Style Icon: Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift on the Paramount Lot in 1950 
[Peter Stackpole/TIME & LIFE Pictures]

I'm not sure why I was so surprised this morning when I read that Elizabeth Taylor had passed away. After all, she was 79 and had been unwell for quite some time. I guess it's always a shock to realize that beloved icons are as mortal as the rest of us.

I found myself trolling the Life Archives for early images of the actress, and what I found were representations of easy glamor as we rarely see it today. We may idealize decades past, but there's no doubt in my mind that today's stars just can't measure up to Old Hollywood in terms of style. After the jump, some of my favorite images of Liz from the height of her career...

1950
[Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images]

With husband Nicky Hilton as newlyweds in New Mexico, 1950

[Apic/Getty Images]

1950s

[Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

With second husband Michael Wilding and their 8-month old son, Michael, 1953

[Central Press/Getty Images]

1955

[Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

With an award she won for Suddenly Last Summer, 1959

[Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

In yellow chiffon for her wedding to fifth husband Richard Burton, 1964

[Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

[all images via Life Archives]