Pictures from Google Image Search

See more pictures of [TBD: Hi, I'm litTopicName set my Topic name]

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404702926.html" title="Facts and informations about Audrey Hepburn">Audrey Hepburn</a>

Give this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon

Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) was an engaging screen actress who won an Academy Award in 1954 for her work in Roman Holiday. She also worked with the United Nations to alleviate the misery of the poor.

Peerless in her screen presence, actress Audrey Hepburn had huge brown eyes, a husky voice, and a dancer's gracefulness—qualities that seduced the entire moviegoing world. While Hepburn was never an actress with a wide range and had very little acting training, she was never boring. According to People, Humphrey Bogart once said of her style, "With Audrey it's kind of unpredictable. She's like a good tennis player—she varies her shots." Certainly every fan has chosen his or her favorite Hepburn moment; for some its Hepburn's regal entrance in the denouement of My Fair Lady, with her towering hairdo and sweetly serious expression, while others may prefer her playful dance sequence in a book store in Funny Face. In any case, Hepburn's most successful movies capitalized on her childlike qualities, pairing her with an older actor whose character was eventually disarmed by her inestimable charm. Several years after she was chosen by Colette to star in the Broadway version of the French author's Gigi, Hepburn burst onto the Hollywood scene with 1953's Roman Holiday. Costarring Gregory Peck, the film tells the tale of a runaway princess who is shown around Rome by a reporter smitten with love for her. He nonetheless convinces her to resume her royal duties. The role landed Hepburn an Oscar at the tender young age of 24 for best actress. Full of adoration, Jay Cocks described the last scene of the film in Time, remarking that Peck's close up expressions of loss "would have been nonsense if Peck did not have something wonderful and irreplaceable to miss. He had Audrey Hepburn."

Her Humanitarian Work

In turn, Hepburn yielded to a calling other than acting, preferring to spend her time with her two sons and working for UNICEF. "If there was a cross between the salt of the earth and a regal queen," Shirley MacLaine told People, "then she was it." An articulate and impassioned spokeswoman, Hepburn was named the goodwill ambassador for the international children's relief organization UNICEF in 1988. Instead of using the title for travel privileges and charity balls, Hepburn worked in the field, nursing sick children and reporting on the suffering she witnessed. Her last plea proved most moving; Hepburn had traveled to Somalia in the fall of 1992, and her sad but hopeful account galvanized the world's response to the dreadful famine and warfare that would eventually kill thousands in that West African country. For all her otherworldly good looks, Hepburn was a down-to-earth, sensible actress in a Hollywood of excess.

Her Background

Perhaps Hepburn's humility sprung from her childhood. Her father, an English-Irish banker, deserted her family when she was only 8 years old. Another traumatic mark was left by the Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II. Her mother, a Dutch baroness, had sent the youngster to the Germanic nation at the beginning of the war to live with relatives. People noted that "along with her grandparents, she received food from a relief agency—UNICEF's precursor. 'Your soul is nourished by all your experiences,' she once said.'It gives you baggage for the future—and ammunition, if you like."' The once chubby Hepburn was whittled down by a diet that sometimes consisted only of flour made from tulip bulbs; nonetheless, as a fledgling ballet dancer, she sometimes carried messages for the Resistance in her toe shoes. Many years later she politely refused to make a movie of The Diary of Anne Frank as she felt the young Jewish girl's experience of World War II too closely mirrored her own. While memories of fear, deprivation, and cattlecars full of deportees populated her dreams for the rest of her life, Hepburn utilized her experiences in ministering to the world's starving children, many of whom did not know that the beautiful woman was a movie star.

Hepburn and her mother moved to England to pursue her dance career after the war. She was cast in bits parts on stage and screen in both Holland and England before she had the good fortune to be discovered by Colette in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Because Colette insisted Hepburn play Gigi, the young woman was thrust into an entertainment world that would compete fiercely for her. In 1952 she won a Theatre World Award for Gigi, followed a year later by the Academy Award she won for Roman Holiday. A hot commodity, director Billy Wilder snapped her up in 1954 for his new film. Sabrina, about a chauffeur's daughter whose education in Paris makes her the toast of Long Island society, costarred William Holden and Humphrey Bogart as her love interests. Eventually Hepburn shared the screen with all the best leading men of her time: Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Rex Harrison, Mel Ferrer (whom she wed in 1954 and divorced in 1968), and Sean Connery. Of Hepburn's 27 films, quite a few have become classics and only a few films are generally acknowledged to be bad. Although Hepburn had knocked everyone out with her 1956 portrayal of Natasha in War and Peace, another big movie did not fare so well. Green Mansions was a fantasy in which Hepburn gamboled as a birdgirl. Directed by Ferrer, the adaptation from W. H. Hudson's novel of the same name was thought laughable by some. The same year, 1959, she made her first serious film, The Nun's Story. Seeking meatier roles, Hepburn disinte-grating during a motorcycle trip across France. Hepburn and Albert Finney were applauded for their realistic portrayals. After l967's spooky Wait Until Dark, in which she plays a blind woman who ultimately bests a psychotic, Hepburn took on an extended sabbatical. Acting became secondary in her life, as she bore a child at age 40 during her 13-year marriage to Italian physician Andrea Dotti. Hepburn made only four more movies between 1976 and 1989. The last, Always, featured her in a cameo as an angel. Money was not a consideration; besides her own income, Hepburn lived in Switzerland with Robert Wolders, the wealthy widower of actress Merle Oberon, for the last 12 years of her life (she died in 1993). Though Hepburn was nominated for three Oscars after Roman Holiday, she never won again. Shortly before her death, she was given the Screen Actors Guild award for lifetime achievement. Unable to accept in person she sent actress Julia Roberts to accept the honor in her place. While Hepburn's acting was highly appreciated in her lifetime, she would doubtless prefer to be remembered as UNICEF's hardworking fairy godmother.

