Elizabeth Taylor was the glamorous Hollywood icon who starred in dozens of movies throughout her career, collecting two Best Actress trophies at the Oscars and three additional nominations. But how many of those titles remain classics? Let's take a look back at 15 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1932, Taylor began her career as a child actress, landing her first leading role when she was just 12-years-old with "National Velvet" (1944). She quickly transitioned into adult stardom, earning her first Oscar nomination as Best Actress for "Raintree County" (1957). Subsequent bids for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958) and "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959) quickly followed.
She collected her first statuette playing a prostitute with man troubles in "Butterfield 8" (1960), a film she openly hated. (When asked about its success, she famously said, "I still think it stinks.") Her win probably had more to do with an emergency tracheotomy she underwent right before the ceremony than the performance, but either way, Taylor was finally crowned the Queen of Hollywood.
Her next win came for a much more acclaimed performance, and a truly surprising one. Taylor gained weight and died her hair to play a bitter middle-aged wife in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966), who spars with her professor husband (the star's own on-again off-again spouse Richard Burton) during an all-night slugfest with a pair of newlyweds (George Segal and Sandy Dennis). It was a stunning transformation, and proof that she was more than just a beauty queen.
In addition to her two Oscar wins, Taylor also received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993 for her humanitarian work, particularly in AIDS research. She was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes in 1985 and the SAG Life Achievement prize in 1998.
Tour our photo gallery of Taylor's best movies, including a few for which she should've earned Oscar nominations.
-
15. THE V.I.P.S (1963)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Anthony Asquith. Written by Terence Rattigan. Starring Richard Burton, Louis Jourdan, Maggie Smith, Orson Welles, Rod Taylor, Elsa Martinelli, Margaret Rutherford.
Among the cinematic turkeys Taylor made with her on-again-off-again husband, Richard Burton, this one holds a special distinction in cinema history since it brought Margaret Rutherford a Supporting Actress Oscar. Aside from that, there’s not much noteworthy about this “Grand Hotel” in an airport drama, which finds a group of delayed travelers hanging out in the V.I.P. lounge while waiting for the fog to clear. Each one is facing a personal crisis, including an actress (Taylor) running away from her millionaire husband (Burton) and a Duchess (Rutherford) traveling to London so she can’t start a new job and save her home.
-
14. RAINTREE COUNTY (1957)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Edward Dmytryk. Screenplay by Millard Kaufman, based on the novel by Ross Lockridge Jr. Starring Montgomery Clift, Eva Marie Saint, Lee Marvin, Rod Taylor.
Taylor earned her first Oscar nomination for this “Gone with the Wind”-wannabe that’s too long, too bloated, and too boring. “Raintree County” finds the actress reuniting with her “A Place in the Sun” costar Montgomery Clift for a romantic drama set against the backdrop of the Civil War. She plays a Southern belle who falls in love with an Indiana pacifist (Clift), soon learning the woes of matrimony. The film is perhaps best remembered for more tragic circumstances: Clift nearly died in a car crash during filming, with Taylor scooping his teeth out of his throat to save his life.
-
13. FATHER’S LITTLE DIVIDEND (1951)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Screenplay by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, based on characters created by Edward Streeter. Starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Don Taylor, Billie Burke.
Proving that Hollywood has always loved sequels, MGM followed up their massive hit “Father of the Bride” with this charming bauble that finds Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) barely recovered from his daughter’s (Taylor) wedding before she shows up pregnant. Though not nearly as funny or touching as its predecessor, “Father’s Little Dividend” is still a charming look at the anxiety of becoming a grandparent. And as with the first film, Tracy and Taylor have an easy chemistry that sells their father-daughter relationship.
-
12. IVANHOE (1952)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Richard Thorpe. Screenplay by Æneas MacKenzie, Noel Langley and Marguerite Roberts, based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott. Starring Robert Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, Felix Aylmer, Finlay Currie.
If you’re looking for historical accuracy, look elsewhere. But if you’re looking for a royal good time, check out “Ivanhoe,” a lavish (albeit highly altered) adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s classic book. Robert Taylor stars as a knight seeking to free the captive King Richard and restore him to the throne after returning home to England from the Crusades. Taylor costars as Rebecca, the beautiful daughter of a Jewish man the gallant Ivanhoe rescues from antisemites. The film earned three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
-
11. REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE (1967)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Seven Arts/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Gladys Hill and Chapman Mortimer, based on the novel by Carson McCullers. Starring Marlon Brando, Brian Keith, Julie Harris, Robert Forster, Zorro David.
