Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn (
May 4,
1929 â€"
January 20,
1993) was an iconic
Academy Award-winning
actress,
fashion model and
humanitarian.
Hepburn had the reputation of being a humble, kind and charming person, who lived the philosophy of putting others before herself. She showed this side particularly towards the end of her life in her work for the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She has often been called the most beautiful woman of all time, most recently in a 2006 poll for New Woman magazine. [
1] She was ranked as the third greatest female star of all time by the
American Film Institute (
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars.)
Born [
2]
Audrey Kathleen Ruston in
Brussels,
Belgium, she was the only child of John Victor Hepburn-Ruston[
3], an
Anglo-
Irish banker, and Baroness Ella van Heemstra, a
Dutch aristocrat descended from
French and
English kings. Her father later appended the name Hepburn to his surname, and her surname became
Hepburn-Ruston. She had two half-brothers, Alexander and Ian Quarles van Ufford, by her mother's first marriage to a Dutch nobleman. She was a descendent of
King Edward III of
England. [
4]
Hepburn attended private schools in
England and the
Netherlands. Her mother was very strict and her father was more easy-going which led her to prefer him. He left the family when Audrey was young. She later called his abandonment the most traumatic moment of her life. Years later she located her father in
Dublin through the
Red Cross and supported him financially until his death. He was never able to reciprocate her love.[
5] After the 1935 divorce of her parents, she was living with her mother at
Arnhem, Netherlands when the
German invasion and occupation of
World War II occurred. At that time she adopted the pseudonym
Edda Van Heemstra, modifying her mother's documents to do so, because an "English-sounding" name was considered dangerous. This was never her legal name. The name Edda was a modified version of Hepburn's mother's name, Ella.[
6]
After the landing of the Allied Forces on
D-Day, things grew worse under the German occupiers. During the
Dutch famine over the winter of 1944, brutality increased and the
Nazis confiscated the Dutch people's limited food and fuel supply for themselves. Without heat in their homes or food to eat, people in the Netherlands starved and froze to death in the streets. Arnhem was devastated during allied bombing raids that were part of
Operation Market Garden. Hepburn's uncle and a cousin of her mother's were shot for being part of the Resistance. Hepburn's brother spent time in a German labor camp. Suffering from malnutrition, Hepburn developed several health problems. She would stay in bed and read to take her mind off the hunger. She danced ballet for groups of people to collect money for the underground movement. These times weren't all bad and she was able to enjoy some of her childhood. Hepburn said in a 1992 interview, "As long as he has the minimum, a child is perfectly cheerful. I remember also having lots of fun. We didn't just sit on the floor for five years and cry. Of course, there was always a cloud of fear and repression, and terrible things were going on." The stories of her and her family eating tulip bulbs to survive have been exaggerated. The tulip bulbs were used to make a fine green flour for making cakes and cookies.[
7]
When the tanks came in and Holland was liberated, relief-agency trucks followed. Hepburn once reminisced that she ate an entire can of condensed milk and then got sick from one of her first relief meals because she put too much sugar in her oatmeal.[
8]. As
UNICEF saved her early in life, she would later give back to UNICEF starting in 1954 with radio presentations.
After the war, Hepburn and her mother moved to
London, where she studied
ballet, danced in nightclub acts and revues, worked as a
model, and in 1951, began acting in films, mostly in minor or supporting roles as
Audrey Hepburn. She got into acting mainly to make money so that her mother would not have to work menial jobs to support them. Her first major performance was in the 1951 film
The Secret People, in which she played a ballet dancer. Audrey had trained in ballet since childhood and won critical acclaim for her talent, which she showcased in the film. However, her teachers had deemed her "too tall" to be a professional ballet dancer, since, at 5'7", she was taller than many of the male dancers. She was chosen to play the lead character in the
Broadway play
Gigi that opened on
24 November 1951. The writer Colette upon first seeing Hepburn reportedly said, "VoilĂ ! There's our Gigi!"[
9] She won a
Theatre World Award for her debut performance, and it had a successful six-month run in
New York City.
