Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn
Hepburn as Regina "Reggie" Lampert in Charade
Born	Audrey Kathleen Ruston
Other names	Edda Van Heemstra
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Spouse(s)	Mel Ferrer Andrea Dotti

Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929 – January 20, 1993) was an Academy Award-winning actress, fashion model, and humanitarian.

Raised under Nazi rule during World War II, Hepburn trained extensively to become a ballerina, before deciding to pursue acting. She first gained notice for her starring role in the Broadway production of Gigi (1951). She was then cast in Roman Holiday (1953) as Princess Ann, the role for which she won an Academy Award. She was one of the leading Hollywood actresses during the 1950s and 1960s and received four more Academy Award nominations, including one for her iconic performance as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). In 1964, she played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, the critically acclaimed film adaptation of the play.

Hepburn starred in few films in the 1970s and 1980s and instead devoted her time to her children. From 1988 until her death in 1993, she served as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work. In 1999, she was ranked as the third greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute in their list AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars.

Early life

Born Audrey Kathleen Ruston in Brussels, Belgium, she was the only child of Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, an Englishman, and Baroness Ella van Heemstra van Ufford Ruston, a Dutch aristocrat descended from French nobility. Her father later appended the surname of his grandmother Kathleen Hepburn to the family's, and her surname became Hepburn-Ruston. She had two half-brothers, Arnoud Robert Alexander "Alex" Quarles van Ufford and Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford, by her mother's first marriage to the Dutch nobleman Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford. She was a descendant of King Edward III of England and James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, from whom Katharine Hepburn may have also been descended.

Hepburn's father's job required the family to travel often between Brussels, England, and The Netherlands. From 1935 to 1938, Hepburn attended private academy for girls in Kent. In 1935, her parents divorced and her father left the family. She later called this the most traumatic moment of her life. Years later she located him in Dublin through the Red Cross. She stayed in contact with him and supported him financially until his death. In 1939, her mother moved her and her two half-brothers to their grandfather's home in Arnhem, Netherlands. Ella believed the Netherlands would be safe from Nazi attack. Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945 where she trained in ballet, in addition to learning a standard school curriculum.

In 1940, the Nazis invaded Arnhem. During the war Hepburn 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.

By 1944, Hepburn had become a very proficient ballet dancer. She secretly danced for groups of people to collect money for the underground movement. She later said, "the best audience I ever had made not a single sound at the end of my performance."

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, 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 in front of Hepburn for being part of the Resistance. Hepburn's half-brother Ian van Ufford spent time in a German labor camp. Suffering from malnutrition, Hepburn developed acute anemia, respiratory problems, and edema--a swelling of the limbs.

In 1991, Hepburn said, "I have memories. 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 to the train. I was a child observing a child."

Hepburn also noted the similarities between her and Anne Frank. "I was exactly the same age as Anne Frank. We were both 10 when war broke out and 15 when the war finished. I was given the book in Dutch, in galley form, in 1946 by a friend. I read it . . . and it destroyed me. It does this to many people when they first read it but I was not reading it as a book, as printed pages. This was my life. I didn't know what I was going to read. I've never been the same again, it affected me so deeply."

"We saw reprisals. We saw young men put against the wall and shot and they'd close the street and then open it and you could pass by again. If you read the diary, I've marked one place where she says, 'Five hostages shot today'. That was the day my uncle was shot. And in this child's words I was reading about what was inside me and is still there. It was a catharsis for me. This child who was locked up in four walls had written a full report of everything I'd experienced and felt."

These times were not all bad and she was able to enjoy some of her childhood. Again drawing parallels to Anne Frank's life, Hepburn said, "This spirit of survival is so strong in Anne Frank's words. One minute she says, 'I'm so depressed.' The next she is longing to ride a bicycle. She is certainly a symbol of the child in very difficult circumstances, which is what I devote all my time to. She transcends her death."

One way in which Audrey Hepburn passed the time was by drawing, and some of her childhood artwork can be seen today.

When the tanks came in and the country was liberated, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration trucks followed. Hepburn said in an interview 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.

