Academy Award–winning actress Elizabeth Taylor, who died March 23, was remembered as a supporter of Israel who traveled to the Jewish state and raised funds during the Arab boycott in the 1970s.
Taylor converted to Judaism in 1959 after her third husband, Mike Todd, who was Jewish, died in a plane crash and before marrying Jewish actor Eddie Fisher.
She denied that she had converted because of her Jewish husbands, saying she had wanted to do it “for a long time.” Her conversion at Temple Israel of Hollywood was well attended by the press. At the ceremony, Taylor was given the Hebrew name Elisheba Rachel Taylor.
Taylor’s films were banned in much of the Arab world. She also was a supporter of the Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles.
Taylor died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she had been hospitalized for about six weeks. She was 79.
In 2007, the Supreme Court refused to hear a lawsuit challenging Taylor’s ownership of a Van Gogh painting that was claimed by a Jewish family. The family said the painting was looted from their relatives during the Holocaust.
A child star, Taylor won two Oscars for best actress and is remembered for her roles in “National Velvet” and “Cleopatra,” among many others. She also supported with her time and money several AIDS-related charities, including founding the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. — jta