Elizabeth Taylor
The legendary actress died of congestive heart failure Wednesday and her burial almost 36 hours after her death was unexpected. Reuters

People.com is reporting that almost exactly 53 years ago, legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor cheated death.

Taylor passed away Wednesday morning after complications with congestive heart failure in Los Angeles. She was 79 years old.

Her death came 53 years and 1 day after she was supposed to be on a plane that crashed. It was a cold that kept her from getting on that plane.

It was March 22, 1958 when a then 26-year-old Taylor was scheduled to fly with her third husband, movie producer Mike Todd, on his private plane for a trip from Burbank, Calif, to New York. According to People.com he convinced her to stay home because she was feeling sick. Taylor insisted she go with him, but finally succumbed to Todd's request.

Todd's plane, the Lucky Liz, crashed near Grants, N.M. killing him and the three other passengers of the plane.

After Todd's death, Taylor was devastated and that drove her infamously into the arms of Eddie Fisher. Fisher was a friend of Taylor's who was at the time married to Debbie Reyonlds.

Later in life, Taylor was quoted saying that Todd and Richard Burton were her two soulmates.

I loved them both passionately, she said to Larry King in 2006.

Click here to view a slide show of Elizabeth Taylor's top ten iconic films.