Elizabeth Taylor Dies|at 79 in Los Angeles

(CN) - Hollywood royalty Elizabeth Taylor died of heart failure Wednesday morning at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. She was 79.

The violet-eyed icon won two Academy Awards for Best Actress in her 70-year career for "BUtterfield 8" (1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966).

From her early work as a child star in "National Velvet" and a small but memorable role in "Jane Eyre" (both 1944), to her arrival as the highest paid actress with "Cleopatra" (1960), Taylor's body of work is remembered as nothing short of classic.

One of the last Old Hollywood icons, Taylor will be remembered as much for her films as for her colorful private life. She was married eight times to seven husbands and is survived by four children, 10 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Though her later life had been marked by health problems, Taylor remained in the public eye as a vocal supporter of Michael Jackson, an AIDS activist and an entreprenueur with several successful lines of jewelry and one lasting line of perfume.

Taylor was born in London in 1932 to American parents. As World War II loomed over Europe, she and her family moved to America and eventually settled in Los Angeles.

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