Editing Elizabeth Taylor (section)

===1956–1960: Critical acclaim===
[[File:Taylor - Hudson - Giant.jpg|thumb|Taylor and [[Rock Hudson]] in ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'' (1956)]]

By the mid-1950s, the American film industry was beginning to face serious competition from television, which resulted in studios producing fewer films, and focusing instead on their quality.<ref name=Kashner />{{rp|158–165}} The change benefited Taylor, who finally found more challenging roles after several years of career disappointments.<ref name=Kashner />{{rp|158–165}} After lobbying director George Stevens, she won the female lead role in ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'' (1956), an epic drama about a ranching dynasty, which co-starred [[Rock Hudson]] and [[James Dean]].<ref name="Kashner" />{{rp|158–165}} Its filming in [[Marfa, Texas]], was a difficult experience for Taylor, as she clashed with Stevens, who wanted to break her will to make her easier to direct, and was often ill, resulting in delays.<ref name="Kashner" />{{rp|158–165}}{{sfn|Moss|2004|pp=215–219}} To further complicate the production, Dean died in a car accident only days after completing filming; the grieving Taylor still had to film reaction shots to their joint scenes.<ref name="Kashner" />{{rp|158–166}} When ''Giant'' was released a year later, it became a box-office success, and was widely praised by critics.<ref name="Kashner" />{{rp|158–165}} Although not nominated for an Academy Award like her co-stars, Taylor garnered positive reviews for her performance, with ''Variety'' calling it "surprisingly clever",<ref>{{cite web |title=Giant |url=https://variety.com/1956/film/reviews/giant-2-1200418151/ |work=Variety |date=October 10, 1956 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> and <!-- Did not lose 'Manchester' until 1959. -->''[[The Guardian|The Manchester Guardian]]'' lauding her acting as "an astonishing revelation of unsuspected gifts." It named her one of the film's strongest assets.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Taylor: How Guardian critics rated her films |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/mar/24/elizabeth-taylor-original-guardian-reviews |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=October 10, 1956 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref>

MGM reunited Taylor with Montgomery Clift in ''[[Raintree County (film)|Raintree County]]'' (1957), a [[American Civil War|Civil War]] drama which it hoped would replicate the success of ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1939).<ref name=Walker />{{rp|166–177}} Taylor found her role as a mentally disturbed [[Southern belle]] fascinating, but overall disliked the film.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|166–177}} Although the film failed to become the type of success MGM had planned,{{sfnm|1a1=Hernán|1a2=Gordon|1y=2003|1p=26}} Taylor was nominated for the first time for an [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] for her performance.<ref name="oscars">{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Taylor |url=https://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/search/getresults?query=%7B%22Nominee%22%3A%22Elizabeth%20Taylor%22%2C%22Sort%22%3A%221-Nominee-Alpha%22%2C%22AwardShowNumberFrom%22%3A0%2C%22AwardShowNumberTo%22%3A0%2C%22Search%22%3A30%7D |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=January 15, 2025 }}</ref>
[[File:Cat on a Hot Tin Roof13.jpg|thumb|left|In ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958 film)|Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1958)]]
Taylor considered her next performance as Maggie the Cat in the screen adaptation of the [[Tennessee Williams]] play ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958 film)|Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1958) a career "high point." But it coincided with one of the most difficult periods in her personal life.<ref name="lifemag" /> After completing ''Raintree County'', she had divorced Wilding and married producer [[Mike Todd]]. She had completed only two weeks of filming in March 1958, when Todd was killed in a plane crash.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|186–194}} Although she was devastated, pressure from the studio and the knowledge that Todd had large debts led Taylor to return to work only three weeks later.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|195–203}} She later said that "in a way ... [she] became Maggie", and that acting "was the only time I could function" in the weeks after Todd's death.<ref name="lifemag" />

During the production, Taylor's personal life drew more attention when she began an affair with singer [[Eddie Fisher]], whose marriage to actress [[Debbie Reynolds]] had been idealized by the media as the union of "America's sweethearts."<ref name=Walker />{{rp|203–210}} The affair – and Fisher's subsequent divorce – changed Taylor's public image from a grieving widow to a "homewrecker". MGM used the scandal to its advantage by featuring an image of Taylor posing on a bed in a slip in the film's promotional posters.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|203–210}} ''Cat'' grossed $10 million in American cinemas alone, and made Taylor the year's second-most profitable star.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|203–210}} She received positive reviews for her performance, with Bosley Crowther of ''The New York Times'' calling her "terrific",<ref>{{cite web |first=Bosley |last=Crowther |title=The Fur Flies in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'; Talent Galore Found in Music Hall Film Acting Does Justice to Williams Play |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/09/19/archives/the-fur-flies-in-cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof-talent-galore-found-in-music.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 19, 1958 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> and ''Variety'' praising her for "a well-accented, perceptive interpretation."<ref>{{cite web |title=Review: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof |url=https://variety.com/1957/film/reviews/cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof-2-1200419154/ |work=Variety |date=December 31, 1958 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award<ref name="oscars" /> and a [[BAFTA]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Film: Foreign Actress in 1959 |url=https://awards.bafta.org/award/1959/film/foreign-actress |publisher=[[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]] |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref>

Taylor's next film, [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]]'s ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959), was another Tennessee Williams adaptation, with a screenplay by [[Gore Vidal]] and also starring [[Montgomery Clift]] and [[Katharine Hepburn]]. The independent production earned Taylor $500,000 for playing the role of a severely traumatized patient in a mental institution.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|203–210}} Although the film was a drama about mental illness, childhood traumas, and homosexuality, it was again promoted with Taylor's sex appeal; both its trailer and poster featured her in a white swimsuit. The strategy worked, as the film was a financial success.{{sfnm|1a1=Lower|1a2=Palmer|1y=2001|1p=158}} Taylor received her third Academy Award nomination<ref name="oscars" /> and her first [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Golden Globe for Best Actress]] for her performance.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|203–210}}

By 1959, Taylor owed one more film for MGM, which it decided should be ''[[BUtterfield 8]]'' (1960), a drama about a high-class call girl, in an adaptation of a John O'Hara [[BUtterfield 8 (novel)|1935 novel of the same name]].<ref name=Walker />{{rp|211–223}} The studio correctly calculated that Taylor's public image would make it easy for audiences to associate her with the role.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|211–223}} She hated the film for the same reason, but had no choice in the matter, although the studio agreed to her demands of filming in New York and casting Eddie Fisher in a sympathetic role.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|211–223}} As predicted, ''BUtterfield 8'' was a major commercial success, grossing $18 million in world rentals.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|224–236}} Crowther wrote that Taylor "looks like a million dollars, in mink or in negligée",<ref>{{cite web |first=Bosley |last=Crowther |title=The Screen: Elizabeth Taylor at 'Butterfield 8':Film Based on O'Hara Novel in Premiere |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/11/17/archives/the-screen-elizabeth-taylor-at-butterfield-8film-based-on-ohara.html |work=The New York Times |date=November 17, 1960 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> while ''Variety'' stated that she gives "a torrid, stinging portrayal with one or two brilliantly executed passages within."<ref>{{cite web |title=Butterfield 8 |url=https://variety.com/1959/film/reviews/butterfield-8-1200419732/ |work=Variety |date=December 31, 1960 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.<ref name=Walker />{{rp|224–236}}