Liz Taylor marking her 75th birthday

Elizabeth Taylor attends an annual AIDS benefit, in Mougins, south eastern France, May 22, 2003. Taylor will celebrate her 75th birthday at Nevada resort. [AP]

A red carpet fit for a queen was laid out Tuesday for Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor, who was to celebrate her 75th birthday at a party at a Lake Las Vegas resort.

"Family and friends" of Taylor booked the Medici Cafe and Terrace for the closed party at the Ritz-Carlton, hotel spokeswoman Marina Nicola said.

The guest list remained secret, but 75 people were expected for dinner and cake at the resort, which is 17 miles east of the Las Vegas Strip.

"An official list has not been released but guests will be arriving shortly after Dame Elizabeth," Nicola said.

Queen Elizabeth II made the British-born Taylor a dame, the equivalent of a knight, in 2000.

Taylor's closest friends include Michael Jackson, whose spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday in a press release that he is now living in Las Vegas.

The Academy Award-winning actress, who uses a wheelchair because of back problems, last year dismissed tabloid reports that she was being treated for early Alzheimer's disease or was gravely ill.

Taylor has won two Oscars for best actress and starred in more than 55 films, including "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Butterfield 8," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Cleopatra."

She has been named by the American Film Institute as among the greatest female movie stars of all time.