Elizabeth Taylor to Have Brain Surgery

Actress Elizabeth Taylor will undergo brain surgery Feb. 17, according to her publicists. Taylor, who will turn 65 on Feb. 27, will have a benign mass removed from the lining of her frontal lobe.

The tumor was discovered in an MRI exam during Taylor’s annual physical examination Monday. Taylor’s doctors “expect her to recover fully and without complications,” according to a press release.

The two-time Academy Award-winning actress is postponing the surgery until after her Feb. 16 birthday celebration at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, a benefit to raise money for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

The show, “Happy Birthday, Elizabeth: A Celebration of Life,” will be taped by ABC and is scheduled to air Feb. 24.

“[Taylor] has been suffering severe migraines for some time, but dismissed the pain as coming from unbelievable stress in the past 2 1/2 years,” columnist Liz Smith said Tuesday. “When I visited Miss Taylor at her Bel-Air mansion two weeks ago, she looked terrific and seemed in top form. I was amazed at her energy and positive outlook.”

Long plagued by health problems, Taylor has undergone several spinal surgeries and has a history of back, neck and leg pain. She has undergone three hip replacement surgeries in the last three years. Two years ago, she was hospitalized because of an irregular heartbeat. And in 1990, the actress nearly died from respiratory problems, spending two months in the hospital fighting pneumonia. She also overcame drug dependencies stemming from painkillers taken during her illnesses.

Taylor divorced her seventh husband, Larry Fortensky, last year. She has also dealt in recent years with the deaths of her mother, her longtime publicist Chen Sam and her friend Bernard Lafferty. Those events followed a long history of personal tragedies, including the death in a plane crash of her second husband, Michael Todd, in 1958.

Taylor, who made her first film when she was 9, has devoted her time in recent years to AIDS activism and promoting perfumes.

Last week, Taylor sat for an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters, who told Smith that the actress was in good spirits.

“I feel healthy. And I kind of like being alone. I like being independent,” Taylor told Walters in the interview set to air Feb. 14 on “20/20.” She added, “I have a great many friends and family. I don’t have time to think about being lonely.”

Other than the birthday celebration, Taylor has canceled all engagements through the end of February, including a trip to Istanbul and Chechnya, according to her publicist.

Speaking last year of the rather sudden deaths of her former husband Richard Burton, whom she married and divorced twice, and longtime friend Malcolm Forbes, she said she believed that they had left in the best way for them--swiftly.

“On the other hand,” she said, “my mother lived to be 99. I had an uncle who died at 102. I guess I have good genes.

“Oh, I really don’t think I want to live to be 99. But I think sometimes I am indestructible.”