When Did Elizabeth Taylor Become a Leading Actress?

[icecream]

She was only billed third in the movie I just saw from 1948, A Date with Judy. Billed second is one of my favorite actresses Jane Powell, and the lead actor was someone I hadn't heard of named Wallace Beery. This ended up being his second last movie ever made, he died after a heart attack at only 64. But Wallace Beery had taken on a massive load making a total of 250 movies. He sounded really similar to Tom Bosley. As much as I like Jane Powell, the average person is more likely to have heard of Elizabeth Taylor (partly all her movies but also her mass pile-up of divorces that became late night fodder).