Early career

In 1945, after the war, Hepburn left the Arnhem Conservatory and moved to Amsterdam, where she and her mother worked as nurses in a home for wounded veterans. When they completed their nursing duties in 1946, Hepburn took ballet lessons with Sonia Gaskell. In 1948, Hepburn went to London and took dancing lessons with the renowned Marie Rambert, teacher of Vaslav Nijinsky, one of the greatest male dancers in history. Hepburn eventually asked Rambert what her future would be. Rampert assured Hepburn that she could continue to work there and have a great career as a ballerina, but that her height, 5'7", coupled with her poor nutrition during the war would keep her from becoming a prima ballerina. Hepburn trusted Rampert's advice and decided to pursue acting, a career which she at least had a chance to excel in. After Hepburn became a star, Rampert said in an interview, "She was a wonderful learner. If she had wanted to persevere, she might have become an outstanding ballerina." Unfortunately, Hepburn's mother was working menial jobs to support them. Hepburn had no money and needed to find a paying job. Since she had trained all her life to be a performer, acting was the only sensible career path. She said, "I needed the money; it paid ₤3 more than ballet jobs."

Her acting career started with the educational film, Dutch in Seven Lessons. She then played in musical theatre in productions such as High Button Shoes and Sauce Piquante. Hepburn's first role in a motion picture was in the British film One Wild Oat, in which she played a hotel receptionist. She played several more minor roles in Young Wives' Tales, Laughter in Paradise, The Lavender Hill Mob and Monte Carlo Baby. During the filming of Monte Carlo Baby, Hepburn was chosen to play the lead character in the Broadway play Gigi that opened on 24 November 1951. The writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette upon first seeing Hepburn reportedly said, "Voilà! There's our Gigi!" She won a Theatre World Award for her debut performance, and it had a successful six-month run in New York City.

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Hepburn as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday

Her first significant film performance was in the 1952 film The Secret People, in which she played a prodigy ballet dancer. Naturally, Hepburn did all of her own dancing scenes. Hepburn's first starring role and first American film was opposite Gregory Peck in the Hollywood motion picture Roman Holiday. Producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, but director William Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn's screen test, in which the camera was left on and candid footage of Hepburn relaxing and answering questions was taken, that he cast her in the lead. Wyler said, "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!'" The billing was to have Gregory Peck's name above the title in large font with "introducing Audrey Hepburn" beneath. After filming had been completed, Peck called his agent and had Hepburn's name equally billed with his because he had predicted that she would win the Oscar. Hepburn and Peck bonded during filming, and there were rumors that they were romantically involved; both 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." Because of the instant celebrity that came with Roman Holiday, Hepburn's illustration was placed on the cover of TIME, September 7 1953.

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Paramount Pictures Publicity Shot, 1953

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Hepburn's illustration on the cover of TIME, September 7 1953

Hepburn's performance received much critical praise.

"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 acknowledgment of the end of that affair, she remains a pitifully lonely figure facing a stuffy future." - A.H. Weiler, New York Times, August 28, 1953

After filming Roman Holiday for four months, Hepburn went back to New York and did eight months of Gigi. The play was performed in Los Angeles and San Francisco in its last month. She was given a seven-picture contract with Paramount with twelve months in between films to allow her time for stage work.

Hepburn would later call Roman Holiday her dearest movie, because it was the one that made her a star.

Hollywood stardom

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Paramount Pictures Publicity Still circa 1956

After Roman Holiday she filmed Billy Wilder's Sabrina with Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Hepburn was sent to fashion designer Givenchy to decide on her wardrobe. When told that "Miss Hepburn" was coming to see him, Givenchy famously expected to see Katharine Hepburn. He was not disappointed with Audrey, however, and they formed a lifelong friendship and partnership. During the filming of Sabrina, Hepburn and Holden became romantically involved and she hoped to marry him and have children. She broke off the relationship when Holden revealed that he had had a vasectomy.

In 1954, Audrey went back to the stage to play the water sprite in Ondine in a performance with Mel Ferrer, whom she would wed later that year. During the run of the play, Hepburn was awarded the Golden Globe for "Best Motion Picture Actress" and the Academy Award for Best Actress, both for Roman Holiday. Six weeks after receiving the Oscar, Hepburn was awarded the Tony Award for Best Actress for Ondine.

By the mid 1950s, Hepburn was not only one of the biggest motion picture stars in Hollywood, but she also came to be regarded as a major style icon. Her gamine and elfin appearance and widely recognised sense of chic were both admired and imitated. In 1955, she was awarded the Golden Globe - World Film Favorite - Female.

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, Maurice Chevalier 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 favourite leading lady; Cary Grant loved to humor her and once said, "all I want for Christmas is another picture 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" by Rabindranath Tagore. 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."

Funny Face in 1957 was one of Hepburn's favorite movies to film because she got to dance with Fred Astaire. The Nun's Story in 1959 was one of Hepburn's most daring roles. Films in Review stated, "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."

