Одри хепберн как пишется

Audrey Hepburn
Hepburn in 1956
Born	Audrey Kathleen Ruston 4 May 1929 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
Died	20 January 1993 (aged 63) Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Resting place	Tolochenaz Cemetery, Tolochenaz
Nationality	British
Occupations	Actress humanitarian
Years active	1948–1989 (actress) 1954–1993 (humanitarian)
Notable work	Full list
Spouses	Mel Ferrer ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1968)​ Andrea Dotti ​ ​ (m. 1969; div. 1982)​
Partner	Robert Wolders (1980–1993; her death)
Children	2, including Sean
Parent	Baroness Ella van Heemstra (mother)
Relatives	Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra (maternal grandfather) Emma Ferrer (granddaughter)
Awards	Full list
Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF
In office 1989–1993
Signature

Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British^[a] actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Hollywood cinema and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.

Born in Ixelles, Brussels, to an aristocratic family, Hepburn spent parts of her childhood in Belgium, England, and the Netherlands. She studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam beginning in 1945, and with Marie Rambert in London from 1948. She began performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions and then had minor appearances in several films. She rose to stardom in the romantic comedy Roman Holiday (1953) alongside Gregory Peck, for which she was the first actress to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. That year, she also won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine.

She went on to star in a number of successful films such as Sabrina (1954), in which Humphrey Bogart and William Holden compete for her affection; Funny Face (1957), a musical where she sang her own parts; the drama The Nun’s Story (1959); the romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961); the thriller-romance Charade (1963), opposite Cary Grant; and the musical My Fair Lady (1964). In 1967 she starred in the thriller Wait Until Dark, receiving Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations. After that, she only occasionally appeared in films, one being Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery. Her last recorded performances were in the 1990 documentary television series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming.

Hepburn won three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In recognition of her film career, she received BAFTA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and the Special Tony Award. She remains one of only eighteen people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. Later in life, Hepburn devoted much of her time to UNICEF, to which she had contributed since 1954. Between 1988 and 1992, she worked in some of the poorest communities of Africa, South America, and Asia. In December 1992, she received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. A month later, she died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland, at the age of 63.^[3]

Early life[edit]

1929–1938: Family and early childhood[edit]

Audrey Kathleen Ruston (later, Hepburn-Ruston^[4]) was born on 4 May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium.^[5] She was known to her family as Adriaantje.^[6]

Hepburn’s mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra (12 June 1900 – 26 August 1984), was a Dutch noblewoman. Ella was the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, who served as mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and as governor of Dutch Suriname from 1921 to 1928, and Baroness Elbrig Willemine Henriette van Asbeck (1873–1939), a granddaughter of Count Dirk van Hogendorp.^[7] At age 19, she married Jonkheer Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, an oil executive based in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, where they subsequently lived.^[8] They had two sons, Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924–2010), before divorcing in 1925,^[9][10] four years before Hepburn’s birth.^[5]

Hepburn’s father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (21 November 1889 – 16 October 1980), was a British subject born in Auschitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary.^[11] He was the son of Victor John George Ruston, of British and Austrian background^[12] and Anna Juliana Franziska Karolina Wels, who was of Czech-Jewish^[13] and Austrian origin and born in Kovarce.^[14] In 1923–1924, Joseph was an Honorary British Consul in Semarang in the Dutch East Indies,^[15] and prior to his marriage to Hepburn’s mother, was married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress.^[11][9] Although born with the surname Ruston, he later double-barrelled his name to the more «aristocratic» Hepburn-Ruston, perhaps at Ella’s insistence,^[16] as he mistakenly believed himself descended from James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.^[12][9]

Hepburn’s parents were married in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, in September 1926.^[8] At the time, Ruston worked for a trading company, but soon after the marriage, the couple moved to Europe, where he began working for a loan company; reportedly tin merchants MacLaine, Watson and Company in London.^[6] After a year in London, they moved to Brussels, where he had been assigned to open a branch office.^[8][17] After three years of spending time travelling between Brussels, Arnhem, The Hague and London, the family settled in the suburban Brussels municipality of Linkebeek in 1932.^[8][18] Hepburn’s early childhood was sheltered and privileged.^[8] Her multinational background was enhanced through her travelling between three countries with her family due to her father’s job.^[19][b]

In the mid-1930s, Hepburn’s parents recruited and collected donations for the British Union of Fascists (B.U.F).^[20] Her mother met Adolf Hitler and wrote favourable articles about him for the B.U.F.^[21] Joseph left the family abruptly in 1935 after a «scene» in Brussels when Adriaantje (as she was known in the family) was six; later she often spoke of the effect on a child of being «dumped» as «children need two parents».^[22] Joseph left the family and moved to London, where he became more deeply involved in Fascist activity and never visited his daughter abroad.^[23] Hepburn later professed that her father’s departure was «the most traumatic event of my life».^[8][24] That same year, her mother moved with Hepburn to her family’s estate in Arnhem; her half-brothers Alex and Ian (then 15 and 11) were sent to The Hague to live with relatives. Joseph wanted her to be educated in England,^[25] so in 1937, Hepburn was sent to live in Kent, England, where she, known as Audrey Ruston or «Little Audrey», was educated at a small private school in Elham.^[26][27] Hepburn’s parents officially divorced in 1938.^[28] In the 1960s, Hepburn renewed contact with her father after locating him in Dublin through the Red Cross; although he remained emotionally detached, Hepburn supported him financially until his death.^[29]

1939–1945: Experiences during World War II[edit]

After Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, Hepburn’s mother moved her daughter back to Arnhem in the hope that, as during the First World War, the Netherlands would remain neutral and be spared a German attack. While there, Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945. She had begun taking ballet lessons during her last years at boarding school, and continued training in Arnhem under the tutelage of Winja Marova, becoming her «star pupil».^[8] After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hepburn used the name Edda van Heemstra, because an «English-sounding» name was considered dangerous during the German occupation. Her family was profoundly affected by the occupation, with Hepburn later stating that «had we known that we were going to be occupied for five years, we might have all shot ourselves. We thought it might be over next week… six months… next year… that’s how we got through».^[8]

In 1942, her uncle, Otto van Limburg Stirum (husband of her mother’s older sister, Miesje), was executed in retaliation for an act of sabotage by the resistance movement; while he had not been involved in the act, he was targeted due to his family’s prominence in Dutch society.^[8] These family events were the turning point in the attitude of Hepburn’s mother, who had flirted with Nazism up to this point. Hepburn’s half-brother Ian was deported to Berlin to work in a German labour camp, and her other half-brother Alex went into hiding to avoid the same fate.^[8]

After her uncle’s death, Hepburn, Ella, and Miesje left Arnhem to live with her grandfather, Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, in nearby Velp.^[8] Around that time Hepburn performed silent dance performances which reportedly raised money for the Dutch resistance effort.^[30] It was long believed that she participated in the Dutch resistance itself,^[8] but in 2016 the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ reported that after extensive research it had not found any evidence of such activities.^[31] However, a 2019 book by author Robert Matzen provided evidence that she had supported the resistance by giving «underground concerts» to raise money, delivering the underground newspaper, and taking messages and food to downed Allied flyers hiding in the woodlands north of Velp.^[32] She also volunteered at a hospital that was the center of resistance activities in Velp,^[32] and her family temporarily hid a British paratrooper in their home during the Battle of Arnhem.^[33][34] In addition to other traumatic events, she witnessed the transportation of Dutch Jews to concentration camps, later stating that «more than once I was at the station seeing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped on the train. I was a child observing a child.»^[35]

After the Allied landing on D-Day, living conditions grew worse, and Arnhem was subsequently heavily damaged during Operation Market Garden. During the 1944-45 Dutch famine, the Germans hindered or reduced the already limited food and fuel supplies to civilians in retaliation for Dutch railway strikes that were held to hinder the occupation. Like others, Hepburn’s family resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits;^[36][37] a source of starchy carbohydrates; Dutch doctors provided recipes for using tulip bulbs throughout the famine.^[38] Suffering from the effects of malnutrition, after the war ended Hepburn become gravely ill with jaundice, anaemia, oedema, and a respiratory infection. In October 1945, a letter from Ella asking for help was received by Micky Burn, a former lover and British Army officer with whom she had corresponded whilst he was a prisoner of war in Colditz Castle. He sent back thousands of cigarettes, which she was able to sell on the black market and so buy the Penicillin which saved Hepburn’s life.^[39][40][41] However, the financial situation of the Van Heemstra family was changed significantly as a result of the occupation, during which time many of their properties (including their principal estate in Arnhem) were badly damaged or destroyed.^[42]

Entertainment career[edit]

1945–1952: Ballet studies and early acting roles[edit]

After the war ended in 1945, Hepburn moved with her mother and siblings to Amsterdam, where she began ballet training under Sonia Gaskell, a leading figure in Dutch ballet, and Russian teacher Olga Tarasova.^[43]

Due to the loss of the family fortune, Ella had to support them by working as a cook and housekeeper for a wealthy family.^[44] Hepburn made her film debut playing an air stewardess in Dutch in Seven Lessons (1948), an educational travel film made by Charles van der Linden and Henry Josephson.^[45] Later that year, Hepburn moved to London after accepting a ballet scholarship with Ballet Rambert, which was then based in Notting Hill.^[46][c] She supported herself with part-time work as a model, and dropped «Ruston» from her surname. After she was told by Rambert that despite her talent, her height and weak constitution (the after-effect of wartime malnutrition) would make the status of prima ballerina unattainable, she decided to concentrate on acting.^[47][48][49]

While Ella worked in menial jobs to support them, Hepburn appeared as a chorus girl^[50] in the West End musical theatre revues High Button Shoes (1948) at the London Hippodrome, and Cecil Landeau’s Sauce Tartare (1949) and Sauce Piquante (1950) at the Cambridge Theatre. Also, in 1950, she worked as a dancer in an exceptionally «ambitious» revue, Summer Nights, at Ciro’s London, a prominent nightclub.^[51]

During her theatrical work, she took elocution lessons with actor Felix Aylmer to develop her voice.^[52] After being spotted by the Ealing Studios casting director, Margaret Harper-Nelson, while performing in Sauce Piquante, Hepburn was registered as a freelance actress with the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC). She appeared in the BBC Television play The Silent Village,^[53] and in minor roles in the films One Wild Oat, Laughter in Paradise, Young Wives’ Tale, and The Lavender Hill Mob (all 1951). She was cast in her first major supporting role in Thorold Dickinson’s Secret People (1952), as a prodigious ballerina, performing all of her own dancing sequences.^[54]

Hepburn was then offered a small role in a film being shot in both English and French, Monte Carlo Baby (French: Nous Irons à Monte Carlo, 1952), which was filmed in Monte Carlo. Coincidentally, French novelist Colette was at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo during the filming, and decided to cast Hepburn in the title role in the Broadway play Gigi.^[55] Hepburn went into rehearsals having never spoken on stage, and required private coaching.^[56] When Gigi opened at the Fulton Theatre on 24 November 1951, she received praise for her performance, despite criticism that the stage version was inferior to the French film adaptation.^[57] Life called her a «hit»,^[57] while The New York Times stated that «her quality is so winning and so right that she is the success of the evening».^[56] Hepburn also received a Theatre World Award for the role.^[58] The play ran for 219 performances, closing on 31 May 1952,^[58] before going on tour, which began 13 October 1952 in Pittsburgh and visited Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D. C., and Los Angeles, before closing on 16 May 1953 in San Francisco.^[8]

1953–1960: Roman Holiday and stardom[edit]

Hepburn had her first starring role in Roman Holiday (1953), playing Princess Ann, a European princess who escapes the reins of royalty and has a wild night out with an American newsman (Gregory Peck). On 18 September 1951, shortly after Secret People was finished but before its premiere, Thorold Dickinson made a screen test with the young starlet and sent it to director William Wyler, who was in Rome preparing Roman Holiday. Wyler wrote a glowing note of thanks to Dickinson, saying that «as a result of the test, a number of the producers at Paramount have expressed interest in casting her.»^[59] The producers of the movie had initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, but Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn’s screen test that he cast her instead. Wyler later commented, «She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence, and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting, and we said, ‘That’s the girl!‘«^[60] Originally, the film was to have had only Gregory Peck’s name above its title, with «Introducing Audrey Hepburn» beneath in smaller font. However, Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing so that her name appeared before the title, and in type as large as his: «You’ve got to change that because she’ll be a big star, and I’ll look like a big jerk.»^[61]

The film was a box-office success, and Hepburn gained critical acclaim for her portrayal, unexpectedly winning an Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best British Actress in a Leading Role, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama in 1953. In his review in The New York Times, A. H. Weiler wrote: «Although she is not precisely a newcomer to films, Audrey Hepburn, the British actress who is being starred for the first time as Princess Anne, is a slender, elfin, and wistful beauty, alternately regal and childlike in her profound appreciation of newly-found, simple pleasures and love. Although she bravely smiles her acknowledgement of the end of that affair, she remains a pitifully lonely figure facing a stuffy future.»^[62]

Hepburn was signed to a seven-picture contract with Paramount, with 12 months in between films to allow her time for stage work.^[63] She was featured on 7 September 1953 cover of Time magazine, and also became known for her personal style.^[64] Following her success in Roman Holiday, Hepburn starred in Billy Wilder’s romantic Cinderella-story comedy Sabrina (1954), in which wealthy brothers (Humphrey Bogart and William Holden) compete for the affections of their chauffeur’s innocent daughter (Hepburn). For her performance, she was nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Actress, while winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role the same year.^[65] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times stated that she was «a young lady of extraordinary range of sensitive and moving expressions within such a frail and slender frame. She is even more luminous as the daughter and pet of the servants’ hall than she was as a princess last year, and no more than that can be said.»^[66]

Hepburn also returned to the stage in 1954, playing a water nymph who falls in love with a human in the fantasy play Ondine on Broadway. A critic for The New York Times commented that «somehow, Miss Hepburn is able to translate [its intangibles] into the language of the theatre without artfulness or precociousness. She gives a pulsing performance that is all grace and enchantment, disciplined by an instinct for the realities of the stage». Her performance won her the 1954 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play three days after she won the Academy Award for Roman Holiday, making her one of three actresses to receive the Academy and Tony Awards for Best Actress in the same year (the other two are Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn).^[67] During the production, Hepburn and her co-star Mel Ferrer began a relationship, and were married on 25 September 1954 in Switzerland.^[68]

Although she appeared in no new film releases in 1955, Hepburn received the Golden Globe for World Film Favorite that year.^[69] Having become one of Hollywood’s most popular box-office attractions, she starred in a series of successful films during the remainder of the decade, including her BAFTA- and Golden Globe-nominated role as Natasha Rostova in War and Peace (1956), an adaptation of the Tolstoy novel set during the Napoleonic wars, starring Henry Fonda and her husband Mel Ferrer. She exhibited her dancing abilities in her debut musical film, Funny Face (1957), wherein Fred Astaire, a fashion photographer, discovers a beatnik bookstore clerk (Hepburn) who, lured by a free trip to Paris, becomes a beautiful model. Hepburn starred in another romantic comedy, Love in the Afternoon (also 1957), alongside Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier.

Hepburn played Sister Luke in The Nun’s Story (1959), which focuses on the character’s struggle to succeed as a nun, alongside co-star Peter Finch. The role produced a third Academy Award nomination for Hepburn, and earned her a second BAFTA Award. A review in Variety reads: «Hepburn has her most demanding film role, and she gives her finest performance»,^[70] while Henry Hart in Films in Review stated that her performance «will forever silence those who have thought her less an actress than a symbol of the sophisticated child/woman. Her portrayal of Sister Luke is one of the great performances of the screen.»^[71] Hepburn spent a year researching and working on the role, saying, «I
gave more time, energy, and thought to this role than to any of my previous screen performances».^[72]

Following The Nun’s Story, Hepburn received a lukewarm reception for starring with Anthony Perkins in the romantic adventure Green Mansions (1959), in which she played Rima, a jungle girl who falls in love with a Venezuelan traveller,^[73] and The Unforgiven (1960), her only western film, in which she appeared opposite Burt Lancaster and Lillian Gish in a story of racism against a group of Native Americans.^[74]

1961–1967: Breakfast at Tiffany’s and continued success[edit]

Hepburn next starred as New Yorker Holly Golightly in Blake Edwards’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), a film loosely based on the Truman Capote novella of the same name. Capote disapproved of many changes that were made to sanitise the story for the film adaptation, and would have preferred Marilyn Monroe to have been cast in the role, although he also stated that Hepburn «did a terrific job».^[75] The character is considered one of the best-known in American cinema, and a defining role for Hepburn.^[76] The dress she wears during the opening credits has been considered an icon of the twentieth century, and perhaps the most famous «little black dress» of all time.^{[77][78][79][80]} Hepburn stated that the role was «the jazziest of my career»^[81] yet admitted: «I’m an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did.»^[82] She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

The same year, Hepburn also starred in William Wyler’s drama The Children’s Hour (1961), in which she and Shirley MacLaine played teachers whose lives become troubled after two pupils accuse them of being lesbians.^[83][84] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times was of the opinion that the film «is not too well acted», with the exception of Hepburn, who «gives the impression of being sensitive and pure» of its «muted theme».^[83] Variety magazine also complimented Hepburn’s «soft sensitivity, marvelous projection and emotional understatement», adding that Hepburn and MacLaine «beautifully complement each other».^[84]

Hepburn next appeared opposite Cary Grant in the comic thriller Charade (1963), playing a young widow pursued by several men who chase after the fortune stolen by her murdered husband. The 59-year-old Grant, who had previously withdrawn from the starring male lead roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina, was sensitive about his age difference with 34-year-old Hepburn, and was uncomfortable about the romantic interplay. To satisfy his concerns, the filmmakers agreed to alter the screenplay so that Hepburn’s character was pursuing him.^[85] The film turned out to be a positive experience for him; he said, «All I want for Christmas is another picture with Audrey Hepburn.»^[86] The role earned Hepburn her third, and final, competitive BAFTA Award, and another Golden Globe nomination. Critic Bosley Crowther was less kind to her performance, stating that, «Hepburn is cheerfully committed to a mood of how-nuts-can-you-be in an obviously comforting assortment of expensive Givenchy costumes.»^[87]

Hepburn reunited with her Sabrina co-star William Holden in Paris When It Sizzles (1964), a screwball comedy in which she played the young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter, who aids his writer’s block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots. Its production was troubled by several problems. Holden unsuccessfully tried to rekindle a romance with the now-married Hepburn, and his alcoholism was beginning to affect his work. After principal photography began, she demanded the dismissal of cinematographer Claude Renoir after seeing what she felt were unflattering dailies.^[88] Superstitious, she also insisted on dressing room 55 because that was her lucky number and required that Hubert de Givenchy, her long-time designer, be given a credit in the film for her perfume.^[88] Dubbed «marshmallow-weight hokum» by Variety upon its release in April,^[89] the film was «uniformly panned»^[88] but critics were kinder to Hepburn’s performance, describing her as «a refreshingly individual creature in an era of the exaggerated curve».^[89]

Hepburn’s second film released in 1964 was George Cukor’s film adaptation of the stage musical My Fair Lady, which premiered in October.^[90] Soundstage wrote that «not since Gone with the Wind has a motion picture created such universal excitement as My Fair Lady«,^[67] although Hepburn’s casting in the role of Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle was a source of dispute. Julie Andrews, who had originated the role on stage, was not offered the part because producer Jack L. Warner thought Hepburn was a more «bankable» proposition. Hepburn initially asked Warner to give the role to Andrews but was eventually cast. Further friction was created when, although non-singer Hepburn had sung in Funny Face and had lengthy vocal preparation for the role in My Fair Lady, her vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon, whose voice was considered more suitable to the role.^[91][92] Hepburn was initially upset and walked off the set when informed.^[d]

Critics applauded Hepburn’s performance. Crowther wrote that, «The happiest thing about [My Fair Lady] is that Audrey Hepburn superbly justifies the decision of Jack Warner to get her to play the title role.»^[91] Gene Ringgold of Soundstage also commented that, «Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. She is Eliza for the ages»,^[67] while adding, «Everyone agreed that if Julie Andrews was not to be in the film, Audrey Hepburn was the perfect choice.»^[67] The reviewer in Time magazine said her «graceful, glamorous performance» was «the best of her career».^[93] Andrews won an Academy Award for Mary Poppins at the 1964 37th Academy Awards, but Hepburn was not even nominated. On the other hand, Hepburn did receive Best Actress nominations for both Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Circle awards.^[94]

As the decade carried on, Hepburn appeared in an assortment of genres including the heist comedy How to Steal a Million (1966). Hepburn played the daughter of a famous art collector, whose collection consists entirely of forgeries which are about to be exposed as fakes. Her character plays the part of a dutiful daughter trying to help her father with the help of a man played by Peter O’Toole. The film was followed by two films in 1967. The first was Two for the Road, a non-linear and innovative British dramedy that traces the course of a couple’s troubled marriage. Director Stanley Donen said that Hepburn was freer and happier than he had ever seen her, and he credited that to co-star Albert Finney.^[95] The second, Wait Until Dark, is a suspense thriller in which Hepburn demonstrated her acting range by playing the part of a terrorised blind woman. Filmed on the brink of her divorce, it was a difficult film for her, as husband Mel Ferrer was its producer. She lost fifteen pounds under the stress, but she found solace in co-star Richard Crenna and director Terence Young. Hepburn earned her fifth and final competitive Academy Award nomination for Best Actress; Bosley Crowther affirmed, «Hepburn plays the poignant role, the quickness with which she changes and the skill with which she manifests terror attract sympathy and anxiety to her and give her genuine solidity in the final scenes.»^[96]

1968–1993: Semi-retirement and final projects[edit]

After 1967, Hepburn chose to devote more time to her family and acted only occasionally in the following decades. She attempted a comeback playing Maid Marian in the period piece Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery co-starring as Robin Hood, which was moderately successful. Roger Ebert praised Hepburn’s chemistry with Connery, writing, «Connery and Hepburn seem to have arrived at a tacit understanding between themselves about their characters. They glow. They really do seem in love. And they project as marvelously complex, fond, tender people; the passage of 20 years has given them grace and wisdom.»^[97] Hepburn reunited with director Terence Young in the production of Bloodline (1979), sharing top-billing with Ben Gazzara, James Mason, and Romy Schneider.^[98] The film, an international intrigue amid the jet-set, was a critical and box-office failure. Hepburn’s last starring role in a feature film was opposite Gazzara in the comedy They All Laughed (1981), directed by Peter Bogdanovich.^[99] The film was overshadowed by the murder of one of its stars, Dorothy Stratten, and received only a limited release. Six years later, Hepburn co-starred with Robert Wagner in a made-for-television caper film, Love Among Thieves (1987).^[100]

After finishing her last motion picture role—a cameo appearance as an angel in Steven Spielberg’s Always (1989)—Hepburn completed only two more entertainment-related projects, both critically acclaimed. Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn was a PBS documentary series, which was filmed on location in seven countries in the spring and summer of 1990. A one-hour special preceded it in March 1991, and the series itself began its national PBS premiere on 24 January 1993, the day of her funeral services in Tolochenaz. For the «Flower Gardens» episode, Hepburn was posthumously awarded the 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming. The other project was a spoken word album, Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales, which features readings of classic children’s stories and was recorded in 1992. It earned her a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children.^[101]

Humanitarian career[edit]

In the 1950s, Hepburn narrated two radio programmes for UNICEF, re-telling children’s stories of war.^[102] In 1989, Hepburn was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. On her appointment, she stated that she was grateful for receiving international aid after enduring the German occupation as a child, and wanted to show her gratitude to the organisation.^[103]

1988–1989[edit]

Hepburn’s first field mission for UNICEF was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited an orphanage in Mek’ele that housed 500 starving children and had UNICEF send food.^[104] Of the trip, she said,

I have a broken heart. I feel desperate. I can’t stand the idea that two million people are in imminent danger of starving to death, many of them children, [and] not because there isn’t tons of food sitting in the northern port of Shoa. It can’t be distributed. Last spring, Red Cross and UNICEF workers were ordered out of the northern provinces because of two simultaneous civil wars… I went into rebel country and saw mothers and their children who had walked for ten days, even three weeks, looking for food, settling onto the desert floor into makeshift camps where they may die. Horrible. That image is too much for me. The ‘Third World’ is a term I don’t like very much, because we’re all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering.^[105]

