Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Carol Channing & More Say Farewell to Elizabeth Taylor

Dame ElizaBeth Taylor has passed away this morning at the age of 79 due to heart failure. According to ABC News, all four of her children were with her when she passed.

She was the star of more than fifty-five films, among them National Velvet, A Place in the Sun, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Butterfield 8,Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Little Night Music and Cleopatra.

Her Broadway credits included The Little Foxes, Private Lives and The Corn is Green. She also appeared in a 2007 reading of Love Letters at the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood, alongside James Earl Jones and other stars in honor of World AIDS Day.

Her peers have begun speaking out on passing.  Just now, Barbra Streisand took to her twitter to note: 

She was funny. She was generous. She made her life count.
6 minutes ago via web

It's the end of an era. It wasn't just her beauty or her stardom. It was her humanitarianism. She put a face on HIV/AIDS.
6 minutes ago via web

Elton John has also commented publically, via Entertainment Weekly, saying "We have just lost a Hollywood giant; more importantly, we have lost an incredible human being."

Carol Channing says: "I loved her. She hosted a huge party when "Hello Dolly" first opened in Los Angeles. I remember the lavender roses and the aura of the personality. She said when you find the particular love of your life it is never forgotten. We loved you too Elizabeth."

Rip (Taylor) remarked, "I was on Broadway with "Sugar Babies" simultaneously while Elizabeth was appearing in "Little Foxes." We would meet occasionally after shows. I will never forget those eyes or that laugh."

Esther Williams says: "How very sad for us all. She was a marker of our time, my time. It seems like yesterday that I taught a beautiful 14 year old Elizabeth how to swim at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, more beautiful, more voluptuous than Miss America. I will miss her."

For nearly two decades, she was been a leader in AIDS activism, including her founding role in the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), and establishment of The ElizaBeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF).

She has also been a successful businesswoman with her bestselling line of fragrances, including "White Diamonds," "Passion," and "Gardenia."

The recipient of numerous honors and awards, she was made a Dame of the British Empire in the year 2000. In 1987, France bestowed upon her its most prestigious award, the Legion d'Honneur, and in 2001 President Clinton recognized her with the Presidential Citizen's Medal. She has won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, and in 1993 she received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her work on behalf of AIDS. She also received the BAFTA Fellowship from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, as well as the Lifetime Achievement award from the American Film Institute.

ElizaBeth Taylor lived in Bel Air, California. She is survived by four children, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.