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Hepburn as Holly Golightly with Orangey the Cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's

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." 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." 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 had cemented herself as one of Hollywood's greatest actresses, right alongside Marilyn Monroe. In fact, Monroe was not the only one to sing to President John F Kennedy on his birthday. For Kennedy's next (and last) birthday on May 29, 1963, Hepburn, the President's favorite actress, sang "Happy Birthday, dear Jack" to him. Despite her stardom, Hepburn retained her humility throughout life. She preferred a more quiet living with family and nature. She lived in houses, not mansions, and she loved to garden.

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Universal Pictures Publicity Shot of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in Charade circa 1963

In 1963, Hepburn starred in Charade, her first and only film with Cary Grant, who had previously withdrawn from the starring roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina. In 1964, Hepburn starred in My Fair Lady which was said to be the most anticipated movie since Gone With The Wind. 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." Julie Andrews had yet to make Mary Poppins, which was released within the same year as My Fair Lady. Hepburn recorded singing vocals for the role, but subsequently discovered a professional "singing double" Marni Nixon had overdubbed all of her songs. She walked off the set after being told of the dubbing and returned early the next day to apologize 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. 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."

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DVD cover of Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle with Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady

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.

Two For The Road was a non-linear and innovative movie about divorce. Director Stanley Donen said that Hepburn was more free and happy than he had ever seen her, and he accredited that to Albert Finney. Wait Until Dark in 1967 was a difficult film to do. It was an edgy thriller in which Hepburn played the part of a blind woman being terrorized. In addition, it was produced by Mel Ferrer and filmed on the brink of their divorce. Hepburn is said to have lost 15 pounds under the stress. On the bright side, she found co-star Richard Crenna to be very funny, and she had a lot to laugh about with director Terence Young. They both joked that he had shelled his favorite star 23 years before; Terence Young had been a British Army tank commander during the Battle of Arnhem. Hepburn's performance was nominated for an Academy Award.

From 1967 onward, after fifteen highly successful years in film, Hepburn acted only occasionally. After her divorce from first husband Mel Ferrer, she married 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. She reportedly turned down the tailor-made role of a former ballet dancer in The Turning Point. (Shirley MacLaine got the part.) Hepburn finally returned to cinema in 1979, taking the leading role in Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline. Author Sidney Sheldon revised his novel when it was reissued to tie into the film, making Hepburn's character older to better match the actress' age. The film was a critical and box office failure.

Hepburn's last starring role in a cinematic film was with Ben Gazzara in the comedy They All Laughed, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Although a critical success, the film was overshadowed by the murder of one of its stars, Bogdanovich's girlfriend, Dorothy Stratten; the film was released after Stratten's death but played only limited runs. 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, which also starred Jerry Orbach as a villain, 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. This film was also only moderately successful. In the final months of her life Hepburn completed two entertainment-related projects: she hosted a television documentary series entitled Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, which debuted on PBS the day of her death, and she also recorded a spoken word album, Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales featuring readings of classic children's stories, which would win her a posthumous Grammy Award.

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1652 Vine Street.

Marriages, family, and later life

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 their careers that would keep them apart 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 with each—Sean in 1960 by Ferrer, and Luca in 1970 by Dotti.

Hepburn met Mel Ferrer at a party hosted by Gregory Peck. She had seen him in the film Lili and was captivated by his performance. Ferrer later sent Hepburn the script for the play Ondine and Hepburn agreed to the role. Rehearsals started in January 1954 and Hepburn and Ferrer were married on September 25. Hepburn and Ferrer were constantly together and Hepburn had nothing but adoration for him. She did, however, admit that he had a bad temper. Ferrer was rumored to be too controlling of Hepburn; he was called her Svengali. William Holden was quoted as saying, "I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her."

Before having their first child, Hepburn had two miscarriages, the first of which was in March of 1955. In 1959, while filming The Unforgiven, Hepburn broke her back after falling off a horse onto a rock. She spent weeks in the hospital and later had a miscarriage that was said to have been induced by 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. In 1965, she had another miscarriage. Hepburn was much more careful when she was pregnant with Luca in 1969; she rested for months and passed the time by painting before delivering Luca by caesarean section. Hepburn had her final miscarriage in 1974. Hepburn is famous for the poem "Time Tested Beauty Tips" which she used to recite to her sons. The poem includes verses such as, "For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day", and, "For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry." The poem is popularly attributed to her, but it was in fact written by Sam Levenson.

Hepburn had several pets, including a Yorkshire Terrier named Mr. Famous, who 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 a bathtub. Sean Ferrer had a Cocker Spaniel named Cokey. When Hepburn was older, she had two Jack Russell Terriers.

