Elizabeth Taylor was a person.
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor , DBE ( February 27 , 1932 -- March 23 , 2011 ) was a British American actress , businesswoman , and humanitarian . She began as a child actress in the early 1940s , and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s . These included two film adaptations of plays by Tennessee Williams , Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ( 1958 ) and Suddenly , Last Summer ( 1959 ) ; Taylor won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for the latter . Taylor 's acting career began to decline in the late 1960s , although she continued starring in films until the mid-1970s , after which she focused on supporting the career of her sixth husband , Senator John Warner .