Elizabeth Taylor, 79.

Elizabeth Taylor passed away today after a long and remarkable life. The world is a better place for her having been here.

Elizabeth Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner Fortensky

The image above shows legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor arriving last week at an AIDS charity benefit where she was the keynote speaker. I've always been a fan of hers, but not for the reasons people might think.

A list of theatrical and film accomplishments as long as your arm, two Academy Awards, the Hersholt Humanitarian Award (also from the Academy), bajillions of other awards, Dame Commander of the British Empire, a Kennedy Center honoree, and 65 years of international celebrity. A businesswoman who created products that to this day bring in $200 million in annual sales. She married 8 times. She beat addiction and serious bodily injuries.

And after all this, Elizabeth Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner Fortensky may very well be remembered primarily for her charitable work, into which she poured the majority of her life's energy for the past 25 years. How much good must this one woman have done for it to almost eclipse a lifetime of being a huge movie star? 23 years ago, she co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research, followed closely by the founding of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. How many lives has she helped (if not outright saved) through her chartiable work and organizations? Even still, as her health fails, she's out there donating time, money, and resources to those in need... most recently sending many tens of thousands of dollars worth of money and equipment to the New Orleans AIDS Task Force to help ensure effective treatment for their patients in the aftermath of Hurricaine Katrina. And after all this, she's spotted holding court in a quiet corner of The Abbey (a gay bar in LA), having a cocktail and dazzling the kids who were born many years after her acting career ended.

This woman has been through things that would break these twenty-something starlet bitches in half, and she's used her celebrity to do something lasting and good for the country and for the world. That's one awesome Dame.

As my people say back home, "Bless her heart."