Early life

Taylor was born on September 28, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois. Taylor grew up in the Rosenwald Courts in Chicago. Her father worked at the post office. She began dancing classical ballet at the age of 8, and by the age of 16 she was performing Swan Lake.^[4] Her instructor encouraged her to audition for the Edna McRae School of the Dance where she became the only African American student. While attending the school, Taylor met dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham who offered her a scholarship to study dance at the Katherine Dunham Company.^[5][1] Taylor finished high school then briefly attended college, but decided to pursue a dancing career instead.

Career

Taylor joined the Katherine Dunham Company, where she was taught by Walter Nicks. She trained and toured extensively with the dance company in Europe and South America.^[1]

In December 1951 Taylor was recruited for a special presentation to perform with the Paris Opera Ballet, becoming the first African American to be invited to perform with the ballet company.^[6][1] Taylor received rave reviews from the press for her performances in Paris. She was compared to French ballet dancer Leslie Caron.^[7] She performed with Benny Goodman at the London Palladium.^[5] While in London, Taylor rehearsed with Sadler's Wells Ballet.^[5]

In 1953 Taylor was asked by Sammy Davis Jr. to appear as his girlfriend in his ill-fated ABC television show, Three for the Road – with the Will Mastin Trio.^[8] They had met at Ciro's nightclub where she was performing with the Katherine Dunham dance troupe. The show was about struggling musicians, not the usual stereotypical portrayals of African Americans during that time. The cast included actresses Ruth Attaway and Jane White, and Frederick O'Neal who founded the American Negro Theater. They filmed a pilot in the fall of 1953,^[9] but the network couldn't get a sponsor, so the show was postponed and eventually dropped.^[10][11]

In 1954, Taylor rejoined the Katherine Dunham dance troupe as one of Dunham's lead dancers for engagements in Rome.^[12] Taylor relocated to New York City to act on Broadway. She was credited as Elizabeth Taylor because there was already an actress named Frances Taylor, so she used her middle name. Taylor appeared in the Off-Broadway productions of Porgy and Bess and Carmen Jones at New York City Center.^[3][2] She appeared in the three Broadway musicals: Mr. Wonderful, Shinbone Alley, and West Side Story. On the opening night of West Side Story in September 1957, Taylor received the company's "gypsy robe" for being the outstanding dancer in the cast.^[3] In April 1958, it was reported by Jet magazine that Taylor quit the production to pursue a singing-dancing career,^[13] but Taylor later revealed that she was dating jazz musician Miles Davis who forced her to quit the production in March 1958.^[14] According to Taylor, Davis told her "a woman should be with her man. I want you out of West Side Story."^[3]

In 1959, Davis allowed Taylor to conduct her own dancing classes for a while. Her students included Julie Robinson, who was a Dunham trouper and the wife of actor Harry Belafonte, and Edna Mae Robinson, who was a chorus line dancer and the wife of boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.^[15]

When Taylor married Davis in December 1959,^[16] he prevented her from working which hindered her career. Choreographer Jerome Robbins who Taylor had worked with in the Broadway musical West Side Story asked Davis if she could appear in the film West Side Story (1961); he refused.^[3] Sammy Davis Jr. approached Davis about Taylor appearing in the musical Golden Boy (1964); again he refused.^[11]

Following her split from Davis in 1965, Taylor taught private dance classes, appeared in television specials with performers such as Elvis Presley,^[4] and had a role as the maid in the film The Party (1968).

After Taylor retired, she became a restaurant hostess in Los Angeles. She worked at Hamburger Hamlet, Roy's Restaurant, Le Dome, and Chasen's.^[17][18]