John Huston’s “Reflections in a Golden Eye” is, to put it mildly, one of the most bizarre films to come out during the transition from the studio system to the New Hollywood, when loosening censorship gave way to more daring subject matter being present onscreen. Based on the novel by Carson McCullers, it stars Marlon Brando as a closeted army major stationed at a Georgia military base in the 1940s. When his ball-busting wife (Taylor) begins an affair, his attentions drift towards a handsome young private (Robert Forster). Audiences howled at its operatic emotions, overt symbolism and campy plot twists, yet all of that combines into a haunting, steamy examination of human sexuality.
-
10. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1967)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Screenplay by Paul Dehn, Suso Cecchi d’Amico and Franco Zeffirelli, based on the play by William Shakespeare. Starring Richard Burton, Natasha Pyne, Michael Hordern.
Taylor made more than a few stinkers with her husband, Richard Burton, so it’s always refreshing to see them in a good movie. Based on the classic Shakespeare play, “The Taming of the Shrew” follows the efforts of a brutish nobleman (Burton) to domesticate a wild woman (Taylor). Franco Zeffirelli (who would work similar wonders on the Bard’s “Romeo and Juliet” in 1968) directs with gusto and mirth, and the stars prove surprisingly capable handling iambic pentameter. Taylor and Burton earned BAFTA bids (with Burton also contending at the Globes), yet the Academy looked the other way despite recognizing the costumes and art direction.
-
9. BUTTERFIELD 8 (1960)
Image Credit: MGM/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Daniel Mann. Screenplay by John Michael Hayes and Charles Schnee, based on the novel by John O’Hara. Starring Laurence Harvey, Eddie Fisher, Dina Merrill, Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field, Jeffrey Lynn, Kay Medford, Susan Oliver.
Taylor won her first Best Actress Oscar for this overwrought melodrama, although her victory likely had more to do with the emergency tracheotomy she underwent prior to the Academy ceremony than her performance. “Butterfield 8” tells a seriously sanitized story of a call girl who falls in love with a married man (Laurence Harvey). Taylor herself openly criticized the film, which she only made in order to fulfill a contract obligation with MGM. (When asked about its box office success, she famously said, “I still say it stinks.”) Yet despite her resignations, she’s still able to transcend the trashy material, proving her win wasn’t just about a hospital stay.
-
8. SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER (1959)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Joesph L. Mankiewicz. Screenplay by Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams, based on the play by Williams. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge.
“Suddenly, Last Summer” is the kind of lurid blending of homosexuality and cannibalism that only Tennessee Williams could conceive. Montgomery Clift plays a psychiatrist summoned by the wealthy Mrs. Venable (Katharine Hepburn) to lobotomize her niece (Taylor), who harbors a terrible secret about the death of her cousin. Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz shoots this disturbing material as explicitly as the censors would allow, though most of the runtime is devoted to long dialogue scenes between its three leads. Hepburn and Taylor were both nominated at the Oscars as Best Actress, possibly cancelling each other out and swinging the prize to Simone Signoret (“Room at the Top”).
-
7. CLEOPATRA (1963)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Randal MacDougall and Sidney Buchman, based on the book ‘The Life and Times of Cleopatra’ by C.M. Franzero and Histories by Plutarch, Suetonius, and Appian. Starring Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, Martin Landau, Hume Cronyn, George Cole.
By the time “Cleopatra” finally hit movie screens, its reputation had far preceded it: massive budget overruns, director firings and re-hirings, and a scandalous affair between Taylor and leading man Richard Burton set the tabloids ablaze before a foot of film was ever screened. The critics scorned this epic biopic about the famous Queen of Egypt (Taylor), which nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox despite audiences turning out in droves to see what all the fuss was about. (When the Academy handed it nine nominations including Best Picture, many chalked it up to block-voting by the studio.) Yet is it really a bad movie? Well, it’s certainly not a perfect one, but it’s large scale, flamboyant style, and operatic performances (particularly Best Actor nominee Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar and Roddy McDowell as Octavian) make it ever-watchable. Oscars were won for cinematography, art direction, costumes, and special effects.
-
6. NATIONAL VELVET (1944)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Clarence Brown. Screenplay by Helen Deutsch, based on the novel by Enid Bagnold. Starring Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Angela Lansbury, Anne Revere, Reginald Owen, Terry Kilburn.
Taylor’s long career started in the early 1940s when she was still a child, and her first starring role came when she was just 12-years-old with this sweet-natured family favorite. “National Velvet” casts her as a young English girl working with an ex-jockey (Mickey Rooney) to train an “unbreakable” horse to compete in the Grand National Sweepstakes. Though it’s geared towards children, the film has enough grit and drama to keep their parents captivated as well. Anne Revere won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing Taylor’s mother. An additional prize went to its editing, and nominations were reaped for director Clarence Brown, cinematography, and art direction.