She was then offered a starring role opposite
Gregory Peck in the
Hollywood motion picture,
Roman Holiday. The billing was to have Gregory Peck's name above the title in large font with "introducing Audrey Hepburn" beneath. Peck called his agent and had Hepburn's name equally billed with his because he had predicted that she would win the Oscar. [
10] For her performance, she won the 1953
Academy Award for Best Actress. There were rumors that she and Peck were romantically involved, but they both vehemently denied such claims. Hepburn, however, added, "actually, you have to be a little bit in love with your leading man and vice versa. If you're going to portray love, you have to feel it. You can't do it any other way. But you don't carry it beyond the set." [
11]
After
Roman Holiday she filmed
Sabrina with
Humphrey Bogart and
William Holden, with whom she had a romance. Hepburn hoped to marry him and have children. She broke off the relationship when Holden revealed that he had a vasectomy. [
12]
In 1954, Audrey went back to the stage playing the water sprite in
Ondine in a performance with
Mel Ferrer, whom she would wed later that year. For her performance in
Ondine, Hepburn was awarded the Tony Award for Best Actress (1954) which, coming only six weeks after her academy award for
Roman Holiday, solidified her reputation as both a film and stage star. By the mid 1950s Hepburn also came to be regarded as a major style icon, her
gamine appearance and widely recognised sense of
chic being both admired and imitated.
Having become one of Hollywood's most popular box-office attractions, Audrey Hepburn co-starred with other major actors such as
Fred Astaire in
Funny Face,
Humphrey Bogart and
Gary Cooper in
Love in the Afternoon,
George Peppard in
Breakfast at Tiffany's,
Cary Grant in the critically acclaimed hit
Charade,
Rex Harrison in
My Fair Lady,
Peter O'Toole in
How to Steal a Million, and
Sean Connery in
Robin and Marian. Many of these leading men became very close to her. Rex Harrison called Audrey his favorite leading lady; Cary Grant loved to humor her and once said, "all I want for Christmas is to make another movie with Audrey Hepburn;" and Gregory Peck became a lifelong friend. After her death, Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her favorite poem, "Unending Love." [
13] Some believe Bogart and Hepburn did not get along, but this is untrue. Bogart got along better with Hepburn than anyone else on set. Hepburn later said, "Sometimes it's the so-called 'tough guys' that are the most tender hearted, as Bogey was with me." [
14]
Hepburn's performance as "Holly Golightly" in 1961's
Breakfast at Tiffany's resulted in one of the most iconic characters in 20th Century American cinema. Hepburn called the role, "the jazziest of my career." [
15] Asked about the acting challenge of the role, Hepburn said, "I'm an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did." [
16] She wore trendy clothing designed by her and Givenchy and added blonde streaks to her brown hair, a look that she would keep off-screen as well.
Hepburn starred in 1964's
My Fair Lady which was said to be the most anticipated movie since
Gone With The Wind. [
17] Hepburn was cast as Eliza Doolittle instead of then-unknown
Julie Andrews, who had originated the role on
Broadway. The decision not to cast Andrews was made before Hepburn was cast for the role. Hepburn initially refused the role and asked
Jack Warner to give it to Andrews, but when they informed her that it would either be her or
Elizabeth Taylor, who was vying for the role, she decided to take the part. According to an article in Soundstage magazine, "everyone agreed that if Julie Andrews was not to be in the film, Audrey Hepburn was the perfect choice." [
18] Julie Andrews had yet to make
Mary Poppins, which was released within the same year as
My Fair Lady. Audrey recorded singing vocals for the role, but subsequently discovered a professional "singing double"
Marni Nixon had overdubbed all of her songs. She is said to have walked off the set after being told of the dubbing and to have returned the next day apologizing for her behavior. Footage of several songs with Hepburn's original vocals still exist and have been included in documentaries and the DVD release of the film, though to date, only Nixon's renditions have been released on LP and CD. Some of her original vocals remained in the film, such as "Just You Wait" and snippets from "I Could Have Danced All Night". When asked about the dubbing of an actress with such distinctive vocal tones, Hepburn frowned and said, "you could tell, couldn't you? And there was Rex, recording all his songs as he acted...next time-" She then bit her lip to keep from saying any more. [
19] Aside from the dubbing, many critics agreed that Hepburn's performance was excellent. Gene Ringgold said, "Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. She is Eliza for the ages." [
20]
The controversy over Hepburn's casting reached its height at the 1964-65
Academy Awards season, when Hepburn was not nominated for best actress while Andrews was nominated for
Mary Poppins. The media tried to play up the rivalry between the two actresses as the ceremony approached, even though both women denied such bad feelings existed and got along well. Julie Andrews won "Best Actress" at the ceremony.
