Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Todd

Movie producer Mike Todd was a self-assured suitor who announced his marriage intentions clearly. "He didn't ask me, he told me," Taylor recalled in Elizabeth Takes Off. At 25 years her senior, he was the first major love in her life. "God, I loved him. My self-esteem, my image, everything soared under his exuberant, loving care," she wrote. Their marriage, which produced daughter Liza, came to a tragic end when the showman died in a crash on his plane, the Liz. (February 2, 1957 – March 22, 1958): Todd's death ended Taylor's only marriage not to result in divorce. Although their relationship was tumultuous, she later called him one of the three loves of her life, along with Burton and jewelry.