Liza Recalls Elizabeth Founding amfAR

Superstar Liza Minnelli has fond memories of fellow icon Elizabeth Taylor, including a conversation between the two that inspired the launch of amfAR, according to a profile in U.K.'s Daily Mail.

In the profile Minnelli says that she admired Taylor's work ethic and approach to life. She also reveals that Taylor had an abundance of energy and a desire to help others, and offers an anecdote of her work as an AIDS activist as an example.

"Rock Hudson came with me to a dinner in her honor," Minnelli tells the Daily Mail. "She drew me aside at one point and said, 'Oh my God! What's wrong with Rock? He looks awful.'

Minnelli says she explained to Taylor that there was a new disease. "Nobody knew what it was exactly, but I had friends in New York who were suffering from it and there was no cure," Minnelli says. "The next day, she called me. 'What did you say this disease was?' And so her AIDS charity, amfAR, was born. That was Elizabeth for you. She was a doer, with such a vibrant personality, and such a love for life."

Minnelli says she last saw Taylor a few months before she died in March and thought she would survive her latest illness. "And look what she did for people. She was always helping somebody," Minnelli says. "You won't ever get depressed if you're helping somebody else. Elizabeth taught me that. And that's the side of her I hope people will come to know better."