From 1967 onward, after fifteen highly successful years in film, Hepburn acted only occasionally. After her divorce from first husband
Mel Ferrer, she remarried Italian
psychiatrist Dr. Andrea Dotti and had a second son, after a difficult pregnancy that required near-total bed rest. After her eventual separation from Dotti, she attempted a comeback, co-starring with
Sean Connery in the period piece
Robin and Marian in 1976, which was moderately successful, but not up to the usual standards of a Hepburn hitfilm. Surprisingly, she turned down the seemingly made-to-order role of a former ballet dancer in
The Turning Point. (
Shirley MacLaine got the part, and the successful film invigorated her career.) She later said that turning down the part was the biggest regret of her career. Hepburn made another comeback try in 1979, starring in
Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline: Pulp author Sheldon's books were so popular his name was included in the film's title, no doubt leading Hepburn to think she had picked a winner. She hadn't. Among the reviewers, even Hepburn's admirers could not recommend the film due to its hackneyed material.
Hepburn's last starring role in a film was with her new flame
Ben Gazzara in the modern comedy
They All Laughed, a small, hip and breezy picture directed by
Peter Bogdanovich. A critical success, the film was overshadowed by the brutal murder of one of its stars, Bogdanovich's girlfriend,
Dorothy Stratten; the film was released after Stratten's murder at age 20 and was not a major hit. In 1987, she co-starred with
Robert Wagner in a tongue-in-cheek made-for-television caper film,
Love Among Thieves which borrowed elements from several of Hepburn's films, most notably
Charade and
How to Steal a Million. The TV-film was only a moderate success, with Hepburn being quoted that she appeared in it just for fun.
Hepburn's last film role, a cameo appearance, was of an angel in
Steven Spielberg's
Always, filmed in 1988. A rare Spielberg fizzle, few got to enjoy Hepburn looking, indeed, angelic, before the film was pulled from theaters.
Soon after Hepburn's final film role, she was appointed a special ambassador to the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Grateful for her own good fortune after being a victim of the
Nazi occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the world's poorest nations.
Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 50's, this was a much higher dedication. Those close to her say that the thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life. She visited countries in
Africa and
South Asia as part of UNICEF programs. She dedicated herself to spreading awareness of the conditions of these nations and doing what she could to help directly. In one interview, she mentioned buying camels and solar boxes so medicines could be delivered to a village in the middle of a desert. She worked tirelessly for UNICEF and various causes in Africa and other South Asian countries, even in the last months of her life.
In 1992, President
George 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 awarded her
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity. This was awarded posthumously, and her son accepted the award on her behalf.
She has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1652 Vine Street.
In the early 1950s she was engaged to the young
James Hanson. She called it "love at first sight;" however, after having her wedding dress fitted and date set, she decided the marriage would not work, due to the demands of his career that would require him to be gone on business most of the time. She had the wedding dress given to a poor Italian couple, who still have it today.
Hepburn did marry, twice: to American actor
Mel Ferrer and to an Italian doctor, Andrea Dotti, and had a son to each husband—Sean in
1960 by Ferrer, and Luca in
1970 by Dotti.
Hepburn met Mel Ferrer at a party hosted by
Gregory Peck, and quickly fell in love with him. After
Sabrina, Audrey went back to the stage, this time with Ferrer in a play called
Ondine, in which she played a water
sprite. Ferrer was rumored to be perhaps too controlling of Hepburn, but in
William Holden's words, "I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her."
