What Makes a Celebrity Icon?

Is it a pretty face?

great body?

pure talent?

Or, do some people just have that certain "something"? As more and more articles popped up surrounding Elizabeth Taylor's passing I began wondering not just how, by why she had lasted in Hollywood as long as she did... which was basically her entire life. She was in countless movies, prom

otions and ad campaigns. Her performance deb

ut came at the ripe age of three when she performed ballet before the Queen. She first appeared in film at age ten and her last motion picture was just a f

ew years back. She had 8 husbands, a love affair with expensive jewelry and food, and was always on the brim of eloquently having a double chin. However, she was at one time regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world. Would that happen in this day and age? She wasn't a stick, she didn't have a personal trainer and hadn't had plastic surgery like the Hollywood stars of today.

The truth was that she had a remarkable symmetrical face, which has been pro

ven time and again to equal beauty. Taylor

therefore didn't have a bad angle and had men and women alike swooning ov

er her.

Back to my question... why did she become such an iconic figure? Perhaps it was natural talent. She had very little professional training and was able to play a wide range of roles. For a good part of her career on the silver stage, all you had to do was cast her name in a movie and it was a hit.

Maybe it was elegant beauty, her face could sell almost anything and she never had lack of activity in her love live. Her eyes and smile sold shampoo, fragrances, boxes of chocolates, and even carpet flooring. Ad Week's blog, Ad Freak, takes it as far as to call her a "marketing pioneer" - she w

as the first celebrity to launch her own line of perfume in 1991, which is now commonplace practice.

Ms. Elizabeth Taylor was able to have a 7-decade long career in an industry known for loving the young and beautiful, and passing on the older and already viewed. She beat the odds. She wasn't supper

thin, and she had flaws she allowed the world to see. Taylor captured the heart of America and is rightfully placed in the same category as Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and Grace Kelly.

Who will be our generation's iconic Liz Taylor or Marilyn Monroe?

Why them the

m? Why Liz Taylor? What creates and preserves and icon?

~Sadie