During her early 20s, she studied acting and worked as a model and dancer. In her last years, she remained a visible presence in the film world. Calling it "apocalyptic", she said, "I walked into a nightmare. 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. 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. For fresh news, visit our blog. Audrey, still a teenager, danced to raise money . Audrey Hepburn was born as Audrey Kathleen Ruston on May 4, 1929 in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium. [157] Vogue has referred to her as "the acme of classic beauty". Her mother, Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, was a Dutch noblewoman, while her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, was born in zice, Bohemia, to English and Austrian parents. Celebrity Net Worth reports that Hepburn was worth $55 million at the time of her death. Hepburn played the daughter of a famous art collector, whose collection consists entirely of forgeries which are about to be exposed as fakes. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Lady Diana Spencer was not yet Princess Diana when this photo was taken. [77][78][79][80] Hepburn stated that the role was "the jazziest of my career"[81] yet admitted: "I'm an introvert. Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but she would just grab them. Its production was troubled by several problems. While there, Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945. The actor died "surrounded . 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. Christian Siriano has lined his New York Fashion Week runway Thursday with thousands of multicolored flowers. After that, she only occasionally appeared in films, one being Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery. [8], 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). She was survived by her two sons, half brothers Sean and Luca. Audrey Hepburn later retired from acting and served as an ambassador for UNICEF. Having divorced Ferrer in 1968, she married a prominent Italian psychiatrist and chose to focus on her family rather than her career. The next year she was awarded. [20] Her mother met Adolf Hitler and wrote favourable articles about him for the B.U.F. Despite her inexperience, Hepburn was cast, earning rave reviews when the play opened on Broadway in 1951. When asked about the dubbing of an actress with such distinctive vocal tones, Hepburn frowned and said, "You could tell, couldn't you? The incredibly talented and beautiful actress dominated the silver screen in the 1950s and 1960s with classic roles in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, and so many more. [191][192], Hepburn received numerous awards and honours during her career. [131] [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). 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. He was her partner at the time of her death. 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. In December 1992, she received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Friends, family and other professional advisors are trustworthy sources. [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". 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. Overall, about 90% of her singing was dubbed, despite being promised that most of her vocals would be used. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "Anna Juliana Franziska Karolina Wels, born in Slovakia", "De vijf hoeken van de wereld: Amerika in Elsene", "Famous and Notable People 'In and Around' the Elham Valley", "ANTIQUES; To Daddy Dearest, From Audrey", "Couture, pearls and a Breakfast at Tiffany's script: inside the private collection of Audrey Hepburn", Mythe ontkracht: Audrey Hepburn werkte niet voor het verzet, "Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn was a WWII resistance spy", "Audrey Hepburn reportedly helped resist Nazis in Holland during WWII", "The Colditz PoW Who Saved Audrey Hepburn", "Audrey Hepburn's Son Remembers Her Life", "Audrey Hepburn: 'Roman Holiday' Star Started as Nightclub Dancer,", "History Lesson! Secondly, most of the English films are educational. She devoted herself to humanitarian work, visiting famine-stricken villages in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, until shortly before her death of cancer in 1993. Audrey Hepburn starred in her first major American film, Roman Holiday, in 1953. Her intellectual property, film rights, likeness rights, and the majority of her estate were left to her sons, Sean Hepburn Ferrer and Luca Dotti. [54], Hepburn was then offered a small role in a film being shot in both English and French, Monte Carlo Baby (French: Nous Irons Monte Carlo, 1952), which was filmed in Monte Carlo. As children, starving, they watched railway wagons go by, full of children, also starving. [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. [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". Hepburn's first field mission for UNICEF was to Ethiopia in 1988. [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. [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. [130] Flower arrangements were sent to the funeral by Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, and the Dutch royal family. [107], 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. [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. 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). "[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. . "[156] The magazine and its British version frequently reported on her style throughout the following decade. Titanic (1997) Young . He and Audrey also had one child together, giving them a bond to last until her own 1993 death. She was considered by many people as a superstar, not only for her acting in the films but also for her efforts in charity work. Published on July 16, 2018 12:59 PM. By now, every life in Velp had been affected, if not outright ruined or taken away, by the German or Dutch Nazis. "[62], Hepburn was signed to a seven-picture contract with Paramount, with 12 months in between films to allow her time for stage work. "[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. Updates? She received a tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1991 and was a frequent presenter at the Academy Awards. She left jewels to family and friends. To celebrate its "Keep it Simple" campaign, the Gap made a sizeable donation to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. [55] Hepburn went into rehearsals having never spoken on stage, and required private coaching. [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. That is true with the people shown in this collection of photos. 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. Two years later she made her Broadway debut as the title character in the play Gigi. [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. [126] Having grown slowly over several years, the cancer had metastasised as a thin coating over her small intestine. "[91] Gene Ringgold of Soundstage also commented that, "Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. This was French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy. Filmed on the brink of her divorce, it was a difficult film for her, as husband Mel Ferrer was its producer. Main [136] Her son and granddaughter, Sean and Emma Ferrer, helped produce a biographical documentary directed by Helena Coan, entitled Audrey (2020). It can't be distributed. 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". [141][142] On 4 May 2014, Google featured a doodle on its homepage on what would have been Hepburn's 85th birthday. 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. 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. A month later, she died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland, at the age of 63. '" She died on January 20, 1993. As a young princess who exchanges the burden of royalty for a day of adventure and romance with a reporter (played by Gregory Peck), Hepburn demonstrated her ability to combine a regal bearing with a tomboyish winsomeness that utterly charmed audiences, and she won an Academy Award for best actress. [8], "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 Don't discount anything awful you hear or read about the Nazis. [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. 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. 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]. 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. [101], In the 1950s, Hepburn narrated two radio programmes for UNICEF, re-telling children's stories of war. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. [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. William Holden was quoted as saying, "I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her." [19][b], In the mid-1930s, Hepburn's parents recruited and collected donations for the British Union of Fascists (B.U.F). 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. 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. 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. [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. "[67] The reviewer in Time magazine said her "graceful, glamorous performance" was "the best of her career". The Shape of Water (2017) A mute janitor (Sally Hawkins) falls in love with a mysterious amphibious creature (Doug Jones) in a high-security government laboratory. 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[119] While pregnant with Luca in 1969, Hepburn was more careful, resting for months before delivering the baby via caesarean section. While making a film in Monte-Carlo, Hepburn caught the eye of the French novelist Colette, who felt that Hepburn would be ideal for the title role in the stage adaptation of her novel Gigi. [29], 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. And there was. [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. [93] Andrews won an Academy Award for Mary Poppins at the 1964 37th Academy Awards, but Hepburn was not even nominated. Audrey Hepburn, original name Audrey Kathleen Ruston (see Researcher's Note), (born May 4, 1929, Brussels, Belgiumdied January 20, 1993, Tolochenaz, Switzerland), Belgian-born British actress known for her radiant beauty and style, her ability to project an air of sophistication tempered by a charming innocence, and her tireless efforts to aid Her son Sean received earring given to her by his father to celebrate the birth of their son. 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. The daughter of Yule Brenner was left $1,500 worth of jewelry. It's worse than you could ever imagine. Eight months later, on 25 September 1954, they were married in Brgenstock, Switzerland,[117] while preparing to star together in the film War and Peace (1956). Who did Audrey Hepburn leave her money to? Remember: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When making your financial, tax and estate plans, do, How Can Taxes Change After My Spouse Dies? 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".