In August 1988, Hepburn went to Turkey on an immunisation campaign. She called Turkey «the loveliest example» of UNICEF’s capabilities. Of the trip, she said, «The army gave us their trucks, the fishmongers gave their wagons for the vaccines, and once the date was set, it took ten days to vaccinate the whole country. Not bad.»^[104] In October, Hepburn went to South America. Of her experiences in Venezuela and Ecuador, Hepburn told the United States Congress, «I saw tiny mountain communities, slums, and shantytowns receive water systems for the first time by some miracle – and the miracle is UNICEF. I watched boys build their own schoolhouse with bricks and cement provided by UNICEF.»^[106]

Hepburn toured Central America in February 1989, and met with leaders in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In April, she visited Sudan with Wolders as part of a mission called «Operation Lifeline». Because of civil war, food from aid agencies had been cut off. The mission was to ferry food to southern Sudan. Hepburn said, «I saw but one glaring truth: These are not natural disasters but man-made tragedies for which there is only one man-made solution – peace.»^[104] In October 1989, Hepburn and Wolders went to Bangladesh. John Isaac, a UN photographer, said, «Often the kids would have flies all over them, but she would just go hug them. I had never seen that. Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but she would just grab them. Children would just come up to hold her hand, touch her – she was like the Pied Piper.»^[8]

1990–1992[edit]

In October 1990, Hepburn went to Vietnam, in an effort to collaborate with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunisation and clean water programmes. In September 1992, four months before she died, Hepburn went to Somalia. Calling it «apocalyptic», she said, «I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn’t prepared for this.»^[104] Though scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope stating:

As we move into the twenty-first century, there is much to reflect upon. We look around us and see that the promises of yesterday have to come to pass. People still live in abject poverty, people are still hungry, people still struggle to survive. And among these people we see the children, always the children: their enlarged bellies, their sad eyes, their wise faces that show the suffering, all the suffering they have endured in their short years.^[107]

Recognition[edit]

United States president George H. W. Bush presented Hepburn with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity.^[108][109] In 2002, at the United Nations Special Session on Children, UNICEF honoured Hepburn’s legacy of humanitarian work by unveiling a statue, «The Spirit of Audrey», at UNICEF’s New York headquarters. Her service for children is also recognised through the United States Fund for UNICEF’s Audrey Hepburn Society.^[110][111]

Personal life[edit]

Marriages, relationships, and children[edit]

In 1952, Hepburn became engaged to industrialist James Hanson,^[112] whom she had known since her early days in London. She called it «love at first sight», but after having her wedding dress fitted and the date set, she decided the marriage would not work because the demands of their careers would keep them apart most of the time.^[113] She issued a public statement about her decision, saying «When I get married, I want to be really married».^[114] In the early 1950s, she also dated future Hair producer Michael Butler.^[115]

At a cocktail party hosted by mutual friend Gregory Peck, Hepburn met American actor Mel Ferrer, and suggested that they star together in a play.^[67][116] The meeting led them to collaborate in Ondine, during which they began a relationship. Eight months later, on 25 September 1954, they were married in Bürgenstock, Switzerland,^[117] while preparing to star together in the film War and Peace (1956). She and Ferrer had a son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer.^[118][119]

Despite the insistence from gossip columns that their marriage would not last, Hepburn claimed that she and Ferrer were inseparable and happy together, though she admitted that he had a bad temper. Ferrer was rumoured to be too controlling, and had been referred to by others as being her «Svengali» – an accusation that Hepburn laughed off. William Holden was quoted as saying, «I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her.» After a 14-year marriage, the couple divorced in 1968.^[120]

Hepburn met her second husband, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, on a Mediterranean cruise with friends in June 1968. She believed she would have more children and possibly stop working.^[121][122] They married on 18 January 1969, and their son Luca Andrea Dotti was born on 8 February 1970.^[119] While pregnant with Luca in 1969, Hepburn was more careful, resting for months before delivering the baby via caesarean section. Hepburn suffered a miscarriage in 1974.^[119]

Both Dotti and Hepburn were unfaithful, with Dotti having affairs with younger women and Hepburn having a romantic relationship with actor Ben Gazzara during the filming of the movie Bloodline (1979).^[123] The Dotti-Hepburn marriage lasted more than twelve years and was dissolved in 1982.^[119][124]

From 1980 until her death, Hepburn was in a relationship with Dutch actor Robert Wolders,^[37] the widower of actress Merle Oberon. She had met Wolders through a friend during the later years of her second marriage. In 1989, she called the nine years she had spent with him the happiest years of her life, and stated that she considered them married, just not officially.^[125]

Illness and death[edit]

Upon returning from Somalia to Switzerland in late September 1992, Hepburn developed abdominal pain. While initial medical tests in Switzerland had inconclusive results, a laparoscopy performed at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in early November revealed a rare form of abdominal cancer belonging to a group of cancers known as pseudomyxoma peritonei.^[126] Having grown slowly over several years, the cancer had metastasised as a thin coating over her small intestine. After surgery, Hepburn began chemotherapy.^[127]

Hepburn and her family returned home to Switzerland to celebrate her last Christmas. As she was still recovering from surgery, she was unable to fly on commercial aircraft. Her long-time friend, fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, arranged for socialite Rachel Lambert «Bunny» Mellon to send her private Gulfstream jet, filled with flowers, to take Hepburn from Los Angeles to Geneva. She spent her last days in hospice care at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, and was occasionally well enough to take walks in her garden, but gradually became more confined to bedrest.^[128]

On the evening of 20 January 1993, Hepburn died in her sleep at home. After her death, Gregory Peck recorded a tribute to Hepburn in which he recited the poem «Unending Love» by Rabindranath Tagore.^[129] Funeral services were held at the village church of Tolochenaz on 24 January 1993. Maurice Eindiguer, the same pastor who wed Hepburn and Mel Ferrer and baptised her son Sean in 1960, presided over her funeral, while Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan of UNICEF delivered a eulogy. Many family members and friends attended the funeral, including her sons, partner Robert Wolders, half-brother Ian Quarles van Ufford, ex-husbands Andrea Dotti and Mel Ferrer, Hubert de Givenchy, executives of UNICEF, and fellow actors Alain Delon and Roger Moore.^[130] Flower arrangements were sent to the funeral by Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, and the Dutch royal family.^[131]
Later on the same day, Hepburn was interred at the Tolochenaz Cemetery.^[132]

Legacy[edit]

Hepburn’s legacy has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Hepburn third among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time. She is one of few entertainers who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards. She won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In her last years, she remained a visible presence in the film world. She received a tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1991 and was a frequent presenter at the Academy Awards. She received the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992.^[133] She was the recipient of numerous posthumous awards including the 1993 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and competitive Grammy and Emmy Awards. In January 2009, Hepburn was named on The Times‘ list of the top 10 British actresses of all time.^[133] However, in 2010 Emma Thompson commented that Hepburn «can’t sing and she can’t really act»; some people agreed, others did not.^[134] Hepburn’s son Sean later said «My mother would be the first person to say that she wasn’t the best actress in the world. But she was a movie star.»^[135]

She has been the subject of many biographies since her death including the 2000 dramatisation of her life titled The Audrey Hepburn Story which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and Emmy Rossum as the older and younger Hepburn respectively.^[136] Her son and granddaughter, Sean and Emma Ferrer, helped produce a biographical documentary directed by Helena Coan, entitled Audrey (2020). The film was released to positive reception.^[137][138] Hepburn’s image is widely used in advertising campaigns across the world. In Japan, a series of commercials used colourised and digitally enhanced clips of Hepburn in Roman Holiday to advertise Kirin black tea. In the United States, Hepburn was featured in a 2006 Gap commercial which used clips of her dancing from Funny Face, set to AC/DC’s «Back in Black», with the tagline «It’s Back – The Skinny Black Pant». To celebrate its «Keep it Simple» campaign, the Gap made a sizeable donation to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund.^[139] In 2012, Hepburn was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his best known artwork – the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.^[140] In 2013, a computer-manipulated representation of Hepburn was used in a television advert for the British chocolate bar Galaxy.^[141][142] On 4 May 2014, Google featured a doodle on its homepage on what would have been Hepburn’s 85th birthday.^[143]

Sean Ferrer founded the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund^[144] in memory of his mother shortly after her death. The US Fund for UNICEF also founded the Audrey Hepburn Society: the Society hosted annual charity balls for fund raising until Ferrer became involved in lawsuits in the late 2010s on behalf of his mother’s estate.^[145][146] Dotti also became patron of the Pseudomyxoma Survivor charity, dedicated to providing support to patients of the rare cancer which was fatal to Hepburn, pseudomyxoma peritonei,^[147] and Sean Ferrer became the rare disease ambassador since 2014 and for 2015 on behalf of European Organisation for Rare Diseases.^[148] A year after his mother’s death in 1993, Ferrer founded the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund (originally named Hollywood for Children Inc.),^[149] a charity funded by exhibitions of Audrey Hepburn memorabilia. He directed the charity in cooperation with his half-brother Luca Dotti, and Robert Wolders, his mother’s partner, which aimed to continue the humanitarian work of Audrey Hepburn.^[150] Ferrer brought the exhibition «Timeless Audrey» on a world tour to raise money for the foundation.^[151] He served as Chairman of the Fund before resigning in 2012, turning over the position to Dotti.^[152] In 2017, Ferrer was sued by the Fund for alleged self-serving conduct.^[152] In October 2017, Ferrer responded by suing the Fund for trademark infringement, claiming that the Fund no longer had the right to use Hepburn’s name or likeness.^[149] Ferrer’s suit against the Fund was dismissed in March 2018 due to the complaint’s failure to include Dotti as a defendant.^[153] In 2019, the court sided with Ferrer, with the judge ruling there was no merit to the charity’s claims it had the independent right to use Audrey Hepburn’s name and likeness, or to enter into contracts with third parties without Ferrer’s consent.^[145][146]

Hepburn’s son Sean said that he was brought up in the countryside as a normal child, not in Hollywood and without a Hollywood state of mind that makes movie stars and their families lose touch with reality. There was no screening room in the house. He said that his mother didn’t take herself seriously, and used to say, «I take what I do seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously».^[135]

Public image and style icon[edit]

Hepburn was known for her fashion choices and distinctive look, to the extent that journalist Mark Tungate has described her as a recognisable brand.^[154] When she first rose to stardom in Roman Holiday (1953), she was seen as an alternative feminine ideal that appealed more to women than men, in comparison to the curvy and more sexual Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.^[155][156] With her short hairstyle, thick eyebrows, slim body, and «gamine» looks, she presented a look which young women found easier to emulate than those of more sexual film stars.^[157] In 1954, fashion photographer Cecil Beaton declared Hepburn the «public embodiment of our new feminine ideal» in Vogue, and wrote that «Nobody ever looked like her before World War II … Yet we recognise the rightness of this appearance in relation to our historical needs. The proof is that thousands of imitations have appeared.»^[156] The magazine and its British version frequently reported on her style throughout the following decade.^[158] Alongside model Twiggy, Hepburn has been cited as one of the key public figures who made being very slim fashionable.^[157] Vogue has referred to her as «the acme of classic beauty».^[159]

Added to the International Best Dressed List in 1961, Hepburn was associated with a minimalistic style, usually wearing clothes with simple silhouettes which emphasised her slim body, monochromatic colours, and occasional statement accessories.^[160] In the late 1950s, Audrey Hepburn popularised plain black leggings.^[161] Hepburn was in particular associated with French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, who was first hired to design her on-screen wardrobe for her second Hollywood film, Sabrina (1954), when she was still unknown as a film actor and he a young couturier just starting his fashion house.^[162] Although initially disappointed that «Miss Hepburn» was not Katharine Hepburn as he had mistakenly thought, Givenchy and Hepburn formed a life-long friendship.^[162][163]

In addition to Sabrina, Givenchy designed her costumes for Love in the Afternoon (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Funny Face (1957), Charade (1963), Paris When It Sizzles (1964), and How to Steal a Million (1966), as well as clothed her off screen.^[162] According to Moseley, fashion plays an unusually central role in many of Hepburn’s films, stating that «the costume is not tied to the character, functioning ‘silently’ in the mise-en-scène, but as ‘fashion’ becomes an attraction in the aesthetic in its own right».^[164] She also became the face of Givenchy’s first perfume, L’Interdit, in 1957.^[165] In addition to her partnership with Givenchy, Hepburn was credited with boosting the sales of Burberry trench coats when she wore one in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and was associated with Italian footwear brand Tod’s.^[166]

In her private life, Hepburn preferred to wear casual and comfortable clothes, contrary to the haute couture she wore on screen and at public events.^[167] Despite being admired for her beauty, she never considered herself attractive, stating in a 1959 interview that «you can even say that I hated myself at certain periods. I was too fat, or maybe too tall, or maybe just plain too ugly… you can say my definiteness stems from underlying feelings of insecurity and inferiority. I couldn’t conquer these feelings by acting indecisive. I found the only way to get the better of them was by adopting a forceful, concentrated drive.»^[168] In 1989, she stated that «my look is attainable … Women can look like Audrey Hepburn by flipping out their hair, buying the large glasses and the little sleeveless dresses.»^[160]

Hepburn’s influence as a style icon continues several decades after the height of her acting career in the 1950s and 1960s. Moseley notes that especially after her death in 1993, she became increasingly admired, with magazines frequently advising readers on how to get her look and fashion designers using her as inspiration.^[169][157] Throughout her career and after her death, Hepburn received numerous accolades for her stylish appearance and attractiveness. For example, she was named the «most beautiful woman of all time»^[170] and «most beautiful woman of the 20th century»^[171] in polls by Evian and QVC respectively, and in 2015, was voted «the most stylish Brit of all time» in a poll commissioned by Samsung.^[172] Her film costumes fetch large sums of money in auctions: one of the «little black dresses» designed by Givenchy for Breakfast at Tiffany’s was sold by Christie’s for a record sum of £467,200 in 2006.^[173][e]

Filmography and stage roles[edit]

Hepburn was considered by some to be one of the most beautiful women of all time,^[178][179] she was ranked as the third greatest screen legend in American cinema by the American Film Institute.^[180] Hepburn is also remembered as both a film and style icon.^{[181][182][183]} Her debut was as a flight stewardess in the 1948 Dutch film Dutch in Seven Lessons.^[46] Hepburn then performed on the British stage as a chorus girl in the musicals High Button Shoes (1948), and Sauce Tartare (1949). Two years later she made her Broadway debut as the title character in the play Gigi. Hepburn’s Hollywood debut as a runaway princess in William Wyler’s Roman Holiday (1953) opposite Gregory Peck made her a star.^{[181][184][185]} For her performance she received the Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.^{[186][187][188]} In 1954 she played a chauffeur’s daughter caught in a love triangle in Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy Sabrina opposite Humphrey Bogart and William Holden.^[189][190] In the same year Hepburn garnered the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for portraying the titular water nymph in the play Ondine.^[191][192]

Awards and honours[edit]

Hepburn received numerous awards and honours during her career. Hepburn won, or was nominated for, awards for her work in motion pictures, television, spoken-word recording, on stage, and humanitarian work. She was five-times nominated for an Academy Award, and she was awarded the 1953 Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Roman Holiday and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993, posthumously, for her humanitarian work. From 5 nominations, she won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role, and received a BAFTA Special Award in 1992.^{[193][194][195]}

See also[edit]

• L’Interdit
• List of EGOT winners
• Sophia (robot) – A humanoid robot modelled after Audrey Hepburn
• White floral Givenchy dress of Audrey Hepburn (Academy Awards, 1954)

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Capote, Truman (1987). Truman Capote: Conversations (Literary Conversations Series) (Edited by M. Thomas Inge). Univ Pr of Mississippi; First Edition (1 February 1987). ISBN 0878052747.
• Eastman, John (1989). Retakes: Behind the Scenes of 500 Classic Movies. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-35399-4.
• Ferrer, Sean (2005). Audrey Hepburn, an Elegant Spirit. New York: Atria. ISBN 978-0-671-02479-6.
• Fishgall, Gary (2002). Gregory Peck: A Biography. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85290-X.
• Gitlin, Martin (2009). Audrey Hepburn: A Biography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-35945-3.
• Givenchy, Hubert de (2007). Audrey Hepburn. London: Pavilion. ISBN 978-1-86205-775-3.
• Harris, Warren G. (1994). Audrey Hepburn: A Biography. Wheeler Pub. ISBN 978-1-56895-156-0.
• Hill, Daniel Delis (2004). As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising. Texas Tech University Press. ISBN 9780896725348.
• Matzen, Robert (2019). Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: GoodKnight Books (Paladin). ISBN 978-1-7322735-3-5.
• Moseley, Rachel (2002). Growing Up with Audrey Hepburn: Text, Audience, Resonance. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-6310-7.
• Paris, Barry (2001) [1996]. Audrey Hepburn. Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0-425-18212-3.
• Sheridan, Jayne (2010). Fashion, Media, Promotion: The New Black Magic. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-9421-1.
• Spoto, Donald (2006). Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn. Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-307-23758-3.
• Steele, Valerie (2010). The Berg Companion to Fashion. Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84788-592-0.
• Thurman, Judith (1999). Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-3945-8872-8.
• Vermilye, Jerry (1995). The Complete Films of Audrey Hepburn. New York: Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-1598-8.
• Walker, Alexander (1997) [1994]. Audrey, Her Real Story. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-18046-2.
• Wilson, Julie (14 March 2011). «A new kind of star is born: Audrey Hepburn and the global governmentalisation of female stardom». Celebrity Studies. Informa UK Limited. 2 (1): 56–68. doi:10.1080/19392397.2011.544163. ISSN 1939-2397. S2CID 144559753.
• Woodward, Ian (31 May 2012). Audrey Hepburn: Fair Lady of the Screen. Ebury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4481-3293-5.

Further reading[edit]

• Brizel, Scott (18 November 2009). Audrey Hepburn: International Cover Girl. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-6820-4.
• Byczynski, Stuart J. (1 January 1998). Audrey Hepburn: A Secret Life. Brunswick Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-1-55618-168-9.
• Cheshire, Ellen (19 October 2011). Audrey Hepburn. Perseus Books Group. ISBN 978-1-84243-547-2.
• Hepburn-Ferrer, Sean (5 April 2005). Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-02479-6.
• Hofstede, David (31 August 1994). Audrey Hepburn: a bio-bibliography. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313289095.
• Karney, Robyn (1995). Audrey Hepburn: A Star Danced. Arcade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55970-300-0.
• Keogh, Pamela Clarke (2009). Audrey Style. Aurum Press, Limited. ISBN 978-1-84513-490-7.
• Kidney, Christine (1 February 2010). Audrey Hepburn. Pulteney Press. ISBN 978-1-906734-57-2.
• Life: Remembering Audrey 15 Years Later. Life Magazine, Time Inc. Home Entertainment. 1 August 2008. ISBN 978-1-60320-536-8.
• Marsh, June (June 2013). Audrey Hepburn in Hats. Reel Art Press. ISBN 978-1-909526-00-6.
• Maychick, Diana (1 May 1996). Audrey Hepburn: An Intimate Portrait. Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8065-8000-5.
• Meyer-Stabley, Bertrand (2010). La Véritable Audrey Hepburn (in French). Pygmalion. ISBN 978-2-7564-0321-2.
• Morley, Sheridan (1993). Audrey Hepburn: A Celebration. Pavilion Books. ISBN 978-1-85793-136-5.
• Nirwing, Sandy (26 January 2006). An American in Paris: Audrey Hepburn and the City of Light – A historical analysis of genre cinema & gender roles. GRIN Verlag. ISBN 978-3-638-46087-3.
• Nourmand, Tony (2006). Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years. Boxtree. ISBN 978-0-7522-2603-3.
• Paris, Barry (11 January 2002). Audrey Hepburn. Berkley Pub Group. ISBN 978-0-425-18212-3.
• Ricci, Stefania (June 1999). Audrey Hepburn: una donna, lo stile (in Italian). Leonardo Arte. ISBN 978-88-7813-550-5.
• Wasson, Sam (22 June 2010). Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and The Dawn of the Modern Woman. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-200013-2.
• Yapp, Nick (20 November 2009). Audrey Hepburn. Endeavour. ISBN 9781873913109.

External links[edit]

Audrey Hepburn
Hepburn in 1956
Born	Audrey Kathleen Ruston 4 May 1929 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
Died	20 January 1993 (aged 63) Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Resting place	Tolochenaz Cemetery, Tolochenaz
Nationality	British
Occupations	Actress humanitarian
Years active	1948–1989 (actress) 1954–1993 (humanitarian)
Notable work	Full list
Spouses	Mel Ferrer ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1968)​ Andrea Dotti ​ ​ (m. 1969; div. 1982)​
Partner	Robert Wolders (1980–1993; her death)
Children	2, including Sean
Parent	Baroness Ella van Heemstra (mother)
Relatives	Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra (maternal grandfather) Emma Ferrer (granddaughter)
Awards	Full list
Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF
In office 1989–1993
Signature

Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British^[a] actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Hollywood cinema and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.

Born in Ixelles, Brussels, to an aristocratic family, Hepburn spent parts of her childhood in Belgium, England, and the Netherlands. She studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam beginning in 1945, and with Marie Rambert in London from 1948. She began performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions and then had minor appearances in several films. She rose to stardom in the romantic comedy Roman Holiday (1953) alongside Gregory Peck, for which she was the first actress to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. That year, she also won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine.

She went on to star in a number of successful films such as Sabrina (1954), in which Humphrey Bogart and William Holden compete for her affection; Funny Face (1957), a musical where she sang her own parts; the drama The Nun’s Story (1959); the romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961); the thriller-romance Charade (1963), opposite Cary Grant; and the musical My Fair Lady (1964). In 1967 she starred in the thriller Wait Until Dark, receiving Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations. After that, she only occasionally appeared in films, one being Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery. Her last recorded performances were in the 1990 documentary television series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming.

