Elizabeth Taylor’s death:

Curtain falls on Hollywood’s golden era

US: She was arguably the brightest star in Hollywood’s golden era - and her death, after the recent passing of Tony Curtis and Blake Edwards turns out a light in the Tinsel Town firmament.

Elizabeth Taylor who died Wednesday aged 79, won two Oscars - for “Butterfield 8” in 1960 and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in 1966 - but her impact on the movie industry extends beyond that.

“Her artistic contribution to the motion picture industry is immeasurable,” said Chris Dodd, head of the Motion Picture Association of America, after her death in Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai hospital.

“In a career spanning more than 70 years and 50 films, her talent endured the test of time and transcended generations of moviegoers,” added Dodd, head of the umbrella body for Hollywood’s major movie studios. No other actress - apart from perhaps Marilyn Monroe - had made such an impact on American cinema.

She was the first to command the symbolic $one million for a film, when she made “Cleopatra” with Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1963.

Franco Zeffirelli, who notably director Taylor and husband Richard Burton in “The Taming of the Shrew” in 1967, said she had “a winning combination of rare qualities.

“She was beautiful, intelligent... People like Liz don’t exist anymore... because fairy tales no longer exist,” he told the ANSA news agency. Los Angeles, Thursday, AFP