	Homage to Hepburn. (Close-Up).(Pavillon Audrey Hepburn raises funding for children's charities)(Brief Article) Magazine article from: Swiss News; 12/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; Audrey Hepburn was one of the most distinguished residents...and inhabitants joined forces with the Audrey Hepburn Foundation to render homage to her life...tourists pulls away from the Pavilion Audrey Hepburn. Arigato! they call, waving to Franca... Read more
	Audrey Hepburn. Magazine article from: Video Age International; 3/1/1994; ; 623 words ; AUDREY HEPBURN, by Diana Maychick (Birch Lane Press...she writes very well, but her image of Audrey Hepburn isn't complete, and perhaps that's inevitable...her fulfilling companion to the end. Audrey Hepburn was an extraordinary person, with an... Read more
	Audrey Hepburn; a biography.(Brief article)(Book review) Magazine article from: Reference & Research Book News; 2/1/2009; 141 words ; 9780313359453 Audrey Hepburn; a biography. Gitlin, Marty. Greenwood...and career of beloved screen star, Audrey Hepburn (1923-1993), from her childhood in...includes a timeline of key events in Hepburn's life and a list of her works on... Read more
	Kate selectively remembered: out writer A. Scott Berg reverts to "don't ask, don't tell" in his Hepburn biography. Magazine article from: The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine); 9/2/2003; ; 700+ words ; ...nothing to question the public persona Hepburn carefully constructed over the years was...and what's there is undercooked. Miss Hepburn often used oar time together to reflect...Prunella! Does he really believe that Hepburn's claim that she fell for Spencer Tracy... Read more
	20 Questions...Adam Parton. Newspaper article from: Lancaster Guardian (Lancaster, England); 6/27/2008; 432 words ; ...11 A film not to be missed? Breakfast at Tiffany's. Audrey Hepburn is one of a kind and you don't get films or actresses...most like to meet? I would have loved to have met Audrey Hepburn, she was an all time classic movie star but also did... Read more
	EMMY ROSSUM.(Brief Article) Magazine article from: Interview; 12/1/2000; ; 217 words ; ...York's Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus. Then she headed west, and was quickly cast as the young Audrey Hepburn in TV's The Audrey Hepburn Story. But it's her standout performance in Songcatcher that has her--and others--really singing. Dolly... Read more
	Anniversary gallery hollywood covers.(Cyd Charisse, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn and Gene Kelly) Magazine article from: Dance Magazine; 5/1/2007; ; 448 words ; ...Cyd Charisse, Rita Hayworth, and Audrey Hepburn to the warm smile of dancer-choreographer-direct...s Nest) in Burgundy. Although Audrey Hepburn died in 1993, she keeps on dancing...fall, skinny black pants--the Hepburn look--reemerged on the fashion... Read more
	Sabrina. Magazine article from: National Review; 1/29/1996; ; 700+ words ; ...to remake Sabrina, the 1954 Billy Wilder movie with Audrey Hepburn. I am far from a Sabrina or Hepburn fanatic, but I...films, but that isn't much, and a whole lot less than Audrey Hepburn. The film does, however, have one strong suit in the... Read more
	Audrey Hepburn, R I P. (tribute to the late motion picture actress) (Editorial) Magazine article from: National Review; 2/15/1993; ; 276 words ; ...and stylish a presence as Hollywood ever tolerated. Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for playing a princess in Roman Holiday...realized early on that what you saw is what you got. Hepburn never had to take her clothes off, and never uttered... Read more
	Hepburn comes to life in Foothills production. Newspaper article from: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA); 2/15/2008; 518 words ; ...greatest film icons of our time, Katharine Hepburn, in the play Tea at Five. Broome took...sophisticate nearly flawlessly in all aspects of Hepburn's distinctive character. In physical terms...cigarette smoking, was reminiscent of Hepburn and the golden age of classic Hollywood... Read more

For more facts and information, see all related premium articles

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

	Hepburn, Audrey Dictionary entry from: International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers HEPBURN, Audrey Nationality: British. Born: Edda van...Double ) (Linden and Josephson) (as Audrey Hepburn) 1951 One Wild Oat (Saunders) (as extra...Dickinson) (as Nora Brent) 1953 Introducing Audrey Hepburn (Dickinson — short); Roman Holiday... Read more
	Audrey Hepburn Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 1929-93, film actress, b. Brussels as Audrey Kathleen Ruston. The daughter of an English...Award), she worked exclusively in films. Hepburn's luminous beauty, elfin slimness, unplaceably...J. Vermilye, The Complete Films of Audrey Hepburn (1995). Read more
	Audrey Book article from: A Dictionary of First Names Audrey ♀ Much altered form of the Old English girl's name...her name (the word deriving from a misdivision of Saint Audrey ). Shakespeare bestowed it on Touchstone's comic sweetheart...due in the 1950s and 60s to the popularity of the actress Audrey Hepburn (1929–93). Variants : Audrie ... Read more
	Golightly, Holly Book article from: Contemporary Musicians Holly Golightly Singer, guitarist Sharing a name with Audrey Hepburn's character in the acclaimed film Breakfast at Tiffany's Holly Golightly Smith was first introduced to the garage rock scene in... Read more
	like Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...qualities as; similar to: there were other suits like mine in the shop they were like brothers she looked nothing like Audrey Hepburn. ∎ in the manner of; in the same way or to the same degree as: he was screaming like a banshee you must... Read more