Actress Elizabeth Taylor was one of the most respected and most recognized names to grace the Silver Screen. Lately she’s been in the news often as her rapidly declining health became apparent to the public eye, and early Wednesday morning the iconic actress passed away at the age of 79. Taylor’s cause of death was congestive heart failure, which she was first diagnosed with in 2004, and she was surrounded by her family at the time of her passing.

She started out young in the business, nabbing her first role at ten years of age in 1942’s There’s One Born Every Minute, and made her first big wave in 1944’s National Velvet. She went on to appearances in Little Women (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Giant (1956), and her first three Oscar nominations in Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).