Hepburn won three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In recognition of her film career, she received BAFTA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and the Special Tony Award. She remains one of only eighteen people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. Later in life, Hepburn devoted much of her time to UNICEF, to which she had contributed since 1954. Between 1988 and 1992, she worked in some of the poorest communities of Africa, South America, and Asia. In December 1992, she received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. A month later, she died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland, at the age of 63.^[3]

Early life[edit]

1929–1938: Family and early childhood[edit]

Audrey Kathleen Ruston (later, Hepburn-Ruston^[4]) was born on 4 May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium.^[5] She was known to her family as Adriaantje.^[6]

Hepburn’s mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra (12 June 1900 – 26 August 1984), was a Dutch noblewoman. Ella was the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, who served as mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and as governor of Dutch Suriname from 1921 to 1928, and Baroness Elbrig Willemine Henriette van Asbeck (1873–1939), a granddaughter of Count Dirk van Hogendorp.^[7] At age 19, she married Jonkheer Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, an oil executive based in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, where they subsequently lived.^[8] They had two sons, Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924–2010), before divorcing in 1925,^[9][10] four years before Hepburn’s birth.^[5]

Hepburn’s father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (21 November 1889 – 16 October 1980), was a British subject born in Auschitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary.^[11] He was the son of Victor John George Ruston, of British and Austrian background^[12] and Anna Juliana Franziska Karolina Wels, who was of Czech-Jewish^[13] and Austrian origin and born in Kovarce.^[14] In 1923–1924, Joseph was an Honorary British Consul in Semarang in the Dutch East Indies,^[15] and prior to his marriage to Hepburn’s mother, was married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress.^[11][9] Although born with the surname Ruston, he later double-barrelled his name to the more «aristocratic» Hepburn-Ruston, perhaps at Ella’s insistence,^[16] as he mistakenly believed himself descended from James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.^[12][9]

Hepburn’s parents were married in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, in September 1926.^[8] At the time, Ruston worked for a trading company, but soon after the marriage, the couple moved to Europe, where he began working for a loan company; reportedly tin merchants MacLaine, Watson and Company in London.^[6] After a year in London, they moved to Brussels, where he had been assigned to open a branch office.^[8][17] After three years of spending time travelling between Brussels, Arnhem, The Hague and London, the family settled in the suburban Brussels municipality of Linkebeek in 1932.^[8][18] Hepburn’s early childhood was sheltered and privileged.^[8] Her multinational background was enhanced through her travelling between three countries with her family due to her father’s job.^[19][b]

In the mid-1930s, Hepburn’s parents recruited and collected donations for the British Union of Fascists (B.U.F).^[20] Her mother met Adolf Hitler and wrote favourable articles about him for the B.U.F.^[21] Joseph left the family abruptly in 1935 after a «scene» in Brussels when Adriaantje (as she was known in the family) was six; later she often spoke of the effect on a child of being «dumped» as «children need two parents».^[22] Joseph left the family and moved to London, where he became more deeply involved in Fascist activity and never visited his daughter abroad.^[23] Hepburn later professed that her father’s departure was «the most traumatic event of my life».^[8][24] That same year, her mother moved with Hepburn to her family’s estate in Arnhem; her half-brothers Alex and Ian (then 15 and 11) were sent to The Hague to live with relatives. Joseph wanted her to be educated in England,^[25] so in 1937, Hepburn was sent to live in Kent, England, where she, known as Audrey Ruston or «Little Audrey», was educated at a small private school in Elham.^[26][27] Hepburn’s parents officially divorced in 1938.^[28] In the 1960s, Hepburn renewed contact with her father after locating him in Dublin through the Red Cross; although he remained emotionally detached, Hepburn supported him financially until his death.^[29]

1939–1945: Experiences during World War II[edit]

After Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, Hepburn’s mother moved her daughter back to Arnhem in the hope that, as during the First World War, the Netherlands would remain neutral and be spared a German attack. While there, Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945. She had begun taking ballet lessons during her last years at boarding school, and continued training in Arnhem under the tutelage of Winja Marova, becoming her «star pupil».^[8] After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hepburn used the name Edda van Heemstra, because an «English-sounding» name was considered dangerous during the German occupation. Her family was profoundly affected by the occupation, with Hepburn later stating that «had we known that we were going to be occupied for five years, we might have all shot ourselves. We thought it might be over next week… six months… next year… that’s how we got through».^[8]

In 1942, her uncle, Otto van Limburg Stirum (husband of her mother’s older sister, Miesje), was executed in retaliation for an act of sabotage by the resistance movement; while he had not been involved in the act, he was targeted due to his family’s prominence in Dutch society.^[8] These family events were the turning point in the attitude of Hepburn’s mother, who had flirted with Nazism up to this point. Hepburn’s half-brother Ian was deported to Berlin to work in a German labour camp, and her other half-brother Alex went into hiding to avoid the same fate.^[8]

After her uncle’s death, Hepburn, Ella, and Miesje left Arnhem to live with her grandfather, Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, in nearby Velp.^[8] Around that time Hepburn performed silent dance performances which reportedly raised money for the Dutch resistance effort.^[30] It was long believed that she participated in the Dutch resistance itself,^[8] but in 2016 the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ reported that after extensive research it had not found any evidence of such activities.^[31] However, a 2019 book by author Robert Matzen provided evidence that she had supported the resistance by giving «underground concerts» to raise money, delivering the underground newspaper, and taking messages and food to downed Allied flyers hiding in the woodlands north of Velp.^[32] She also volunteered at a hospital that was the center of resistance activities in Velp,^[32] and her family temporarily hid a British paratrooper in their home during the Battle of Arnhem.^[33][34] In addition to other traumatic events, she witnessed the transportation of Dutch Jews to concentration camps, later stating that «more than once I was at the station seeing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped on the train. I was a child observing a child.»^[35]

After the Allied landing on D-Day, living conditions grew worse, and Arnhem was subsequently heavily damaged during Operation Market Garden. During the 1944-45 Dutch famine, the Germans hindered or reduced the already limited food and fuel supplies to civilians in retaliation for Dutch railway strikes that were held to hinder the occupation. Like others, Hepburn’s family resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits;^[36][37] a source of starchy carbohydrates; Dutch doctors provided recipes for using tulip bulbs throughout the famine.^[38] Suffering from the effects of malnutrition, after the war ended Hepburn become gravely ill with jaundice, anaemia, oedema, and a respiratory infection. In October 1945, a letter from Ella asking for help was received by Micky Burn, a former lover and British Army officer with whom she had corresponded whilst he was a prisoner of war in Colditz Castle. He sent back thousands of cigarettes, which she was able to sell on the black market and so buy the Penicillin which saved Hepburn’s life.^[39][40][41] However, the financial situation of the Van Heemstra family was changed significantly as a result of the occupation, during which time many of their properties (including their principal estate in Arnhem) were badly damaged or destroyed.^[42]

Entertainment career[edit]

1945–1952: Ballet studies and early acting roles[edit]

After the war ended in 1945, Hepburn moved with her mother and siblings to Amsterdam, where she began ballet training under Sonia Gaskell, a leading figure in Dutch ballet, and Russian teacher Olga Tarasova.^[43]

Due to the loss of the family fortune, Ella had to support them by working as a cook and housekeeper for a wealthy family.^[44] Hepburn made her film debut playing an air stewardess in Dutch in Seven Lessons (1948), an educational travel film made by Charles van der Linden and Henry Josephson.^[45] Later that year, Hepburn moved to London after accepting a ballet scholarship with Ballet Rambert, which was then based in Notting Hill.^[46][c] She supported herself with part-time work as a model, and dropped «Ruston» from her surname. After she was told by Rambert that despite her talent, her height and weak constitution (the after-effect of wartime malnutrition) would make the status of prima ballerina unattainable, she decided to concentrate on acting.^[47][48][49]

While Ella worked in menial jobs to support them, Hepburn appeared as a chorus girl^[50] in the West End musical theatre revues High Button Shoes (1948) at the London Hippodrome, and Cecil Landeau’s Sauce Tartare (1949) and Sauce Piquante (1950) at the Cambridge Theatre. Also, in 1950, she worked as a dancer in an exceptionally «ambitious» revue, Summer Nights, at Ciro’s London, a prominent nightclub.^[51]

During her theatrical work, she took elocution lessons with actor Felix Aylmer to develop her voice.^[52] After being spotted by the Ealing Studios casting director, Margaret Harper-Nelson, while performing in Sauce Piquante, Hepburn was registered as a freelance actress with the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC). She appeared in the BBC Television play The Silent Village,^[53] and in minor roles in the films One Wild Oat, Laughter in Paradise, Young Wives’ Tale, and The Lavender Hill Mob (all 1951). She was cast in her first major supporting role in Thorold Dickinson’s Secret People (1952), as a prodigious ballerina, performing all of her own dancing sequences.^[54]

Hepburn was then offered a small role in a film being shot in both English and French, Monte Carlo Baby (French: Nous Irons à Monte Carlo, 1952), which was filmed in Monte Carlo. Coincidentally, French novelist Colette was at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo during the filming, and decided to cast Hepburn in the title role in the Broadway play Gigi.^[55] Hepburn went into rehearsals having never spoken on stage, and required private coaching.^[56] When Gigi opened at the Fulton Theatre on 24 November 1951, she received praise for her performance, despite criticism that the stage version was inferior to the French film adaptation.^[57] Life called her a «hit»,^[57] while The New York Times stated that «her quality is so winning and so right that she is the success of the evening».^[56] Hepburn also received a Theatre World Award for the role.^[58] The play ran for 219 performances, closing on 31 May 1952,^[58] before going on tour, which began 13 October 1952 in Pittsburgh and visited Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D. C., and Los Angeles, before closing on 16 May 1953 in San Francisco.^[8]

1953–1960: Roman Holiday and stardom[edit]

Hepburn had her first starring role in Roman Holiday (1953), playing Princess Ann, a European princess who escapes the reins of royalty and has a wild night out with an American newsman (Gregory Peck). On 18 September 1951, shortly after Secret People was finished but before its premiere, Thorold Dickinson made a screen test with the young starlet and sent it to director William Wyler, who was in Rome preparing Roman Holiday. Wyler wrote a glowing note of thanks to Dickinson, saying that «as a result of the test, a number of the producers at Paramount have expressed interest in casting her.»^[59] The producers of the movie had initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, but Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn’s screen test that he cast her instead. Wyler later commented, «She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence, and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting, and we said, ‘That’s the girl!‘«^[60] Originally, the film was to have had only Gregory Peck’s name above its title, with «Introducing Audrey Hepburn» beneath in smaller font. However, Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing so that her name appeared before the title, and in type as large as his: «You’ve got to change that because she’ll be a big star, and I’ll look like a big jerk.»^[61]

The film was a box-office success, and Hepburn gained critical acclaim for her portrayal, unexpectedly winning an Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best British Actress in a Leading Role, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama in 1953. In his review in The New York Times, A. H. Weiler wrote: «Although she is not precisely a newcomer to films, Audrey Hepburn, the British actress who is being starred for the first time as Princess Anne, is a slender, elfin, and wistful beauty, alternately regal and childlike in her profound appreciation of newly-found, simple pleasures and love. Although she bravely smiles her acknowledgement of the end of that affair, she remains a pitifully lonely figure facing a stuffy future.»^[62]

Hepburn was signed to a seven-picture contract with Paramount, with 12 months in between films to allow her time for stage work.^[63] She was featured on 7 September 1953 cover of Time magazine, and also became known for her personal style.^[64] Following her success in Roman Holiday, Hepburn starred in Billy Wilder’s romantic Cinderella-story comedy Sabrina (1954), in which wealthy brothers (Humphrey Bogart and William Holden) compete for the affections of their chauffeur’s innocent daughter (Hepburn). For her performance, she was nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Actress, while winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role the same year.^[65] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times stated that she was «a young lady of extraordinary range of sensitive and moving expressions within such a frail and slender frame. She is even more luminous as the daughter and pet of the servants’ hall than she was as a princess last year, and no more than that can be said.»^[66]

Hepburn also returned to the stage in 1954, playing a water nymph who falls in love with a human in the fantasy play Ondine on Broadway. A critic for The New York Times commented that «somehow, Miss Hepburn is able to translate [its intangibles] into the language of the theatre without artfulness or precociousness. She gives a pulsing performance that is all grace and enchantment, disciplined by an instinct for the realities of the stage». Her performance won her the 1954 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play three days after she won the Academy Award for Roman Holiday, making her one of three actresses to receive the Academy and Tony Awards for Best Actress in the same year (the other two are Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn).^[67] During the production, Hepburn and her co-star Mel Ferrer began a relationship, and were married on 25 September 1954 in Switzerland.^[68]

Although she appeared in no new film releases in 1955, Hepburn received the Golden Globe for World Film Favorite that year.^[69] Having become one of Hollywood’s most popular box-office attractions, she starred in a series of successful films during the remainder of the decade, including her BAFTA- and Golden Globe-nominated role as Natasha Rostova in War and Peace (1956), an adaptation of the Tolstoy novel set during the Napoleonic wars, starring Henry Fonda and her husband Mel Ferrer. She exhibited her dancing abilities in her debut musical film, Funny Face (1957), wherein Fred Astaire, a fashion photographer, discovers a beatnik bookstore clerk (Hepburn) who, lured by a free trip to Paris, becomes a beautiful model. Hepburn starred in another romantic comedy, Love in the Afternoon (also 1957), alongside Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier.

Hepburn played Sister Luke in The Nun’s Story (1959), which focuses on the character’s struggle to succeed as a nun, alongside co-star Peter Finch. The role produced a third Academy Award nomination for Hepburn, and earned her a second BAFTA Award. A review in Variety reads: «Hepburn has her most demanding film role, and she gives her finest performance»,^[70] while Henry Hart in Films in Review stated that her performance «will forever silence those who have thought her less an actress than a symbol of the sophisticated child/woman. Her portrayal of Sister Luke is one of the great performances of the screen.»^[71] Hepburn spent a year researching and working on the role, saying, «I
gave more time, energy, and thought to this role than to any of my previous screen performances».^[72]

Following The Nun’s Story, Hepburn received a lukewarm reception for starring with Anthony Perkins in the romantic adventure Green Mansions (1959), in which she played Rima, a jungle girl who falls in love with a Venezuelan traveller,^[73] and The Unforgiven (1960), her only western film, in which she appeared opposite Burt Lancaster and Lillian Gish in a story of racism against a group of Native Americans.^[74]

1961–1967: Breakfast at Tiffany’s and continued success[edit]

Hepburn next starred as New Yorker Holly Golightly in Blake Edwards’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), a film loosely based on the Truman Capote novella of the same name. Capote disapproved of many changes that were made to sanitise the story for the film adaptation, and would have preferred Marilyn Monroe to have been cast in the role, although he also stated that Hepburn «did a terrific job».^[75] The character is considered one of the best-known in American cinema, and a defining role for Hepburn.^[76] The dress she wears during the opening credits has been considered an icon of the twentieth century, and perhaps the most famous «little black dress» of all time.^{[77][78][79][80]} Hepburn stated that the role was «the jazziest of my career»^[81] yet admitted: «I’m an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did.»^[82] She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

The same year, Hepburn also starred in William Wyler’s drama The Children’s Hour (1961), in which she and Shirley MacLaine played teachers whose lives become troubled after two pupils accuse them of being lesbians.^[83][84] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times was of the opinion that the film «is not too well acted», with the exception of Hepburn, who «gives the impression of being sensitive and pure» of its «muted theme».^[83] Variety magazine also complimented Hepburn’s «soft sensitivity, marvelous projection and emotional understatement», adding that Hepburn and MacLaine «beautifully complement each other».^[84]

Hepburn next appeared opposite Cary Grant in the comic thriller Charade (1963), playing a young widow pursued by several men who chase after the fortune stolen by her murdered husband. The 59-year-old Grant, who had previously withdrawn from the starring male lead roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina, was sensitive about his age difference with 34-year-old Hepburn, and was uncomfortable about the romantic interplay. To satisfy his concerns, the filmmakers agreed to alter the screenplay so that Hepburn’s character was pursuing him.^[85] The film turned out to be a positive experience for him; he said, «All I want for Christmas is another picture with Audrey Hepburn.»^[86] The role earned Hepburn her third, and final, competitive BAFTA Award, and another Golden Globe nomination. Critic Bosley Crowther was less kind to her performance, stating that, «Hepburn is cheerfully committed to a mood of how-nuts-can-you-be in an obviously comforting assortment of expensive Givenchy costumes.»^[87]

Hepburn reunited with her Sabrina co-star William Holden in Paris When It Sizzles (1964), a screwball comedy in which she played the young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter, who aids his writer’s block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots. Its production was troubled by several problems. Holden unsuccessfully tried to rekindle a romance with the now-married Hepburn, and his alcoholism was beginning to affect his work. After principal photography began, she demanded the dismissal of cinematographer Claude Renoir after seeing what she felt were unflattering dailies.^[88] Superstitious, she also insisted on dressing room 55 because that was her lucky number and required that Hubert de Givenchy, her long-time designer, be given a credit in the film for her perfume.^[88] Dubbed «marshmallow-weight hokum» by Variety upon its release in April,^[89] the film was «uniformly panned»^[88] but critics were kinder to Hepburn’s performance, describing her as «a refreshingly individual creature in an era of the exaggerated curve».^[89]

Hepburn’s second film released in 1964 was George Cukor’s film adaptation of the stage musical My Fair Lady, which premiered in October.^[90] Soundstage wrote that «not since Gone with the Wind has a motion picture created such universal excitement as My Fair Lady«,^[67] although Hepburn’s casting in the role of Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle was a source of dispute. Julie Andrews, who had originated the role on stage, was not offered the part because producer Jack L. Warner thought Hepburn was a more «bankable» proposition. Hepburn initially asked Warner to give the role to Andrews but was eventually cast. Further friction was created when, although non-singer Hepburn had sung in Funny Face and had lengthy vocal preparation for the role in My Fair Lady, her vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon, whose voice was considered more suitable to the role.^[91][92] Hepburn was initially upset and walked off the set when informed.^[d]

Critics applauded Hepburn’s performance. Crowther wrote that, «The happiest thing about [My Fair Lady] is that Audrey Hepburn superbly justifies the decision of Jack Warner to get her to play the title role.»^[91] Gene Ringgold of Soundstage also commented that, «Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. She is Eliza for the ages»,^[67] while adding, «Everyone agreed that if Julie Andrews was not to be in the film, Audrey Hepburn was the perfect choice.»^[67] The reviewer in Time magazine said her «graceful, glamorous performance» was «the best of her career».^[93] Andrews won an Academy Award for Mary Poppins at the 1964 37th Academy Awards, but Hepburn was not even nominated. On the other hand, Hepburn did receive Best Actress nominations for both Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Circle awards.^[94]

As the decade carried on, Hepburn appeared in an assortment of genres including the heist comedy How to Steal a Million (1966). Hepburn played the daughter of a famous art collector, whose collection consists entirely of forgeries which are about to be exposed as fakes. Her character plays the part of a dutiful daughter trying to help her father with the help of a man played by Peter O’Toole. The film was followed by two films in 1967. The first was Two for the Road, a non-linear and innovative British dramedy that traces the course of a couple’s troubled marriage. Director Stanley Donen said that Hepburn was freer and happier than he had ever seen her, and he credited that to co-star Albert Finney.^[95] The second, Wait Until Dark, is a suspense thriller in which Hepburn demonstrated her acting range by playing the part of a terrorised blind woman. Filmed on the brink of her divorce, it was a difficult film for her, as husband Mel Ferrer was its producer. She lost fifteen pounds under the stress, but she found solace in co-star Richard Crenna and director Terence Young. Hepburn earned her fifth and final competitive Academy Award nomination for Best Actress; Bosley Crowther affirmed, «Hepburn plays the poignant role, the quickness with which she changes and the skill with which she manifests terror attract sympathy and anxiety to her and give her genuine solidity in the final scenes.»^[96]

1968–1993: Semi-retirement and final projects[edit]

After 1967, Hepburn chose to devote more time to her family and acted only occasionally in the following decades. She attempted a comeback playing Maid Marian in the period piece Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery co-starring as Robin Hood, which was moderately successful. Roger Ebert praised Hepburn’s chemistry with Connery, writing, «Connery and Hepburn seem to have arrived at a tacit understanding between themselves about their characters. They glow. They really do seem in love. And they project as marvelously complex, fond, tender people; the passage of 20 years has given them grace and wisdom.»^[97] Hepburn reunited with director Terence Young in the production of Bloodline (1979), sharing top-billing with Ben Gazzara, James Mason, and Romy Schneider.^[98] The film, an international intrigue amid the jet-set, was a critical and box-office failure. Hepburn’s last starring role in a feature film was opposite Gazzara in the comedy They All Laughed (1981), directed by Peter Bogdanovich.^[99] The film was overshadowed by the murder of one of its stars, Dorothy Stratten, and received only a limited release. Six years later, Hepburn co-starred with Robert Wagner in a made-for-television caper film, Love Among Thieves (1987).^[100]

After finishing her last motion picture role—a cameo appearance as an angel in Steven Spielberg’s Always (1989)—Hepburn completed only two more entertainment-related projects, both critically acclaimed. Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn was a PBS documentary series, which was filmed on location in seven countries in the spring and summer of 1990. A one-hour special preceded it in March 1991, and the series itself began its national PBS premiere on 24 January 1993, the day of her funeral services in Tolochenaz. For the «Flower Gardens» episode, Hepburn was posthumously awarded the 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming. The other project was a spoken word album, Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales, which features readings of classic children’s stories and was recorded in 1992. It earned her a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children.^[101]

Humanitarian career[edit]

In the 1950s, Hepburn narrated two radio programmes for UNICEF, re-telling children’s stories of war.^[102] In 1989, Hepburn was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. On her appointment, she stated that she was grateful for receiving international aid after enduring the German occupation as a child, and wanted to show her gratitude to the organisation.^[103]

1988–1989[edit]

Hepburn’s first field mission for UNICEF was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited an orphanage in Mek’ele that housed 500 starving children and had UNICEF send food.^[104] Of the trip, she said,

I have a broken heart. I feel desperate. I can’t stand the idea that two million people are in imminent danger of starving to death, many of them children, [and] not because there isn’t tons of food sitting in the northern port of Shoa. It can’t be distributed. Last spring, Red Cross and UNICEF workers were ordered out of the northern provinces because of two simultaneous civil wars… I went into rebel country and saw mothers and their children who had walked for ten days, even three weeks, looking for food, settling onto the desert floor into makeshift camps where they may die. Horrible. That image is too much for me. The ‘Third World’ is a term I don’t like very much, because we’re all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering.^[105]

In August 1988, Hepburn went to Turkey on an immunisation campaign. She called Turkey «the loveliest example» of UNICEF’s capabilities. Of the trip, she said, «The army gave us their trucks, the fishmongers gave their wagons for the vaccines, and once the date was set, it took ten days to vaccinate the whole country. Not bad.»^[104] In October, Hepburn went to South America. Of her experiences in Venezuela and Ecuador, Hepburn told the United States Congress, «I saw tiny mountain communities, slums, and shantytowns receive water systems for the first time by some miracle – and the miracle is UNICEF. I watched boys build their own schoolhouse with bricks and cement provided by UNICEF.»^[106]

Hepburn toured Central America in February 1989, and met with leaders in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In April, she visited Sudan with Wolders as part of a mission called «Operation Lifeline». Because of civil war, food from aid agencies had been cut off. The mission was to ferry food to southern Sudan. Hepburn said, «I saw but one glaring truth: These are not natural disasters but man-made tragedies for which there is only one man-made solution – peace.»^[104] In October 1989, Hepburn and Wolders went to Bangladesh. John Isaac, a UN photographer, said, «Often the kids would have flies all over them, but she would just go hug them. I had never seen that. Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but she would just grab them. Children would just come up to hold her hand, touch her – she was like the Pied Piper.»^[8]

1990–1992[edit]

In October 1990, Hepburn went to Vietnam, in an effort to collaborate with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunisation and clean water programmes. In September 1992, four months before she died, Hepburn went to Somalia. Calling it «apocalyptic», she said, «I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn’t prepared for this.»^[104] Though scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope stating:

As we move into the twenty-first century, there is much to reflect upon. We look around us and see that the promises of yesterday have to come to pass. People still live in abject poverty, people are still hungry, people still struggle to survive. And among these people we see the children, always the children: their enlarged bellies, their sad eyes, their wise faces that show the suffering, all the suffering they have endured in their short years.^[107]

Recognition[edit]

United States president George H. W. Bush presented Hepburn with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity.^[108][109] In 2002, at the United Nations Special Session on Children, UNICEF honoured Hepburn’s legacy of humanitarian work by unveiling a statue, «The Spirit of Audrey», at UNICEF’s New York headquarters. Her service for children is also recognised through the United States Fund for UNICEF’s Audrey Hepburn Society.^[110][111]

Personal life[edit]

Marriages, relationships, and children[edit]

In 1952, Hepburn became engaged to industrialist James Hanson,^[112] whom she had known since her early days in London. She called it «love at first sight», but after having her wedding dress fitted and the date set, she decided the marriage would not work because the demands of their careers would keep them apart most of the time.^[113] She issued a public statement about her decision, saying «When I get married, I want to be really married».^[114] In the early 1950s, she also dated future Hair producer Michael Butler.^[115]

At a cocktail party hosted by mutual friend Gregory Peck, Hepburn met American actor Mel Ferrer, and suggested that they star together in a play.^[67][116] The meeting led them to collaborate in Ondine, during which they began a relationship. Eight months later, on 25 September 1954, they were married in Bürgenstock, Switzerland,^[117] while preparing to star together in the film War and Peace (1956). She and Ferrer had a son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer.^[118][119]

Despite the insistence from gossip columns that their marriage would not last, Hepburn claimed that she and Ferrer were inseparable and happy together, though she admitted that he had a bad temper. Ferrer was rumoured to be too controlling, and had been referred to by others as being her «Svengali» – an accusation that Hepburn laughed off. William Holden was quoted as saying, «I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her.» After a 14-year marriage, the couple divorced in 1968.^[120]

Hepburn met her second husband, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, on a Mediterranean cruise with friends in June 1968. She believed she would have more children and possibly stop working.^[121][122] They married on 18 January 1969, and their son Luca Andrea Dotti was born on 8 February 1970.^[119] While pregnant with Luca in 1969, Hepburn was more careful, resting for months before delivering the baby via caesarean section. Hepburn suffered a miscarriage in 1974.^[119]

