Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Kathleen Hepburn was born on the 4th of May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium. Her mother Baroness Ella van Heemstra was a Dutch noblewoman and her father Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston was a British subject born in Auschitz, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. The family moved frequently between London, Arnhem, and the Netherlands during her early years. When World War II broke out in September 1939, Hepburn's mother brought her back to Arnhem hoping for neutrality. She attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945 under the tutelage of Winja Marova. During the German occupation she used the name Edda van Heemstra because an English-sounding name was dangerous. Her uncle Otto van Limburg Stirum was executed in retaliation for resistance sabotage even though he had not participated. Her half-brother Ian was deported to Berlin to work in a German labour camp while another brother Alex went into hiding. After her uncle's death the family lived with her grandfather Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra in nearby Velp. Hepburn gave silent dance performances that reportedly raised money for the Dutch resistance effort. She also volunteered at a hospital that served as a center for resistance activities in Velp. During the 1944, 45 Dutch famine the Germans hindered food supplies to civilians. Hepburn's family made flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits. Suffering from malnutrition she became gravely ill with jaundice anaemia oedema and a respiratory infection after the war ended.
After the war ended in 1945 Hepburn moved with her mother and siblings to Amsterdam where she began ballet training under Sonia Gaskell and Russian teacher Olga Tarasova. Due to the loss of the family fortune Ella worked as a cook and housekeeper for a wealthy family. Hepburn made her film debut playing an air stewardess in Dutch in Seven Lessons (1948). Later that year she moved to London after accepting a ballet scholarship with Ballet Rambert which was then based in Notting Hill. She supported herself with part-time work as a model and dropped Ruston from her surname. After being told by Rambert that despite her talent her height and weak constitution would make the status of prima ballerina unattainable she decided to concentrate on acting. Hepburn appeared as a chorus girl 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. 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. She appeared in minor roles in films including One Wild Oat Laughter in Paradise Young Wives' Tale and The Lavender Hill Mob all released in 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. Then she took a small role in a bilingual film Monte Carlo Baby filmed in Monte Carlo where French novelist Colette decided to cast her in the title role for the Broadway play Gigi.
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 the 18th of 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. Wyler wrote a glowing note of thanks saying that as a result of the test producers at Paramount expressed interest in casting her. The producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role but Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn's screen test that he cast her instead. 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 in a Motion Picture , Drama in 1953. In his review in The New York Times A. H. Weiler wrote that she is a slender elfin and wistful beauty alternately regal and childlike. She was featured on the 7th of September 1953 cover of Time magazine and became known for her personal style. 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. 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.
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 that Hepburn has her most demanding film role and gives her finest performance. She 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. Her second film released in 1964 was George Cukor's film adaptation of the stage musical My Fair Lady which premiered in October. Soundstage wrote that not since Gone with the Wind has a motion picture created such universal excitement as My Fair Lady 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. Critics applauded Hepburn's performance while Bosley 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.
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. Her first field mission for UNICEF was to Ethiopia in 1988 where she visited an orphanage in Mek'ele that housed 500 starving children and had UNICEF send food. In August 1988 Hepburn went to Turkey on an immunisation campaign calling it the loveliest example of UNICEF's capabilities. She said the army gave 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. In October she went to South America visiting Venezuela and Ecuador telling United States Congress that tiny mountain communities slums and shantytowns received water systems for the first time by some miracle which was UNICEF. In April 1989 she visited Sudan with Robert 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. 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.
Upon returning to Switzerland from Somalia 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. Having grown slowly over several years the cancer had metastasised as a thin coating over her small intestine. After surgery Hepburn began chemotherapy. 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. On the evening of the 20th of January 1993 Hepburn died in her sleep at her home. She was 63. Funeral services were held at the village church of Tolochenaz on the 24th of 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 delivered a eulogy. Many family members and friends attended 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.
Hepburn was known for her fashion choices and distinctive look to the extent that journalist Mark Tungate has described her as a recognisable brand. 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 compared to the more sexual and curvy Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. With her short hairstyle thick eyebrows slim body and gamine looks she presented a look that young women found easier to emulate than those of more sexual film stars. In 1954 fashion photographer Cecil Beaton declared Hepburn the public embodiment of our new feminine ideal in Vogue writing that nobody ever looked like her before World War II yet we recognise the rightness of this appearance in relation to our historical needs. Added to the International Best Dressed List in 1961 Hepburn was associated with a minimalistic style usually wearing clothes with simple silhouettes that emphasised her slim body such as monochromatic colours with occasional statement accessories. In the late 1950s Hepburn popularised plain black leggings. She 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). Although initially disappointed that Miss Hepburn was not Katharine Hepburn as he had mistakenly thought Givenchy and Hepburn formed a life-long friendship. Givenchy designed her costumes for Love in the Afternoon Breakfast at Tiffany's Funny Face Charade Paris When It Sizzles and How to Steal a Million as well as clothing her off screen. 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.
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Common questions
When and where was Audrey Hepburn born?
Audrey Kathleen Hepburn was born on the 4th of May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium.
What happened to Audrey Hepburn during World War II?
During the German occupation from 1939 to 1945, Hepburn used the name Edda van Heemstra for safety while her family suffered losses including the execution of her uncle Otto van Limburg Stirum. She gave silent dance performances to raise money for the Dutch resistance effort and volunteered at a hospital that served as a center for resistance activities in Velp.
Which film earned Audrey Hepburn an Academy Award for Best Actress?
Hepburn won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1953 for her starring role as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday. The producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role but director William Wyler cast Hepburn after seeing her screen test.
Why did Julie Andrews not play Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady?
Producer Jack L. Warner thought Hepburn was a more bankable proposition than Julie Andrews who had originated the role on stage. Although non-singer Hepburn performed lengthy vocal preparation for the role, her vocals were ultimately dubbed by Marni Nixon because her voice was considered more suitable.
When did Audrey Hepburn die and what caused her death?
Audrey Hepburn died in her sleep on the evening of the 20th of January 1993 at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland. A laparoscopy revealed she suffered from pseudomyxoma peritonei, a rare form of abdominal cancer that had metastasised over several years.
Who designed the costumes for Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's?
French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy designed the costumes for Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's and many other films including Sabrina and Funny Face. One of the little black dresses he created for the film sold for £467,200 at Christie's in 2006.