-
5. FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on the novel by Edward Streeter. Starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Don Taylor, Billie Burke.
Not to be confused with the Steve Martin remake, this 1950 comedy casts Spencer Tracy as a father continually befuddle by the problems stemming from his daughter’s (Taylor) upcoming wedding. Vincente Minnelli mines a lot of comedy out of the financial and personal issues that can arise from impending matrimony, with one crisis after another making the event seemingly insurmountable. But there’s also a lot of heart as well, particularly in the tender relationship between Tracy and Taylor, who are able to easily navigate the emotional minefields of this life-changing event. The film earned Oscar nominations in Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay, and inspired a sequel, “Father’s Little Dividend” (1951).
-
4. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Richard Brooks. Screenplay by Richard Brooks and James Poe, based on the play by Tennessee Williams. Starring Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson, Madeleine Sherwood, Larry Gates, Vaughn Taylor.
Taylor has never been more alluring than as Maggie “the Cat”, the insatiable wife of “afflicted” ex-football player Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman), who resists her advances at every turn. Though slashed by the puritanical censors that ruled Hollywood until the formation of the MPAA rating system, the screen version of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” still packs the wallop of Tennessee Williams’s stage hit. While Brick struggles to father a child with his wife, his father, Big Daddy (Burl Ives), dies slowly of cancer, with the rest of his children eying his vast fortune. The film snagged six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and acting bids for Newman and Taylor (they lost to David Niven in “Separate Tables” and Susan Hayward in “I Want to Live!”).
-
3. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by George Stevens. Screenplay by Michael Wilson and Harry Brown, based on the novel ‘An American Tragedy’ by Theodore Dreiser and the play by Patrick Kearney. Starring Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters, Keefe Brasselle, Raymond Burr, Anne Revere.
Though it won raves from critics and snatched up six Academy Awards (including Best Director for George Stevens), today’s viewers often dismiss “A Place in the Sun” as pat and outdated. Yet this story of an ambitious social-climber (Montgomery Clift) who marries a dowdy factory worker (Shelley Winters) and falls in love with a glamorous socialite (Taylor) remains a powerful and enchanting melodrama. The chemistry between its two leads — who would remain lifelong friends throughout their many ups-and-downs — is heartbreaking in its intensity. The tragic final outcome for this romantic triangle packs an emotional wallop. Clift and Winters reaped lead acting Oscar nominations, though Taylor was overlooked.
-
2. GIANT (1956)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by George Stevens. Screenplay by Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat, based on the novel by Edna Ferber. Starring Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Sal Mineo, Dennis Hopper.
Most people remember “Giant” as the final entry in James Dean’s short career (it was released after his death in 1955). Yet George Stevens’ gargantuan adaptation of Edna Ferber’s epic novel is so much more than that. Rock Hudson stars as a Texas cattle rancher who travels to Maryland to buy a horse and returns with a wife (Taylor). Dean costars as a ranch hand who falls in love with the boss’s spouse before striking oil, sparking a rivalry between him and his boss that will last decades. In examining familial strife over two generations, the film also uncovers America’s racist history in its portrayal of the Mexican laborers who help the ranch thrive while living in squalor, all seen through Taylor’s eyes. “Giant” was a massive hit, earning 10 Oscar nominations and winning Best Director for Stevens.
-
1. WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Mike Nichols. Screenplay by Ernest Lehman, based on the play by Edward Albee. Starring Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis.
Taylor’s abilities as an actress were often overlooked in favor of her stunning beauty, so it’s shocking to see her de-glam to the extent she did for Mike Nichols’s searing marital drama. Adapted from Edward Albee’s taboo-shattering play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” centers on an embittered couple (Richard Burton and Taylor) who invite some newlyweds (George Segal and Sandy Dennis) over for an all-night marathon of sex, booze, and bad language. Taylor and Burton undoubtedly called upon their own romantic troubles for their blistering performances, both of which are career-bests. The profanity-laced bickering was so shocking it led to the creation of the MPAA, which did away with the (slightly) more restrictive Production Code. The film reaped 13 Oscar nominations and won five, including acting prizes for Taylor (lead) and Dennis (supporting).
What happened to Boom!?
Good choices. Very wise to have avoided all the “crap” she made with Richard Burton during theiri married life, the worst of all the films probably being BOOM, a total disaster.
As was said in the day:” BOOM IS A BOMB.”
I still think the best she has ever done was “the flinstones” where is that on your list??