Both Dotti and Hepburn were unfaithful, with Dotti having affairs with younger women and Hepburn having a romantic relationship with actor Ben Gazzara during the filming of the movie Bloodline (1979).^[123] The Dotti-Hepburn marriage lasted more than twelve years and was dissolved in 1982.^[119][124]

From 1980 until her death, Hepburn was in a relationship with Dutch actor Robert Wolders,^[37] the widower of actress Merle Oberon. She had met Wolders through a friend during the later years of her second marriage. In 1989, she called the nine years she had spent with him the happiest years of her life, and stated that she considered them married, just not officially.^[125]

Illness and death[edit]

Upon returning from Somalia to Switzerland in late September 1992, Hepburn developed abdominal pain. While initial medical tests in Switzerland had inconclusive results, a laparoscopy performed at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in early November revealed a rare form of abdominal cancer belonging to a group of cancers known as pseudomyxoma peritonei.^[126] Having grown slowly over several years, the cancer had metastasised as a thin coating over her small intestine. After surgery, Hepburn began chemotherapy.^[127]

Hepburn and her family returned home to Switzerland to celebrate her last Christmas. As she was still recovering from surgery, she was unable to fly on commercial aircraft. Her long-time friend, fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, arranged for socialite Rachel Lambert «Bunny» Mellon to send her private Gulfstream jet, filled with flowers, to take Hepburn from Los Angeles to Geneva. She spent her last days in hospice care at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, and was occasionally well enough to take walks in her garden, but gradually became more confined to bedrest.^[128]

On the evening of 20 January 1993, Hepburn died in her sleep at home. After her death, Gregory Peck recorded a tribute to Hepburn in which he recited the poem «Unending Love» by Rabindranath Tagore.^[129] Funeral services were held at the village church of Tolochenaz on 24 January 1993. Maurice Eindiguer, the same pastor who wed Hepburn and Mel Ferrer and baptised her son Sean in 1960, presided over her funeral, while Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan of UNICEF delivered a eulogy. Many family members and friends attended the funeral, including her sons, partner Robert Wolders, half-brother Ian Quarles van Ufford, ex-husbands Andrea Dotti and Mel Ferrer, Hubert de Givenchy, executives of UNICEF, and fellow actors Alain Delon and Roger Moore.^[130] Flower arrangements were sent to the funeral by Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, and the Dutch royal family.^[131]
Later on the same day, Hepburn was interred at the Tolochenaz Cemetery.^[132]

Legacy[edit]

Hepburn’s legacy has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Hepburn third among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time. She is one of few entertainers who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards. She won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In her last years, she remained a visible presence in the film world. She received a tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1991 and was a frequent presenter at the Academy Awards. She received the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992.^[133] She was the recipient of numerous posthumous awards including the 1993 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and competitive Grammy and Emmy Awards. In January 2009, Hepburn was named on The Times‘ list of the top 10 British actresses of all time.^[133] However, in 2010 Emma Thompson commented that Hepburn «can’t sing and she can’t really act»; some people agreed, others did not.^[134] Hepburn’s son Sean later said «My mother would be the first person to say that she wasn’t the best actress in the world. But she was a movie star.»^[135]

She has been the subject of many biographies since her death including the 2000 dramatisation of her life titled The Audrey Hepburn Story which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and Emmy Rossum as the older and younger Hepburn respectively.^[136] Her son and granddaughter, Sean and Emma Ferrer, helped produce a biographical documentary directed by Helena Coan, entitled Audrey (2020). The film was released to positive reception.^[137][138] Hepburn’s image is widely used in advertising campaigns across the world. In Japan, a series of commercials used colourised and digitally enhanced clips of Hepburn in Roman Holiday to advertise Kirin black tea. In the United States, Hepburn was featured in a 2006 Gap commercial which used clips of her dancing from Funny Face, set to AC/DC’s «Back in Black», with the tagline «It’s Back – The Skinny Black Pant». To celebrate its «Keep it Simple» campaign, the Gap made a sizeable donation to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund.^[139] In 2012, Hepburn was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his best known artwork – the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.^[140] In 2013, a computer-manipulated representation of Hepburn was used in a television advert for the British chocolate bar Galaxy.^[141][142] On 4 May 2014, Google featured a doodle on its homepage on what would have been Hepburn’s 85th birthday.^[143]

Sean Ferrer founded the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund^[144] in memory of his mother shortly after her death. The US Fund for UNICEF also founded the Audrey Hepburn Society: the Society hosted annual charity balls for fund raising until Ferrer became involved in lawsuits in the late 2010s on behalf of his mother’s estate.^[145][146] Dotti also became patron of the Pseudomyxoma Survivor charity, dedicated to providing support to patients of the rare cancer which was fatal to Hepburn, pseudomyxoma peritonei,^[147] and Sean Ferrer became the rare disease ambassador since 2014 and for 2015 on behalf of European Organisation for Rare Diseases.^[148] A year after his mother’s death in 1993, Ferrer founded the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund (originally named Hollywood for Children Inc.),^[149] a charity funded by exhibitions of Audrey Hepburn memorabilia. He directed the charity in cooperation with his half-brother Luca Dotti, and Robert Wolders, his mother’s partner, which aimed to continue the humanitarian work of Audrey Hepburn.^[150] Ferrer brought the exhibition «Timeless Audrey» on a world tour to raise money for the foundation.^[151] He served as Chairman of the Fund before resigning in 2012, turning over the position to Dotti.^[152] In 2017, Ferrer was sued by the Fund for alleged self-serving conduct.^[152] In October 2017, Ferrer responded by suing the Fund for trademark infringement, claiming that the Fund no longer had the right to use Hepburn’s name or likeness.^[149] Ferrer’s suit against the Fund was dismissed in March 2018 due to the complaint’s failure to include Dotti as a defendant.^[153] In 2019, the court sided with Ferrer, with the judge ruling there was no merit to the charity’s claims it had the independent right to use Audrey Hepburn’s name and likeness, or to enter into contracts with third parties without Ferrer’s consent.^[145][146]

Hepburn’s son Sean said that he was brought up in the countryside as a normal child, not in Hollywood and without a Hollywood state of mind that makes movie stars and their families lose touch with reality. There was no screening room in the house. He said that his mother didn’t take herself seriously, and used to say, «I take what I do seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously».^[135]

Public image and style icon[edit]

Hepburn was known for her fashion choices and distinctive look, to the extent that journalist Mark Tungate has described her as a recognisable brand.^[154] When she first rose to stardom in Roman Holiday (1953), she was seen as an alternative feminine ideal that appealed more to women than men, in comparison to the curvy and more sexual Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.^[155][156] With her short hairstyle, thick eyebrows, slim body, and «gamine» looks, she presented a look which young women found easier to emulate than those of more sexual film stars.^[157] In 1954, fashion photographer Cecil Beaton declared Hepburn the «public embodiment of our new feminine ideal» in Vogue, and wrote that «Nobody ever looked like her before World War II … Yet we recognise the rightness of this appearance in relation to our historical needs. The proof is that thousands of imitations have appeared.»^[156] The magazine and its British version frequently reported on her style throughout the following decade.^[158] Alongside model Twiggy, Hepburn has been cited as one of the key public figures who made being very slim fashionable.^[157] Vogue has referred to her as «the acme of classic beauty».^[159]

Added to the International Best Dressed List in 1961, Hepburn was associated with a minimalistic style, usually wearing clothes with simple silhouettes which emphasised her slim body, monochromatic colours, and occasional statement accessories.^[160] In the late 1950s, Audrey Hepburn popularised plain black leggings.^[161] Hepburn was in particular associated with French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, who was first hired to design her on-screen wardrobe for her second Hollywood film, Sabrina (1954), when she was still unknown as a film actor and he a young couturier just starting his fashion house.^[162] Although initially disappointed that «Miss Hepburn» was not Katharine Hepburn as he had mistakenly thought, Givenchy and Hepburn formed a life-long friendship.^[162][163]

In addition to Sabrina, Givenchy designed her costumes for Love in the Afternoon (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Funny Face (1957), Charade (1963), Paris When It Sizzles (1964), and How to Steal a Million (1966), as well as clothed her off screen.^[162] According to Moseley, fashion plays an unusually central role in many of Hepburn’s films, stating that «the costume is not tied to the character, functioning ‘silently’ in the mise-en-scène, but as ‘fashion’ becomes an attraction in the aesthetic in its own right».^[164] She also became the face of Givenchy’s first perfume, L’Interdit, in 1957.^[165] In addition to her partnership with Givenchy, Hepburn was credited with boosting the sales of Burberry trench coats when she wore one in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and was associated with Italian footwear brand Tod’s.^[166]

In her private life, Hepburn preferred to wear casual and comfortable clothes, contrary to the haute couture she wore on screen and at public events.^[167] Despite being admired for her beauty, she never considered herself attractive, stating in a 1959 interview that «you can even say that I hated myself at certain periods. I was too fat, or maybe too tall, or maybe just plain too ugly… you can say my definiteness stems from underlying feelings of insecurity and inferiority. I couldn’t conquer these feelings by acting indecisive. I found the only way to get the better of them was by adopting a forceful, concentrated drive.»^[168] In 1989, she stated that «my look is attainable … Women can look like Audrey Hepburn by flipping out their hair, buying the large glasses and the little sleeveless dresses.»^[160]

Hepburn’s influence as a style icon continues several decades after the height of her acting career in the 1950s and 1960s. Moseley notes that especially after her death in 1993, she became increasingly admired, with magazines frequently advising readers on how to get her look and fashion designers using her as inspiration.^[169][157] Throughout her career and after her death, Hepburn received numerous accolades for her stylish appearance and attractiveness. For example, she was named the «most beautiful woman of all time»^[170] and «most beautiful woman of the 20th century»^[171] in polls by Evian and QVC respectively, and in 2015, was voted «the most stylish Brit of all time» in a poll commissioned by Samsung.^[172] Her film costumes fetch large sums of money in auctions: one of the «little black dresses» designed by Givenchy for Breakfast at Tiffany’s was sold by Christie’s for a record sum of £467,200 in 2006.^[173][e]

Filmography and stage roles[edit]

Hepburn was considered by some to be one of the most beautiful women of all time,^[178][179] she was ranked as the third greatest screen legend in American cinema by the American Film Institute.^[180] Hepburn is also remembered as both a film and style icon.^{[181][182][183]} Her debut was as a flight stewardess in the 1948 Dutch film Dutch in Seven Lessons.^[46] Hepburn then performed on the British stage as a chorus girl in the musicals High Button Shoes (1948), and Sauce Tartare (1949). Two years later she made her Broadway debut as the title character in the play Gigi. Hepburn’s Hollywood debut as a runaway princess in William Wyler’s Roman Holiday (1953) opposite Gregory Peck made her a star.^{[181][184][185]} For her performance she received the Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.^{[186][187][188]} In 1954 she played a chauffeur’s daughter caught in a love triangle in Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy Sabrina opposite Humphrey Bogart and William Holden.^[189][190] In the same year Hepburn garnered the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for portraying the titular water nymph in the play Ondine.^[191][192]

Awards and honours[edit]

Hepburn received numerous awards and honours during her career. Hepburn won, or was nominated for, awards for her work in motion pictures, television, spoken-word recording, on stage, and humanitarian work. She was five-times nominated for an Academy Award, and she was awarded the 1953 Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Roman Holiday and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993, posthumously, for her humanitarian work. From 5 nominations, she won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role, and received a BAFTA Special Award in 1992.^{[193][194][195]}

See also[edit]

• L’Interdit
• List of EGOT winners
• Sophia (robot) – A humanoid robot modelled after Audrey Hepburn
• White floral Givenchy dress of Audrey Hepburn (Academy Awards, 1954)

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Capote, Truman (1987). Truman Capote: Conversations (Literary Conversations Series) (Edited by M. Thomas Inge). Univ Pr of Mississippi; First Edition (1 February 1987). ISBN 0878052747.
• Eastman, John (1989). Retakes: Behind the Scenes of 500 Classic Movies. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-35399-4.
• Ferrer, Sean (2005). Audrey Hepburn, an Elegant Spirit. New York: Atria. ISBN 978-0-671-02479-6.
• Fishgall, Gary (2002). Gregory Peck: A Biography. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85290-X.
• Gitlin, Martin (2009). Audrey Hepburn: A Biography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-35945-3.
• Givenchy, Hubert de (2007). Audrey Hepburn. London: Pavilion. ISBN 978-1-86205-775-3.
• Harris, Warren G. (1994). Audrey Hepburn: A Biography. Wheeler Pub. ISBN 978-1-56895-156-0.
• Hill, Daniel Delis (2004). As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising. Texas Tech University Press. ISBN 9780896725348.
• Matzen, Robert (2019). Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: GoodKnight Books (Paladin). ISBN 978-1-7322735-3-5.
• Moseley, Rachel (2002). Growing Up with Audrey Hepburn: Text, Audience, Resonance. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-6310-7.
• Paris, Barry (2001) [1996]. Audrey Hepburn. Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0-425-18212-3.
• Sheridan, Jayne (2010). Fashion, Media, Promotion: The New Black Magic. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-9421-1.
• Spoto, Donald (2006). Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn. Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-307-23758-3.
• Steele, Valerie (2010). The Berg Companion to Fashion. Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84788-592-0.
• Thurman, Judith (1999). Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-3945-8872-8.
• Vermilye, Jerry (1995). The Complete Films of Audrey Hepburn. New York: Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-1598-8.
• Walker, Alexander (1997) [1994]. Audrey, Her Real Story. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-18046-2.
• Wilson, Julie (14 March 2011). «A new kind of star is born: Audrey Hepburn and the global governmentalisation of female stardom». Celebrity Studies. Informa UK Limited. 2 (1): 56–68. doi:10.1080/19392397.2011.544163. ISSN 1939-2397. S2CID 144559753.
• Woodward, Ian (31 May 2012). Audrey Hepburn: Fair Lady of the Screen. Ebury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4481-3293-5.

Further reading[edit]

• Brizel, Scott (18 November 2009). Audrey Hepburn: International Cover Girl. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-6820-4.
• Byczynski, Stuart J. (1 January 1998). Audrey Hepburn: A Secret Life. Brunswick Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-1-55618-168-9.
• Cheshire, Ellen (19 October 2011). Audrey Hepburn. Perseus Books Group. ISBN 978-1-84243-547-2.
• Hepburn-Ferrer, Sean (5 April 2005). Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-02479-6.
• Hofstede, David (31 August 1994). Audrey Hepburn: a bio-bibliography. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313289095.
• Karney, Robyn (1995). Audrey Hepburn: A Star Danced. Arcade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55970-300-0.
• Keogh, Pamela Clarke (2009). Audrey Style. Aurum Press, Limited. ISBN 978-1-84513-490-7.
• Kidney, Christine (1 February 2010). Audrey Hepburn. Pulteney Press. ISBN 978-1-906734-57-2.
• Life: Remembering Audrey 15 Years Later. Life Magazine, Time Inc. Home Entertainment. 1 August 2008. ISBN 978-1-60320-536-8.
• Marsh, June (June 2013). Audrey Hepburn in Hats. Reel Art Press. ISBN 978-1-909526-00-6.
• Maychick, Diana (1 May 1996). Audrey Hepburn: An Intimate Portrait. Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8065-8000-5.
• Meyer-Stabley, Bertrand (2010). La Véritable Audrey Hepburn (in French). Pygmalion. ISBN 978-2-7564-0321-2.
• Morley, Sheridan (1993). Audrey Hepburn: A Celebration. Pavilion Books. ISBN 978-1-85793-136-5.
• Nirwing, Sandy (26 January 2006). An American in Paris: Audrey Hepburn and the City of Light – A historical analysis of genre cinema & gender roles. GRIN Verlag. ISBN 978-3-638-46087-3.
• Nourmand, Tony (2006). Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years. Boxtree. ISBN 978-0-7522-2603-3.
• Paris, Barry (11 January 2002). Audrey Hepburn. Berkley Pub Group. ISBN 978-0-425-18212-3.
• Ricci, Stefania (June 1999). Audrey Hepburn: una donna, lo stile (in Italian). Leonardo Arte. ISBN 978-88-7813-550-5.
• Wasson, Sam (22 June 2010). Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and The Dawn of the Modern Woman. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-200013-2.
• Yapp, Nick (20 November 2009). Audrey Hepburn. Endeavour. ISBN 9781873913109.

External links[edit]

Одри Хепбёрн
Audrey Hepburn
Одри Хепбёрн в фильме «Римские каникулы» (1953)
Имя при рождении:	Одри Кэтлин Растон
Дата рождения:	4 мая 1929
Место рождения:	Брюссель, Бельгия
Дата смерти:	20 января 1993 (63 года)
Место смерти:	Толошеназ, Швейцария
Гражданство:	Бельгия  США
Профессия:	актриса
Награды:	«Оскар» (1953)
IMDb:	ID 0000030

Одри Хе́пбёрн (англ. Audrey Hepburn), урождённая Одри Кэтлин Растон, англ. Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 мая 1929, Брюссель, Бельгия — 20 января 1993, Толошеназ, Швейцария) — американская актриса и фотомодель. Получила «Оскар» за лучшую женскую роль в 1953 (фильм «Римские каникулы»), а также номинировалась четыре раза в 1954, 1959, 1961 и 1967 годах.

Биография

Детство и юность

Одри Кэтлин Растон^[1] родилась 4 мая 1929 г. в Брюсселе. Она была единственным ребенком Джона Виктора Растона (John Victor Ruston) и баронессы Эллы Ван Хеемстра (Ella van Heemstra), голландской аристократки, в роду которой были французские дворяне и английские монархи (в частности, король Эдуард III^[2]). Джона Растона биографы Хепберн называли англо-ирландским банкиром, но он не был ни ирландцем, ни банкиром. Позднее он добавил имя Хепбёрн (Hepburn) к своей фамилии, и фамилия Одри стала Хепбёрн-Растон. У Одри было два сводных брата: Александр и Ян Ван Уффорд от первого брака её матери с голландским аристократом Хендриком ван Уффордом.

Хепбёрн посещала частные школы в Англии и Нидерландах. Её мать была строгой женщиной, отец был более добродушным, поэтому девочка предпочитала его. Он оставил семью, когда Одри была ещё ребенком. Позже она назовет его уход самым болезненным моментом в своей жизни. Много лет спустя с помощью Красного Креста она отыскала своего отца в Дублине и поддерживала его материально вплоть до его смерти. ^[3]

После развода родителей в 1935 году Хепбёрн жила с матерью в Арнеме (Нидерланды), когда разразилась Вторая мировая война и наступил период немецкой оккупации. В это время она приняла псевдоним Эдда Ван Хеемстра, подправив для этого документы своей матери (Элла Ван Хеемстра), поскольку «английское» имя считалось опасным. Данная выдумка оказалась настолько удачной, что многие считали, ^[4] и считают по сей день ^[5], что именно это имя (Эдда Ван Хеемстра) и есть настоящее имя Одри Хепбёрн. Окончательную точку в этом вопросе ставит официальный документ — метрика Одри Кэтлин Растон.

После высадки союзников положение населения на оккупированных немцами территориях ухудшилось. Зимой 1944 наблюдался острый недостаток продовольствия (т. н. «голодная зима». Без тепла и пищи жители Нидерландов голодали, некоторые замерзали прямо на улицах. Арнем опустел во время бомбардировок союзников. Дядя и двоюродный брат матери Одри были расстреляны за участие в движении Сопротивления. Её брат находился в немецком концлагере. Вследствие недоедания у Одри Хепбёрн возник ряд проблем со здоровьем. Она лежала в кровати и читала, пытаясь забыть про голод. Она исполняла балетные номера, чтобы собрать средства для подполья. Эти времена были не так уж плохи, и она была в состоянии радоваться светлым периодам детства. В 1992 году Хепбёрн говорила в интервью: «Пока у ребёнка есть определенный минимум, он совершенно счастлив. Я помню, что нам бывало очень весело. Мы же не сидели на полу и не плакали пять лет подряд. Конечно, висела тень страха и репрессий, и происходили страшные вещи…» Истории о том, как она и её семья ели луковицы тюльпанов, чтобы выжить, сильно преувеличены. Луковицы тюльпанов использовались для получения муки, из которой они пекли пирожные и печенье.

От недоедания у Одри развилась анемия, заболевание респираторной системы и отечность. Депрессия, которой она страдала в последующие годы, также, вероятно, являлась результатом перенесенного голода^[6].

В детстве Одри Хепбёрн любила рисовать. Некоторые из её детских рисунков сохранились. ^[7]

После освобождения Нидерландов, в страну начала поступать гуманитарная помощь. Хепбёрн как-то упоминала, что однажды съела целую банку сгущёнки, а потом заболела от одного из блюд гуманитарной помощи, потому что насыпала слишком много сахара в овсянку. ^[8]

Поскольку ЮНИСЕФ спас её в ранней юности, она впоследствии пожелала вернуть этот долг и с 1954 года начала выступать в радиопередачах ЮНИСЕФ.

Начало карьеры

В 1945 году, после окончания войны, Хепбёрн заканчивает арнемскую консерваторию и переезжает в Амстердам, где она и её мама работали медсестрами в доме ветеранов. Параллельно с работой в 1946 году Хепбёрн берет уроки балета у Сони Гаскелл. .^[9] В 1948 Одри приезжает в Лондон и берет уроки танца у прославленной Мари Рамперт, педагога Вацлава Нижинского, одного из величайших танцоров в истории. Вероятно, Хепбёрн спрашивала Рамперт о своих перспективах в балете. Рамперт заверила её, что она может продолжать работать, и будет иметь успех как балерина, но её рост (примерно 1 м 70 см) в сочетании с хроническим недоеданием во время войны не позволит ей стать прима-балериной. Хепбёрн прислушалась к мнению педагога и решила посвятить себя драматическому искусству, карьере, в которой у неё хотя бы был шанс преуспеть. ^[10] Когда Одри стала звездой, Мари Рамперт сказала в интервью: «Она была чудесной ученицей. Если бы она продолжала заниматься балетом, она была бы выдающейся балериной».^[11] К сожалению, мать Хепбёрн работала на унизительных для аристократки условиях, чтобы прокормить семью. Одри должна была зарабатывать сама, и карьера актрисы казалась самым естественным решением.

Её актёрская карьера началась с учебного фильма Голландский в семи уроках. Затем она играла в музыкальном театре в таких постановках, как High Button Shoes и Sauce Piquante. Первым собственно художественным фильмом для Хепбёрн стал британский фильм One Wild Oat, в котором она играла девушку-регистратора в отеле. Она сыграла несколько второстепенных и эпизодических ролей в таких фильмах, как Рассказы молодых жён, Смех в раю, Банда с Лавендр Хилл и Дитя Монте-Карло.

Первая крупная роль Одри Хепбёрн в кино состоялась в 1951 году в фильме The Secret People, в котором она играла артистку балета. Одри занималась балетом с детства и завоевала одобрение критики благодаря своему таланту, который она продемонстрировала в фильме. Правда, учителя считали её «слишком высокой» для профессиональной танцовщицы, поскольку с её ростом она оказалась выше, чем многие танцоры мужчины.

Во время съемок фильма Дитя Монте-Карло, Хепбёрн была утверждена на главную роль в Бродвейской постановке «Жижи», премьера которой состоялась 24 ноября 1951 года. Утверждают, что автор пьесы Сидони Колетт, впервые увидев Хепбёрн, якобы сказала «Вуаля! Вот наша Жижи!». Одри завоевала Theatre World Award за эту роль. Сама пьеса полгода с успехом шла в Нью-Йорке.

Затем ей предложили главную роль в голливудском фильме «Римские каникулы», где её партнером был Грегори Пек. Изначально планировалось поместить имя Пека крупными буквами над названием фильма, а внизу приписать имя Одри Хепбёрн. Пек позвонил своему агенту и добился, чтобы имя Хепбёрн было напечатано так же, как и его собственное, поскольку он уже тогда предсказывал, что Хепбёрн получит Оскара за эту роль. В 1953 году она получила награду за лучшую женскую роль (Academy Award for Best Actress). Ходили слухи о романе между нею и Пеком, но оба категорически отрицали подобные утверждения. Хепбёрн, однако, добавила: «Вообще-то надо быть немного влюбленным в своего партнера и наоборот. Если вы собираетесь изображать любовь, вам надо чувствовать её. Иначе ничего не получится. Но не обязательно уносить её за пределы сцены».