The marriage to Ferrer lasted 14 years until 5 December 1968; their son was quoted as saying that Hepburn had 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 was rumored to have had an affair with her younger Two For The Road co-star Albert Finney. Hepburn denied these rumors, but director Stanley Donen said, "with Albert Finney she was like a new woman. She and Albie have a wonderful thing together; they are like a couple of kids. When Mel wasn't on set they sparkled. When Mel was there, it was funny. Audrey and Albie would go rather formal and a little awkward. They separated before divorcing. During their separation, Hepburn lost even more weight. She 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. Though Hepburn had broken off all contact with Ferrer, she remained in touch with Dotti for the benefit of Luca.

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. 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 then asked why Hepburn had 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 speeches, Wolders would watch and sometimes shed tears.

Work for UNICEF

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. Hepburn's travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; she spoke French, Italian, English, Dutch/Flemish, and Spanish. She learned Italian while living in Rome. She learned Spanish on her own, and there is UNICEF footage of her in Mexico speaking fluent Spanish to locals.

Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s, starting in 1954 with radio presentations, 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. Her first Field Mission was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited an orphanage in Mek'ele with 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] [sic] 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."

In August of 1988, Hepburn went to Turkey on an immunization campaign. She called Turkey "the most lovely 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."

In October, Hepburn went to South America. In Venezuela and Ecuador, Hepburn told 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 chiefs in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In April, Hepburn visited Sudan with Robert Wolders as part of a mission called "Operation Lifeline." Due to 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 October, 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."

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

In September of 1992, 4 months before her passing, Hepburn went to Somalia. Hepburn called it "apocalyptic" and 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." "The earth is red — an extraordinary sight — that deep terra-cotta red. And you see the villages, displacement camps and compounds, and the earth is all rippled around them like an ocean bed. And those were the graves. There are graves everywhere. Along the road, around the paths that you take, along the riverbeds, near every camp — there are graves everywhere."

Though forever 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 politicization of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanization 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." "People in these places don't know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognize 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."

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.

In 2006, the Sustainable Style Foundation inaugurated the "Style & Substance Award in Honor of Audrey Hepburn" to recognize high profile individuals that work to improve the quality of life for children around the world. The first award was given to Hepburn posthumously and received by the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.

Cancer

In late 1992, Hepburn began to feel pains in her abdomen, 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 doctors decided that another surgery would not help. (Hepburn had been a lifelong smoker. Studies have found that women who smoke are more than 40% more likely to die from colorectal cancer than women who never have smoked.)

Hepburn died of colorectal cancer on 20 January 1993, in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland, and was interred there. She was 63.

Enduring popularity

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Window of a GAP store

Audrey Hepburn to this day is a beauty and fashion icon. She has often been called one of the most beautiful women of all time. Her fashion styles also continue to be popular among women. Contrary to her recent image, although Hepburn did enjoy fashion, she did not place much importance on it. She preferred casual, comfortable clothes. In addition, she never considered herself to be very attractive. She said in a 1959 interview, "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."

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A 2003 USPS commemorative stamp.

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.

In 2003, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp illustrated by Michael J. Deas honouring her as a Hollywood legend and humanitarian. It has a drawing of her which is based on a publicity photo from the movie Sabrina. Hepburn is one of the few non-Americans to be so honoured.

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An advertisement for green tea in China

Hepburn's image is still widely used in advertising campaigns across the world. In China, a series of commercials used colorized and digitally enhanced clips of Hepburn in Roman Holiday to advertise a green tea product. In the US, Hepburn was featured in a GAP commercial which ran from September 7 2006 to October 5 2006. It 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. The commercial was popular, with approximately 200,000 users viewing it on YouTube.

