Guests including Debbie Reynolds and her daughter, Carrie Fisher, and magicians Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn.
Reynolds said she'd known Taylor since they were both 17 and under contract to MGM. Both have been married to Eddie Fisher.
"We've had a very unusual friendship, and it's lasted all these years," Reynolds said.
Horn called the evening "a great night for a great lady".
Some 75 people were expected for a mardi gras-themed dinner of jambalaya, prime rib, collard greens, sweet potatoes and cake at the resort, about 30km east of the Las Vegas strip.
The Academy Award-winning actor, who uses a wheelchair because of back problems, dismissed reports last year that she was being treated for early Alzheimer's disease or that she was gravely ill.
She also announced last year that she would let some of her specially designed House of Taylor Jewellery Inc pieces be auctioned by Christie's in New York, Hong Kong and Geneva, Switzerland.
In 2002, Christie's auctioned nine pieces of her jewellery to benefit the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which she established in 1991.
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.
The Queen made the British-born Taylor a dame in 2000. - AP