Звезда Голливуда

После «Римских каникул» Хепбёрн снималась в фильме «Сабрина» с Хамфри Богартом и Уильямом Холденом. С последним у неё даже завязался роман. Одри надеялась выйти за него замуж и иметь детей. Она прервала свои отношения с Холденом, когда тот признался ей, что перенёс вазектомию.

В 1954 году Одри вернулась на театральную сцену в роли русалки в пьесе «Ундина», где её партнером был Мэл Феррер, за которого она в этом же году вышла замуж. За свою роль в «Ундине» Хепбёрн получила премию «Тони» за лучшую женскую роль в 1954 году. Эта премия, полученная всего лишь через шесть недель после «Оскара», упрочила её репутацию актрисы, как кино, так и театра. К середине 50-х Хепбёрн также стала признанной законодательницей мод. Её внешность в стиле gamine и широко признанное чувство шика имели массу поклонников и подражателей.

Став одной из самых популярных приманок для зрителя, Одри Хепбёрн снималась вместе с другими ведущими актёрами, такими как Фред Астер в «Забавной мордашке», Морисом Шевалье и Гарри Купером в «Любви после полудня», Джорджем Пеппардом в «Завтраке у Тиффани», Кэри Грантом в восторженно принятом критикой хите «Шарада», Рексом Харрисоном в «Моей прекрасной леди», Питером О’Тулом в «Как украсть миллион» и Шоном Коннери в фильме «Робин и Мэриан». Многие из её сценических партнёров стали впоследствии её друзьями. Рекс Харрисон назвал Одри своей любимой партнёршей. Кэри Грант любил баловать её, и однажды сказал: «всё, чего я бы хотел в подарок на Рождество, — это сняться ещё в одном фильме с Одри Хепбёрн».

Грегори Пек стал её другом на всю жизнь. После кончины Хепбёрн Пек вышел на камеру и со слезами в голосе прочитал её любимое стихотворение «Unending Love» («Вечная Любовь»). Кое-кто считал, что Хамфри Богарт не ладил с Хепбёрн, но это неправда. Богарт ладил с Одри лучше, чем кто-либо другой на сцене. Позднее Хепбёрн сказала «Иногда именно так называемые «крутые парни» на поверку оказываются самыми мягкосердечными, такими как Богарт был со мной».

Роль Холли Гоулайтли, сыгранная Хепбёрн в фильме «Завтрак у Тиффани» 1961 года, превратилась в один из самых культовых образов американского кино XX века. Хепбёрн назвала эту роль «самой джазовой в своей карьере». Когда её спросили, в чём заключалась сложность этой роли, Хепберн сказала: «Я интроверт. Играть девушку-экстраверта оказалось самой сложной вещью, которую я когда-либо делала». На съёмках она носила очень стильную одежду (в том числе знаменитое «маленькое чёрное платье», ставшее после выхода фильма на экраны настоящим хитом), созданную ею в соавторстве с Живанши, и добавила высветленные пряди к своим каштановым волосам. Найденный таким образом стиль она сохранила и вне съёмок. Дружбу с Живанши актриса пронесла через всю жизнь, став его постоянной клиенткой. Свои первые духи L`Interdit Юбер посвятил именно Одри.

Одри Хепбёрн снималась в 1964 году в мюзикле «Моя прекрасная леди», появления которого ждали с нетерпением, достойным «Унесённых ветром». Хепбёрн была выбрана на роль Элизы Дулиттл вместо Джулии Эндрюс, которая уже играла эту роль на Бродвее. Решение не приглашать Эндрюс было принято ещё до того, как Хепберн была утверждена на роль. Изначально Хепбёрн отклонила предложение и попросила Джека Уорнера отдать роль Эндрюс, но когда ей сообщили, что снимать будут либо её, либо Элизабет Тейлор, она согласилась. По словам статьи в Soundstage magazine, «все согласились, что если Джулии Эндрюс не будет в фильме, Одри Хепберн является отличным выбором». Кстати, Джулия Эндрюс должна была играть в «Мери Поппинс», фильме, который выходил в том же году, что и «Моя прекрасная леди».

Хепбёрн записала вокальные партии для роли, но впоследствии профессиональная певица Марни Никсон перепела все её песни. Говорят, что Хепберн в гневе покинула съёмки после того, как ей рассказали об этом. На следующий день она вернулась с извинениями. Плёнки с записью некоторых песен в исполнении Хепбёрн все ещё существуют и были включены в документальные фильмы и DVD версию фильма. Некоторые вокальные номера в исполнении Хепбёрн всё же остались в фильме. Это «Just You Wait» и отрывки из «I Could Have Danced All Night».

Интрига по поводу раздачи ролей достигла своей кульминации в сезоне 1964—65 гг., когда Хепбёрн не была номинирована на «Оскар», тогда как Эндрюс выдвигалась за роль Мери Поппинс. По приближении церемонии СМИ пытались сыграть на соперничестве двух актрис, хотя обе женщины отрицали, что между ними существуют какие-либо разногласия. Джулия Эндрюс получила свой «Оскар» за лучшую женскую роль.

С 1967 года после пятнадцати весьма успешных лет в кинематографе, Хепбёрн снималась от случая к случаю. После развода со своим первым мужем Мелом Феррером она вышла замуж за итальянского психиатра Андреа Дотти, родила второго сына Люка и переехала в Италию. Беременность протекала тяжело и потребовала почти постоянного соблюдения постельного режима. В начале 70-х годов в Италии возросла активность террористов «Красной Армии», и Одри разводится с Дотти и пытается вернуться в кино, снявшись с Шоном Коннери в фильме «Робин и Мэриан» в 1976 году. Фильм получил умеренное признание, далёкое от обычных высоких оценок фильмов с участием Хепбёрн. К удивлению окружающих, Одри отвергла казавшуюся явно написанной под неё роль бывшей балерины в The Turning Point (данную роль получила Ширли Мак Лейн, и успешный фильм упрочил её карьеру). Хепбёрн позднее сказала, что больше всего она сожалеет о том, что отвергла эту роль.

В 1979 году Хепбёрн предприняла ещё одну попытку вернуться, снявшись в «Кровных узах». Книги Шелдона были столь популярны, что его имя было включено в название фильма, и это, очевидно, заставляло Хепбёрн считать, что фильм обречен на успех. К сожалению, это было не так. Критики, даже те из них, которые сами были поклонниками Хепбёрн, не могли рекомендовать фильм, ввиду явной банальности материала.

Последняя главная роль Хепбёрн в кино была в паре с её новым увлечением Беном Гадзара в современной комедии «Они все смеялись», небольшой, стильной и светлой картине — настоящем номере под занавес для Хепберн, — снятой Питером Богдановичем. Фильм пользовался успехом у критики, но был омрачён жестоким убийством одной из его звезд — подруги Богдановича Дороти Страттен. В 1987 году Хепбёрн снималась с Робертом Вагнером в ироническом детективном телефильме «Любовь среди воров», который заимствовал элементы из некоторых её знаменитых фильмов, в частности из «Шарады» и «Как украсть миллион». Фильм пользовался умеренным успехом, причем Хепбёрн сама говорила, что приняла в нём участие ради развлечения.

Последней ролью Хепбёрн в кино, так называемой камео, была роль ангела в фильме Стивена Спилберга «Всегда», снятом в 1989 году.

Сотрудничество с ЮНИСЕФ ^[12],^[13]

Вскоре после её последнего появления в кино Хепбёрн была назначена специальным послом ЮНИСЕФ. Испытывая благодарность за собственное спасение в период после нацистской оккупации, она посвятила остаток своих дней улучшению судьбы детей, проживающих в беднейших странах мира. Работа Хепбёрн сильно облегчалась благодаря знанию целого ряда языков. Она разговаривала на французском, английском, испанском, итальянском и голландском языках. Она выучила итальянский, когда жила в Риме. Испанский она выучила самостоятельно, и существует съёмка ЮНИСЕФ, на которой Хепбёрн бегло говорит на испанском с жителями Мехико.

Хотя Хепбёрн начала сотрудничать с ЮНИСЕФ ещё в 1954 году, участвуя в радиопередачах, теперь это стало для неё более серьёзной работой. Близкие утверждают, что мысли об умирающих, беспомощных детях преследовали её всю оставшуюся жизнь. Её первая миссия была в Эфиопии в 1988. Она посетила детский дом с 500 голодающими детьми и добилась, чтобы ЮНИСЕФ выслал еду.

В августе 1988 Хепбёрн ездила в Турцию участвовать в кампании по иммунизации. Она назвала Турцию самым ярким примером возможностей ЮНИСЕФ. По возвращении она сказала: «Армия дала нам грузовики, торговцы рыбой дали вагоны для вакцины, и как только дата была назначена, потребовалось только 10 дней, чтобы привить всю страну. Неплохо».

В октябре того же года Хепбёрн поехала в Южную Америку, где посетила Венесуэлу и Эквадор. Хепбёрн говорила: «Я видела как крошечные горные общины, трущобы и стихийные поселения каким-то чудом впервые получили системы водоснабжения, и этим чудом был ЮНИСЕФ. Я видела, как дети строили сами себе школы из кирпича и цемента, предоставленных ЮНИСЕФ».

В феврале 1989 года Хепбёрн совершила поездку по странам Центральной Америки и встречалась с главами Гондураса, Сальвадора и Гватемалы. В апреле в рамках миссии «Операция Линия Жизни» она вместе с Робертом Уолдерсом посетила Судан. Из-за гражданской войны продовольствие из гуманитарной помощи не поступало. Целью миссии было доставить продовольствие в Южный Судан.

В октябре того же года Хепбёрн и Уолдерс посетили Бангладеш.

В октябре 1990 Хепбёрн едет во Вьетнам, пытаясь наладить сотрудничество правительства с ЮНИСЕФ в рамках программ иммунизации и обеспечения питьевой водой.

Последняя поездка Хепбёрн (в Сомали) состоялась за четыре месяца до смерти, в сентябре 1992 года.

В 1992 президент США Джордж Буш наградил её президентской медалью свободы в знак признания её работы в рамках ЮНИСЕФ, а Американская Академия Киноискусства наградила её Гуманитарной Премией им. Жана Хершолта за её помощь человечеству. Эта премия была присуждена посмертно и вручена её сыну.

Болезнь и смерть

Во время поездки в Сомали у неё начались невыносимые боли в области живота. Одри никому ничего не сказала, чтобы сопровождающие не надумали тут же свернуть программу поездки. К врачу она обратилась, лишь вернувшись из Африки. Врач констатировал рак. Одри Хепбёрн скончалась 20 января 1993 года в маленьком швейцарском городке Толошеназе недалеко от Лозанны.

Жизнь в датах

Дата	Событие	Возраст
4.05.1929	Дата рождения, Брюссель
1935	Развод родителей. Мать с детьми переезжает в Арнем, Нидерланды	6 лет
1945	Переезд в Амстердам. Работает медсестрой.	16 лет
1946	Работает медсестрой и продолжает обучаться балету	17 лет
1948	Переезд в Лондон. Уроки балета у Мари Рамперт	19 лет
1948	Документальный фильм «Голландский за семь уроков»	19 лет
Начало 50-х	Помолвка с Джеймсом Хансоном. Брак не состоялся	около 21 года
1951	Начало работы в кино. Эпизодические роли в фильмах Рассказы молодых жён, Смех в раю, Банда с Лавендр Хилл и Дитя Монте-Карло.	22 года
1951	Фильм Засекреченные люди роль балерины	22 года
24.11.1951	Премьера пьесы «Жижи» на Бродвее	22 года
1953	Фильм «Римские каникулы»	24 года
1953	Оскар за лучшую женскую роль в фильме («Римские каникулы»)	24 года
1954	Роль водяной феи в пьесе «Ундина». Партнер — Мэл Феррер	25 лет
25.09.1954	Брак с Мелом Феррером	25 лет
1954	Премия Тони за «Ундину»	25 лет
1954	Начало сотрудничества с ЮНИСЕФ (участие в радиопередачах)	25 лет
1954	Фильм «Сабрина»	25 лет
1954	Номинировалась на Оскар за фильм «Сабрина»	25 лет
1956	Фильм «Война и мир», Наташа Ростова	27 лет
1957	Фильм «Забавная мордашка»	28 лет
1959	Фильм «История монахини»	30 лет
1959	Номинировалась на Оскар за фильм «История монахини»	30 лет
1960	Рождение первого сына (Шон от брака с Мелом Феррером)	31 год
1961	Фильм «Завтрак у Тиффани»	32 года
1961	Номинировалась на Оскар за фильм «Завтрак у Тиффани»	32 года
1963	Фильм «Шарада»	34 года
1963	Публично исполняет «Happy Birthday Mr. President» для Кеннеди	34 года
1964	Фильм «Моя прекрасная леди»	35 лет
1966	Фильм «Как украсть миллион»	37 лет
1967	Фильм «Дождись темноты»	38 лет
1967	Номинировалась на Оскар за фильм «Дождись темноты»	38 лет
5.12.1968	Развод с Мелом Феррером	39 лет
18.01.1969	Брак с Андреа Дотти	39 лет
1970	Рождение второго сына (Лука от брака с Андреа Дотти)	41 год
1982	Развод с Андреа Дотти	53 года
1989	Последнее появление в кино — фильм «Всегда»	60 лет
20.01.1993	Дата смерти	63 года

Фильмография

• 1948 — Голладский за семь уроков/ Nederlands in 7 Lessen — бортповодница, документальный фильм, Нидерланды (реж. Чарльз ван ден Линден)
• 1951 — Смех в раю / Laughter in Paradise, Великобритания (реж. Марио Зампи)
• 1951 — Зёрнышко дикого овса / One Wild Oat — регистратор гостиницы, Великобритания (реж. Чарльз Саундерс)
• 1951 — Банда с Лавендр Хилл / The Lavender Hill Mob — Чигита, Великобритания (реж. Чарльз Крайтон)
• 1951 — Дитя Монте-Карло / Monte Carlo Baby — Линда, Франция (реж. Жан Буайе)

• 1951 — Рассказы молодых жен / Young Wives’ Tale — Ив Лестер, Великобритания (реж. Генри Касс)
• 1952 — Засекреченные люди / The Secret People — Нора, Великобритания (реж. Торольд Дикинсон)
• 1953 — Римские каникулы / Roman Holiday — Принцесса Анна, США (реж. Уильям Уайлер)
• 1954 — Сабрина / Sabrina — Сабрина, США (реж. Уильям Уайлер)
• 1956 — Война и мир / War and Peace — Наташа Ростова, США-Италия (реж. Кинг Видор)
• 1957 — Забавная мордашка /Funny Face — Джо Стоктон, США (реж. Стенли Донен)
• 1957 — Любовь после полудня / Love in the Afternoon — Ариана Чавесс, США (реж. Билли Уайлдер)
• 1959 — Зелёные поместья / Green Mansions — Рима, США (реж. Мэл Феррер)
• 1959 — История монахини / The Nun’s Story — сестра Люк, США (реж. Фред Циннеманн)
• 1960 — Непрощенная / The Unforgiven — Рэйчел Захария, США (реж. Джон Хьюстон)
• 1961 — Завтрак у Тиффани / Breakfast at Tiffany’s — Холли Голайтли, США (реж. Блэйк Эдвардс)

• 1961 — Детский час / The Children’s Hour — Карен Райт, США (реж. Уильям Уайлер)
• 1963 — Шарада / Charade — Регина Ламперт, США (реж. Стенли Донен)
• 1964 — Париж, когда там жара / Paris, When It Sizzles — Габриэль Симпсон, США (реж. Ричард Куайн)
• 1964 — Моя прекрасная леди / My Fair Lady — Элиза Дулиттл, США (реж. Джордж Кьюкор)
• 1966 — Как украсть миллион / How to Steal a Million — Николь Бонне, США (реж. Уильям Уайлер)
• 1967 — Двое на дороге / Two for the Road — Джоанна Уоллес, США (реж. Стенли Донен)
• 1967 — Дождись темноты / Wait until dark — Сьюзи Хендрикс, США (реж. Теренс Янг)
• 1976 — Робин и Мэриан / Robin And Marian — Мэриан, Великобритания (реж. Ричард Лестер)
• 1979 — Кровная связь / Bloodline, Элизабет, США (реж. Теренс Янг)
• 1981 — Они все смеялись / They All Laughed — Анжела, США (реж. Питер Богданович)
• 1987 — Любовь среди воров / Love Among Thieves — Baroness Caroline DuLac, США (реж. Роджер Янг)
• 1989 — Всегда / Always — Ангел, США (реж. Стивен Спилберг)

Премия «Оскар» за лучшую женскую роль

Джоан Фонтейн (1941) · Грир Гарсон (1942) · Дженнифер Джонс (1943) · Ингрид Бергман (1944) · Джоан Кроуфорд (1945) · Оливия Де Хэвилленд (1946) · Лоретта Янг (1947) · Джейн Уайман (1948) · Оливия Де Хэвилленд (1949) · Джуди Холидей (1950) · Вивьен Ли (1951) · Ширли Бут (1952) · Одри Хепбёрн (1953) · Грейс Келли (1954) · Анна Маньяни (1955) · Ингрид Бергман (1956) · Джоан Вурвард (1957) · Сьюзен Хэйворд (1958) · Симона Синьоре (1959) · Элизабет Тейлор (1960) Полный список · (1928-1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961-1980) · (1981-2000) · (2001-настоящее время)

См. также

• Одри Хепбёрн (почтовая марка)

Источники

1. ↑ http://www.thatface.org/3473.jpg метрика Одри Хепбёрн
2. ↑ http://www.livescience.com/history/ap_royal_roots.html
3. ↑ http://audreyhepburnlibrary.com/80s/parade5-5-89pg2.jpg
4. ↑ http://audreyhepburnlibrary.com/80s/parade5-5-89pg2.jpg
5. ↑ http://www.peoples.ru/art/cinema/actor/hepburn/history.html
6. ↑ Garner, Lesley. Lesley Garner meets the legendary actress as she prepares for this week’s Unicef gala performance, The Sunday Telegraph, May 26, 1991
7. ↑ http://www.audrey1.com/gallery/results.php?cat=Audrey+drawings
8. ↑ http://www.jessicaseigel.com/articles/hepburn.shtml
9. ↑ http://audreyhepburn.com/
10. ↑ http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0312/24/lkl.00.html
11. ↑ http://audreyhepburnlibrary.com/50s/time9-7-53pg2.jpg
12. ↑ http://audreyhepburn.com/html/unicef/index.html
13. ↑ http://www.audrey1.com/unicef/index.html

Ссылки

• Одри Хепбёрн в программе «Занавес» на Радио801
• Официальный сайт Детского фонда им. Одри Хепбёрн
• Одри Хепбёрн(англ.) на сайте Internet Movie Database
• Одри Хепбёрн — Детский ангел
• ETERNALLY AUDREY
• Галерея Одри Хепберн, Сканы из журналов.
• U.S. postage stamp
• Audrey Hepburn A tribute to her Humanitarian Work
• The Audrey Hepburn Guide — A guide to all things ‘Audrey’ on the Net

Audrey Hepburn
File:Audrey Hepburn 1956.jpg Hepburn in 1956
Born	Audrey Kathleen Ruston 4 May 1929 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
Died	20 January 1993 (aged 63) Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Cause of death	Appendiceal cancer
Resting place	Tolochenaz Cemetery, Tolochenaz, Vaud
Nationality	British
Other names	Edda van Heemstra Audrey Kathleen Hepburn-Ruston
Occupation	Actress (1948–89) Humanitarian (1988–92)
Spouse(s)	Mel Ferrer ​ <div style=»display:inline-block;Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character «[«.«>​ (m. 1954; div. )​ Andrea Dotti ​ <div style=»display:inline-block;Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character «[«.«>​ (m. 1969; div. )​
Partner(s)	Robert Wolders (1980–93; her death)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston Baroness Ella van Heemstra
Relatives	Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra (maternal grandfather) Emma Ferrer (granddaughter)
Signature
File:Audrey Hepburn signature.svg

Audrey Hepburn (English pronunciation: Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character «[«.; born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress, model, dancer and humanitarian. Recognized as a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood’s Golden Age. She was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend in Golden Age Hollywood and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.
Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England and the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, she studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell before moving to London in 1948, continuing her ballet training with Marie Rambert, and then performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions.

Following minor appearances in several films, Hepburn starred in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi after being spotted by French novelist Colette, on whose work the play was based. She shot to stardom for playing the lead role in Roman Holiday (1953), for which she was the first actress to win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. The same year Hepburn won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine. She went on to star in a number of successful films, such as Sabrina (1954), The Nun’s Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), for which she received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Hepburn won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In recognition of her film career, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from BAFTA, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and the Special Tony Award. She remains one of the 12 people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards.

Hepburn appeared in fewer films as her life went on, devoting much of her later life to UNICEF. She had contributed to the organisation since 1954, then worked in some of the poorest communities of Africa, South America and Asia between 1988 and 1992. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in December 1992. A month later, Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63.

Early life

Family and early childhood (1929–1938)

Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston or Edda Kathleen Hepburn-Ruston^[1] on 4 May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, a municipality in Brussels, Belgium.^[2]

Her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (1889–1980), was a British subject born in Auschitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary.^{[3][lower-alpha 1]} He was the son of Victor John George Ruston, of British and Austrian descent^[4] and Anna Wels, of Austrian descent.^[5] In 1923-24 Joseph had briefly been an honorary British consul in Samarang in the Dutch East Indies^[6] and prior to his marriage to Hepburn’s mother he had been married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress.^[3][7] Although born with the surname Ruston, he later double-barrelled his name to the more «aristocratic» Hepburn-Ruston, mistakenly believing himself descended from James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.^[4][7]

Hepburn’s mother, Ella van Heemstra (1900–1984), was a Dutch baroness. She was the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, who served as mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and as Governor of Dutch Suriname from 1921 to 1928, and Elbrig Willemine Henriette, Baroness van Asbeck (1873–1939).^[8] At age nineteen, Ella had married Jonkheer Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, an oil executive based in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, where they subsequently lived.^[9] They had two sons, Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924–2010), before divorcing in 1925.^[7][10]

Hepburn’s parents were married in Batavia in September 1926.^[9] At the time, Ruston worked for a trading company, but soon after the marriage, the couple relocated to Europe, where he began working for a loan company. After a year in London, they moved to Brussels, where he had been assigned to open a branch office.^[9][11] After three years spent travelling between Brussels, Arnhem, The Hague and London, the family settled to the suburban Brussels municipality of Linkebeek in 1932.^[9][12] Hepburn’s early childhood was sheltered and privileged.^[9] As a result of her multinational background and travelling with her family due to her father’s job,^{[13][lower-alpha 2]} she learned to speak five languages: Dutch and English from her parents, and later French, Spanish, and Italian.

