role in the historical epic Cleopatra ( 1963 ) , the most expensive film made up to that point .