Film icon Elizabeth Taylor died this morning of congestive heart failure at LA's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She was 79. Associated Press reports that she was surrounded by her four children when she passed away. Some of her most notable films include National Velvet, Father of the Bride, A Place in the Sun (which: awesome), Butterfield 8, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Cleopatra.

"We have just lost a Hollywood giant," Elton John, a longtime friend of Taylor, told AP. "More importantly, we have lost an incredible human being."

In addition to being tabloid fodder (she was married 8 times) and snagging two Academy Awards, Taylor was also one of the first celebrities to speak out against AIDS during the early '80s. ng. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the death of her friend, Rock Hudson.

Below: scene from Taylor's second Oscar-winning role, that of Martha in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Great stuff.