As Gloria Wandrous, a call girl searching for a life beyond her reputation, Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress.
Butterfield 8 (1960) follows Gloria through a complicated affair with a married man, played by Laurence Harvey, and her struggle to be seen as more than a scandal. Taylor plays the role with a weary glamour and a sudden tenderness that makes Gloria’s hope for redemption feel real.
The Oscar win confirmed Taylor as one of the great dramatic stars of her generation, even in a film she herself did not love.
Image credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.