In the mid-1930s, Hepburn’s parents recruited and collected donations for the British Union of Fascists.^[14] Joseph left the family abruptly in 1935, which Hepburn later professed was «the most traumatic event of my life».^[9][15] That same year, her mother moved with Audrey to her family’s estate in Arnhem. Sometime in 1937, Ella and Audrey moved to Kent, South East England, where Hepburn was educated at a small independent school in Elham.^[16][17]

Hepburn’s father moved to London, where he became more deeply involved in Fascist activity and never visited his daughter abroad.^[18] Her parents officially divorced in 1938. In the 1960s, Hepburn renewed contact with her father after locating him in Dublin through the Red Cross; although he remained emotionally detached, Hepburn supported him financially until his death.^[19]

Experiences during World War II (1939–1945)

After Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, Hepburn’s mother relocated her daughter back to Arnhem in the hope that, as during World War I, the Netherlands would remain neutral and be spared a German attack. While there, Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945. She had begun taking ballet lessons during her last years at boarding school, and continued training in Arnhem under the tutelage of Winja Marova, becoming her «star pupil».^[9] After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hepburn used the name Edda van Heemstra, because an «English-sounding» name was considered dangerous during the German occupation. Her family was profoundly affected by the occupation, with Hepburn later stating that «had we known that we were going to be occupied for five years, we might have all shot ourselves. We thought it might be over next week … six months … next year … that’s how we got through».^[9] In 1942, her uncle, Otto van Limburg Stirum (husband of her mother’s older sister, Miesje), was executed in retaliation for an act of sabotage by the resistance movement; while he had not been involved in the act, he was targeted due to his family’s prominence in Dutch society.^[9] Hepburn’s half-brother Ian was deported to Berlin to work in a German labour camp, and her other half-brother Alex went into hiding to avoid the same fate.^[9]

After her uncle’s death, Hepburn, Ella and Miesje left Arnhem to live with her grandfather, Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, in nearby Velp.^[9] It was long believed that during this time, Hepburn participated in the Dutch resistance.^[9] In 2016, the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ reported that after extensive research it had not found any evidence of such activities.^[20] In addition to other traumatic events, she witnessed the transportation of Dutch Jews to concentration camps, later stating that «more than once I was at the station seeing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped on the train. I was a child observing a child.»^[21]

After the Allied landing on D-Day, living conditions grew worse and Arnhem was subsequently heavily damaged during Operation Market Garden. During the Dutch famine that followed in the winter of 1944, the Germans blocked the resupply routes of the Dutch people’s already-limited food and fuel supplies as retaliation for railway strikes that were held to hinder German occupation. Like others, Hepburn’s family resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits;^[22][23] she developed acute anæmia, respiratory problems and edema as a result of malnutrition.^[24] The van Heemstra family was also seriously financially affected by the occupation, during which many of their properties, including their principal estate in Arnhem, were badly damaged or destroyed.^[25] The Allies liberated the Netherlands in May 1945, with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration beginning the distribution of food and other essentials.^[9][26]

Entertainment career

Ballet studies and early acting roles (1945–1952)

After the war ended in 1945, Hepburn moved with her mother and siblings to Amsterdam, where she began ballet training under Sonia Gaskell, a leading figure in Dutch ballet, and Russian Olga Tarassova.^[27] As the family’s fortunes had been lost during the war, Ella supported them by working as a cook and housekeeper for a wealthy family.^[28] Hepburn made her film debut in 1948, playing an air stewardess in Dutch in Seven Lessons, an educational travel film made by Charles van der Linden and Henry Josephson.^[29] Later that year, she moved to London to take up a ballet scholarship with Ballet Rambert, which was then based in Notting Hill.^{[30][lower-alpha 3]} She supported herself with part-time work as a model, and dropped «Ruston» from her surname. After she was told by Rambert that despite her talent, her height and weak constitution (the after-effect of wartime malnutrition) would make the status of prima ballerina unattainable, she decided to concentrate on acting.^[31][32][33]

While Ella worked in menial jobs to support them, Hepburn appeared as a chorus girl^[34] in the West End musical theatre revues High Button Shoes (1948) at the London Hippodrome, and Cecil Landeau’s Sauce Tartare (1949) and Sauce Piquante (1950) at the Cambridge Theatre. During her theatrical work, she took elocution lessons with actor Felix Aylmer to develop her voice.^[35]
After being spotted by a casting director while performing in Sauce Piquante, Hepburn was registered as a freelance actress with the Associated British Picture Corporation. She appeared in minor roles in the 1951 films One Wild Oat, Laughter in Paradise, Young Wives’ Tale and The Lavender Hill Mob, before being cast in her first major supporting role in Thorold Dickinson‘s The Secret People (1952), in which she played a prodigious ballerina, performing all of her own dancing sequences.^[36]

Hepburn was then offered a small role in a film being shot in both English and French, Monte Carlo Baby (French:Nous Irons à Monte Carlo,1952), which was filmed in Monte Carlo. Incidentally, French novelist Colette was at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo during the filming, and decided to cast Hepburn in the title role in the Broadway play Gigi.^[37] Hepburn went into rehearsals having never spoken on stage and required private coaching.^[38] When Gigi opened at the Fulton Theatre on 24 November 1951, she received praise for her performance, despite criticism that the stage version was inferior to the French filmatisation.^[39] Life called her a «hit»,^[39] while The New York Times stated that «her quality is so winning and so right that she is the success of the evening».^[38] She also received a Theatre World Award for the role.^[40] The play ran for 219 performances, closing on 31 May 1952,^[40] before going on tour which began 13 October 1952 in Pittsburgh and visited Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles before closing on 16 May 1953 in San Francisco.^[9]

Roman Holiday and stardom (1953–1960)

File:Audrey Hepburn screentest in Roman Holiday trailer.jpg

Hepburn had her first starring role in Roman Holiday (1953), playing Princess Anne, a European princess who, while escaping the reins of royalty, falls in love with an American newsman (Gregory Peck). Its producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, but director William Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn’s screen test that he cast her instead. Wyler later commented, «She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence, and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting and we said, ‘That’s the girl!Template:'»^[41] Originally, the film was to have had only Gregory Peck’s name above its title, with «Introducing Audrey Hepburn» beneath in smaller font. However, Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing so that her name appeared before the title and in type as large as his: «You’ve got to change that because she’ll be a big star and I’ll look like a big jerk.»^[42]

The film was a box office success, and Hepburn gained critical acclaim for her portrayal, unexpectedly winning an Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best British Actress in a Leading Role, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama in 1953. In his review in The New York Times, A. H. Weiler wrote: «Although she is not precisely a newcomer to films Audrey Hepburn, the British actress who is being starred for the first time as Princess Anne, is a slender, elfin and wistful beauty, alternately regal and childlike in her profound appreciation of newly-found, simple pleasures and love. Although she bravely smiles her acknowledgement of the end of that affair, she remains a pitifully lonely figure facing a stuffy future.»^[43]

File:Holden-Hepburn-Sabrina.jpg

Hepburn was signed to a seven-picture contract with Paramount with 12 months in between films to allow her time for stage work.^[44] She was featured on 7 September 1953 cover of TIME magazine, and also became noted for her personal style.^[45] Following her success in Roman Holiday, Hepburn starred in Billy Wilder‘s romantic Cinderella-story comedy Sabrina (1954), in which wealthy brothers (Humphrey Bogart and William Holden) compete for the affections of their chauffeur’s innocent daughter (Hepburn). For her performance, she was nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Actress while winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role the same year. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times stated that she was «a young lady of extraordinary range of sensitive and moving expressions within such a frail and slender frame. She is even more luminous as the daughter and pet of the servants’ hall than she was as a princess last year, and no more than that can be said.»^[46]

Hepburn also returned to the stage in 1954, playing a water spirit who falls in love with a human in the fantasy play Ondine on Broadway. A New York Times critic commented that «somehow Miss Hepburn is able to translate [its intangibles] into the language of the theatre without artfulness or precociousness. She gives a pulsing performance that is all grace and enchantment, disciplined by an instinct for the realities of the stage». Her performance won her the 1954 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play the same year she won the Academy Award for Roman Holiday, making her one of three actresses to receive the Academy and Tony Awards for Best Actress in the same year (the other two are Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn).^[47] During the production, Hepburn and her co-star Mel Ferrer began a relationship, and were married on 25 September 1954 in Switzerland.

File:Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer 1955.jpg

Although she appeared in no new film releases in 1955, Hepburn received the Golden Globe for World Film Favorite that year.^[48] Having become one of Hollywood’s most popular box-office attractions, she went on to star in a series of successful films during the remainder of the decade, including her BAFTA- and Golden Globe-nominated role as Natasha Rostova in War and Peace (1956), an adaptation of the Tolstoy novel set during the Napoleonic wars, starring Henry Fonda and her husband Mel Ferrer. In 1957, she exhibited her dancing abilities in her debut musical film, Funny Face (1957) wherein Fred Astaire, a fashion photographer, discovers a beatnik bookstore clerk (Hepburn) who, lured by a free trip to Paris, becomes a beautiful model. The same year Hepburn starred in another romantic comedy, Love in the Afternoon, alongside Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier.

File:Hepburn-Perkins-1959.JPG

Hepburn played Sister Luke in The Nun’s Story (1959), which focuses on the character’s struggle to succeed as a nun, alongside co-star Peter Finch. The role produced a third Academy Award nomination for Hepburn and earned her a second BAFTA Award. A review in Variety read, «Hepburn has her most demanding film role, and she gives her finest performance», while Films in Review stated that her performance «will forever silence those who have thought her less an actress than a symbol of the sophisticated child/woman. Her portrayal of Sister Luke is one of the great performances of the screen.»^[49] Reportedly, she spent hours in convents and with members of the Church to bring truth to her portrayal, stating that she «gave more time, energy and thought to this than to any of my previous screen performances.»^[50]

Following The Nun’s Story, Hepburn received a lukewarm reception for starring with Anthony Perkins in the romantic adventure Green Mansions (1959), in which she played Rima, a jungle girl who falls in love with a Venezuelan traveller,^[51] and The Unforgiven (1960), her only western film, in which she appeared opposite Burt Lancaster and Lillian Gish in a story of racism against a group of Native Americans.^[52]

Breakfast at Tiffany’s and continued success (1961–1967)

File:Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.jpg

Hepburn next starred as New York call girl Holly Golightly in Blake Edwards‘s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), a film loosely based on the eponymous Truman Capote novella. Capote disapproved of many changes that were made to sanitise the story for the film adaptation, and would have preferred for Marilyn Monroe to have been cast in the role, although he also stated that Hepburn «did a terrific job».^[53] The character is considered one of the most iconic in American cinema, and a defining role for Hepburn.^[54] The dress she wears during the opening credits is considered an icon of the twentieth century and perhaps the most famous «little black dress» of all time.^{[55][56][57][58]} Hepburn stated that the role was «the jazziest of my career»^[59] yet admitted: «I’m an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did.»^[60] She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

File:Childrens Hour trailer.jpg

The same year, Hepburn also starred in William Wyler’s controversial drama The Children’s Hour (1961), in which she and Shirley MacLaine played teachers whose lives become troubled after a student accuses them of being lesbians.^[54] Due to the social mores of the time, the film and Hepburn’s performance went largely unmentioned, both critically and commercially. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times opined that the film «is not too well acted» with the exception of Hepburn who «gives the impression of being sensitive and pure» of its «muted theme»,^[61] while Variety magazine also complimented Hepburn’s «soft sensitivity, mar-velous Template:Sic projection and emotional understatement» adding that Hepburn and MacLaine «beautifully complement each other».^[62]

File:Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant 1.jpg

Hepburn next appeared opposite Cary Grant in the comic thriller Charade (1963), playing a young widow pursued by several men who chase the fortune stolen by her murdered husband. 59-year-old Grant, who had previously withdrawn from the starring male lead roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina, was sensitive about his age difference with 34-year-old Hepburn, and was uncomfortable about the romantic interplay. To satisfy his concerns, the filmmakers agreed to change the screenplay so that Hepburn’s character romantically pursued his.^[63] The film turned out to be a positive experience for him, stating that «All I want for Christmas is another picture with Audrey Hepburn.»^[64] The role earned Hepburn her third and final competitive BAFTA Award and another Golden Globe nomination. Critic Bosley Crowther was less kind to her performance, stating that «Hepburn is cheerfully committed to a mood of how-nuts-can-you-be in an obviously comforting assortment of expensive Givenchy costumes.»^[65]

Hepburn reteamed with her Sabrina co-star William Holden in Paris When It Sizzles (1964), a screwball comedy in which she played the young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter, who aids his writer’s block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots. Its production was troubled by a number of problems. Holden unsuccessfully tried to rekindle a romance with the now-married Hepburn, and his alcoholism was beginning to affect his work. After principal photography began, she demanded the dismissal of cinematographer Claude Renoir after seeing what she felt were unflattering dailies.^[66] Superstitious, she also insisted on dressing room 55 because that was her lucky number and required that Givenchy, her long-time designer, be given a credit in the film for her perfume.^[66] Dubbed «marshmallow-weight hokum» by Variety upon its release in April,^[67] the film was «uniformly panned»^[66] but critics were kinder to Hepburn’s performance, describing her as «a refreshingly individual creature in an era of the exaggerated curve».^[67]

File:Harry Stradling-Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.jpg

Hepburn’s second film of 1964 was George Cukor‘s film adaptation of the stage musical My Fair Lady, released in November. Soundstage wrote that «not since Gone with the Wind has a motion picture created such universal excitement as My Fair Lady«,^[47] yet Hepburn’s casting in the role of Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle sparked controversy. Julie Andrews, who had originated the role in the stage show, had not been offered the part because producer Jack L. Warner thought Hepburn or Elizabeth Taylor were more «bankable» propositions. Hepburn initially asked Warner to give the role to Andrews but was eventually cast. Further friction was created when, although non-singer Hepburn had sung in Funny Face and had lengthy vocal preparation for the role in My Fair Lady, her vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon as the songs were not written for her vocal range.^[68][69] Hepburn was initially upset and walked out on the set when informed.^{[lower-alpha 4]}

The press further played up the fabricated rivalry between Hepburn and Andrews, when the latter won an Academy Award for Mary Poppins at the 37th Academy Awards (1964) but Hepburn was not even nominated, despite My Fair Lady’s accumulation of eight out of a possible twelve awards. Regardless, critics greatly applauded Hepburn’s «exquisite» performance.^[69] Crowther wrote that «the happiest thing about [My Fair Lady] is that Audrey Hepburn superbly justifies the decision of Jack Warner to get her to play the title role.»^[68] Gene Ringgold of Soundstage also commented that «Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. She is Eliza for the ages»,^[47] while adding, «Everyone agreed that if Julie Andrews was not to be in the film, Audrey Hepburn was the perfect choice.»^[47]

As the decade carried on, Hepburn appeared in an assortment of genres including the heist comedy How to Steal a Million (1966) where she played the daughter of a famous art collector, whose collection consists entirely of forgeries. Fearing her father’s exposure, she sets out to steal one of his priceless statues with the help of a man played by Peter O’Toole. It was followed by two films in 1967. The first was Two for the Road, a non-linear and innovative British dramedy that traces the course of a couple’s troubled marriage. Director Stanley Donen said that Hepburn was more free and happy than he had ever seen her, and he credited that to co-star Albert Finney.^[70] The second, Wait Until Dark, is a suspense thriller in which Hepburn demonstrated her acting range by playing the part of a terrorised blind woman. Filmed on the brink of her divorce, it was a difficult film for her, as husband Mel Ferrer was its producer. She lost fifteen pounds under the stress, but she found solace in co-star Richard Crenna and director Terence Young. Hepburn earned her fifth and final competitive Academy Award nomination for Best Actress; Bosley Crowther affirmed, «Hepburn plays the poignant role, the quickness with which she changes and the skill with which she manifests terror attract sympathy and anxiety to her and give her genuine solidity in the final scenes.»^[71]

Semi-retirement and final projects (1968–1993)

After 1967, Hepburn chose to devote more time to her family and acted only occasionally in the following decades. She attempted a comeback in 1976, co-starring with Sean Connery in the period piece Robin and Marian, which was moderately successful. In 1979, Hepburn reunited with director Terence Young in the production of Bloodline, sharing top-billing with Ben Gazzara, James Mason and Romy Schneider. The film, an international intrigue amid the jet-set, was a critical and box-office failure. Hepburn’s last starring role in a feature film was opposite Gazzara in the comedy They All Laughed (1981), directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film was overshadowed by the murder of one of its stars, Dorothy Stratten, and received only a limited release. Six years later, Hepburn co-starred with Robert Wagner in a made-for-television caper film, Love Among Thieves (1987), which borrowed elements from several of her films, most notably Charade and How to Steal a Million.^{[citation needed]}

After finishing her last motion picture role in 1988—a cameo appearance as an angel in Steven Spielberg’s Always—Hepburn completed only two more entertainment-related projects, both critically acclaimed. Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn was a PBS documentary series, which was filmed on location in seven countries in the spring and summer of 1990. A one-hour special preceded it in March 1991, and the series itself began airing the day after her death, 21 January 1993. For the debut episode, Hepburn was posthumously awarded the 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming. The other project was a spoken word album, Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales, which features readings of classic children’s stories and was recorded in 1992. It earned her a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children. She remains one of the few entertainers to win Grammy and Emmy Awards posthumously.^{[citation needed]}

Humanitarian career

Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the German occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations. Hepburn’s travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; besides being bilingual in English and Dutch, she also was fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, and German. Hepburn was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. United States president George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity, with her son accepting on her behalf.^[72][73]

Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s, starting in 1954 with radio presentations, this was a much higher level of dedication. Her family said that thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life. In 2002, at the United Nations Special Session on Children, UNICEF honoured Hepburn’s legacy of humanitarian work by unveiling a statue, «The Spirit of Audrey», at UNICEF’s New York headquarters. Her service for children is also recognised through the US Fund for UNICEF‘s Audrey Hepburn Society.^[74][75]

1988–1989

Hepburn’s first field mission for UNICEF was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited an orphanage in Mek’ele that housed 500 starving children and had UNICEF send food. Of the trip, she said,

«I have a broken heart. I feel desperate. I can’t stand the idea that two million people are in imminent danger of starving to death, many of them children, [and] not because there isn’t tons of food sitting in the northern port of Shoa. It can’t be distributed. Last spring, Red Cross and UNICEF workers were ordered out of the northern provinces because of two simultaneous civil wars… I went into rebel country and saw mothers and their children who had walked for ten days, even three weeks, looking for food, settling onto the desert floor into makeshift camps where they may die. Horrible. That image is too much for me. The ‘Third World’ is a term I don’t like very much, because we’re all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering.»^[76]

In August 1988 Hepburn went to Turkey on an immunisation campaign. She called Turkey «the loveliest example» of UNICEF’s capabilities. Of the trip, she said «the army gave us their trucks, the fishmongers gave their wagons for the vaccines, and once the date was set, it took ten days to vaccinate the whole country. Not bad.»^[77] In October, Hepburn went to South America. Of her experiences in Venezuela and Ecuador, Hepburn told the United States Congress, «I saw tiny mountain communities, slums, and shantytowns receive water systems for the first time by some miracle – and the miracle is UNICEF. I watched boys build their own schoolhouse with bricks and cement provided by UNICEF.»

Hepburn toured Central America in February 1989, and met with leaders in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In April, she visited Sudan with Wolders as part of a mission called «Operation Lifeline». Because of civil war, food from aid agencies had been cut off. The mission was to ferry food to southern Sudan. Hepburn said, «I saw but one glaring truth: These are not natural disasters but man-made tragedies for which there is only one man-made solution – peace.»^[77] In October 1989, Hepburn and Wolders went to Bangladesh. John Isaac, a UN photographer, said, «Often the kids would have flies all over them, but she would just go hug them. I had never seen that. Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but she would just grab them. Children would just come up to hold her hand, touch her – she was like the Pied Piper.»^[9]

1990–1992

In October 1990 Hepburn went to Vietnam, in an effort to collaborate with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunisation and clean water programmes.

In September 1992, four months before she died, Hepburn went to Somalia. Calling it «apocalyptic», she said, «I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn’t prepared for this.»^[77] «The earth is red – an extraordinary sight – that deep terracotta red. And you see the villages, displacement camps and compounds, and the earth is all rippled around these places like an ocean bed and I was told these were the graves. There are graves everywhere. Along the road, wherever there is a road, around the paths that you take, along the riverbeds, near every camp – there are graves everywhere.»^[78]
Though scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope. «Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicisation of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanisation of politics.» «Anyone who doesn’t believe in miracles is not a realist. I have seen the miracle of water which UNICEF has helped to make a reality. Where for centuries young girls and women had to walk for miles to get water, now they have clean drinking water near their homes. Water is life, and clean water now means health for the children of this village.»^[77] «People in these places don’t know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognise the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF their faces light up, because they know that something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump UNICEF.»^[77]

Personal life

Marriages, relationships and children

File:Audrey Hepburn Mel Ferrer Mayerling 1957.jpg

In 1952, Hepburn became engaged to James Hanson,^[79] whom she had known since her early days in London. She called it «love at first sight», but after having her wedding dress fitted and the date set, she decided the marriage would not work because the demands of their careers would keep them apart most of the time.^[80] She issued a public statement about her decision, saying «When I get married, I want to be really married».^[81] In the early 1950s, she also dated future Hair producer Michael Butler.^[82]

At a cocktail party hosted by mutual friend Gregory Peck, Hepburn met American actor Mel Ferrer, and suggested that they star together in a play.^[47][47][83] The meeting led them to collaborate in Ondine, during which they began a relationship. Eight months later, on 25 September 1954, they were married in Bürgenstock, Switzerland,^[84] while preparing to star together in the film War and Peace (1955).

Hepburn had two miscarriages, one in March 1955,^[85] and another in 1959, after she fell from a horse during the filming of The Unforgiven (1960). When she became pregnant for the third time, she took a year off work to prevent miscarriage; their son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, was born on 17 July 1960. She had two more miscarriages in 1965 and 1967.^[86]

File:Audrey Hepburn and Andrea Dotti by Erling Mandelmann — 2.jpg

Despite the insistence from gossip columns that their marriage would not last, Hepburn claimed that she and Ferrer were inseparable and happy together, though she admitted that he had a bad temper.^[87] Ferrer was rumoured to be too controlling, and had been referred to by others as being her «Svengali» – an accusation that Hepburn laughed off.^[88] William Holden was quoted as saying, «I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her.» After a 14-year marriage, the couple divorced on 5 December 1968; their son believed that Hepburn had stayed in the marriage too long.^{[citation needed]}

File:Audrey Hepburn and Ronald Reagan.jpg

Hepburn met her second husband, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, on a Mediterranean cruise with friends in June 1968. She believed she would have more children and possibly stop working. They married on 18 January 1969; their son, Luca Dotti, was born on 8 February 1970. While pregnant with Luca in 1969, Hepburn was more careful, resting for months before delivering the baby via caesarean section. She wanted to have a third child, but had another miscarriage in 1974.^[89] Although Dotti loved Hepburn and was well-liked by Sean, he was unfaithful. She also had a romantic relationship with actor Ben Gazzara during the filming of the 1979 movie Bloodline.^[90] The Dotti-Hepburn marriage lasted thirteen years and ended in 1982, when Hepburn felt Luca and Sean were old enough to handle life with a single mother.^{[citation needed]} Although Hepburn broke off contact with Ferrer, and only spoke to him two more times during the remainder of her life, she remained in touch with Dotti for the benefit of Luca.^{[citation needed]}

From 1980 until her death, Hepburn was in a relationship with Dutch actor Robert Wolders,^[23] the widower of actress Merle Oberon. She had met Wolders through a friend during the later years of her second marriage. In 1989, she called the nine years she had spent with him the happiest years of her life, and stated that she considered them married, just not officially.^{[citation needed]}

Illness and death

File:Grave of Audrey Hepburn, Tolochenaz, Switzerland — 20080711.jpg

Upon returning from Somalia to Switzerland in late September 1992, Hepburn began suffering from abdominal pain. While initial medical tests in Switzerland had inconclusive results, a laparoscopy performed at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in early November revealed a rare form of abdominal cancer belonging to a group of cancers known as pseudomyxoma peritonei.^[91] Having grown slowly over several years, the cancer had metastasised as a thin coating over her small intestine. After surgery, Hepburn began chemotherapy.^[92] Further surgery in early December showed that the cancer had spread too far to be operable and that it was in its terminal stages.^{[citation needed]}

Hepburn and her family returned home to Switzerland to celebrate her last Christmas. As she was still recovering from surgery, she was unable to fly on commercial aircraft. Her longtime friend, fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, arranged for socialite Rachel Lambert «Bunny» Mellon to send her private Gulfstream jet, filled with flowers, to take Hepburn from Los Angeles to Geneva. She spent her last days in hospice care at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud and was occasionally well enough to take walks in her garden, but gradually became more confined to bedrest.^[93]

On the evening of 20 January 1993, Hepburn died in her sleep at home. After her death, Gregory Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her favourite poem, «Unending Love» by Rabindranath Tagore.^[94] Funeral services were held at the village church of Tolochenaz on 24 January 1993. Maurice Eindiguer, the same pastor who wed Hepburn and Mel Ferrer and baptised her son Sean in 1960, presided over her funeral, while Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan of UNICEF delivered a eulogy. Many family members and friends attended the funeral, including her sons, partner Robert Wolders, half-brother Ian Quarles van Ufford, ex-husbands Andrea Dotti and Mel Ferrer, Hubert de Givenchy, executives of UNICEF, and fellow actors Alain Delon and Roger Moore.^[95] Flower arrangements were sent to the funeral by Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, and the Dutch royal family.^[96]
Later on the same day, Hepburn was interred at the Tolochenaz Cemetery.^[97]

Legacy

File:Audrey Hepburn auf dem Vierwaldstättersee (02).jpg

<templatestyles src=»Template:Blockquote/styles.css» />

«How shall I sum up my life?
I think I’ve been particularly lucky.»

