Today is 81st anniversary of Elizabeth Taylor’s birth – remembering a film legend and AIDS activist

Had Elizabeth Taylor not left us nearly two years ago, she would have turned 81 today.

But no one can say that this woman did not live her life to the fullest.

Two Oscars for acting, one Oscar for humanitarian work, Dame of the British Empire, AFI Life Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honoree and classic films including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? A Place in the Sun, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer, Giant, Father of the Bride, National Velvet and many others.

Along the way there were four children, many grandchildren and some great-grandchildren and, famously, eight marriages to a movie star (Richard Burton, twice), an Oscar winning producer (Mike Todd), a United States senator (John Warner), a singer (Eddie Fisher), a hotel heir (Nicky Hilton), and British actor (Michael Wilding) and, yes, even a construction worker (Larry Fortensky).

Sure, she had her Liz and Dick years that inspired the terrible Lifetime movie starring you know who, but after those years, she had the most magnificent third act.

For the last 25 years of her life, Miss Taylor used her great fame to raise millions of dollars for HIV-AIDS research and care. Even after her death, a percentage of the proceeds from a Christie’s auction of her treasures after her death raised millions more.

I think that’s a movie that should be made – maybe even a documentary – focusing on her decades as an activist who really did help make a difference.