SCREEN icon Dame Elizabeth Taylor, who spent her formative years in Hampstead Garden Suburb, died yesterday aged 79. The double Oscar-winning actress, whose best known films include National Velvet and Cleopatra, was one of the 20th century’s biggest stars.
She was born in 1932 in England and lived at 8 Wildwood Road before moving to Los Angeles when the Second World War broke out.
In a message to mark the Suburb’s centenary in 2007, she wrote: “The happiest days of my youth were when my brother and I would run through the woods and feel quite safe. I wonder whether the Suburb is still like that. I do hope so. It was heaven for this child and her brother.”
The actress scored huge success as a film star but was equally well-known for her glamour and film partnership with Richard Burton, one of seven husbands.
She had a long history of ill health and was being treated for symptoms of congestive heart failure.
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