Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929 – January 20, 1993) was an Anglo-Dutch actress, fashion model, and humanitarian. Born Audrey Kathleen Ruston in Brussels, Belgium, she was the only child of Joseph Anthony Ruston, a Slovakian-born Anglo-Irish banker, and Baroness Ella van Heemstra, a Dutch aristocrat descended from French and English kings. Her father appended the name Hepburn to his surname, and Audrey became Audrey Hepburn-Ruston at the same time. She had two half-brothers, Alexander and Ian Quarles van Ufford, by her mother's first marriage to a Dutch nobleman.

Rise to Stardom

After the war, Hepburn and her mother moved to London, England where she studied ballet, worked as a model, and in 1951 began acting in films, mostly in minor or supporting roles as Audrey Hepburn; her first major performance was in the 1951 film The Secret People, in which she played a ballet dancer. Audrey had actually trained in ballet since childhood and won critical acclaim for her talent, which she let fly 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 November 24, 1951, she won a Theatre World Award for her debut performance. Following a successful six-month run in New York City, she was offered a starring role opposite Gregory Peck in the Hollywood motion picture, Roman Holiday. Peck saw the star quality in her and insisted that her name be on top right beside his. After Roman Holiday she filmed Sabrina with Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, with whom she had a brief romance. Many believe that Holden considered Audrey to be the love of his life, and she would star with him again in the comedy Paris - When It Sizzles. For her performance in Roman Holiday she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and over her illustrious career she would be nominated for best actress four more times; for Sabrina, The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Wait Until Dark. The Academy was forced to choose between her critically acclaimed performance in Two For The Road and her performance as a terrorized blind woman in Wait Until Dark, and went with the latter. There was Oscar controversy when it turned out that Audrey was not even nominated for her "loverly" performance as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, possibly her best and most beloved performance. This may be due to the fact that her singing was mostly dubbed. In fact, Audrey recorded all of her songs and did not know she was to be dubbed until after the editing had been finished. She is said to have walked off the set after being told of the dubbing, and the next day apologizing for her behavior.

Related Topics:
London, England - Ballet - Model - Broadway - Gigi - November 24 - 1951 - Theatre World Award - New York City - Gregory Peck - Hollywood - Motion picture - Roman Holiday - Sabrina - Humphrey Bogart - William Holden - Paris - When It Sizzles - Academy Award for Best Actress - The Nun's Story - Breakfast at Tiffany's - Wait Until Dark - Two For The Road - My Fair Lady

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Hepburn's performance as "Holly Golightly" in 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's resulted in the creation of one of the most iconic characters in 20th Century American cinema. 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, Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon, 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, and Gregory Peck became a lifelong friend.

Related Topics:
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Fred Astaire - Funny Face - Humphrey Bogart - Gary Cooper - Love in the Afternoon - Cary Grant - Charade - Rex Harrison - My Fair Lady - Peter O'Toole - How To Steal a Million - Sean Connery - Robin and Marian

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