She was gorgeous, she was gutsy, and according to her many close friends, intensely loyal. Larry King called her the last great Hollywood movie star.

Elizabeth Taylor lived her life large, with passion, spirit and love. Her career began at 13 and included 50 films, and 2 Oscars, as well as 8 marriages and four children.

Her interest in AIDS started when her dear friend Rock Hudson died of the disease in 1985. At this point little was known about the disease and nurses were afraid to deliver food trays to AIDS patients in hospitals. Taylor never thought twice about jumping in and bringing much needed attention to AIDS and along with a group of physicians, helped establish the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR).

As chairwoman of AMFAR, Elizabeth visited Capitol Hill to demand that the government live up to its promise to spend nearly $1 billion a year to help people with AIDS by forming the Ryan White Care Act. She and other stars befriended Ryan White, a teenager who, as a hemophiliac, got HIV through a contaminated blood transfusion.

The actress also founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which has given more than $12 million to organizations across the country that provide direct care and services to people living with the disease. As a result of her tireless efforts to bring funds and awareness to AIDS she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Amidst the films, marriages and tireless work on behalf of AIDS, she broke her back five times, had both her hips replaced, survived a benign brain tumor operation and skin cancer, and faced life-threatening bouts with pneumonia twice, one of which (1961), resulted in an emergency tracheotomy. In later years she was confined to a wheel chair as a result of osteoporosis and scoliosis.

None of this stopped Elizabeth; the icon, idol, mother, wife, humanitarian and Dame, for to date she has helped raise over $300 million towards AIDS research.