Editing Elizabeth Taylor (section)

===1950–1951: Transition to adult roles===
[[File:Father of the bride 1950 promo.jpg|left|thumb|upright|With [[Spencer Tracy]] in ''[[Father of the Bride (1950 film)|Father of the Bride]]'' (1950)]]

Taylor made the transition to adult roles when she turned 18 in 1950. In her first mature role, the thriller ''[[Conspirator (1949 film)|Conspirator]]'' (1949), she plays a woman who begins to suspect that her husband is a Soviet spy.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|75–83}} Taylor had been only 16 at the time of its filming, but its release was delayed until March 1950, as MGM disliked it and feared it could cause diplomatic problems.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|75–83}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Conspirator (1950) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/27626 |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> Taylor's second film of 1950 was the comedy ''[[The Big Hangover]]'' (1950), co-starring [[Van Johnson]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Big Hangover |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/26224 |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> It was released in May. That same month, Taylor married hotel-chain heir [[Conrad Hilton Jr.|Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr.]] in a highly publicized ceremony.<ref name="Walker" />{{rp|99–105}} The event was organized by MGM, and used as part of the publicity campaign for Taylor's next film, [[Vincente Minnelli]]'s comedy ''[[Father of the Bride (1950 film)|Father of the Bride]]'' (1950), in which she appeared opposite [[Spencer Tracy]] and [[Joan Bennett]] as a bride preparing for her wedding.<ref name="Walker" />{{rp|99–105}} The film became a box-office success upon its release in June, grossing $6 million worldwide (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|6000000|1950}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars {{inflation/fn|US}}), and was followed by a successful sequel, ''[[Father's Little Dividend]]'' (1951), ten months later.{{sfn|Curtis|2011|pp=599–609}}

Taylor's next film release, [[George Stevens]]' ''[[A Place in the Sun (1951 film)|A Place in the Sun]]'' (1951), marked a departure from her earlier films. According to Taylor, it was the first film in which she had been asked to act, instead of simply being herself,<ref name="lifemag" /> and it brought her critical acclaim for the first time since ''National Velvet''.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|96–97}} Based on [[Theodore Dreiser]]'s novel ''[[An American Tragedy]]'' (1925), it featured Taylor as a spoiled socialite who comes between a poor factory worker ([[Montgomery Clift]]) and his pregnant girlfriend ([[Shelley Winters]]).<ref name=Walker />{{rp|91}} Stevens cast Taylor as she was "the only one ... who could create this illusion" of being "not so much a real girl as the girl on the candy-box cover, the beautiful girl in the yellow [[Cadillac]] convertible that every American boy sometime or other thinks he can marry."<ref name=Walker />{{rp|92}}{{sfn|Moss|2004|p=159}}

''A Place in the Sun'' was a critical and commercial success, grossing $3 million.{{sfnm|1a1=Capua|1y=2002|1p=72|2a1=Moss|2y=2004|2p=166}} Herb Golden of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said that Taylor's "histrionics are of a quality so far beyond anything she has done previously, that Stevens' skilled hands on the reins must be credited with a minor miracle."<ref>{{cite web |first=Herb |last=Golden |title=A Place in the Sun |url=https://variety.com/1951/film/reviews/a-place-in-the-sun-1200417074/ |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=August 29, 1951 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> [[A.H. Weiler]] of ''The New York Times'' wrote that she gives "a shaded, tender performance, and one in which her passionate and genuine romance avoids the pathos common to young love as it sometimes comes to the screen."<ref>{{cite web|first= A.H. |last=Weiler |title=A Place in the Sun |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173CE473BC4151DFBE66838A649EDE |work=The New York Times |date=August 29, 1951 |access-date=December 1, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124132433/https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173CE473BC4151DFBE66838A649EDE |archive-date=November 24, 2015}}</ref>