Hepburn's "little black dress" from Breakfast at Tiffany's will be auctioned on December 6, 2006, at Christie's. The starting price is expected to be $126,000.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1948	Nederlands in 7 lessen (English: "Dutch in Seven Lessons")	Airline Stewardess	Documentary
1950	One Wild Oat	Hotel receptionist
1951	Laughter in Paradise	Cigarette Girl
	Young Wives' Tale	Eve Lester
	The Lavender Hill Mob	Chiquita
1952	The Secret People	Nora Brentano
	Monte Carlo Baby	Linda Farrell	Discovered by French novelist Colette during filming and cast as Gigi for the Broadway play
	Nous irons à Monte Carlo (English: "We Will Go to Monte Carlo")	Melissa Walter	French version of Monte Carlo Baby
1953	Roman Holiday	Princess Ann	Academy Award Winner; Golden Globe Winner; BAFTA Award Winner; New York Film Critics Circle Award Winner
1954	Sabrina	Sabrina Fairchild	Academy Award Nomination; BAFTA Award Nomination
1956	War and Peace	Natasha Rostov	Golden Globe Nomination; BAFTA Award Nomination
1957	Funny Face	Jo
	Love in the Afternoon	Ariane Chavasse/Thin Girl	Golden Globe Nomination; Golden Laurel Winner
1959	Green Mansions	Rima	Directed by Mel Ferrer
	The Nun's Story	Sister Luke (Gabrielle van der Mal)	Academy Award Nomination; Golden Globe Nomination; BAFTA Award Winner; New York Film Critics Circle Winner; Zulueta Prize Winner
1960	The Unforgiven	Rachel Zachary
1961	Breakfast at Tiffany's	Holly Golightly	Academy Award Nomination
	The Children's Hour	Karen Wright
1963	Charade	Regina Lampert	Golden Globe Nomination; BAFTA Award Winner
1964	Paris, When It Sizzles	Gabrielle Simpson
	My Fair Lady	Eliza Doolittle	Golden Globe Nomination
1966	How to Steal a Million	Nicole Bonnet
1967	Two For The Road	Joanna Wallace	Golden Globe Nomination
	Wait Until Dark	Susy Hendrix	Academy Award Nomination; Golden Globe Nomination
1976	Robin and Marian	Lady Marian
1979	Bloodline	Elizabeth Roffe
1981	They All Laughed	Angela Niotes
1989	Always	Hap

Television and theatre

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1949	High Button Shoes	Chorus Girl	Musical Theatre
	Sauce Tartare	Chorus Girl	Musical Theatre
1950	Sauce Piquante	Featured Player	Musical Theatre
1951	Gigi	Gigi	Opened on Broadway at the Fulton Theatre, November 24, 1951. Hepburn won the 1952 Theatre World Award.
1952	CBS Television Workshop		Episode entitled "Rainy Day at Paradise Junction"
1954	Ondine	Water Nymph	Opened on Broadway, February 18 - June 26. Tony Award Winner - Best Actress. Costarring Mel Ferrer
1957	Mayerling	Maria Vetsera	Producers' Showcase live production. Costarring Mel Ferrer as Prince Rudolf. Released theatrically in Europe.
1987	Love Among Thieves	Baroness Caroline DuLac	Television movie.
1993	Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn	Herself	PBS miniseries; Emmy Award Winner - Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming

According to some biographies, Hepburn made several American and British TV appearances before Roman Holiday, and a poster for a 1951 British public appearance listed her as a TV actress. "Rainy Day" is the only example of this early work to have surfaced. A copy of this production exists in the Museum of Radio and Television archives in Beverly Hills, California and New York City, New York.

Awards

She won the 1953 Academy Award for Best Actress for Roman Holiday. She was nominated for Best Actress four more times; for Sabrina, The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Wait Until Dark.

There was Oscar controversy in 1964 when Audrey was not nominated for her performance as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, one of her most acclaimed performances.

For her 1967 nomination, the Academy chose her performance in Wait Until Dark over her critically acclaimed performance in Two For The Road. She lost to Katharine Hepburn (in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner).

Audrey Hepburn was one of the few people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award.

• Academy Award: Best Actress for Roman Holiday (1954) and posthumous The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1993).
• Tony Award: Best Actress for Ondine (1954) and Special Achievement award (1968).
• Grammy Award: Best Spoken Word Album for Children (1993) for Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales (posthumous).
• Emmy Award: Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming (1993) for the "Flower Gardens" episode of her documentary series, Gardens of the World (posthumous).

In addition, Hepburn won the Henrietta Award in 1955 for the world's favorite actress, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1990 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1992. Hepburn was posthumously awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award later in 1993.

In December 1992, one month before her death, Hepburn received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work in UNICEF. This is one of the two highest awards a civilian can receive in the United States.

References

• Sean Hepburn Ferrer, Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers, New York: Atria, 2003.
• Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, New York: Putnam, 1996.
• Diana Maychick, Audrey Hepburn: An Intimate Portrait, Citadel Press, 1996.
• http://www.audreyhepburnlibrary.com
• Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, Harmony Press, 2006.

See also

• List of people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award

External links

• Audrey Hepburn at IMDb
• Audrey Hepburn at the TCM Movie Database
• Audrey Hepburn at the Internet Broadway Database
• Template:Nndb name
• Official web site by the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund
• Audrey Hepburn - L'Ange des Enfants
• ETERNALLY AUDREY
• 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
• The Fairest Lady fansite
• Audrey Hepburn's Gravesite
• Template:Fr Biographie et filmographie Audrey Hepburn
• A Tribute to Audrey Hepburn, online since 1997
• The Fabulous Audrey Hepburn