She married him on
25 September 1954. The marriage lasted 14 years until
5 December 1968; their son was quoted as saying Hepburn stayed in the marriage too long. In the later years of the marriage, Ferrer was rumored to have had a girlfriend on the side, while Hepburn had an affair with her handsome
Two for the Road co-star,
Albert Finney. After the marriage fell apart, Hepburn met Italian
psychologist, Andrea Dotti on a cruise and fell in love with him on a trip to Greek ruins. She believed she would have many children, and possibly stop working. She married him on
18 January 1969. Although Dotti loved Hepburn and was well-liked by Sean, who called him "fun," Dotti had affairs with younger women. The marriage lasted 13 years and ended in
1982 after Luca and Sean were old enough to handle life with a single mother.
At the time of her death, she was the companion of
Robert Wolders, a handsome Dutch actor who was the widower of film star
Merle Oberon. She met Wolders through a friend, in the later stage of her marriage to Dotti. Six months later, they met again for a drink, which turned into dinner. They fell in love, and after Hepburn's divorce from Dotti was final, she and Wolders started their lives together, although they never married. In 1989, after nine years with him, she called them the happiest years of her life. "Took me long enough," she said in an interview with
Barbara Walters. Walters also asked why she never married Wolders. Hepburn replied that they were married, just not formally. Hepburn and Wolders planned the UNICEF trips together. At every one of her moving speeches, Wolders would watch and sometimes shed tears.
In late 1992, Hepburn began to feel pains in her stomach, which turned out to be a rare form of cancer that originated in the appendix. Hepburn had surgery in a
Los Angeles hospital, but the cancer continued to spread, and when she went in for surgery, doctors discovered it was too far gone to attempt surgery or
chemotherapy. Hepburn died of
colorectal cancer on
20 January 1993, in
Tolochenaz,
Vaud,
Switzerland at the age of 63, and was interred there.
To date only one biographical film based upon Audrey Hepburn's life has been attempted. The 2000 American made-for-television film,
The Audrey Hepburn Story starred
Jennifer Love Hewitt as the actress. Hewitt also co-produced the film. The film received poor reviews due to numerous factual errors and for Hewitt's performance. The film concludes with footage of the real Audrey Hepburn, shot during one of her final missions for UNICEF. Several versions of the film exist; it was aired as a mini-series in some countries, and in a truncated version on America's
ABC television network, which is also the version released on DVD in North America.
*
"I am more than ever awed and overwhelmed by the monumental talents it was my great, great privilege to work for and with. There is therefore no way I can thank you for this beautiful award without thanking all of them, because it is they who helped and honed, triggered and taught, pushed and pulled, dressed and photographed - and with endless patience and kindness and gentleness, guided and nurtured a totally unknown, insecure, inexperienced, skinny broad into a marketable commodity. I am proud to have been in a business that gives pleasure, creates beauty, and awakens our conscience, arouses compassion, and perhaps most importantly, gives millions a respite from our so violent world. Thank you, Screen Actors Guild and friends, for this huge honor - and for giving me this unique opportunity to express my deepest gratitude and love to all of those who have given me a career that has brought me nothing but happiness." -For receiving the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1992. Julia Roberts accepted the award on her behalf.
*
"I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person."*
"I was born with something that appealed to an audience at that particular time...I acted instinctively. I've had one of the greatest schools of all - a whole row of great, great directors." *
"Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can't take it all in at once."*
"I heard a definition once: Happiness is health and short memory! I wish I'd invented it, because it is very true."*
"As a child, I was taught that it was bad manners to bring attention to yourself, and to never, ever make a spectacle of yourself... All of which I've earned a living doing."*
"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone ... People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed and redeemed and redeemed. Never throw out anybody. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others." - Written by
Sam Levenson, recited by and often attributed to Audrey Hepburn.
In 2003, the
United States Postal Service issued a stamp honoring her. It has a drawing of her which is based on a publicity photo for her movie,
Sabrina. Hepburn is one of the few non-Americans to be so honored.
*Hepburn spoke
French,
Italian,
English,
Dutch/
Flemish, and
Spanish. Spanish was previously unconfirmed, but there is UNICEF footage of her in
Mexico speaking fluent Spanish to locals.