— Audrey Hepburn^[98]

Audrey Hepburn’s legacy has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Hepburn third among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time. She is one of few entertainers who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards. She won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In her last years, she remained a visible presence in the film world. She received a tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1991 and was a frequent presenter at the Academy Awards. She received the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992. She was the recipient of numerous posthumous awards including the 1993 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and competitive Grammy and Emmy Awards. She has been the subject of many biographies since her death and the 2000 dramatisation of her life titled The Audrey Hepburn Story which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and Emmy Rossum as the older and younger Hepburn respectively.^[99] The film concludes with footage of the real Audrey Hepburn, shot during one of her final missions for UNICEF. In January 2009, Hepburn was named on The Times’ list of the top 10 British Actresses of all time. The list included Helen Mirren, Julie Andrews, Helena Bonham Carter and Judi Dench.^[100]

File:AudreyHepburnWoF.jpg

Hepburn’s image is widely used in advertising campaigns across the world. In Japan, a series of commercials used colourised and digitally enhanced clips of Hepburn in Roman Holiday to advertise Kirin black tea. In the United States, Hepburn was featured in a 2006 Gap commercial which used clips of her dancing from Funny Face, set to AC/DC’s «Back in Black», with the tagline «It’s Back – The Skinny Black Pant». To celebrate its «Keep it Simple» campaign, the Gap made a sizeable donation to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund.^[101] In 2012, Hepburn was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.^[102] In 2013, a computer-manipulated representation of Hepburn was used in a television advert for the British chocolate bar Galaxy.^[103][104] On 4 May 2014, Google featured a doodle on its homepage on the occasion of what would have been Hepburn’s 85th birthday.^[105]

File:Audrey Hepburn (9304394852).jpg

Sean Ferrer founded the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund^[106] in memory of his mother shortly after her death. The US Fund for UNICEF also founded the Audrey Hepburn Society:^[107] chaired by Luca Dotti, it celebrates UNICEF’s biggest donors and has raised almost US$100,000,000 to date. Dotti also became patron of the Pseudomyxoma Survivor charity, dedicated to providing support to patients of the rare cancer Hepburn suffered from, pseudomyxoma peritonei,^[108] and Dotti is also the rare disease ambassador since 2014 and for 2015 on behalf of European Organisation for Rare Diseases.^[109]

Style icon

File:Audrey Hepburn auf dem Bürgenstock (16).jpg

Hepburn was noted for her fashion choices and distinctive look, to the extent that journalist Mark Tungate has described her as a recognisable brand.^[110] When she first rose to stardom in Roman Holiday (1953), she was seen as an alternative feminine ideal that appealed more to women than to men, in comparison to the curvy and more sexual Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.^[111][112] With her short hair style, thick eyebrows, slim body and «gamine» looks, she presented a look which young women found easier to emulate than those of more sexual film stars.^[113] In 1954, fashion photographer Cecil Beaton declared Hepburn the «public embodiment of our new feminine ideal» in Vogue, and wrote that «Nobody ever looked like her before World War II … Yet we recognize the rightness of this appearance in relation to our historical needs. The proof is that thousands of imitations have appeared.»^[112] The magazine and its British version frequently reported on her style throughout the following decade.^[114] Alongside model Twiggy, Hepburn has been cited as one of the key public figures who made being very slim fashionable.^[113]

Added to the International Best Dressed List in 1961, Hepburn was associated with a minimalistic style, usually wearing clothes with simple silhouettes which emphasised her slim body, monochromatic colours, and occasional statement accessories.^[115] In the late 1950s, Audrey Hepburn popularized plain black leggings.^[116] Academic Rachel Moseley describes the combination of «slim black trousers, flat ballet-style pumps and a fine black jersey» as one of her signature looks alongside little black dresses, noting that this style was new at the time when women still wore skirts and high heels more often than trousers and flat shoes.^[113]

<templatestyles src=»Multiple image/styles.css» wrapper=».tmulti»></templatestyles>

Hepburn was in particular associated with French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, who was first hired to design her on-screen wardrobe for her second Hollywood film, Sabrina (1954), when she was still unknown as a film actor and he a young couturier just starting his fashion house.^[117] Although initially disappointed that «Miss Hepburn» was not Katharine Hepburn as he had mistakenly thought, Givenchy and Hepburn formed a lifelong friendship.^[117][118] She became his muse,^[117][118] and the two became so closely associated with each other that academic Jayne Sheridan has stated «we might ask ‘Did Audrey Hepburn create Givenchy or was it the other way around?'».^[119]

In addition to Sabrina, Givenchy designed her costumes for Love in the Afternoon (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Funny Face (1957), Charade (1963), Paris When It Sizzles (1964) and How to Steal a Million (1966), as well as clothed her off screen.^[117] According to Moseley, fashion plays an unusually central role in many of Hepburn’s films, stating that «the costume is not tied to the character, functioning ‘silently’ in the mise-en-scène, but as ‘fashion’ becomes an attraction in the aesthetic in its own right».^[120] Hepburn herself stated that Givenchy «gave me a look, a kind, a silhouette. He has always been the best and he stayed the best. Because he kept the spare style that I love. What is more beautiful than a simple sheath made an extraordinary way in a special fabric, and just two earrings?»^[121] She also became the face of Givenchy’s first perfume, L’Interdit, in 1957.^[122] In addition to her partnership with Givenchy, Hepburn was credited with boosting the sales of Burberry trench coats when she wore one in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and was associated with Italian footwear brand Tod’s.^[123]

File:Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck on Vespa in Roman Holiday trailer.jpg

In her private life, Hepburn preferred to wear casual and comfortable clothes, contrary to haute couture she wore on screen and at public events.^[124] Despite being admired for her beauty, she never considered herself attractive, stating in a 1959 interview that «you can even say that I hated myself at certain periods. I was too fat, or maybe too tall, or maybe just plain too ugly… you can say my definiteness stems from underlying feelings of insecurity and inferiority. I couldn’t conquer these feelings by acting indecisive. I found the only way to get the better of them was by adopting a forceful, concentrated drive.»^[125] In 1989, she stated that «my look is attainable … Women can look like Audrey Hepburn by flipping out their hair, buying the large glasses and the little sleeveless dresses.»^[115]

Hepburn’s influence as a style icon continues several decades after the height of her acting career in the 1950s and 1960s. Moseley notes that especially after her death in 1993, she became increasingly admired, with magazines frequently advising readers on how to get her look and fashion designers using her as inspiration.^[126][113] In 2004, Hepburn was named the «most beautiful woman of all time»^[127] and «most beautiful woman of the 20th century»^[128] in polls by Evian and QVC respectively, and in 2015, was voted «the most stylish Brit of all time» in a poll commissioned by Samsung.^[129] Her film costumes fetch large sums of money in auctions: one of the «little black dresses» designed by Givenchy for Breakfast at Tiffany’s was sold by Christie’s for a record sum of £467,200 in 2006.^{[130][lower-alpha 5]}

Filmography and stage roles

Main article: Audrey Hepburn on screen and stage

Awards

Main article: List of awards and honours received by Audrey Hepburn

See also

Lua error: bad argument #2 to ‘title.new’ (unrecognized namespace name ‘Portal’).

• List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards
• Black Givenchy dress of Audrey Hepburn
• White floral Givenchy dress of Audrey Hepburn (Academy Awards, 1954)

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Eastman, John (1989). Retakes: Behind the Scenes of 500 Classic Movies. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-35399-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Ferrer, Sean (2005). Audrey Hepburn, an Elegant Spirit. New York: Atria. ISBN 978-0-671-02479-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Fishgall, Gary (2002). Gregory Peck: A Biography. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 068485290X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Gitlin, Martin (2009). Audrey Hepburn: A Biography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313359453.

• Givenchy, Hubert de (2007). Audrey Hepburn. London: Pavilion. ISBN 978-1-86205-775-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Harris, Warren G. (1994). Audrey Hepburn: A Biography. Wheeler Pub. ISBN 978-1-56895-156-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Hill, Daniel Delis (2004). As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising. Texas Tech University Press.

• Moseley, Rachel (2002). Growing Up with Audrey Hepburn: Text, Audience, Resonance. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0 7190 6310 8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Paris, Barry (2001) [1996]. Audrey Hepburn. Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0-425-18212-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Sheridan, Jayne (2010). Fashion, Media, Promotion: The New Black Magic. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-9421-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Spoto, Donald (2006). Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn. Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-307-23758-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Steele, Valerie (9 November 2010). The Berg Companion to Fashion. Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84788-592-0. Retrieved 16 May 2011.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Vermilye, Jerry (1995). The Complete Films of Audrey Hepburn. New York: Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-1598-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Walker, Alexander (1997) [1994]. Audrey, Her Real Story. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-18046-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Woodward, Ian (31 May 2012). Audrey Hepburn: Fair Lady of the Screen. Ebury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4481-3293-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

Main article: Audrey Hepburn bibliography

External links

Lua error in Module:Sister_project_links at line 367: attempt to index field ‘wikibase’ (a nil value).

• Audrey Hepburn – official site of Hepburn and the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund
• Audrey Hepburn Society at the US Fund for UNICEF
• Audrey Hepburn at AllMovie
• Audrey Hepburn discography at Discogs
• Audrey Hepburn at the Internet Broadway Database
• Audrey Hepburn on IMDb
• Audrey Hepburn collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Audrey Hepburn at the TCM Movie Database
• Works by or about Audrey Hepburn in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Template:EGOT winners

Audrey Hepburn
File:Audrey Hepburn 1956.jpg Hepburn in 1956
Born	Audrey Kathleen Ruston 4 May 1929 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
Died	20 January 1993 (aged 63) Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Cause of death	Appendiceal cancer
Resting place	Tolochenaz Cemetery, Tolochenaz, Vaud
Nationality	British
Other names	Edda van Heemstra Audrey Kathleen Hepburn-Ruston
Occupation	Actress (1948–89) Humanitarian (1988–92)
Spouse(s)	Mel Ferrer ​ <div style=»display:inline-block;Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character «[«.«>​ (m. 1954; div. )​ Andrea Dotti ​ <div style=»display:inline-block;Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character «[«.«>​ (m. 1969; div. )​
Partner(s)	Robert Wolders (1980–93; her death)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston Baroness Ella van Heemstra
Relatives	Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra (maternal grandfather) Emma Ferrer (granddaughter)
Signature
File:Audrey Hepburn signature.svg

Audrey Hepburn (English pronunciation: Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character «[«.; born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress, model, dancer and humanitarian. Recognized as a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood’s Golden Age. She was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend in Golden Age Hollywood and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.
Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England and the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, she studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell before moving to London in 1948, continuing her ballet training with Marie Rambert, and then performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions.

Following minor appearances in several films, Hepburn starred in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi after being spotted by French novelist Colette, on whose work the play was based. She shot to stardom for playing the lead role in Roman Holiday (1953), for which she was the first actress to win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. The same year Hepburn won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine. She went on to star in a number of successful films, such as Sabrina (1954), The Nun’s Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), for which she received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Hepburn won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In recognition of her film career, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from BAFTA, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and the Special Tony Award. She remains one of the 12 people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards.

Hepburn appeared in fewer films as her life went on, devoting much of her later life to UNICEF. She had contributed to the organisation since 1954, then worked in some of the poorest communities of Africa, South America and Asia between 1988 and 1992. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in December 1992. A month later, Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63.

Early life

Family and early childhood (1929–1938)

Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston or Edda Kathleen Hepburn-Ruston^[1] on 4 May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, a municipality in Brussels, Belgium.^[2]

Her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (1889–1980), was a British subject born in Auschitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary.^{[3][lower-alpha 1]} He was the son of Victor John George Ruston, of British and Austrian descent^[4] and Anna Wels, of Austrian descent.^[5] In 1923-24 Joseph had briefly been an honorary British consul in Samarang in the Dutch East Indies^[6] and prior to his marriage to Hepburn’s mother he had been married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress.^[3][7] Although born with the surname Ruston, he later double-barrelled his name to the more «aristocratic» Hepburn-Ruston, mistakenly believing himself descended from James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.^[4][7]

Hepburn’s mother, Ella van Heemstra (1900–1984), was a Dutch baroness. She was the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, who served as mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and as Governor of Dutch Suriname from 1921 to 1928, and Elbrig Willemine Henriette, Baroness van Asbeck (1873–1939).^[8] At age nineteen, Ella had married Jonkheer Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, an oil executive based in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, where they subsequently lived.^[9] They had two sons, Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924–2010), before divorcing in 1925.^[7][10]

Hepburn’s parents were married in Batavia in September 1926.^[9] At the time, Ruston worked for a trading company, but soon after the marriage, the couple relocated to Europe, where he began working for a loan company. After a year in London, they moved to Brussels, where he had been assigned to open a branch office.^[9][11] After three years spent travelling between Brussels, Arnhem, The Hague and London, the family settled to the suburban Brussels municipality of Linkebeek in 1932.^[9][12] Hepburn’s early childhood was sheltered and privileged.^[9] As a result of her multinational background and travelling with her family due to her father’s job,^{[13][lower-alpha 2]} she learned to speak five languages: Dutch and English from her parents, and later French, Spanish, and Italian.

In the mid-1930s, Hepburn’s parents recruited and collected donations for the British Union of Fascists.^[14] Joseph left the family abruptly in 1935, which Hepburn later professed was «the most traumatic event of my life».^[9][15] That same year, her mother moved with Audrey to her family’s estate in Arnhem. Sometime in 1937, Ella and Audrey moved to Kent, South East England, where Hepburn was educated at a small independent school in Elham.^[16][17]

Hepburn’s father moved to London, where he became more deeply involved in Fascist activity and never visited his daughter abroad.^[18] Her parents officially divorced in 1938. In the 1960s, Hepburn renewed contact with her father after locating him in Dublin through the Red Cross; although he remained emotionally detached, Hepburn supported him financially until his death.^[19]

Experiences during World War II (1939–1945)

After Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, Hepburn’s mother relocated her daughter back to Arnhem in the hope that, as during World War I, the Netherlands would remain neutral and be spared a German attack. While there, Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945. She had begun taking ballet lessons during her last years at boarding school, and continued training in Arnhem under the tutelage of Winja Marova, becoming her «star pupil».^[9] After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hepburn used the name Edda van Heemstra, because an «English-sounding» name was considered dangerous during the German occupation. Her family was profoundly affected by the occupation, with Hepburn later stating that «had we known that we were going to be occupied for five years, we might have all shot ourselves. We thought it might be over next week … six months … next year … that’s how we got through».^[9] In 1942, her uncle, Otto van Limburg Stirum (husband of her mother’s older sister, Miesje), was executed in retaliation for an act of sabotage by the resistance movement; while he had not been involved in the act, he was targeted due to his family’s prominence in Dutch society.^[9] Hepburn’s half-brother Ian was deported to Berlin to work in a German labour camp, and her other half-brother Alex went into hiding to avoid the same fate.^[9]

After her uncle’s death, Hepburn, Ella and Miesje left Arnhem to live with her grandfather, Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, in nearby Velp.^[9] It was long believed that during this time, Hepburn participated in the Dutch resistance.^[9] In 2016, the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ reported that after extensive research it had not found any evidence of such activities.^[20] In addition to other traumatic events, she witnessed the transportation of Dutch Jews to concentration camps, later stating that «more than once I was at the station seeing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped on the train. I was a child observing a child.»^[21]

After the Allied landing on D-Day, living conditions grew worse and Arnhem was subsequently heavily damaged during Operation Market Garden. During the Dutch famine that followed in the winter of 1944, the Germans blocked the resupply routes of the Dutch people’s already-limited food and fuel supplies as retaliation for railway strikes that were held to hinder German occupation. Like others, Hepburn’s family resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits;^[22][23] she developed acute anæmia, respiratory problems and edema as a result of malnutrition.^[24] The van Heemstra family was also seriously financially affected by the occupation, during which many of their properties, including their principal estate in Arnhem, were badly damaged or destroyed.^[25] The Allies liberated the Netherlands in May 1945, with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration beginning the distribution of food and other essentials.^[9][26]

Entertainment career

Ballet studies and early acting roles (1945–1952)

After the war ended in 1945, Hepburn moved with her mother and siblings to Amsterdam, where she began ballet training under Sonia Gaskell, a leading figure in Dutch ballet, and Russian Olga Tarassova.^[27] As the family’s fortunes had been lost during the war, Ella supported them by working as a cook and housekeeper for a wealthy family.^[28] Hepburn made her film debut in 1948, playing an air stewardess in Dutch in Seven Lessons, an educational travel film made by Charles van der Linden and Henry Josephson.^[29] Later that year, she moved to London to take up a ballet scholarship with Ballet Rambert, which was then based in Notting Hill.^{[30][lower-alpha 3]} She supported herself with part-time work as a model, and dropped «Ruston» from her surname. After she was told by Rambert that despite her talent, her height and weak constitution (the after-effect of wartime malnutrition) would make the status of prima ballerina unattainable, she decided to concentrate on acting.^[31][32][33]

While Ella worked in menial jobs to support them, Hepburn appeared as a chorus girl^[34] in the West End musical theatre revues High Button Shoes (1948) at the London Hippodrome, and Cecil Landeau’s Sauce Tartare (1949) and Sauce Piquante (1950) at the Cambridge Theatre. During her theatrical work, she took elocution lessons with actor Felix Aylmer to develop her voice.^[35]
After being spotted by a casting director while performing in Sauce Piquante, Hepburn was registered as a freelance actress with the Associated British Picture Corporation. She appeared in minor roles in the 1951 films One Wild Oat, Laughter in Paradise, Young Wives’ Tale and The Lavender Hill Mob, before being cast in her first major supporting role in Thorold Dickinson‘s The Secret People (1952), in which she played a prodigious ballerina, performing all of her own dancing sequences.^[36]

Hepburn was then offered a small role in a film being shot in both English and French, Monte Carlo Baby (French:Nous Irons à Monte Carlo,1952), which was filmed in Monte Carlo. Incidentally, French novelist Colette was at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo during the filming, and decided to cast Hepburn in the title role in the Broadway play Gigi.^[37] Hepburn went into rehearsals having never spoken on stage and required private coaching.^[38] When Gigi opened at the Fulton Theatre on 24 November 1951, she received praise for her performance, despite criticism that the stage version was inferior to the French filmatisation.^[39] Life called her a «hit»,^[39] while The New York Times stated that «her quality is so winning and so right that she is the success of the evening».^[38] She also received a Theatre World Award for the role.^[40] The play ran for 219 performances, closing on 31 May 1952,^[40] before going on tour which began 13 October 1952 in Pittsburgh and visited Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles before closing on 16 May 1953 in San Francisco.^[9]

Roman Holiday and stardom (1953–1960)

File:Audrey Hepburn screentest in Roman Holiday trailer.jpg

Hepburn had her first starring role in Roman Holiday (1953), playing Princess Anne, a European princess who, while escaping the reins of royalty, falls in love with an American newsman (Gregory Peck). Its producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, but director William Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn’s screen test that he cast her instead. Wyler later commented, «She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence, and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting and we said, ‘That’s the girl!Template:'»^[41] Originally, the film was to have had only Gregory Peck’s name above its title, with «Introducing Audrey Hepburn» beneath in smaller font. However, Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing so that her name appeared before the title and in type as large as his: «You’ve got to change that because she’ll be a big star and I’ll look like a big jerk.»^[42]

The film was a box office success, and Hepburn gained critical acclaim for her portrayal, unexpectedly winning an Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best British Actress in a Leading Role, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama in 1953. In his review in The New York Times, A. H. Weiler wrote: «Although she is not precisely a newcomer to films Audrey Hepburn, the British actress who is being starred for the first time as Princess Anne, is a slender, elfin and wistful beauty, alternately regal and childlike in her profound appreciation of newly-found, simple pleasures and love. Although she bravely smiles her acknowledgement of the end of that affair, she remains a pitifully lonely figure facing a stuffy future.»^[43]

File:Holden-Hepburn-Sabrina.jpg

Hepburn was signed to a seven-picture contract with Paramount with 12 months in between films to allow her time for stage work.^[44] She was featured on 7 September 1953 cover of TIME magazine, and also became noted for her personal style.^[45] Following her success in Roman Holiday, Hepburn starred in Billy Wilder‘s romantic Cinderella-story comedy Sabrina (1954), in which wealthy brothers (Humphrey Bogart and William Holden) compete for the affections of their chauffeur’s innocent daughter (Hepburn). For her performance, she was nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Actress while winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role the same year. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times stated that she was «a young lady of extraordinary range of sensitive and moving expressions within such a frail and slender frame. She is even more luminous as the daughter and pet of the servants’ hall than she was as a princess last year, and no more than that can be said.»^[46]

Hepburn also returned to the stage in 1954, playing a water spirit who falls in love with a human in the fantasy play Ondine on Broadway. A New York Times critic commented that «somehow Miss Hepburn is able to translate [its intangibles] into the language of the theatre without artfulness or precociousness. She gives a pulsing performance that is all grace and enchantment, disciplined by an instinct for the realities of the stage». Her performance won her the 1954 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play the same year she won the Academy Award for Roman Holiday, making her one of three actresses to receive the Academy and Tony Awards for Best Actress in the same year (the other two are Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn).^[47] During the production, Hepburn and her co-star Mel Ferrer began a relationship, and were married on 25 September 1954 in Switzerland.

File:Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer 1955.jpg

Although she appeared in no new film releases in 1955, Hepburn received the Golden Globe for World Film Favorite that year.^[48] Having become one of Hollywood’s most popular box-office attractions, she went on to star in a series of successful films during the remainder of the decade, including her BAFTA- and Golden Globe-nominated role as Natasha Rostova in War and Peace (1956), an adaptation of the Tolstoy novel set during the Napoleonic wars, starring Henry Fonda and her husband Mel Ferrer. In 1957, she exhibited her dancing abilities in her debut musical film, Funny Face (1957) wherein Fred Astaire, a fashion photographer, discovers a beatnik bookstore clerk (Hepburn) who, lured by a free trip to Paris, becomes a beautiful model. The same year Hepburn starred in another romantic comedy, Love in the Afternoon, alongside Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier.

