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Alive. >> maggie. >> maggie the cat is alive. i'm alive. why are you afraid of the truth? >> truth! >> that was elizabeth taylor in one of her greatest ever roles, "cat on a hot tin roof." i want to talk about her legacy, the cause closest to elizabeth taylor's heart, her work in the fight against hiv and aids. here with me now is mathilde krim and kenneth cole, chairmen of amfar. >> mathilde, let me start with you. when she got involved with aids, it was incredibly unfashionable for her to do that. it was a huge risk for her as a big star to do this, wasn't it? >> now, i think it was a risk f...

Truth. >> that's certainly true. kenneth, that was a great driving thing about elizabeth taylor was she didn't care really what people thought. she was doing what she thought was the right thing. >> she had a genuine sense of social justice and appropriateness, and she was undeterred, and she had -- could not understand why everybody didn't realize how -- how critical the need was for appropriate funding and resources to address this critical aids crisis, and this was in 1985 when she and dr. krim founded amfar, and it wasn't until '87, to put just a -- to paint the times -- until ronald reaga...

Of amfar. >> mathilde, let me start with you. when she got involved with aids, it was incredibly unfashionable for her to do that. it was a huge risk for her as a big star to do this, wasn't it? >> now, i think it was a risk for her because she has had all the strength and the courage and the dedication to do what she was doing that nobody could touch that, and she really was -- the film we just saw had a say, she was never afraid of the truth. >> that's certainly true. kenneth, that was a great driving thing about elizabeth taylor was she didn't care really what people thought. she was doing ...

Appropriateness, and she was undeterred, and she had -- could not understand why everybody didn't realize how -- how critical the need was for appropriate funding and resources to address this critical aids crisis, and this was in 1985 when she and dr. krim founded amfar, and it wasn't until '87, to put just a -- to paint the times -- until ronald reagan, who was president, then mentioned aids publicly and to -- 40,000 people had already died and did it ironically at an amfar event, but she was steadfast devoted to this message, and she was an extraordinary messenger of it. >> mathilde, althou...

You know, what she made fashionable was it was okay to support the gay community and to support aids research and to raise money for aids in a way that nobody had really been able to force through into mass appeal. >> she -- this campaign that you're looking at right now was actually inspired by her message, her bigger message that, in effect, aids was not an american problem. we were originally the american foundation for aids research and it evolved into the aids foundation, and she was adamant that it was a global pandemic. if it existed anywhere, it existed everywhere. if anyone was infect...