*Height: 5'7", Weight: 110 lbs, Measurements: 34-20-34.
*Suffered several
miscarriages in her lifetime which led to some
clinical depression. While filming
The Unforgiven, Hepburn broke her back after falling off a horse onto a rock. She spent weeks in the hospital. She later had a miscarriage that was probably induced by the physical and mental stress. While she was resting at home,
Mel Ferrer brought her the fawn from the movie
Green Mansions to keep as a pet. They called him Ip, short for Pippin. When she was pregnant with Luca in 1969, she rested for months and passed the time by painting. One of her paintings can be found at http://www.thefairestlady.com/audrey/galleries/drawing3.jpg.
*Hepburn had the following pets: Mr. Famous, a
Yorkshire Terrier. He was hit by a car and killed. To cheer her up, Mel Ferrer got her another Yorkshire named Assam of Assam. She also kept Ip the
fawn as a pet; they made a bed for him out of the bathtub. Sean Ferrer had a
Cocker Spaniel named Cokey. When Hepburn was older, she had two
Jack Russell Terriers.
*It is sometimes claimed that Audrey Hepburn and
Katharine Hepburn were sisters. The truth is they were only very distantly related, and certainly had never met before Audrey Hepburn's rise to prominence. The closest relationship that has been identified for them is 19th cousin once removed. It has also been claimed that Audrey Hepburn chose her last name in honor of Katharine Hepburn when she became an actress, however, the record shows that it was part of her family name for some time before she entered show business.
*One of her hobbies growing up in the 1940's was drawing. Some of her artwork can be found at http://www.audrey1.com/gallery/results.php?cat=Audrey+drawings
*Hepburn is considered by many in
Japan as a model for feminine
beauty, a theme explored in Alan Brown's novel
Audrey Hepburn's Neck (ISBN 0671526723).
*Hepburn only flew
coach in airplanes. She never desired to live glamorously. Her houses were comfortably large with extensive gardens, but without being extravagant.
Sleeping Beauty's Princess Aurora was said to be drawn after Hepburn because the artist was in love with her looks.
*Everyone remembers when
Marilyn Monroe serenaded President
John F. Kennedy on his birthday in 1962. What is often forgotten is that Hepburn sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to JFK for his final birthday in 1963.
*According to Sean Ferrer, Hepburn's favorite movies of her own were
The Nun's Story, which was socially important, and
Funny Face, which she had a lot of fun filming mainly because she got to dance with
Fred Astaire. However, she said in a
Barbara Walters interview that
Roman Holiday was dearest to her.
*Her favorite poem was "Unending Love" by
Rabindranath Tagore.
*
Opera diva
Maria Callas reportedly loved Hepburn's look so much that she adopted it for herself in the 1950s.
*Joked with
Wait Until Dark director
Terence Young that he was shelling his favorite star years before. Young was a tank commander during the Battle of
Arnhem. Contrary to some reports, Hepburn was never a nurse for Young during the war.
*In the late eighties and early nineties, her favorite television show was
L.A. Law.
*Animators for the movie
Balto based the appearance of the dog Jenna on Hepburn's look.
*
Sean Hepburn Ferrer,
Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers, New York: Atria, 2003
*
Barry Paris,
Audrey Hepburn, New York: Putnam, 1996
1.
Sean Hepburn Ferrer,
Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers, New York: Atria, 2003.
2.
Barry Paris,
Audrey Hepburn, New York: Putnam, 1996.
3. http://www.audreyhepburnlibrary.com
*
List of people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award*
Official web site by the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund*
Audrey Hepburn - L'Ange des Enfants*
Audrey Hepburn - La Star des annees 50 et 60*
Biographie et Filmographie Audrey Hepburn*
Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Audrey Hepburn*
Note from Audrey Hepburn stating "I was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston"*
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*
Internet Accuracy Project - Audrey Hepburn*
Stills & Poster Gallery**from the
British Film Institute.
*
The Fairest Lady fansite*
Audrey Hepburn's Gracesite