File:Hepburn-Perkins-1959.JPG

Hepburn played Sister Luke in The Nun’s Story (1959), which focuses on the character’s struggle to succeed as a nun, alongside co-star Peter Finch. The role produced a third Academy Award nomination for Hepburn and earned her a second BAFTA Award. A review in Variety read, «Hepburn has her most demanding film role, and she gives her finest performance», while Films in Review stated that her performance «will forever silence those who have thought her less an actress than a symbol of the sophisticated child/woman. Her portrayal of Sister Luke is one of the great performances of the screen.»^[49] Reportedly, she spent hours in convents and with members of the Church to bring truth to her portrayal, stating that she «gave more time, energy and thought to this than to any of my previous screen performances.»^[50]

Following The Nun’s Story, Hepburn received a lukewarm reception for starring with Anthony Perkins in the romantic adventure Green Mansions (1959), in which she played Rima, a jungle girl who falls in love with a Venezuelan traveller,^[51] and The Unforgiven (1960), her only western film, in which she appeared opposite Burt Lancaster and Lillian Gish in a story of racism against a group of Native Americans.^[52]

Breakfast at Tiffany’s and continued success (1961–1967)

File:Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.jpg

Hepburn next starred as New York call girl Holly Golightly in Blake Edwards‘s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), a film loosely based on the eponymous Truman Capote novella. Capote disapproved of many changes that were made to sanitise the story for the film adaptation, and would have preferred for Marilyn Monroe to have been cast in the role, although he also stated that Hepburn «did a terrific job».^[53] The character is considered one of the most iconic in American cinema, and a defining role for Hepburn.^[54] The dress she wears during the opening credits is considered an icon of the twentieth century and perhaps the most famous «little black dress» of all time.^{[55][56][57][58]} Hepburn stated that the role was «the jazziest of my career»^[59] yet admitted: «I’m an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did.»^[60] She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

File:Childrens Hour trailer.jpg

The same year, Hepburn also starred in William Wyler’s controversial drama The Children’s Hour (1961), in which she and Shirley MacLaine played teachers whose lives become troubled after a student accuses them of being lesbians.^[54] Due to the social mores of the time, the film and Hepburn’s performance went largely unmentioned, both critically and commercially. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times opined that the film «is not too well acted» with the exception of Hepburn who «gives the impression of being sensitive and pure» of its «muted theme»,^[61] while Variety magazine also complimented Hepburn’s «soft sensitivity, mar-velous Template:Sic projection and emotional understatement» adding that Hepburn and MacLaine «beautifully complement each other».^[62]

File:Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant 1.jpg

Hepburn next appeared opposite Cary Grant in the comic thriller Charade (1963), playing a young widow pursued by several men who chase the fortune stolen by her murdered husband. 59-year-old Grant, who had previously withdrawn from the starring male lead roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina, was sensitive about his age difference with 34-year-old Hepburn, and was uncomfortable about the romantic interplay. To satisfy his concerns, the filmmakers agreed to change the screenplay so that Hepburn’s character romantically pursued his.^[63] The film turned out to be a positive experience for him, stating that «All I want for Christmas is another picture with Audrey Hepburn.»^[64] The role earned Hepburn her third and final competitive BAFTA Award and another Golden Globe nomination. Critic Bosley Crowther was less kind to her performance, stating that «Hepburn is cheerfully committed to a mood of how-nuts-can-you-be in an obviously comforting assortment of expensive Givenchy costumes.»^[65]

Hepburn reteamed with her Sabrina co-star William Holden in Paris When It Sizzles (1964), a screwball comedy in which she played the young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter, who aids his writer’s block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots. Its production was troubled by a number of problems. Holden unsuccessfully tried to rekindle a romance with the now-married Hepburn, and his alcoholism was beginning to affect his work. After principal photography began, she demanded the dismissal of cinematographer Claude Renoir after seeing what she felt were unflattering dailies.^[66] Superstitious, she also insisted on dressing room 55 because that was her lucky number and required that Givenchy, her long-time designer, be given a credit in the film for her perfume.^[66] Dubbed «marshmallow-weight hokum» by Variety upon its release in April,^[67] the film was «uniformly panned»^[66] but critics were kinder to Hepburn’s performance, describing her as «a refreshingly individual creature in an era of the exaggerated curve».^[67]

File:Harry Stradling-Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.jpg

Hepburn’s second film of 1964 was George Cukor‘s film adaptation of the stage musical My Fair Lady, released in November. Soundstage wrote that «not since Gone with the Wind has a motion picture created such universal excitement as My Fair Lady«,^[47] yet Hepburn’s casting in the role of Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle sparked controversy. Julie Andrews, who had originated the role in the stage show, had not been offered the part because producer Jack L. Warner thought Hepburn or Elizabeth Taylor were more «bankable» propositions. Hepburn initially asked Warner to give the role to Andrews but was eventually cast. Further friction was created when, although non-singer Hepburn had sung in Funny Face and had lengthy vocal preparation for the role in My Fair Lady, her vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon as the songs were not written for her vocal range.^[68][69] Hepburn was initially upset and walked out on the set when informed.^{[lower-alpha 4]}

The press further played up the fabricated rivalry between Hepburn and Andrews, when the latter won an Academy Award for Mary Poppins at the 37th Academy Awards (1964) but Hepburn was not even nominated, despite My Fair Lady’s accumulation of eight out of a possible twelve awards. Regardless, critics greatly applauded Hepburn’s «exquisite» performance.^[69] Crowther wrote that «the happiest thing about [My Fair Lady] is that Audrey Hepburn superbly justifies the decision of Jack Warner to get her to play the title role.»^[68] Gene Ringgold of Soundstage also commented that «Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. She is Eliza for the ages»,^[47] while adding, «Everyone agreed that if Julie Andrews was not to be in the film, Audrey Hepburn was the perfect choice.»^[47]

As the decade carried on, Hepburn appeared in an assortment of genres including the heist comedy How to Steal a Million (1966) where she played the daughter of a famous art collector, whose collection consists entirely of forgeries. Fearing her father’s exposure, she sets out to steal one of his priceless statues with the help of a man played by Peter O’Toole. It was followed by two films in 1967. The first was Two for the Road, a non-linear and innovative British dramedy that traces the course of a couple’s troubled marriage. Director Stanley Donen said that Hepburn was more free and happy than he had ever seen her, and he credited that to co-star Albert Finney.^[70] The second, Wait Until Dark, is a suspense thriller in which Hepburn demonstrated her acting range by playing the part of a terrorised blind woman. Filmed on the brink of her divorce, it was a difficult film for her, as husband Mel Ferrer was its producer. She lost fifteen pounds under the stress, but she found solace in co-star Richard Crenna and director Terence Young. Hepburn earned her fifth and final competitive Academy Award nomination for Best Actress; Bosley Crowther affirmed, «Hepburn plays the poignant role, the quickness with which she changes and the skill with which she manifests terror attract sympathy and anxiety to her and give her genuine solidity in the final scenes.»^[71]

Semi-retirement and final projects (1968–1993)

After 1967, Hepburn chose to devote more time to her family and acted only occasionally in the following decades. She attempted a comeback in 1976, co-starring with Sean Connery in the period piece Robin and Marian, which was moderately successful. In 1979, Hepburn reunited with director Terence Young in the production of Bloodline, sharing top-billing with Ben Gazzara, James Mason and Romy Schneider. The film, an international intrigue amid the jet-set, was a critical and box-office failure. Hepburn’s last starring role in a feature film was opposite Gazzara in the comedy They All Laughed (1981), directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film was overshadowed by the murder of one of its stars, Dorothy Stratten, and received only a limited release. Six years later, Hepburn co-starred with Robert Wagner in a made-for-television caper film, Love Among Thieves (1987), which borrowed elements from several of her films, most notably Charade and How to Steal a Million.^{[citation needed]}

After finishing her last motion picture role in 1988—a cameo appearance as an angel in Steven Spielberg’s Always—Hepburn completed only two more entertainment-related projects, both critically acclaimed. Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn was a PBS documentary series, which was filmed on location in seven countries in the spring and summer of 1990. A one-hour special preceded it in March 1991, and the series itself began airing the day after her death, 21 January 1993. For the debut episode, Hepburn was posthumously awarded the 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming. The other project was a spoken word album, Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales, which features readings of classic children’s stories and was recorded in 1992. It earned her a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children. She remains one of the few entertainers to win Grammy and Emmy Awards posthumously.^{[citation needed]}

Humanitarian career

Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the German occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations. Hepburn’s travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; besides being bilingual in English and Dutch, she also was fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, and German. Hepburn was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. United States president George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity, with her son accepting on her behalf.^[72][73]

Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s, starting in 1954 with radio presentations, this was a much higher level of dedication. Her family said that thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life. In 2002, at the United Nations Special Session on Children, UNICEF honoured Hepburn’s legacy of humanitarian work by unveiling a statue, «The Spirit of Audrey», at UNICEF’s New York headquarters. Her service for children is also recognised through the US Fund for UNICEF‘s Audrey Hepburn Society.^[74][75]

1988–1989

Hepburn’s first field mission for UNICEF was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited an orphanage in Mek’ele that housed 500 starving children and had UNICEF send food. Of the trip, she said,

«I have a broken heart. I feel desperate. I can’t stand the idea that two million people are in imminent danger of starving to death, many of them children, [and] not because there isn’t tons of food sitting in the northern port of Shoa. It can’t be distributed. Last spring, Red Cross and UNICEF workers were ordered out of the northern provinces because of two simultaneous civil wars… I went into rebel country and saw mothers and their children who had walked for ten days, even three weeks, looking for food, settling onto the desert floor into makeshift camps where they may die. Horrible. That image is too much for me. The ‘Third World’ is a term I don’t like very much, because we’re all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering.»^[76]

In August 1988 Hepburn went to Turkey on an immunisation campaign. She called Turkey «the loveliest example» of UNICEF’s capabilities. Of the trip, she said «the army gave us their trucks, the fishmongers gave their wagons for the vaccines, and once the date was set, it took ten days to vaccinate the whole country. Not bad.»^[77] In October, Hepburn went to South America. Of her experiences in Venezuela and Ecuador, Hepburn told the United States Congress, «I saw tiny mountain communities, slums, and shantytowns receive water systems for the first time by some miracle – and the miracle is UNICEF. I watched boys build their own schoolhouse with bricks and cement provided by UNICEF.»

Hepburn toured Central America in February 1989, and met with leaders in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In April, she visited Sudan with Wolders as part of a mission called «Operation Lifeline». Because of civil war, food from aid agencies had been cut off. The mission was to ferry food to southern Sudan. Hepburn said, «I saw but one glaring truth: These are not natural disasters but man-made tragedies for which there is only one man-made solution – peace.»^[77] In October 1989, Hepburn and Wolders went to Bangladesh. John Isaac, a UN photographer, said, «Often the kids would have flies all over them, but she would just go hug them. I had never seen that. Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but she would just grab them. Children would just come up to hold her hand, touch her – she was like the Pied Piper.»^[9]

1990–1992

In October 1990 Hepburn went to Vietnam, in an effort to collaborate with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunisation and clean water programmes.

In September 1992, four months before she died, Hepburn went to Somalia. Calling it «apocalyptic», she said, «I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn’t prepared for this.»^[77] «The earth is red – an extraordinary sight – that deep terracotta red. And you see the villages, displacement camps and compounds, and the earth is all rippled around these places like an ocean bed and I was told these were the graves. There are graves everywhere. Along the road, wherever there is a road, around the paths that you take, along the riverbeds, near every camp – there are graves everywhere.»^[78]
Though scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope. «Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicisation of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanisation of politics.» «Anyone who doesn’t believe in miracles is not a realist. I have seen the miracle of water which UNICEF has helped to make a reality. Where for centuries young girls and women had to walk for miles to get water, now they have clean drinking water near their homes. Water is life, and clean water now means health for the children of this village.»^[77] «People in these places don’t know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognise the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF their faces light up, because they know that something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump UNICEF.»^[77]

Personal life

Marriages, relationships and children

File:Audrey Hepburn Mel Ferrer Mayerling 1957.jpg

In 1952, Hepburn became engaged to James Hanson,^[79] whom she had known since her early days in London. She called it «love at first sight», but after having her wedding dress fitted and the date set, she decided the marriage would not work because the demands of their careers would keep them apart most of the time.^[80] She issued a public statement about her decision, saying «When I get married, I want to be really married».^[81] In the early 1950s, she also dated future Hair producer Michael Butler.^[82]

At a cocktail party hosted by mutual friend Gregory Peck, Hepburn met American actor Mel Ferrer, and suggested that they star together in a play.^[47][47][83] The meeting led them to collaborate in Ondine, during which they began a relationship. Eight months later, on 25 September 1954, they were married in Bürgenstock, Switzerland,^[84] while preparing to star together in the film War and Peace (1955).

Hepburn had two miscarriages, one in March 1955,^[85] and another in 1959, after she fell from a horse during the filming of The Unforgiven (1960). When she became pregnant for the third time, she took a year off work to prevent miscarriage; their son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, was born on 17 July 1960. She had two more miscarriages in 1965 and 1967.^[86]

File:Audrey Hepburn and Andrea Dotti by Erling Mandelmann — 2.jpg

Despite the insistence from gossip columns that their marriage would not last, Hepburn claimed that she and Ferrer were inseparable and happy together, though she admitted that he had a bad temper.^[87] Ferrer was rumoured to be too controlling, and had been referred to by others as being her «Svengali» – an accusation that Hepburn laughed off.^[88] William Holden was quoted as saying, «I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her.» After a 14-year marriage, the couple divorced on 5 December 1968; their son believed that Hepburn had stayed in the marriage too long.^{[citation needed]}

File:Audrey Hepburn and Ronald Reagan.jpg

Hepburn met her second husband, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, on a Mediterranean cruise with friends in June 1968. She believed she would have more children and possibly stop working. They married on 18 January 1969; their son, Luca Dotti, was born on 8 February 1970. While pregnant with Luca in 1969, Hepburn was more careful, resting for months before delivering the baby via caesarean section. She wanted to have a third child, but had another miscarriage in 1974.^[89] Although Dotti loved Hepburn and was well-liked by Sean, he was unfaithful. She also had a romantic relationship with actor Ben Gazzara during the filming of the 1979 movie Bloodline.^[90] The Dotti-Hepburn marriage lasted thirteen years and ended in 1982, when Hepburn felt Luca and Sean were old enough to handle life with a single mother.^{[citation needed]} Although Hepburn broke off contact with Ferrer, and only spoke to him two more times during the remainder of her life, she remained in touch with Dotti for the benefit of Luca.^{[citation needed]}

From 1980 until her death, Hepburn was in a relationship with Dutch actor Robert Wolders,^[23] the widower of actress Merle Oberon. She had met Wolders through a friend during the later years of her second marriage. In 1989, she called the nine years she had spent with him the happiest years of her life, and stated that she considered them married, just not officially.^{[citation needed]}

Illness and death

File:Grave of Audrey Hepburn, Tolochenaz, Switzerland — 20080711.jpg

Upon returning from Somalia to Switzerland in late September 1992, Hepburn began suffering from abdominal pain. While initial medical tests in Switzerland had inconclusive results, a laparoscopy performed at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in early November revealed a rare form of abdominal cancer belonging to a group of cancers known as pseudomyxoma peritonei.^[91] Having grown slowly over several years, the cancer had metastasised as a thin coating over her small intestine. After surgery, Hepburn began chemotherapy.^[92] Further surgery in early December showed that the cancer had spread too far to be operable and that it was in its terminal stages.^{[citation needed]}

Hepburn and her family returned home to Switzerland to celebrate her last Christmas. As she was still recovering from surgery, she was unable to fly on commercial aircraft. Her longtime friend, fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, arranged for socialite Rachel Lambert «Bunny» Mellon to send her private Gulfstream jet, filled with flowers, to take Hepburn from Los Angeles to Geneva. She spent her last days in hospice care at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud and was occasionally well enough to take walks in her garden, but gradually became more confined to bedrest.^[93]

On the evening of 20 January 1993, Hepburn died in her sleep at home. After her death, Gregory Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her favourite poem, «Unending Love» by Rabindranath Tagore.^[94] Funeral services were held at the village church of Tolochenaz on 24 January 1993. Maurice Eindiguer, the same pastor who wed Hepburn and Mel Ferrer and baptised her son Sean in 1960, presided over her funeral, while Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan of UNICEF delivered a eulogy. Many family members and friends attended the funeral, including her sons, partner Robert Wolders, half-brother Ian Quarles van Ufford, ex-husbands Andrea Dotti and Mel Ferrer, Hubert de Givenchy, executives of UNICEF, and fellow actors Alain Delon and Roger Moore.^[95] Flower arrangements were sent to the funeral by Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, and the Dutch royal family.^[96]
Later on the same day, Hepburn was interred at the Tolochenaz Cemetery.^[97]

Legacy

File:Audrey Hepburn auf dem Vierwaldstättersee (02).jpg

<templatestyles src=»Template:Blockquote/styles.css» />

«How shall I sum up my life?
I think I’ve been particularly lucky.»

— Audrey Hepburn^[98]

Audrey Hepburn’s legacy has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Hepburn third among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time. She is one of few entertainers who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards. She won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In her last years, she remained a visible presence in the film world. She received a tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1991 and was a frequent presenter at the Academy Awards. She received the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992. She was the recipient of numerous posthumous awards including the 1993 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and competitive Grammy and Emmy Awards. She has been the subject of many biographies since her death and the 2000 dramatisation of her life titled The Audrey Hepburn Story which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and Emmy Rossum as the older and younger Hepburn respectively.^[99] The film concludes with footage of the real Audrey Hepburn, shot during one of her final missions for UNICEF. In January 2009, Hepburn was named on The Times’ list of the top 10 British Actresses of all time. The list included Helen Mirren, Julie Andrews, Helena Bonham Carter and Judi Dench.^[100]

File:AudreyHepburnWoF.jpg

Hepburn’s image is widely used in advertising campaigns across the world. In Japan, a series of commercials used colourised and digitally enhanced clips of Hepburn in Roman Holiday to advertise Kirin black tea. In the United States, Hepburn was featured in a 2006 Gap commercial which used clips of her dancing from Funny Face, set to AC/DC’s «Back in Black», with the tagline «It’s Back – The Skinny Black Pant». To celebrate its «Keep it Simple» campaign, the Gap made a sizeable donation to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund.^[101] In 2012, Hepburn was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.^[102] In 2013, a computer-manipulated representation of Hepburn was used in a television advert for the British chocolate bar Galaxy.^[103][104] On 4 May 2014, Google featured a doodle on its homepage on the occasion of what would have been Hepburn’s 85th birthday.^[105]

File:Audrey Hepburn (9304394852).jpg

Sean Ferrer founded the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund^[106] in memory of his mother shortly after her death. The US Fund for UNICEF also founded the Audrey Hepburn Society:^[107] chaired by Luca Dotti, it celebrates UNICEF’s biggest donors and has raised almost US$100,000,000 to date. Dotti also became patron of the Pseudomyxoma Survivor charity, dedicated to providing support to patients of the rare cancer Hepburn suffered from, pseudomyxoma peritonei,^[108] and Dotti is also the rare disease ambassador since 2014 and for 2015 on behalf of European Organisation for Rare Diseases.^[109]

Style icon

File:Audrey Hepburn auf dem Bürgenstock (16).jpg

Hepburn was noted for her fashion choices and distinctive look, to the extent that journalist Mark Tungate has described her as a recognisable brand.^[110] When she first rose to stardom in Roman Holiday (1953), she was seen as an alternative feminine ideal that appealed more to women than to men, in comparison to the curvy and more sexual Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.^[111][112] With her short hair style, thick eyebrows, slim body and «gamine» looks, she presented a look which young women found easier to emulate than those of more sexual film stars.^[113] In 1954, fashion photographer Cecil Beaton declared Hepburn the «public embodiment of our new feminine ideal» in Vogue, and wrote that «Nobody ever looked like her before World War II … Yet we recognize the rightness of this appearance in relation to our historical needs. The proof is that thousands of imitations have appeared.»^[112] The magazine and its British version frequently reported on her style throughout the following decade.^[114] Alongside model Twiggy, Hepburn has been cited as one of the key public figures who made being very slim fashionable.^[113]

Added to the International Best Dressed List in 1961, Hepburn was associated with a minimalistic style, usually wearing clothes with simple silhouettes which emphasised her slim body, monochromatic colours, and occasional statement accessories.^[115] In the late 1950s, Audrey Hepburn popularized plain black leggings.^[116] Academic Rachel Moseley describes the combination of «slim black trousers, flat ballet-style pumps and a fine black jersey» as one of her signature looks alongside little black dresses, noting that this style was new at the time when women still wore skirts and high heels more often than trousers and flat shoes.^[113]

<templatestyles src=»Multiple image/styles.css» wrapper=».tmulti»></templatestyles>

Hepburn was in particular associated with French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, who was first hired to design her on-screen wardrobe for her second Hollywood film, Sabrina (1954), when she was still unknown as a film actor and he a young couturier just starting his fashion house.^[117] Although initially disappointed that «Miss Hepburn» was not Katharine Hepburn as he had mistakenly thought, Givenchy and Hepburn formed a lifelong friendship.^[117][118] She became his muse,^[117][118] and the two became so closely associated with each other that academic Jayne Sheridan has stated «we might ask ‘Did Audrey Hepburn create Givenchy or was it the other way around?'».^[119]

In addition to Sabrina, Givenchy designed her costumes for Love in the Afternoon (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Funny Face (1957), Charade (1963), Paris When It Sizzles (1964) and How to Steal a Million (1966), as well as clothed her off screen.^[117] According to Moseley, fashion plays an unusually central role in many of Hepburn’s films, stating that «the costume is not tied to the character, functioning ‘silently’ in the mise-en-scène, but as ‘fashion’ becomes an attraction in the aesthetic in its own right».^[120] Hepburn herself stated that Givenchy «gave me a look, a kind, a silhouette. He has always been the best and he stayed the best. Because he kept the spare style that I love. What is more beautiful than a simple sheath made an extraordinary way in a special fabric, and just two earrings?»^[121] She also became the face of Givenchy’s first perfume, L’Interdit, in 1957.^[122] In addition to her partnership with Givenchy, Hepburn was credited with boosting the sales of Burberry trench coats when she wore one in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and was associated with Italian footwear brand Tod’s.^[123]

File:Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck on Vespa in Roman Holiday trailer.jpg

In her private life, Hepburn preferred to wear casual and comfortable clothes, contrary to haute couture she wore on screen and at public events.^[124] Despite being admired for her beauty, she never considered herself attractive, stating in a 1959 interview that «you can even say that I hated myself at certain periods. I was too fat, or maybe too tall, or maybe just plain too ugly… you can say my definiteness stems from underlying feelings of insecurity and inferiority. I couldn’t conquer these feelings by acting indecisive. I found the only way to get the better of them was by adopting a forceful, concentrated drive.»^[125] In 1989, she stated that «my look is attainable … Women can look like Audrey Hepburn by flipping out their hair, buying the large glasses and the little sleeveless dresses.»^[115]

Hepburn’s influence as a style icon continues several decades after the height of her acting career in the 1950s and 1960s. Moseley notes that especially after her death in 1993, she became increasingly admired, with magazines frequently advising readers on how to get her look and fashion designers using her as inspiration.^[126][113] In 2004, Hepburn was named the «most beautiful woman of all time»^[127] and «most beautiful woman of the 20th century»^[128] in polls by Evian and QVC respectively, and in 2015, was voted «the most stylish Brit of all time» in a poll commissioned by Samsung.^[129] Her film costumes fetch large sums of money in auctions: one of the «little black dresses» designed by Givenchy for Breakfast at Tiffany’s was sold by Christie’s for a record sum of £467,200 in 2006.^{[130][lower-alpha 5]}

Filmography and stage roles

Main article: Audrey Hepburn on screen and stage

Awards

Main article: List of awards and honours received by Audrey Hepburn

See also

Lua error: bad argument #2 to ‘title.new’ (unrecognized namespace name ‘Portal’).

• List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards
• Black Givenchy dress of Audrey Hepburn
• White floral Givenchy dress of Audrey Hepburn (Academy Awards, 1954)

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Eastman, John (1989). Retakes: Behind the Scenes of 500 Classic Movies. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-35399-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Ferrer, Sean (2005). Audrey Hepburn, an Elegant Spirit. New York: Atria. ISBN 978-0-671-02479-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Fishgall, Gary (2002). Gregory Peck: A Biography. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 068485290X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Gitlin, Martin (2009). Audrey Hepburn: A Biography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313359453.

• Givenchy, Hubert de (2007). Audrey Hepburn. London: Pavilion. ISBN 978-1-86205-775-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Harris, Warren G. (1994). Audrey Hepburn: A Biography. Wheeler Pub. ISBN 978-1-56895-156-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Hill, Daniel Delis (2004). As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising. Texas Tech University Press.

• Moseley, Rachel (2002). Growing Up with Audrey Hepburn: Text, Audience, Resonance. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0 7190 6310 8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Paris, Barry (2001) [1996]. Audrey Hepburn. Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0-425-18212-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Sheridan, Jayne (2010). Fashion, Media, Promotion: The New Black Magic. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-9421-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Spoto, Donald (2006). Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn. Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-307-23758-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Steele, Valerie (9 November 2010). The Berg Companion to Fashion. Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84788-592-0. Retrieved 16 May 2011.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Vermilye, Jerry (1995). The Complete Films of Audrey Hepburn. New York: Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-1598-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Walker, Alexander (1997) [1994]. Audrey, Her Real Story. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-18046-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Woodward, Ian (31 May 2012). Audrey Hepburn: Fair Lady of the Screen. Ebury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4481-3293-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

Main article: Audrey Hepburn bibliography

External links

Lua error in Module:Sister_project_links at line 367: attempt to index field ‘wikibase’ (a nil value).

• Audrey Hepburn – official site of Hepburn and the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund
• Audrey Hepburn Society at the US Fund for UNICEF
• Audrey Hepburn at AllMovie
• Audrey Hepburn discography at Discogs
• Audrey Hepburn at the Internet Broadway Database
• Audrey Hepburn on IMDb
• Audrey Hepburn collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Audrey Hepburn at the TCM Movie Database
• Works by or about Audrey Hepburn in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Template:EGOT winners